The Breguet Br.1150 Atlantic is a long-range maritime patrol aircraft designed and manufactured by Breguet Aviation. Introduced to service in 1965, it has been operated by several NATO countries, commonly performing maritime roles such as reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare. The Atlantic is also capable of carrying air-to-ground munitions to perform ground-attack missions; a small number of aircraft were also equipped to perform ELINT operations. An updated version, the Atlantique 2 or ATL2, was produced by Dassault Aviation for the French Navy in the 1980s. Other operators of the Atlantic have included the German Navy, the Italian Air Force, the Pakistan Navy, and the Royal Netherlands Navy.
A maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), also known as a patrol aircraft, maritime reconnaissance aircraft, or by the older American term patrol bomber, is a fixed-wing aircraft designed to operate for long durations over water in maritime patrol roles — in particular anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-ship warfare (AShW), and search and rescue (SAR).
The Société des Ateliers d'Aviation Louis Breguet also known as Breguet Aviation was a French aircraft manufacturer. The company was set up in 1911 by aviation pioneer Louis Charles Breguet.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 29 North American and European countries. The organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949. NATO constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's Headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium.
In 1958 NATO produced a specification for a long-range maritime patrol aircraft to replace the Lockheed P2V Neptune, with Breguet's design, the Br 1150, chosen as the winner of the competition at the end of the year. A multinational consortium, Société d'Étude et de Construction de Breguet Atlantic (SECBAT) was set up to develop and build the Atlantic.[2][3] The first prototype made its maiden flight at Toulouse on 21 October 1961, with the second prototype flying on 25 February 1962, followed by two preproduction aircraft with a longer fuselage in February 1963 and September 1964.[4]
The Lockheed P-2 Neptune was a maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. It was developed for the US Navy by Lockheed to replace the Lockheed PV-1 Ventura and PV-2 Harpoon, and was replaced in turn by the Lockheed P-3 Orion. Designed as a land-based aircraft, the Neptune never made a carrier landing, but a small number were converted and deployed as carrier-launched, stop-gap nuclear bombers that would have to land on shore or ditch. The type was successful in export, and saw service with several armed forces.
Toulouse is the capital of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the region of Occitanie. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, 150 kilometres from the Mediterranean Sea, 230 km (143 mi) from the Atlantic Ocean and 680 km (420 mi) from Paris. It is the fourth-largest city in France, with 466,297 inhabitants as of January 2014. In France, Toulouse is called the "Pink City".
Atlantic of the French Navy in service with 24 Flotille in 1973
An initial order for 60 Atlantics– 40 for France and 20 for Germany– was placed in 1963, with deliveries starting in 1965 and continuing to 1968. The production line had shut down by the time the Netherlands placed an order for nine Atlantics and Italy ordered eighteen. Aircraft from this second production batch were delivered from 1972 to 1974.[5]
In 1978, the French Government authorised development of a new, updated version of the Atlantic, the Atlantic Nouvelle Génération (later known as the Atlantique 2 when orders from other nations did not occur). While the airframe and engines of the new aircraft changed little, equipment and avionics were considerably revised; these included new radar, a new sonar processor, a replacement tactical computer, and a forward-looking infrared camera turret installed under the nose. The ability to carry Exocet missiles was also added.[6][7] Two prototype Atlantique 2s were produced by converting existing Atlantics; the first of these made its maiden flight on 8 May 1981. Production of the Atlantique 2 was authorised on 24 May 1984.[8] Deliveries started in 1989 with 28 eventually built, from an original requirement for 42.[9][10]
Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras, typically used on military and civilian aircraft, use a thermographic camera that senses infrared radiation.
By 2012, the Atlantique 2 had been rebranded as the ATL2, at which point France had a total of 22 in service.[11] In 2012, 18 French Atlantiques were undergoing a series of upgrades to increase the type's effectiveness in two stages, Phase I addressing obsolescence issues and Phase II adding new capabilities.[11] Also in 2012, a separate project was conducted to integrate the MU90 Impact torpedo.[11] Aircraft that received these upgrades shall have an extended service life as well, enabling Atlantique operations to be extended to around 2032.[12]
The MU90 Impact is an advanced lightweight anti-submarine torpedo of the 3rd generation developed by France and Italy for navies of France, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Australia and Poland. It is designed to compete with and outperform the United States-built Mark 54 in the anti-submarine role, and has also been developed in a special MU90 Hard Kill version for torpedo anti-torpedo defence. The MU90 is built by EuroTorp, a consortium of French and Italian companies.
