BR 1150 M.
| Breguet Atlantic | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Type: | Telecommunication and electronic reconnaissance |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
October 21, 1961 |
| Number of pieces: |
115 |
The aircraft type BR 1150 M (measurement version ) operated by the German Armed Forces was the SIGINT version of the BR 1150 Atlantic MPA . The task and equipment differed significantly from that of the MPA version. It served the ELINT and COMINT reconnaissance from the air. The equipment came from the USA and the exact composition was kept secret, although the task and use had changed significantly since the fall of the Berlin Wall, or had ceased to exist.
Task
With the construction of the Wall within Germany from 1962 and the iron curtain through the Eastern Bloc, the border with GDR and Czechoslovakia with a length of almost 2,000 km - including the Baltic Sea - formed the interface between East and West during the Cold War . Due to the isolation of the East, the gathering of information about military events and activities, especially for the advance warning of impending conflicts, was now largely limited to non-timely, imaging reconnaissance. To this end, the territory to be scouted was initially flown over with aircraft such as the Lockheed U-2 ; later satellites were used, supplemented by observation and surveillance across national borders. For electronic reconnaissance, the FRG set up a surveillance system with reconnaissance towers along the Iron Curtain, whose range (penetration depth) was limited despite the location on hills and mountains and could only cover the regions of the area of interest near the border. On the Baltic Sea, the fleet service boats carried out this monitoring, which was limited in range.
With the worsening of the global political situation and the emergence of the Cold War in the mid-1960s, NATO and Germany, at the urging of the USA , endeavored to extend the range of their reconnaissance systems to improve the advance warning period into the depths of the GDR and beyond. This could only be achieved with receivers and sensors in high-flying aircraft.
In return for the modernization of the existing and the introduction of new weapon systems by the states of the Eastern Bloc, NATO endeavored to control the operating frequencies of its radar and fire control systems (ELINT), its communication systems (COMINT) and theirs in daily operations as well as during exercises and maneuvers of the Eastern Bloc Capture, analyze and assign language and command content and save it in databases for operational support in the event of possible conflicts.
Realization / use
The relatively young Federal Republic of Germany saw its duty here, took five aircraft from the upcoming series of the German MPA- Breguet Atlantic and had them equipped with a SIGINT system in the USA by the company E-Systems (now Raytheon ). After the Foreign Military Sales (FMS), the USA contractually secured the ownership and model maintenance of the SIGINT equipment and of the reconnaissance results for life. The German operators are still obliged (even if only more traditionally) to pass on all informed contacts and findings to the USA. Changes to the system may not be made by Germany without the consent of the USA; In the case of long-term work on the aircraft, the equipment must first be removed in the USA before the aircraft can be flown back to Dornier (now EADS ) for overhaul .
An alternative to these provisions would have been for NATO and the USA to carry out surveillance missions along the inner-German borders without German participation, which would have contradicted the (partial) sovereignty of the Federal Republic that was regained at the time.
Due to the diversity of the systems to be investigated in the Air Force or Navy of the East, the evaluation teams for missions along the border over land and sea consisted of members of the Navy or Air Force.
With the end of the Cold War and confidence-building through the CSCE treaties, the actual mission was outdated. Today's main task is to provide operational support for the acquisition of electromagnetic signals to create an electronically generated situation report (Electronic Order of Battle) and also search and rescue operations (SAR). This task requires active participation and a lot of experience from the operators on board through the immediate evaluation and transfer of the reconnaissance results to the operations center. For COMINT reception and clarification, the operators on board must understand the foreign languages and their dialects.
The last of the five BR 1150 M (61 + 03) machines completed their last flight on June 20, 2010, ending an era in the German Navy that had lasted more than 40 years. The 61 + 02 was retired in 1992, the 61 + 18 was scrapped at LwInsthRgt 1 in mid-March 2005 after it was taken out of service in Erding, the 61 + 19 was transferred to the Peenemünde airfield for the museum there on December 15, 2006 and the 61 + 06 is used since October 21, 2009 as Gate Guard of the Aeronauticum Nordholz.
Differences to the MPA version
From the outside, an elongated radome in the weapon bay and modified pods on the wing ends are noticeable. During the reconnaissance flight, the aircraft opens the covers of the weapon bay until the radome is "unobstructed". There are no openings for the buoy launcher, but the radome at the bow is still visible. It is therefore not possible to tell whether the radar contained in the MPA version is being used.
Inside the cabin, the consoles of the MPA version should be equipped with other displays and devices for ELINT and COMINT. During longer flights, there are two crews of operators on board because the operator's concentration on the equipment decreases so rapidly after about three hours that a break is necessary.
This is precisely why this weapon system should be replaced by the unmanned EuroHawk . Here, the sensor results are transmitted to ground stations in real time via a data link and can then be evaluated by a large number of well-rested specialists who can be removed at any time.
Technical specifications
The technical performance data correspond to those of the MPA version. The higher number of crew members is explained by the double crew of evaluators on board.
| Parameter | Data Breguet 1150 Atlantic |
|---|---|
| crew | up to 17 people |
| length | 31.7 m |
| span | 36.3 m |
| Torso height | 4 m |
| Trunk width | 2.90 m |
| Empty mass | 24,000 kg |
| Max. Takeoff mass | 43,200 kg |
| Engine | 2 turboprops Rolls-Royce RTY.20 Tyne Mk 21 |
| power | 4,500 kW each |
| Top speed | 650 km / h |
| Marching speed | 570 km / h |
| Service ceiling | 9,145 m |
| Range | 8,000 km |
| Max. Duration of use | 18 h |
See also
literature
- Siegfried Wache: Breguet 1150 Atlantic Naval Aviator. Row: F-40. Bundeswehr aircraft. BMVD Verlag, ISBN 3-935761-44-9 .
Web links
- Description of the BR 1150 in the German Navy
Individual evidence
- ↑ Frauke Wolfsturm: An era is coming to an end. German Navy, June 17, 2010, accessed on May 6, 2014 .
