HOME | DD

dave-llamaman — IAR-96A/B Condor ''Foundry-C''

#alternatehistory #alternateuniverse #au #balkans #coldwar #dassault #iar #romania #soko #yugoslavia #alt_history #mirage50 #dassaultmirage50
Published: 2022-02-16 16:28:23 +0000 UTC; Views: 8160; Favourites: 46; Downloads: 0
Redirect to original
Description The joint Romanian-Yugoslav "Condor" programme was intended to produce a maritime strike aircraft capable of ranging across the Adriatic and Black Sea. It was intended that the aircraft would operate in conjunction with the patrol aircraft being developed under Project Albatross, with the larger patroller providing target information via Soviet-supplied DNM data-link. It would also provide the basis of a nuclear delivery system capable of carrying the first-generation nuclear bomb jointly developed by both governments. The aircraft would have to carry a second crew member to ease the pilot's workload.
    Initially, it was planned to use the J-22/IAR-93 as the basis for such an aircraft. Dassault, however, saw yet another gap in the market and offered another Mirage variant. This would combine the airframe of the two-seat Mirage 5D with the engine of the Mirage F1 and an avionics package based on the Mirage IIIE. Since there was no requirement for air-to-air combat, the Cyrano IIJ radar lacked air combat functionality but had expanded terrain-following and surface search capabilities. This was supplemented by a Marconi Doppler navigation system.

As the Mirage IIIE was already capable of carrying nuclear weapons, and the aircraft would possess commonality with the Mirage Peregrine that would be entering service around the same time, both governments were keen to take up Dassault's proposal. Consequently, the order was placed on 31 July 1971.
    Entering service in early 1974, the J-23A Kondor/IAR-96A Condor was given the NATO reporting name “Foundry-C”. In the maritime attack mission, it would carry the usual assortment of free-fall bombs, Soviet Kh-25 and (from 1980) Kh-27 missiles and the AS.37 Martel missile. Licence-built under guidance from Matra, the Martel would be the Foundry-C's main anti-ship weapon for its first decade of service.
    Further development of the nuclear land attack version resulted in the J-23B/IAR-96B. This version had provision for a single large retarded fission bomb on the centreline pylon, in keeping with the nuclear ambitions of both Romania and Yugoslavia. Entering service at the same time as its maritime-optimised sibling, it was still given the NATO reporting name Foundry-C.

*                *                *


The airborne element of Yugoslavia's nuclear triad, but also an attempt at developing a competent maritime strike force for less money than maintaining a fleet of Tu-22's. It's fairly obviously a poor man's Mirage 2000N, albeit one that predates the N by over a decade.

Related content
Comments: 0