The IAR 316 is a Romanian license-built

Aérospatiale Aérospatiale () was a major French state-owned aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and arms industry, defence corporation. It was founded in 1970 as () through the merger of three established state-owned companies: Sud Aviation, Nord Aviation ...

SA 316B Alouette III manufactured by

Industria Aeronautică Română Industria Aeronautică Română (IAR) (now IAR S.A. Brașov), or Romanian Aeronautic Industry in English, is a Romanian aerospace manufacturer. It is based in Ghimbav, near Brașov, Romania. IAR was founded in 1925 with the aid of the Romanian g ...

(IAR).

Design and development

IAR 316

IAR began manufacturing the IAR 316 in 1971 at its plant near

Brașov Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County. According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Production ended in 1987. 250 units were built, 125 of those were built for the

Military of Romania The Romanian Armed Forces ( or ''Armata Română'') are the military forces of Romania. It comprises the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Force. The current Commander-in-chief is Lieutenant General Gheorghiță Vlad who is managed by ...

, which still uses it to this day in a training capacity. Some IAR 316s were operated in the civilian role in Romania and others were exported to various nations, including

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, and

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

. The IAR 316 was modified to carry weapons more common in the Eastern-bloc, such as 57mm rocket pods, 7.62mm machine guns, and anti-tank missiles. An early example was exhibited at the

Paris Air Show The Paris Air Show (, ''Salon du Bourget'') is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in France. Organized by the French aerospace industry's primary representative body, the ''Groupement des industries frança ...

in June 1973.

IAR 317

The IAR 317 Airfox was an attempt by IAR to make an attack helicopter out of the IAR 316. Equipped with the same license-produced

Turbomeca Artouste The Turbomeca Artouste is an early French turboshaft engine, first run in 1947. Originally conceived as an auxiliary power unit (APU), it was soon adapted to aircraft propulsion, and found a niche as a powerplant for turboshaft-driven helicopter ...

IIIB turboshaft, the IAR 317 featured a stepped two-seat armored cockpit for the pilot and the gunner. The tail boom and rear fuselage was almost identical to the 316. Stub wings mounted on either side of the airframe allowed for the carriage of weapons, including rocket pods, machine guns, and anti-tank missiles. Only one prototype was built. It participated in the

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

Operators

; *

National Air Force of Angola The National Air Force of Angola (FANA; ) is the air force branch of the Angolan Armed Forces. With an inventory of more than 300 aircraft, FANA is (on paper) one of the largest and strongest air forces of Africa. History Angola became indepe ...

; *

Romanian Air Force The Romanian Air Force (RoAF) () is the air force branch of the Romanian Armed Forces. It has an air force headquarters, an operational command, five air bases, a logistics base, an air defense brigade, an air defense regiment and an ISR (Intel ...

Specifications (IAR 316)

References

{{IAR Aircraft 1970s Romanian military utility aircraft 1970s Romanian civil utility aircraft Military helicopters 1970s Romanian helicopters

316 __NOTOC__ Year 316 ( CCCXVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sabinus and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 1069 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 316 f ...