A further upgraded Atlantique 3 was proposed for the Royal Air Force's Replacement Maritime Patrol Aircraft (RMPA) competition, however it was withdrawn in 1996 following alleged hints from Ministry of Defence officials that the submission was unlikely to be successful; the competition later selected the BAE Systems Nimrod MRA4 instead.[13] The Atlantique 3 would have featured various off-the-shelf avionics upgrades, including the adoption of a two-man glass cockpit. The use of uprated Allison AE2100H turboprop engines to drive new Dowty-built six-bladed composite propellers reportedly would have increased power by nearly 10% and reduced fuel consumption by 15%.[14] In late 1996, Dassault (which had merged with Breguet in the 1970s, thus acquiring the Atlantic design) intended to offer the Atlantique 3 to Germany, Italy, and France.[15] By 2005, Dassault had abandoned marketing efforts on the Atlantique 3, choosing to promote a variant of the Dassault Falcon 900 corporate jet as a maritime patrol aircraft instead.[16]
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's aerial warfare force. Formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world. Following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged as, at the time, the largest air force in the world. Since its formation, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history. In particular, it played a large part in the Second World War where it fought its most famous campaign, the Battle of Britain.
The Ministry of Defence is the British government department responsible for implementing the defence policy set by Her Majesty's Government and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces.
The BAE Systems Nimrod MRA4 was a planned maritime patrol and attack aircraft intended to replace the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR2. The rebuilt aircraft would have extended the operating life of the Nimrod fleet by several decades and significantly improved the aircraft by installing more efficient Rolls-Royce BR700 turbofan jet engines to almost double the flight range. The conversion of the flight deck to a digital glass cockpit would have simplified control operations and reduced crew requirements. New detection systems were to be installed, as well as additional weapons for anti-submarine warfare.
Design
Cockpit of an Atlantic simulator
The Breguet Br.1150 Atlantic is a twin-engined, mid-winged monoplane with a "double-bubble" fuselage; the upper lobe comprising a pressurised crew compartment, and the lower lobe housing a 9m (27ft 6in) long weapons bay, with sonobuoy tubes aft of the weapons bay. A radar scanner is housed in a retractable underfuselage radome, while a magnetic anomaly detector is housed in a tail boom. It is powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce Tyneturboprop engines.[8][17] An all-aluminium structure is used throughout the Atlantic's airframe; corrosion is alleged to be a considerable problem due to environmental factors imposed by the maritime environment.[18]
The Atlantic was designed for its purpose, instead of refitting or modifying existing designs. Though the primary mission of the Atlantic is anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, its secondary roles include search and rescue, mine laying and detection and long-range maritime surveillance.[19] The Atlantic can carry either eight guided ASW torpedoes such as Mk 46 Torpedo, or 12 depth charges, or two AM.39 Exocet anti-ship missiles in its internal bomb bay. German Atlantics usually carried Mk 46s only and flew unarmed during the last years of their service. Italian Atlantics have been periodically armed with NATO-provided nuclear bombs.[20]
In French service, modernised Atlantiques have been equipped with various new avionics and onboard sensors. Such systems include the RBE2-AAactive electronically scanned array radar, new digital acoustic processing systems, a Thales-manufactured identification friend or foe system, and DCNS-developed LOTI (Logiciel Opérationnel de Traitement de l'Information) combat mission software.[12]
In 1987, a single Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) Atlanique was operated by France as an airborne headquarters during Opération Épervier, the French intervention against Libyan military units which had been deployed into neighbouring Chad. Communications intercepted by the Atlantique were immediately decoded and translated before being used to conduct strikes upon Libyan forces with greater accuracy.[21]
The German Marineflieger operated a fleet of Atlantics between 1963 and 2005. A number of these aircraft were modified for SIGINT work and were based at Nordholz Naval Airbase. During the Cold War, they commonly flew across the Baltic Sea and along the border with East Germany; these flights often had American and British intelligence personnel on board in addition to their German crews. During the 1990s, Germany deployed SIGINT Atlantics to observe the United Nations embargo of Yugoslavia and for reconnaissance flights during the Kosovo War in 1999.[22]
In 1992, Germany was considering replacing its Atlantics in the maritime patrol role, the modernised Atlantic-2 was considered to be a frontrunner to be the replacement.[23] In 1996, the planned procurement of a replacement was delayed in favour of a life extension program to enable the Atlantic fleet to continue in service for a further decade.[24] Germany ultimately elected to replace its Atlantics with a number of secondhand Lockheed P-3 Orions procured from the Netherlands. Several German Atlantics have been donated to museums, including the Militärhistorisches Museum Flugplatz Berlin-Gatow and the Dutch Air Force Museum, Soesterberg, Netherlands.[25]
During the 1960s and 1970s, the Atlantic competed with the Lockheed P-3 Orion to be selected as the Royal Netherlands Navy's next anti-submarine aircraft. The selection process, during which Lockheed Corporation was alleged to have engaged in multiple incidents of bribery,[26] ultimately chose the Atlantic. Fewer Atlantics were procured than originally planned however;[27] and a total of three Atlantics out of the Netherlands' nine-strong fleet were lost through a series of failures during missions over the Atlantic Ocean.[28][29] These losses resulted in the grounding of the type in 1981 and contributed to its eventual replacement by the P-3 Orion.
