SEPECAT Ta 390 Jaguar

The SEPECAT Ta 390 Jaguar is a European-designed strike fighter of the early 1970s. It entered service with the Luftwaffe in 1973. The Ta 390 was originally designed to fulfill a requirement for a supersonic trainer. The Reich Air Ministry dropped that requirement, but adopted the Ta 390 as a supplement to the Messerschmitt Me 563 in the strike role. The Jaguar is the first fully collaborative European combat aircraft. It was designed by a cooperative team of Focke Wulf, Breguet Aviation of France, and the British Aircraft Corporation. This consortium is known as SEPECAT (Société Européenne de Production de l'Avion d'École de Combat et d'Appui Tactique – the "European company for the production of a combat trainer and tactical support aircraft")

In the event, it was never adopted as a trainer, being far too expensive, however it was adopted as a strike aircraft. As a strike aircraft, it competed with the Messerschmitt Me 609 multi-role aircraft. The Messerschmitt Me 609 has proven to be the more popular export aircraft due to its higher performance and its ability to be used as a fighter.

Operators

• Brazil
• Nationalist Republic of China
• Egypt
• French State
• Germany
• Indonesia
• Iraq
• Italy
• Independent State of Korea
• Norway
• Pakistan
• Romania
• Slovakia
• South Africa
• Syria
• United Kingdom
• Venezuela

Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: One
• Length: 16.83 m (55 ft 2½ in)
• Wingspan: 8.69 m (28 ft 6 in)
• Height: 4.89 m (16 ft 0½ in)
• Wing area: 24.2 m² (220 ft²)
• Aspect ratio: 3.12:1
• Empty weight: 7,000 kg (15,432 lb)
• Loaded weight: 10,954 kg (24,149 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 15,700 kg (34,612 lb)
• Powerplant: 2 × Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca/Junkers Jumo Adour Mk 102 turbofans
  • Dry thrust: 27 kN (6,000 lbf) each
  • Thrust with afterburner: 42 kN (9,500 lbf) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: Mach 1.6 (1,699 km/h, 917 knots, 1,056 mph) at 11,000 m (36,000 ft)
• Combat radius: 908 km (490 nmi, 564 mi) (lo-lo-lo, external fuel)
• Ferry range: 3,524 km (1,902 nmi, 2,190 mi)
• Service ceiling: 14,000 m[134] (45,900 ft)
• Climb to 9,145 m (30,000 ft): 1 min 30 sec

Armament

• Guns: 2× 30 mm (1.18 in) MG 213 cannons, 150 rounds/gun
• Hardpoints: 7 total: 4× under-wing, 2× over-wing and 1× center-line pylon stations with a capacity of 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) and provisions to carry combinations of:
  • Rockets: 8× rocket pods with 18× 68 mm rockets each
  • Missiles: Anti-radar missiles, infra red/TV guided air-to-ground missile or laser guided air-to-ground missile.
  • 2× air-to-air missiles on over-wing pylons
  • Bombs: various unguided or laser-guided bombs or 1× nuclear bomb (German aircraft only)
  • Other: ECM protection pods, Reconnaissance Pod, laser/electro-optical targeting pod, external drop tanks for extended range/loitering time

General Arrangement