Good morning,
In my quest bust myths, smash speculation and establish some hard, verfied facts regarding the capabilities of our lovely old Cheetah's, I'm hoping some of the ex-SAAF / 'in-the-know' types on the forum might be able help me with a few nagging questions.... Here goes:
1. What radar does the Cheetah C carry, EL/M-2032, EL/M-2032B, EL/M-2035… something else? Online sources struggle to agree with anything other than Israeli / product of the Lavi programme...
2. I've heard the integrated EW system referred to as the EWSPS (Electronic Warfare Self-Protection System). Was that the actual system description?
3. Staying with the 'EWSPS' does anyone have any specific, verified names/details regarding the sub-systems?
a. RWR?
b. Self-protection Jammer?
c. CMDS (countermeasure dispensing system)?
4. The Cheetah C has a Weapons Delivery and Navigation System (WDNS). I presume this was Israeli and possibly the same unit fitted to the Cheetah E..? Does anyone have any details on the actual system installed? I believe the Kfir carried the WDNS-391…
5. Not counting pictures of TFDC aircraft conducting what I presume were clearance trials with various exotic loadouts, I'm only confident of the following operationally cleared and utilised loadouts:
a. 2x V3S
b. 2x V4
c. 2x V3S + 1x centreline tank (825 litre?)
d. 2x V4 + 1x centreline tank (825 litre?)
e. 8x 120kg LD bombs, 2 mounted under each wing drop tank, centreline clear
f. 10x 120kg LD bombs, 2 mounted under each wing drop tank, tandem bomb pylon on centreline
g. 1x centreline droptank (825 litre?) + 2x wing tanks (1300 litre?)
h. 1x Vicon 18-601 recce pod + 2x 2x wing tanks (1300 litre?)
6. Regarding items e. and f. above:
a. What was the designation and capacity of the combo wing tank/tandem bomb rack (600 litres?)
b. Operationally, would a/c also carry A-A missiles on their outermost pylons when flying under this strike configuration.
7. Regarding item g. above, were the a/c cleared to carry A-A missiles on their outermost pylons when flying with the 1300 litre wing tanks?
8. I have been led to believe that the LGB cleared on Cheetah was the IAI Griffin system, integrated with 250kg (Mk82 type) bombs. Is that accurate and if so, was it cleared for deployment from both Cheetah C's and D's?
9. Was the Cheetah C (or D) cleared to carry any of the following:
a. V3B
b. V3C
c. U-Darter
d. Mk 20 Rockeye
e. Rocket pods
f. 250kg LD bombs (if so how many)
g. 460kg bombs
h. H-2 / Raptor
i. Anything else…?
10. The use of helmet mounted sights with Cheetah / V3B-S is widely reported online, however, unless the system was extremely elegant and unobtrusive, I don't think any such system was ever taken up into operational use. Is that an accurate assessment or have I missed something…?
Thanks in advance for the knowledge!