Douglas A-4 Skyhawk: Attack & Close-Support Fighter Bomber by Jim Winchester

Author:Jim Winchester [Winchester, Jim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473804074
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Published: 2004-09-30T07:00:00+00:00

Post war

It is generally accepted that fifty-three to fifty-five Israeli Skyhawks were lost in the Yom Kippur War. Many of the losses were caused by infrared-guided SA-7 SAMs. The Sa’ar survived many SA-7 hits in cases where the Ayit was lost. This was attributed to the Sa’ar’s exhaust pipe extending aft of the tail surfaces, which were easily damaged by warhead fragments on the Skyhawk. To reduce their IR signature, Israel’s A-4s were fitted with a tailpipe extension, called ‘chavit’ (barrel) in a post-war modification programme. This moved the heat source as seen by the missile seeker further aft and cooled it slightly. A missile that did explode in the heat plume was likely to be further behind the aircraft where its shrapnel could do less damage to the tail control surfaces. A variation of this idea had been tested at China Lake on the first production A4D-1 Skyhawk as early as 1963 using a long asbestos pipe that protruded from the exhaust. Although several variations of tailpipe extension and shield were tested as part of Project DIRTY, the concept was not applied to American A-4s.

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