Air Weapons

Anti-Submarine (1959)

Breguet

Alizé

Alizé
Alizé

The Breguet Alizé (Tradewind) was France's principal carrier-borne anti-submarine aircraft of the post-war era with over four decades of service with the Aéronavale on board the Foch and Clemenceau. The Alizé was a conventional turoprop with a retractable radome which housed a search radar and two prominent underwing pods for sonobuoys. Although it served admirably in French naval service, the Alizé saw most of its actual combat with the Indian Navy which used it from both shore bases and the carrier Vikrant during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 where they were highly successful. Still, despite dwindling numbers, the Alizé was constantly upgraded throughout its service life with new radar, sensors and communications equipment with the last French unit finally retired from service in the year 2000, a few years after India had done the same.

The design of the Br.1050 Alizé was originally based on the failed Breguet Br.960 Vultur (Vulture) naval strike aircraft. It featured different Rolls-Royce engines and first flew on 6 October 1956 in prototype form, entering service three years later. No major variants of the basic design were ever built although they recieved a number of significant avionics upgrades in the 1980s and 90s.

Preceded by:

None

Succeeded by:

None

Datafile

DesignAlizé
TypeAnti-Submarine
Year1959
Crew3
Dimensions
Length13.87 m
Height5 m
Wing Span15.60 m
Wing Arean/a
Weight
Empty5,700 kg
Maximum8,200 kg
Wing Loading227.8 kg/m²
Performance
Speed460 km/h
Ceiling8,000 m
Range2,500 km
Powerplant
Engine1 x Dart RDa Mk. 21
Rolls-Royce
1,566 kW
Thrust/Weight0.33
Sensors
RadarIguane
Armament
Guns-
Payload800 kg
Hardpoints2
AS WeaponsAS.12
Production
Built87
Total92

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