In 1977, the Italian Air Force issued a requirement for a strike fighter to replace its Aeritalia G.91 and some of its F-104 Starfighters. Rather than competing for the contract, Aeritalia (now Alenia Aeronautica) and Aermacchi agreed to make a joint proposal, as both firms had been considering the development of a similar class of aircraft for some years. Aermacchi, for example, had worked on a design study for a light ground attack aircraft, designated MB-340, in the early 1970s. Development work began in April 1978.1
In July 1981, the Italian and Brazilian governments agreed on joint requirements for the aircraft, and Embraer was invited to join the partnership.1
The first prototype flew on 15 May 1984. Although it was lost on its fifth flight (killing its pilot),2 the test programme progressed reasonably smoothly otherwise. Production started by mid-1986, with the first examples delivered to the Italian and Brazilian air forces in 1989. Since then, some 200 AMXs have been built.
| Related Aircraft: Chinese J15, Chinese J20, F-35 JSF, F/A-18, F-22 |
Italian AMX squadrons flew 252 combat sorties over Kosovo as part of Operation Allied Force, without a single loss.
May 1984, the first prototype made its test flight. The AMX for Italy began to be deployed in 1988, and 1989 in Brasil. The whole porduction is about 266 AMXs, Italy has 187 of them and Brasil 79.
The main difference between the AMX in two countries is the weapon and electronic system.
The AMX got a sweepback high positioned wing and normal tail wing. The engine is one Rolls Roys Spey MK.807 non afterburn turbofan engine, thrust 49.1KN. The wing can carry a 1000l fuel tank in the inside pylon and a 500l tank in the outside pylon. The AMX can be airborne refueled.
The core of the electronic equipments is the MIL-1553B Bus, includes EM-M-200B radar, the weapon aimming system based on the Lipton computer, payload management system, HUD, multi-function display, weapon and navigation display, electronic countermeasure system, atmosphere data computer, navigation system and IFF equipment. Since some of them is only used by NATO airforces, the detail of the systems of AMX in the two countries appeared.
The fuselage has a dual pylon. And two 1000 pound pylon is on the inside of the main wing, two 500 pound pylon is on the outside. The wingtip can carry a AIM-9 air-to-air missle. The AMX can carry kinds of air-to-ground missle, anti-radar missle, anti-ship missle, laser guided bomb and rocket. The reconnaissance pod. The Italian type has a M61A1 20mm gun, the Brasilian has a DEFA554 30mm gun.
Wing span 8.87m
Length 13.58m
Height 4.58m
Wing area 31 square meter
Aspect ratio 3.75
Empty weight 6700kg
Takeoff weight 10750kg
Maxium takeoff weight 12750kg
Maxium payload 3800kg
-4g～＋8g
Maxium speed M0.8
Ceiling 13000m
Takeoff distance 950m
Misson Radius 520km
Maxium Range 3150km