Panavia/Intelani Aeronautics SA-77C Wildfire

(This is a mostly fictional history.)

 

The SA-77C Wildfire owes its existence to the British requirement for a development of the Panavia Tornado strike aircraft into an interceptor, known as the Tornado Air Defense Variant (ADV) by Panavia and the Tornado F.2 by the RAF. As such, the Tornado ADV would be longer than the IDS, with a longer nose for the Marconi/Ferranti AI.24 Foxhunter multimode radar, and a two-foot fuselage stretch to allow the design to accommodate four Sky Flash missiles. This stretch also reduced drag and allowed the Tornado ADV to carry more fuel. The ADV’s purpose was more or less that of a pure interceptor, designed to fly far out over the North Sea and intercept Soviet bombers long before they reached missile range of the UK.

 

Though other nations of the Panavia consortium had no interest in the ADV—Germany and Italy were not likely to face Soviet bombers but strike aircraft, which could be handled by German F-4Fs and Italian F-104S—the fourth member of the consortium, the Free Intelani Republic, was very much interested in the ADV. At the time, the primary interceptor of the FIRAF was the obsolescent F-106A Delta Dart, and although the F-15 Eagle was beginning to enter service, the FIR desired a secondary source of equipment besides the United States. Moreover, the FIR Congress and Ministry of Defense wanted a new interceptor to be built in the FIR itself. This made the Tornado ADV perfect for everyone involved, as Intelani Aeronautics was already producing parts for the Tornado IDS and Predator Propulsion was already producing engines. The Tornado ADV then became a joint project between the UK and the FIR, with both nations signing a memorandum of development in October 1979, the same month the prototype Tornado ADV, produced by British Aerospace, had flown.

 

Very quickly, however, both nations discovered that they had differing ideas in the direction of the ADV. Intelani Aeronautics saw little reason for a two-seat interceptor, citing that the F-15 and F-106 were single-seaters, and thus the FIRAF had no trained Weapon Systems Officers. To create such a position would increase the overall operating costs of the Tornado, which was already slightly higher than the F-15 due to its use of variable-sweep wings. With this in mind, Intelani Aeronautics proposed a single-seat version of the ADV, which British Aerospace refused, citing that the RAF already operated two-seat interceptors (the Phantom FGR.2) and was moving away from single-seat fighters like the Lightning.

 

Not wishing to delay development of the ADV, the two companies came to an agreement: the British would continue development of the two-seat Tornado F.2, and the intelanis would go forward with the single-seat SA-77C. The second seat in the SA-77C would be used as an electronics bay, which also allowed the SA-77C to retain both 27mm Mauser cannon; the Tornado F.2 deleted one cannon to make room for its electronics suite. This was enough of a design change that Intelani Aeronautics renamed the SA-77C as the Wildfire, reflecting the desire of the company for a “home-grown” design. The FIRAF duly placed an order for 36 SA-77Cs in October 1979, with an option for 24 more.

 

Seemingly freed from the burden of working on a joint project—though the Wildfire and the Tornado were still basically the same aircraft—Intelani Aeronautics began changing other aspects of the aircraft, despite warnings from both British Aerospace and Minister of Defense Akela Canis that the intelani company was getting carried away with their “new” fighter. Recognizing that the planned Foxhunter radar was intended for a two-man crew, Intelani Aeronautics redesigned the cockpit and introduced revolutionary data management systemry, reducing the workload of the pilot considerably. Reportedly inspired by the movie Firefox, the designers also commissioned Holly Electronics to design a rearward-firing rocket pack, which could launch either decoys for missiles or shoot down enemy fighters closing to gun range. Holly was to name it the Stego (short for Stegosaurus, the dinosaur which carried spikes in its tail), and the Stego was installed below and between the twin engines. To guide the Stego, a rearward-facing television camera (TCS) was also installed, at the base of the tail; this was also to satisfy pilots’ concerns of the poor rearward-vision of the Wildfire, a problem the Tornado ADV shared but one considered secondary in a bomber interceptor. Finally—something originally planned for the fighter—the Wildfire was rewired to carry the AIM-7 Sparrow in the semi-recessed fuselage wells rather than the British-specific Sky Flash. Almost at the last minute, Intelani Aeronautics also added a boom/plug refuelling receptacle just behind the cockpit, allowing the Wildfire to refuel in both USAF-standard boom/plug and European-standard probe/drogue.