During NATO's intervention in the 1999 Kosovo War, French Atlantics performed overflying surveillance flights of the combat area; flights within Serbian airspace were conducted by unarmed aircraft.[30]
Atlantique flying overhead, 2006
In 1973, in the aftermath of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the Pakistan Navy opted to procure three Atlantics from France.[31] In 1999, a Pakistan Navy Atlantic inadvertently flew into Indian airspace while probing Indian air defenses, it being intercepted and shot down by Indian Air Force aircraft after the Atlantic ignored instructions and attempts to force it to land at an Indian base; the event become known as the Atlantique incident. After 36 years of service, Pakistan's remaining Atlantics were formally retired in September 2012, following the arrival of P-3 Orions to replace them.[32]
In 2009, a number of French Atlantics were dispatched to Dakar, Senegal, to participate in a multinational search effort to locate the crashed Air France Flight 447.[33][34]
In January 2013, French Navy Atlantique-2s were deployed to act as ground-strike aircraft during Operation Serval over Northern Mali; a number of laser-guided GBU-12 bombs were dropped by the Atlantiques against Malian jihadist militants seeking to overthrow the Malian government.[35] During the deployment, the Atlantiques also served as Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms, being able to provide a sustained presence unlike alternatives such as the EADS Harfangunmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).[36]
In 2015, Atlantique-2s was deployed to Iraq at the beginning of Opération Chammal against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) forces, initially performing ISTAR and forward air control missions. On 19 August 2015, an Atlantique-2 flew a mission with two Mirage 2000s and dropped a GBU-12 on a command and control building, its first strike mission of the operation.[37] As French military operations expanded into Syria in September 2015, the long range of the Atlantiques from their base in the UAE was utilised when undertaking reconnaissance operations instead of shorter range aircraft such as the Dassault Rafale.[38]
Variants
Br.1150 Atlantic
Long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft.
Atlantique 2
Updated variant, also known as the Atlantic Nouvelle Generation or ATL2.[11]
Atlantique 3
Proposed modernised variant in the 1990s, unbuilt.[16]
German Navy – Received 20 Atlantics, with five converted to ELINT aircraft.[39] Replaced all ASW aircraft by ex-Dutch P-3 Orion in 2005, the ELINT version were planned to be replaced by the now cancelled EuroHawk UAVs.[40]
31 August 1967 – A French surveillance Breguet 1150 crash on the Norwegian island of Prins Karls Forland [44]
20 September 1968 – A French Air Force Atlantic crashed into the offices of the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) while performing a display at the Farnborough Air Show, Hampshire, England. One of the RAE's civilian maintenance staff was killed, as were all five members of the crew.[45][46]
14 September 1978 - A Dutch surveillance Breguet crashed in the Iries sea west of Scotland after the explosion of the right RollsRoyce engine
15 January 1981 – A Dutch Marine Atlantic SP-13A was shadowing the Soviet Navy aircraft carrier Kiev in foul weather, with 30ft waves and blizzard conditions. The Atlantic's crew transmitted a Mayday at 09:58 after suffering control problems due to a control rod failure in the horizontal stabilizer. It was not able to maintain height and was forced to ditch 113 miles west of the Inner Hebrides about half an hour later. Nine survivors were rescued by an RAF Sea King helicopter about two hours after the crash.[47]
18 May 1986 – While flying in cloud, a French Navy Atlantic crashed into a mountain in Djibouti, killing all 19 people on board.[48]
10 August 1999 – At the Pakistani-Indian border, sixteen Pakistan Navy airmen were killed in what became known as the Atlantique incident; the Atlantic they were in was shot down after it allegedly intruded into Indian airspace, just a month after the Kargil War.
