The ALR Piranha was an aircraft project undertaken by the
Swiss Air Force
The Swiss Air Force (german: Schweizer Luftwaffe; french: Forces aériennes suisses; it, Forze aeree svizzere; rm, Aviatica militara svizra) is the air component of the Swiss Armed Forces, established on 31 July 1914 as a part of the army an ...
's Swiss Working Group for Aerospace (ALR) to develop a lightweight
multi-role combat aircraft with
canard
Canard is French for duck, a type of aquatic bird.
Canard may also refer to:
Aviation
*Canard (aeronautics), a small wing in front of an aircraft's main wing
* Aviafiber Canard 2FL, a single seat recreational aircraft of canard design
* Blé ...
wings. The ALR is the Aerospace Project Development Group of the Swiss Air Force. The project was managed by Bridel, an engineer at the
ETH Zurich
(colloquially)
, former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule
, image = ETHZ.JPG
, image_size =
, established =
, type = Public
, budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021)
, rector = Günther Dissertori
, president = Joël Mesot
, a ...
(the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology).
History

After the Swiss government cancelled the
FFA N-20
The EFW N-20 Aiguillon (in ) was Switzerland's first indigenous jet fighter project. The Swiss Federal Aircraft Factory developed a design for a four-engined swept winged fighter following the end of the Second World War. An unpowered sub-scale N ...
and an order for 100
FFA P-16
The FFA P-16 was a Swiss prototype ground attack jet fighter designed and produced by aircraft manufacturer Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein (FFA). It was Switzerland's second attempt to develop a domestically designed and manufactured jet f ...
s, the Swiss aviation industry and the
ETH Zurich
(colloquially)
, former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule
, image = ETHZ.JPG
, image_size =
, established =
, type = Public
, budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021)
, rector = Günther Dissertori
, president = Joël Mesot
, a ...
made a final attempt to build their own Swiss fighter aircraft. The plans called for a small fighter plane similar in class to the
F-5E, which the Swiss Air Force later ordered.
In the 1960s and 1970s, modern military aircraft equipment was too expensive for small states to afford. The increase in the cost of flight material and weapons resulted in reductions in fleet sizes and capacity of service branches of small states to perform in combat. The strategy for the ALR Piranha was to deliver a design that would utilize common parts that could be built to support multiple mission types; air and ground attack, reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and operational training.
The result was a fighter plane with significantly reduced size relative to the F-5E (20% smaller surface).
The Piranha design was of
close-coupled canard arrangement, with a
shoulder-mounted, low
aspect ratio main wing of near-delta plan.
[''Air International'' February 1980, pp. 78–79.] Seven hard-points for weapons were planned, with four under-wing pylons and one on the aircraft center line rated at , plus rails on the aircraft's wingtips for air-to-air missiles such as the
AIM-9 Sidewinder
The AIM-9 Sidewinder (where "AIM" stands for "Air Intercept Missile") is a short-range air-to-air missile which entered service with the US Navy in 1956 and subsequently was adopted by the US Air Force in 1964. Since then the Sidewinder has prove ...
or the
R.550 Magic
The R.550 Magic (backronym for ''Missile Auto-Guidé Interception et Combat'') is a short-range air-to-air missile designed in 1968 by French company Matra to compete with the American AIM-9 Sidewinder, and it was made backwards compatible with ...
. A single cannon, either the heavy, powerful 30 mm
Oerlikon KCA
The Oerlikon KCA is a Swiss gas-operated single-barrel revolver cannon developed for aircraft use. Its most noticeable use was on the JA 37 Viggen fighter mounted in a conformal pod as the ''akan m/75''. The KCA fires a shell that is 50% heavi ...
or the lighter
Mauser BK-27
The BK 27 (also BK27 or BK-27) (German abbreviation for ''Bordkanone'', "on-board cannon") is a caliber revolver cannon manufactured by Mauser (now part of Rheinmetall) of Germany. It was developed in the late 1960s for the MRCA (Multi Role Com ...
, would be mounted on the aircraft's center line, with the nose wheel slightly offset as a result.
The ALR would have been equipped with avionics, radar, armament and engines from abroad, and a laser seeking sensor in front of the cockpit.
In the single-engine model design, air brakes would be located on the sides of the rear hull. In the twin-engine version, the two air brake flaps would be mounted on the upper fuselage near the vertical tail.
The ALR Piranha would have been either a single-engine version, powered by
RB199
The Turbo-Union RB199 is a turbofan jet engine designed and built in the early 1970s by Turbo-Union, a joint venture between Rolls-Royce, MTU and Aeritalia. The only production application was the Panavia Tornado.
Design and development
The ...
,
EJ200
The Eurojet EJ200 is a military low-bypass turbofan used as the powerplant of the Eurofighter Typhoon. The engine is largely based on the Rolls-Royce XG-40 technology demonstrator, which was developed in the 1980s. The EJ200 is built by the E ...
or
M88 or a twin-engine model with two
Larzac
The Larzac, also known as the Causse of Larzac (French: '' Causse du Larzac''), is a limestone karst plateau in the south of the Massif Central, France, situated between Millau (in the département of l'Aveyron) and Lodève (in the départe ...
s. In the two models, only the rear portion of the aircraft would differ in size, affecting the arrangement of the parachute container and the air brakes.
Although the Swiss government lost interest in the project, prototype remote-controlled model ALR Piranha airplanes did reach the wind-tunnel and flight testing phase. A life-size mock cockpit was also constructed. Additionally, engineers designed a new concept for aircraft bunkers using a rotating floor disc for easy handling of the aircraft within the hangar. No prototype of the aircraft bunker was built.
Variants

;Piranha 1: Subsonic variants.
;Piranha 2C: Transonic ground attack model, powered by a single
Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour Mk 811
The Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour is a two-shaft low bypass turbofan aircraft engine developed by Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Limited, a joint venture between Rolls-Royce (UK) and Turbomeca (France). The engine is named after the Adour, a river in ...
(RT172-58) engine with thrust (with or without afterburner), no radar and small wings.
;Piranha 2D (1): Version for attack and air superiority fighter, a thrust Adour (RT172-63), full avionics and small wings.
;Piranha 2D (2): Like as (1) but with a large wing .
;Piranha 4: 2 ×
SNECMA Turbomeca Larzac
The SNECMA Turbomeca Larzac is a military turbofan manufactured by GRTS (Groupement Turbomeca-SNECMA),Gunston 1989, p.172. a consortium between the two French companies, SNECMA and Turbomeca. Its main application was on the Dassault/Dornier Alpha ...
M-74/05 turbofan engines (15% more thrust at supersonic speed than RT172-63), shorter and wider fuselage.
;Piranha 5: 2 ×
Garrett TFE 1042-7
The Honeywell/ITEC F124 is a low-bypass turbofan engine derived from the civilian Honeywell TFE731. The F125 is an afterburning version of the engine. The engine began development in the late 1970s for the Republic of China (Taiwan) Air Force ...
turbofan engines.
;Piranha 6: 1 ×
Turbo-Union RB.199 Mk.104
The Turbo-Union RB199 is a turbofan jet engine designed and built in the early 1970s by Turbo-Union, a joint venture between Rolls-Royce, MTU and Aeritalia. The only production application was the Panavia Tornado.
Design and development
...
turbofan engine.
Specifications
*Armament: 1 × cannon (KCA 30mm, 27mm Mauser, General Electric GE-430 30mm) Piranha 6/4 Piranha / Piranha 2D (2) / Piranha 2D (1)
*Length: 11.57 m / 10.50 m / 10.7 m / 10.7 m
*Wingspan: 7.62 m / 6.49 m / 6.49 m / 6 m
*Height: 4.25 m / 4.12 m
*Wing area: 22 m
2 / 16 m
2 / 16 m
2 / 13.5 sq m
*Empty weight: 4340 kg / 3800 kg
*Max fuel: 2160 kg +
*External load max: 3500 kg
*Normal TOW: 7040 kg / 5900 kg
*Max TOW: 10.000 kg
*Maximum speed: Mach 1.8 / Mach 1.6
*Max rate of climb: 18,000 m / minute /
*Ceiling: 16,800 m
*Off distance: 300 m / 450 m
*Combat radius, lo-lo-lo, 2000 kg weapons load, 20 min cruise, 5 min combat mission: 400 km 300 km
*Avionics:
** Ferranti FIN 1020nav / attack, Type 105D Laser Distance Meters, HUD Smith, Thomson-CSF Agave radar.
** INS FINAS FerrantiFINAS INS 2000 Ferranti 4510 HUD, Type 105D Laser Distance Meters, Emerson APG-69, APG-67 or General Electric Blue Vixen radar.
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
* ''Jane's all the world's aircraft supplement (18)'', in Flugrevue, Juni 1980, S. 55 f.
* Jane's all the world's aircraft, Verlag McGraw-Hill, 1985, S. 205
* ''Leichtkampfflugzeug Piranha''. In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung: Wochenschrift für Architektur, Ingenieurwesen, Maschinentechnik, Band 96, 1978, S. 636
* ''P-16 et autres jets suisses''. Le Temps, 1. Dezember 2011
*
*
External links
{{Commons category, ALR Piranha
ALR Documentation about the Piranha
FFA aircraft
Abandoned military aircraft projects of Switzerland
Canard aircraft
Single-engined jet aircraft
Twinjets