Engineering:Aerfer Ariete

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Short description: 1958 Italian prototype fighter aircraft
Ariete
Ambrosini Aerfar Ariete MM569 (6530699699).jpg
Role Prototype fighter
Manufacturer Aerfer
Designer Sergio Stefanutti
First flight 27 March 1958
Primary user Italian Air Force
Number built 2
Developed from Aerfer Sagittario 2

The Aerfer Ariete (Italian for Ram or Aries) was a prototype fighter aircraft built in Italy in 1958. It was a refined derivative of the Aerfer Sagittario 2, and was an attempt to bring that aircraft up to a standard where it could be mass-produced as a viable combat aircraft.

Retaining most of the Sagittario 2's layout with a nose intake and ventral exhaust for the main Derwent engine, the Ariete added a Rolls-Royce Soar RS.2 auxiliary turbojet engine to provide additional power for climbing and sprinting. This used a dorsal, retractable intake with its exhaust at the tail.

No production ensued; a proposed version with a de Havilland Spectre rocket engine instead of the auxiliary turbojet, the Aerfer Leone (Lion or Leo), was abandoned before a prototype could be built.

Operators

 Italy

Specifications (Ariete)

Data from Air Enthusiast,[2] Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1958-59[3]

General characteristics

  • Crew: 1
  • Length: 9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
  • Wingspan: 7.5 m (24 ft 7 in)
  • Height: 3.28 m (10 ft 9 in)
  • Wing area: 14.5 m2 (156 sq ft)
  • Empty weight: 2,400 kg (5,291 lb)
  • Gross weight: 3,535 kg (7,793 lb)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce Derwent 9 turbojet engine, 16.2 kN (3,600 lbf) thrust
  • Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce RSr.2 Soar turbojet engine, 8.025 kN (1,804 lbf) thrust

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 1,125 km/h (699 mph, 607 kn)
  • Maximum speed: Mach 1.1
  • Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,000 ft)
  • Rate of climb: 227 m/s (44,700 ft/min)
  • Time to altitude: 12,000 m (39,000 ft) in 4 minutes 20 seconds
  • Wing loading: 244 kg/m2 (50 lb/sq ft)
  • Thrust/weight: 0.685
  • Take-off run: 500 m (1,600 ft)
  • Landing run: 900 m (3,000 ft)

Armament

  • Guns: 2 × 30 mm HS-825 cannon (30x136mm)

See also

Related development

References

  1. "Aerfer Ariete". Aeronautica Militare. http://www.aeronautica.difesa.it/storia/museostorico/Pagine/AerferAriete.aspx. Retrieved 3 June 2019. 
  2. Swanborough 1971, p. 108.
  3. Bridgman, Leonard, ed (1958). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1958-59. London: Jane's All the World's Aircraft Publishing Co. Ltd.. p. 187. 

Bibliography

  • Buttler, Tony. X-Planes of Europe II: Military Prototype Aircraft from the Golden Age 1946–1974. Manchester, UK: Hikoki Publications, 2015. ISBN:978-1-90210-948-0
  • Swanborough, Gordon. Air Enthusiast, Volume One. London: Pilot Press, 1971. ISBN:0-385-08171-5.