attack plane

Attack aircraft is a combat type of aircraft (helicopter or aircraft), which belongs to the attack aircraft. The purpose of the attack aircraft is to directly support the ground forces over the battlefield and to accurately engage sea and ground targets.

Previously, this type of aircraft was intended to carry out attacks living purposes equipped with thick armor and powerful weapons for shooting down the statutes of the Red Army was called 1928 fighter.

Ground attack - the defeat of sea and ground targets with rockets and small arms and cannon (machine guns and cannons). Such a method is considered the most effective weapons for attacking targets elongated, such as camping equipment and infantry columns or their flocks.

The most devastating blows stormtroopers applied on live soft-skinned vehicles (trucks, rail, car) and manpower. To accomplish the task the aircraft must fly at low altitude with or without shallow dive it ( "fly-by").

History

Aircraft of assault aviation were initially various non-specialized aircraft, such as dive and light bombers, as well as conventional fighters. However, in the 1930-ies, a separate class of aircraft was assigned for assault actions. The fact is that the dive bomber, in comparison with the ground-attack aircraft, only hits point targets. Not suitable for this, and a heavy bomber, which strikes large large fixed targets from a great height, is a great risk to strike your own. Fighter planes do not cover thick armor to increase maneuverability, and such an aircraft, acting at low altitude, is subjected to heavy firing from various weapons.

The most massive attack of World War II and at the same time the most massive military aircraft in aviation history - Il-2. By the end of the Second World War it began to be issued the Il-10.

The German Army also used a specialized aircraft attack aircraft - Henschel Hs 129, but its very small amount has been released, a significant impact, he could not on the outcome of the war. Assault Tasks were assigned to the Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 87G, who had in his equipment two underwing cannon was designed to destroy tanks. Also, the Germans had released a variant with enhanced armor of this aircraft - Ju-87D.

It is impossible to identify a clear class boundaries stormtroopers. Closest to the stormtroopers are such types of aircraft as a dive bomber and fighter-bomber.

During the Second World War, the fighter-bomber did not show itself in this respect, no matter how suitable it seemed for this at first glance. The problem was that it was difficult and expensive to train a qualified pilot of a bomber and a fighter. And to prepare a good combat pilot, who could manage both types of aircraft equally well, is even more difficult. Without this, the fighter-bomber became an ordinary high-speed, but not a dive bomber. Due to the inability to dive and the absence of the second crew member who was responsible for the aiming, the fighter-bombers were not suitable for bombing air strikes. And the lack of sufficient reservation forbade him to operate at low altitudes as effectively as specialized attack planes did.

Most successfully used as an attack aircraft modification fighter Focke-Wulf Fw 190F, serial model fighter Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and Hawker Typhoon.

After the invention of cluster bombs that hit the target more efficiently than small arms, the role of attack aircraft dropped. This has promoted the development of missiles "air-to-surface" (guided missiles appeared, increased their range and accuracy). Increased speed combat aircraft to perform defeat purposes when flying at low altitude it became problematic. But there were helicopters, attack aircraft, which virtually replaced the aircraft with low altitudes.

Therefore, from the Air Force increased resistance to the development of highly specialized ground-attack aircraft in the post-war period.

Despite the fact that the aviation fire support of ground forces has been and until now remains an important component of the battlefield, the main focus is on the development of universal planes that combine the functions of attack aircraft.

These post-war machines became A-7 Corsair II, A-6 Intruder, Blackburn Buccaneer. Sometimes an attack of ground targets was performed using the converted model training aircraft such as Cessna A-37, BAE Hawk and BAC Strikemaster.

In 60-years of the twentieth century, American and Soviet military back to the design concept of a specialized aircraft fire support to troops. The designers of both countries about the same seen such a machine - it has to be armored, highly mobile, have a subsonic flight speed and carry artillery and missile and bomb weapons. Soviet military developed with these requirements in mind agile Su-25, and the Americans - the heavier the plane Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II.

Both aircraft did not carry weapons for air combat (later they were equipped with air-to-air missiles for self-defense, which had a short range). Features of the military-political situation (the superiority of Soviet tanks in Europe) determined the main purpose of A-10 as a specialized anti-tank aircraft. Su-25's mission consisted in fire support of troops on the battlefield (defeat of manpower, all types of transport, fire points, important fortifications and enemy targets), but one of its modifications was analogous to the American "anti-tank" aircraft.

Stormtroopers and is now very much in demand to perform military missions. On military service in the Russian Air Force Su-25 will remain until at least 2020 years. On the role of attack aircraft in NATO offers serial modified fighter, so double notation (eg. F / A-18 Hornet) are applied to them. The use of these high-precision aircraft weapons allows successful attacks without a strong convergence with the target. In the West in recent years, this type of aircraft was called "strike fighter".

Many countries do not use the term "attack" carried out ground attack aircraft, which belong to the class of "tactical fighter", "front-line fighter", "dive bomber" and others.

Currently, attack helicopters also called stormtroopers.

NATO countries designate this class of aircraft with the prefix "A-". 

Classification of aircraft: