Development and Design
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.
In July 1981, the Italian and Brazilian governments agreed on joint requirements for the aircraft, and Embraer was invited to join the partnership. Planned requirements were 187 aircraft for Italy and 100 for Brazil.
The resultant design is a shoulder-winged monoplane, constructed mainly of aluminium, but with carbon fibre fin and elevators. The wing is fitted with both leading edge slats and trailing edge flaps and overwing spoilers ahead of the flaps. These are used to both improve take-off and landing performance and manoevrability. A hybrid flight control system is fitted, with spoilers, rudder and variable incidence tailplane operated by a fly-by-wire system, while the ailerons and elevators are operated hydraulically. Manual reversion is provided for the ailerons, elevator and rudder to allow the aircraft to be flown even in the event of complete hydraulic failure. A Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan was chosen to power the new aircraft. While this was heavier and less modern than some of the alternatives, it was considered to be reliable, relatively cheap and was free of the export retrictions that would be imposed for American engines.
Four underwing and one centreline hardpoint carry air-to-ground munitions, including bombs, missiles and rockets, and drop tanks, while wingtip rails are provided for infra-red guided air-to-air missiles such as the AIM-9 Sidewinder and MAA-1 Piranha. Italian aircraft are fitted with a M61 Vulcan 20 mm rotary cannon on the port side of the lower fuselage. As the United States did not permit the sale of the M61 to Brazil, its AMXs are instead fitted with two 30 mm DEFA 554 revolver cannons.
The first prototype flew on 15 May 1984. Although it was lost on its fifth flight (killing its pilot), the test programme, which used seven aircraft, progressed reasonably smoothly otherwise. Deliveries to Italy started in 1988, with the first examples delivered to the Brazilian Air Force in 1989. Since then, some 200 AMXs have been built.
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