12
hels, and msls are engine driven.
Airplanes
are also termed
winged
or
fixed-wing
acft while
hels
are called
bladed
or
rotary-wing
acft.
Rotary-wing acft
are supported by rotors of two or more blades and have no
propellers to create forward push or pull. The rotors provide both lift and horizontal
motion. The hel can rise and descend vertically, fly backward, sideways, forward or
hover over one point.
Fixed-wing acft
are most widely used. They are usually described according to
the
type of landing gear
(landplanes, seaplanes and amphibian planes),
type and
number of engines
(jet-powered and propeller-driven; single- or multi-engine) and
wing arrangement
. Airplanes with one main wing called
monoplanes
; those with
two wings, one above the other,
biplanes
. The location of the monoplane's wing
vertically with respect to the fuselage designates it as a
low-wing
,
mid-wing
or
high-
wing
.
Jet planes
usually have
swept
wings or
delta
wings.
Recent developments in aeronautics have brought to life the
vertical and/or
short takeoff and landing
(V/STOL) and the
variable-sweep wing
(or swing-wing)
acft.
1.4. ТEXT
TYPES OF MILITARY AIRCRAFT
Mil acft
are classified as bombers, fighter-bombers and attack acft, fighters,
interceptors, observation acft, reconnaissance acft, special electronic installation acft,
cargo acft, tankers, trainers and helicopters.
Bmrs
are acft designed for bombing en tgts. Side by side with the ICBM and
SLBM the piloted bmr is one of three wpns of vast destructive power. All three are
capable of delivering thermo-nuclear warheads on to distant tgts. The
crew members
of a bmr are plt, copilot, navigator, aerial engineer, radio operator, bmdr, and a
gunner. The
main chars and performance
of a bmr include a great max takeoff
weight, heavy bomb load, large max range or fuel endurance, long safe takeoff and
landing distances and a rather high cruising speed.
Ftr-bmrs
and
atk acft
are designed to search out, atk and destroy en land and
sea tgts, using conventional or special wpns. They are also used for interdiction and
close air support msns. Unlike strat bmrs, tac atk acft normally operate over battle
areas near their own airfields. Their plts must be able to find the tgts, whatever the
conditions - even when those are highly mobile vehs such as tks and small naval cft -
and destroy them. They must be sufficiently maneuverable to dodge gnd fire and
msls, and to outfly en ftrs.
Ftrs
are designed to intercept and destroy other acft and protect frd bmrs. They
possess high absolute and service ceilings, great max and cruising speeds (of the
order of Mach number 3), and a very high rate of climb. Their safe takeoff distance is
usually relatively small due to both powerful turbojets giving tremendous thrust and
boosters jettisoned after takeoff. The takeoff and landing speed of a jet ftr are also
very high.
1
