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Aviation History
1976
1976 - 2792.PDF
\ FLIGHT International, 27 November 1976 Left, a French Navy Lynx on board ship. Below, the four-blade Starflex plastic rotor for the twin-engined Dauphin 63 for the British Army, nine for Brazil and eight, plus eight on option, for the Royal Netherlands Navy. Produc tion rate should now be reaching four a month and 1978 should see 11 a month. The first French Navy Lynx is the 19th production machine and should be delivered late this year or early next. French Lynx carries the Omera Segid Heracles radar and is armed with Mk 46 torpedoes or SS.12 missiles. Gazelle Some 715 SA.341 and SA.342 Gazelles have now been sold to 86 customers, and the current production rate of between 15 and 20 a month makes it Aerospatiale's main production machine. The SA.341 version, powered by an Artouste III, was produced as a joint venture with Westland and delivered to the British Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and the French Army. The first military production Gazelle flew in August 1971 and was followed in June 1972 by French certification of the first civil Gazelle SA.341G. US certification and single-pilot IFR certification duly followed. The SA.342 was initially developed for Kuwait and is powered by the Astazou 14 with momentum separators on the intakes and giving 870 s.h.p. The Kuwaiti Gazelle is equipped to fire four Hot missiles, but AS.lis or various guns can also be fitted. The civil equivalent—the SA.342J, offering 2201b greater payload—received French certifica tion in April and will be available next year. Though Westland continues to supply the sub-assemblies it manufactured for the French and British military machines, all final assembly is done in France. SA.321 Super Frelon Production continues at the rate of one a month and the programme is still a useful com mercial asset for Aerospatiale. Total production to date, 90 machines, includes 24 SA.321G anti-submarine versions for the French Navy and the SA.321F civil transport ver sion, which was certificated in the USA in August 1968. Current versions are the SA.321H military transport, known to have been exported to Israel and South Africa and currently being delivered to Libya and other Middle Eastern countries. Sixteen maritime Super Frelons were ordered by China and are now being delivered. Current civil version, of which Pertamina in Indonesia has one, is the SA.321 Ja, which can carry a slung load of 11,0001b over a radius of 27 miles or 27 passengers. The SA.321J received French certification in December 1971. SA.315B Lama No fewer than 191 Lamas have been ordered by 68 clients and the type continues in production at the rate of 212 a month. It is basically a combination of the Alouette II airframe and the Artouste 3 engine and transmission of the SA.316 Alouette III. Maximum power of 870 s.h.p. is flat-rated to 550 s.h.p., giving the Lama exceptional hot and high performance. It has landed two people at 24,600ft in the Himalayas and holds the world absolute helicopter altitude record of 40,820ft. The Lama was originally conceived for the Indian Army in 1969 and is licence-built in India by HAL under the designation Cheetah. Alouette III Emphasis of manufacture is shifting steadily now from the Artouste 3-engined SA.316 version of this highly successful helicopter to the Astazou 14-powered SA.319. Combined production rate is still six units a month and more than 1,320 of both types have been sold to 70 different countries. The Astazou 14 has the same maxi mum power as the Artouste but is fiat-rated to 600 s.h.p., the 25 per cent lower fuel consumption conferring much better range and endurance. The Alouette III has been adapted to virtually every practical civil and military role. In military guise it can launch AS.12 missiles, or carry a target-designating radar, a rescue winch or magnetic anomaly detection gear and an anti-submarine torpedo. It was one of the earliest heli copters to be given blind-flying capability, though not a civil IFR system. Gazelle orders have passed the 700 mark and production is still running at 15-20 a month
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