Buk Aviation F-1

The **Buk Aviation F-1** is an Inukpak single-seat, single-engine, short-medium range combat aircraft. Development work on the type was initiated at Buk Aviation since 1952 and, following the selection of a radical delta wing configuration, the resulting aircraft performed its first flight in 1970 and entered service a year later. It was the first canard design produced in quantity by the country.

Several distinct variants of the F-1 were produced to perform the roles of strike fighter, aerial reconnaissance, maritime patrol, and a two-seat trainer. In 2005, all variants of the F-1 were retired from service, save for the multirole variant, after there was a drop in demand for fulfilling aerial reconnaissance, trainer, or maritime patrol roles.

The F-1 was Inukpak's first domestically made supersonic fighter jet. The country has had experience in the aviation sector for quite some time, but it was mainly limited to turboprop designs, pre-WW2 designs, or non-fighter designs.

## History

Over 100 different concepts were examined in these studies, involving both single- and twin engine configurations, both traditional and double delta wings, and canard wings. Even VTOL designs were considered, with separate lift engines, but were soon identified as being unacceptable. The F-1 was planned as an integrated weapon system from the onset, capable of being efficiently adapted to perform all tactical mission roles. Some of the requirements put forward by the Inukpak Armed Forces stipulated that the F-1 must include supersonic ability at low level, Mach  2 performance at altitude, and the ability to perform short landings at low angles of attack. The aircraft was also designed from the beginning to be easy to repair and service, even for untrained personnel.

One radical requirement of the proposed aircraft was the ability for it to be operated from short runways only 500 meters long; this was part of the Bas 60 airbase system that had been introduced by the Board of War since the end of World War II. Bas 60 revolved around force dispersal of aircraft across many wartime air bases, including road runways acting as backup runways. Utilizing partially destroyed runways was another factor that motivated STOL capability. Enabling such operations imposed several critical demands upon the design, including a modest landing speed, no-flare touchdown, powerful post-landing deceleration, accurate steering even in crosswinds on icy surfaces, and high acceleration on take-off. Most of these demands were needed, especially since an overwhelming amount of land in the northern reaches of the country are icy, rural, and oftentimes impractical to host proper airbases.

## Design

The F-1 was powered by a single low-bypass turbofan with an afterburner. The airframe also incorporated a thrust reverser to use during landings and land manoeuvres, which, combined with the aircraft having flight capabilities approaching a limited STOL-like performance, enabled operations from 500 m airstrips with minimal support.

Various electronic countermeasures were installed onboard the F-1, which were largely designed and manufactured by the Port Wallis Precision Machinery Corporation. These included a radar warning receiver system in the wings and the tail, a jamming pod, and a chaff/flare pod. Infrared warning receivers were also installed.

The aircraft's principal sensor was a X-band monopulse radar, which used a mechanically steered parabolic reflector housed in a radome. This radar performed several functions, including air-to-ground and air-to-air telemetry, search, track, terrain-avoidance and cartography.It was later superseded by an upgraded radar with an all-weather look-down/shoot-down capability reportedly in excess of 50 kilometres and continuous-wave illumination for fired missiles, plus the ability to track multiple targets while scanning. The radar also possessed a high level of resistance to interference from ECM.

A weapons load of up to 7,000 kg could be accommodated on nine hardpoints: one centreline pylon, two fuselage pylons, two inner and two outer wing pylons and two pylons behind the wing landing gear. A pair of air-to-air missiles were intended to be placed on the outboard wing pylons, which were more lightweight than the other attachment points. The ground crew would enter the munitions fitted into the aircraft's central computer using a load-selector panel, which would automatically choose the correct values for fire control, fuel consumption, and other calculations.

## Operators

* Inukpak Armed Forces: 55 remain in service and were upgraded over the years.

## Variants

* **F-1 Classic:** the original production variant.
* **F-1T:** a two-seat trainer variant with no radar and reduced fuel load. 24 airframes delivered. 18 remain in service.
* **F-1S:** a single-seat photographic reconnaissance aircraft. Onboard radars were replaced by batteries for cameras, while a camera was installed on the nose radome. There were provisions for additional reconnaissance pods. 4 airframes delivered. All decommissioned in 1982.
* **F-1M:** a single-seat maritime reconnaissance and strike aircraft. A magnetic anomaly detector was placed on the belly of the aircraft, and hardpoints were equipped to carry torpedoes/anti-ship missiles. 17 airframes delivered. All decommissioned in 2006.
* **G-1:** prototype for a single-seat all-weather interceptor fighter, with a secondary attack role. Abandoned in 1984.
* **F-1:** Modernized variant of the F-1 Classic that is in service today. Contains the same data bus, navigation system, air data computer, radar altimeter, pulse-Doppler X band multi-mode radar, flight controls, and armaments as the Buk Aviation F-2A.

## Specifications

**General characteristics**

* **Crew:** 1
* **Length:** 16.4 m
* **Wingspan:** 10.6 m
* **Height:** 5.9 m
* **Wing area:** 46 m2
* **Empty weight:** 9,500 kg
* **Gross weight:** 16,000 kg
* **Max takeoff weight:** 20,000 kg
* **Powerplant:** 1 × afterburning turbofan, 72.1 kN thrust dry, 125 kN with afterburner

**Performance**

* **Maximum speed:** 2,231 km/h at 11,000 m
* **Maximum speed:** Mach 2.1
* **Range:** 2,000 km internal fuel only
* **Service ceiling:** 18,000 m
* **Rate of climb:** 203 m/s

**Armament**

* 1 × 30 mm cannon with 150 rounds
* 6 missile stations for 2 medium-range semi-active radar homing air-to-air missiles, and 2 beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles;
* OR: 6 short-range air-to-air missiles;
* OR: 4 135mm rocket pods.
* ECM Pod and countermeasures from PWPMC