 

The first completed SA-77C Wildfire took to the air in July 1980, six months ahead of schedule. The first production aircraft were supplied to three squadrons that “stood up” simutaneously: the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Fighter Squadrons, all of which got their first Wildfires before the end of the year. Pilots were already trained in Tornado operations, having flown with the NATO TTTE Tornado training unit at RAF Cottesmore prior to 1980. The initial batches of Wildfires lacked radars, but these were installed retroactively in all aircraft prior to January 1981.

 

Almost immediately, pilots began to report severe problems. While the aircraft flew fine, and pilots praised the work-management system and its climb performance, the initial batch of Foxhunter radars were very unreliable. GEC-Marconi, which supplied the radars, pointed out that the Foxhunter was still in its test phase, and Intelani Aeronautics had rushed installation of the radar to get the SA-77C into service by its planned delivery date; the RAF, due to budget difficulties and the emphasis placed on the Tornado IDS, was not planning on getting its first Tornado F.2s until 1983 at the earliest, and had yet to even test the Foxhunter. Pilots, however, also reported that the radar itself had distinct difficulties as designed, which led Marconi to begin reworking it—which in turn delayed delivery of the Foxhunter even more.

 

To the consternation of the FIRAF Wildfire squadrons, this meant that the supposedly “obsolete” F-106 was more capable than the brand-new SA-77C, because the FIRAF’s F-106s had been refitted with the same APG-63 radar as the F-15. To make matters worse, the “revolutionary” Stego rearward defense pod was also unreliable—when it worked, which was not often, the shock of firing it tended to knock out the rearward TCS, while the rockets themselves were very inaccurate. After one Wildfire was destroyed when the rockets exploded, after being ignited by the Wildfire’s engines, Minister Canis ordered them removed, though Intelani Aeronautics continued to produce the Wildfire with the Stego, hoping the problems would be worked out.

 

With a radar that was unreliable and often not even delivered, a rearward defense pod that was more dangerous to the pilot than to the enemy, and teething troubles common to any new aircraft, the SA-77C Wildfire program was in trouble. Critics pointed out that the F-15 was far more reliable, capable, and cheaper to operate, and that even the F-106 was, as long as the Foxhunter remained plagued with problems, more capable. Canis agreed and cancelled the option to acquire any more beyond the 36 aircraft ordered, aside from attrition replacements. Intelani Aeronautics, now under new management, accepted the judgement quietly, and began work on new designs—one of which was to culminate in the highly-successful F-31 Stingray. In the meantime, the Foxhunters were taken out of the existing SA-77Cs and replaced with APG-63s taken from redundant modified F-106s (which at least spared the FIRAF from the fate of the RAF’s Tornado F.2s, which went into service with “Blue Circle” concrete ballast in the nose). Holly also began reworking the Stego pod, which would eventually become the forward-firing, fairly successful Zinger guided rocket pod.

 

By the beginning of the Third World War in 1984, the FIRAF was planning on replacing the SA-77C Wildfire with F-15 Eagles, but the war ended those plans. Instead, the three squadrons operating Wildfires—the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd FS—went to war with their aircraft in September 1984. In combat, the SA-77C proved to be a fairly decent interceptor and did score a small number of kills, but clearly was overmatched against more nimble Soviet fighters; the AIM-7 Sparrow was still somewhat unreliable, which robbed the Wildfire of its most potent weapon. As an interim fighter until more F-15s could be made available—the USAF needing all the F-15 attrition replacements it could get at the time—the SA-77C squadrons would replace their aircraft with A-4ES Skyhawks, though in the end the 3rd FS received F-16As instead.

 

Surviving SA-77Cs were consolidated into a single squadron—the 51st FS—which only operated the aircraft in the FIR for six months before becoming the first squadron to operate the F-31 Stingray. The last SA-77C was retired from FIRAF service without much ceremony in July 1985, five years to the day of its entry into service. Intelani Aeronautics retained three for testbeds, while the others were placed in storage at Dinosaur IAFB in case they should be needed. They were not, and so starting in 1988 these remaining aircraft, save those retained for museums, were scrapped in situ or used as targets.

 

The "SA-77C" here was an easy "conversion" from Revell's 1/144 Tornado IDS--the rear cockpit was painted over and a F-16 refueling plug decal applied. It carries four AIM-7M Sparrows and two AIM-9J Sidewinders (taken from a F-14 kit), though the Sparrows can't be seen. The camouflage scheme is similar to that carried by German Marineflieger Tornado IDSs in the 1980s, with the fictional "Free Intelani Air Force" and "2nd Fighter Squadron" tail markings. Tailcodes were hand-lettered with a felt pen. As a diecast toy Tornado was one of my first airplane toys, this model was fun to do, as was the "history" of a fictional aircraft.

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