Page 61 - Aviation News (February 2020)

Main photo: With the radome for the Iguane Alizé 50 in the darker colours introduced in 1991. Before then they wore medium grey top
radar lowered and weapons bay doors surfaces and pale grey undersides. Key Collection
open, this Alizé also sports a pair of rocket
pods. Key Collection fuel-e cient and dependable powerplant sonar, however, and the Alizé then mainly
was a considerable improvement in terms performed SUCAPs (Surface Unit Combat
of safety and endurance, giving excellent Air Patrols) and intelligence-gathering
range and operating radius. missions ahead of the carrier strike group
The fi rst production Alizé was delivered in the later years of its operational career.
to operational squadron Flottille 6F at It could also guide anti-ship strikes carried
Hyères in October 1959, a prestigious unit out by Super Etendards armed with AM39
that had been formed as a Free French naval Exocet missiles. Other roles performed by
air squadron in April 1943. In 1960, both the Alizé included communications relay,
Flottilles 4F and 9F also received their fi rst electronic intelligence, acting as on-site
Alizés, bringing the carrier anti-submarine commander for search and rescue (SAR)
force to its full complement. Moreover, and combat search and rescue (CSAR)
the Br.1050 saw limited operational service missions fl own by Super Frelons, maritime
with Escadrilles (second-line squadrons) 2S, surveillance and pollution control.
3S, 10S and 56S in various support, utility,
target towing and training roles. Escadrille SUCCESSIVE
59S, the dedicated carrier aviation school, MODERNISATION
utilised Alizés at Hyères from July 1972 PROGRAMMES
to June 1989 to train aircrews selected In 1977, with 40 Alizés still in service, it
to fl y the type. The Alizé was in service was decided to modernise the type to
with Flottille 9F until June 1972, when extend its operational e ectiveness into
the unit disbanded, and with Flottille 4F the 1990s. Eventually, only 28 aircraft
at Lann-Bihoué until June 1997 when the were involved in the upgrade programme
squadron temporarily stood down before which encompassed the adoption of a
re-equipping with E-2C Hawkeyes, leaving DRAA-10A Iguane radar, an ARAR 12A
Flottille 6F as the last Alizé operator. electronic surveillance system to detect
To carry out its missions, the Alizé was electromagnetic emissions, a new Omega
armed with depth charges and torpedoes Equinoxe navigation system and a state-
in its internal weapon bay and with of-the-art ARR sonobuoy data processor.
rocket pods and AS12 missiles attached However, this did not signifi cantly improve
to underwing hardpoints. It also carried the anti-submarine warfare capabilities
sonobuoys and smoke markers. The type of the aircraft as it was felt that modern,
mainly fl ew from the carriers Clemenceau nuclear-powered submarines could
87. Twelve and Foch. Over time its anti-submarine better be dealt with by helicopters
were sold to warfare (ASW) role was progressively taken equipped with sonars and by shore-based
the Indian Navy in 1961 (allocated IN201 to over by helicopters fi tted with a dunking maritime patrol aircraft. In service, the
IN212) and account for the missing numbers
in the aforementioned French serials. Two DEPLOYMENTS AND OPERATIONS
additional ex-Aéronavale aircraft, serial
numbers 14 and 18, were later transferred to During the course of its career with the French Navy, the Alizé took part in numerous operations from
the carriers Foch and Clemenceau, in addition to countless training deployments and exercises. For
India where they became IN213 and IN214. example, the Alizé was deployed twice to the Pacifi c for two successive Opérations Alphas, on board
Foch in 1966 and Clemenceau in 1968, to support nuclear weapons trials taking place at the Mururoa
STATE-OF-THE-ART and Fangataufa atolls.
DESIGN The 1970s were dominated by Opérations Saphir I and II in the Indian Ocean, providing maritime
At the time, the Alizé was considered and overland security during the period Djibouti gained its independence from France. In the early
a state-of-the-art aircraft for carrier 1980s, the confl ict in Lebanon led to Alizés performing intelligence-gathering missions to monitor the
situation. Later that decade, in 1987-1988, the threat to oil tankers in the Persian Gulf due to the Iran-
operations. It was rugged and reliable and Iraq War saw the aircraft assisting in the protection of these vessels.
it o ered a signifi cant improvement over In the build up to the liberation of Kuwait from Iraq in 1990, the Clemenceau was used as a helicopter
its American predecessor of the World War carrier to deploy 5ème Régiment d’Hélicoptères de Combat (12 Pumas and 30 Gazelles) to Saudi Arabia,
Two era. Compared to the Avenger, the with Alizés providing maritime protection to the task force. The carrier and four Alizés, however did not
Alizé represented a giant step forward: it take part in Operation Desert Storm.
could e ectively perform the hunter and The aircraft type was also heavily involved in the confl icts in the Balkans in the 1990s, with both
Clemenceau and Foch taking turns deploying to the Adriatic.
killer roles simultaneously, and its powerful,

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