Specifications (Atlantique 2)
Head-on view of a German Navy Atlantic Br.1150 about to depart RAF FairfordThe internal weapons bay of an Atlantic; two torpedoes are present
Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1988–89 [8]
General characteristics
Crew: 12
Capacity: 12 passengers or relief crew
Length: 31.62m (103ft 9in)
Wingspan: 37.42m (122ft 9in) including wingtip pods
A surveillance aircraft is an aircraft used for surveillance—collecting information over time. They are operated by military forces and other government agencies in roles such as intelligence gathering, battlefield surveillance, airspace surveillance, observation, border patrol and fishery protection. This article concentrates on aircraft used in those roles, rather than for traffic monitoring, law enforcement and similar activities.
Dassault Aviation SA is an international French aircraft manufacturer of military, regional, and business jets, and is a subsidiary of Dassault Group.
The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engine turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner. The aircraft is easily distinguished from the Electra by its distinctive tail stinger or "MAD Boom", used for the magnetic detection of submarines.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1981:
The Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard is a French carrier-borne strike fighter aircraft designed by Dassault-Breguet for service with the French Navy.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1932:
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1995:
The Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet is a light attack jet and advanced jet trainer co-manufactured by Dassault Aviation of France and Dornier Flugzeugwerke of Germany. It was developed specifically to perform the trainer and light attack missions, as well as to perform these duties more ideally than the first generation of jet trainers that preceded it. Following a competition, a design submitted by a team comprising Breguet Aviation, Dassault Aviation, and Dornier Flugzeugwerke, initially designated as the TA501, was selected and subsequently produced as the Alpha Jet.
On 10 August 1999, a Breguet Atlantic maritime patrol aircraft of the Pakistan Naval Air Arm was shot down by a MiG 21 fighter of the Indian Air Force over the Rann of Kutch, on the border between India and Pakistan. All 16 people on board the Atlantic were killed. The episode took place just a month after the Kargil War, aggravating already tense relations between the two countries.
The Breguet Br.1050 Alizé was a French carrier-based anti-submarine warfare aircraft. It was developed in the 1950s, based loosely on the second prototype Breguet Vultur attack aircraft which had been modified into the Breguet Br.965 Épaulard anti-submarine warfare aircraft.
French Naval Aviation is the naval air arm of the French Navy. The long-form official designation is Force maritime de l'aéronautique navale. Born as a fusion of carrier squadrons and the naval patrol air force, the Aéronavale was created in 1912. The force is under the command of a flag officer officially named Admiral of Naval Aviation (ALAVIA) with his headquarters at Toulon naval base. It has a strength of around 6,800 military and civilian personnel. It operates from four airbases in Metropolitan France and several detachments in foreign countries or French overseas territories. Carrier-borne pilots of the French navy do their initial training at Salon-de-Provence Air Base after which they undergo their carrier qualification with the US Navy.
The Musée de l'air et de l'espace,, is a French aerospace museum, located at the south-eastern edge of Le Bourget Airport, north of Paris, and in the commune of Le Bourget. It was inaugurated in 1919 after a proposal by the celebrated aeronautics engineer Albert Caquot (1881–1976).
The Netherlands Naval Aviation Service is the naval aviation branch of the Royal Netherlands Navy.
The Breguet 730 was a French flying boat of the 1930s. Built to meet the requirements of the French Navy, it was ordered into production but no aircraft were delivered before France surrendered to Germany in June 1940. Four remaining incomplete airframes were completed after the end of World War II, serving with the French Navy until 1954.
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The Pakistan Naval Air Arm is the naval aviation branch within the Pakistan Navy that is responsible for aerial operations from the seaborne platform.
VP-93, nicknamed the Executioners, was a Patrol Squadron of the U.S. Navy Reserve. It was the second squadron to be assigned the VP-93 designation. The squadron was established on 1 July 1976 and disestablished 18 years later, on 30 September 1994. It flew the Lockheed P-3 Orion, and was based at NAF Detroit during its entire life. Units of the squadron made 17 major overseas deployments.
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