Double Zero
8th Aug 2008, 16:46
Does anyone remember the SABA - Small Agile Battlefield Aircraft - proposed by BAe Kingston in the late 1980's ?
It was a small, canard design, with a ( hopefully ) powerful pusher turboprop, and a computer guided 360 degree-ish ? cannon turret underneath, + pylon carried stores - a sort of poor man's / thinking man's version of an A-10, depending on one's point of view.
It might be useful in the wars we are fighting right now, or would it be easy meat for anyone with a Stinger or even RPG ?
The thing was received very poorly at Dunsfold at the time as a paper-aeroplane sop, and as far as I know it never got near the cutting metal stage.
BAe had already moved the exportable Hawk production line to Wart On to keep it afloat despite their miserable products -( seen any Warton hardware sold successfully to the USA ? both Harrier & Hawk did...) , and were obviously planning to close Kingston & Dunsfold ASAP, quite seriously through nothing other than northern bias ( check out the directors of the time, and if you can, who was sleeping with who ).
I just exchanged comments with a chap in the front line who says they need an aircraft capable of precision support, closer and slower than a Harrier, but not as vulnerable to RPG's as an Appache - anyone have any clues if SABA would have been a good idea ?
Personally I'd think while agile and with 'intelligent' aiming systems, it would still have been too vulnerable - better off buying A-10's & fitting decent systems, as the USAF have found !
Did it have any merit, or was it indeed as most of us at the time thought, a fanciful sop to make out investment in Dunsfold / Kingston was still happening ?
It was a small, canard design, with a ( hopefully ) powerful pusher turboprop, and a computer guided 360 degree-ish ? cannon turret underneath, + pylon carried stores - a sort of poor man's / thinking man's version of an A-10, depending on one's point of view.
It might be useful in the wars we are fighting right now, or would it be easy meat for anyone with a Stinger or even RPG ?
The thing was received very poorly at Dunsfold at the time as a paper-aeroplane sop, and as far as I know it never got near the cutting metal stage.
BAe had already moved the exportable Hawk production line to Wart On to keep it afloat despite their miserable products -( seen any Warton hardware sold successfully to the USA ? both Harrier & Hawk did...) , and were obviously planning to close Kingston & Dunsfold ASAP, quite seriously through nothing other than northern bias ( check out the directors of the time, and if you can, who was sleeping with who ).
I just exchanged comments with a chap in the front line who says they need an aircraft capable of precision support, closer and slower than a Harrier, but not as vulnerable to RPG's as an Appache - anyone have any clues if SABA would have been a good idea ?
Personally I'd think while agile and with 'intelligent' aiming systems, it would still have been too vulnerable - better off buying A-10's & fitting decent systems, as the USAF have found !
Did it have any merit, or was it indeed as most of us at the time thought, a fanciful sop to make out investment in Dunsfold / Kingston was still happening ?