User:Hammersfan/General Dynamics F-111K

The General Dynamics F-111K was a planned variant of the General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark medium-range interdictor and tactical strike aircraft, developed by General Dynamics to meet a requirement for such an aircraft for the Royal Air Force. The aircraft was planned as a hybrid of several variants of the F-111 as a way of producing an aircraft for the specific needs of the United Kingdom. The project was initiated in 1965 following the cancellation of the BAC TSR-2 strike aircraft, with 50 units ordered in 1967, only for the order to be subsequently cancelled a year later.

Background
In the early 1960s, the British Aircraft Corporation was in the process of developing a new strike aircraft for the Royal Air Force to replace the English Electric Canberra. This aircraft, designated as "TSR-2" (Tactical Strike and Reconnaissance). The large set of requirements listed by the government for the new strike aircraft to undertake had led to TSR-2 becoming a hugely complex machine, as it was intended that it be able to undertake both conventional and nuclear strike missions at high and low level, in all weathers, at supersonic speeds. As a consequence, the costs of the project began to increase, leading to it becoming the most expensive aviation project in British history, at a time when defence spending was being cut. This led to the RAF being asked to look for potential alternatives to TSR-2, in the event of it being cancelled.

At the same time, the Royal Australian Air Force were also looking for a Canberra replacement, and were looking at a number of options, including both TSR-2 and the General Dynamics F-111 then being developed for the USAF's TFX programme. The uncertainty over TSR-2 led to the Australians selecting an adapted version of the F-111 in 1963. The RAF were asked to evaluate the F-111 as a cheaper option for the strike aircraft requirement, although the incoming Labour government denied it planned to cancel the British aircraft. This denial was reversed in April 1965, when TSR-2 was cancelled and a decision taken to look into the option of acquiring up to 110 F-111s instead.

No firm commitment was made to the F-111 until the publication of the 1966 Defence White Paper, although it was the government's preferred option. Following the publication of the defence review, it was announced that up to 50 F-111s would be procured for the RAF; like the Australian version, these would be highly adapted to suit the unique set of British requirements.

Design
The British version of the F-111 was designated as the F-111K. This was to be based around the airframe of the original F-111A version built for the USAF, but was to feature a number of alterations and adaptations. Structurally, the aircraft would be similar to the Australian F-111C, with longer wings taken from the carrier based interceptor version and the heavy duty undercarriage from the strategic bomber version. This allowed for a greater gross weight to be designed into the aircraft. The other major design change from the F-111A was in its avionics, with the design calling for the Mark II package developed for the F-111D version, which featured a new inertial navigation and attack system, incorporating the AN/APQ-130 attack radar, an IBM on-board computer, a Marconi doppler radar and the AN/APQ-128 terrain following radar. The plan was then to pair this avionics package with British designed and developed mission systems, of which the main elements were the reconnaissance capability and weapon carriage. The F-111K was to feature a revised weapons bay, containing a new removeable centreline weapons pylon, which was beneficial given the design of the underwing pylons - the F-111 had four stations under each wing, but only the inner pair were designed to pivot, meaning that the outer pair could not be used with the wings in full sweepback mode. All of the weapon pylons featured British designed ejector rack units. The aircraft was given provision for a pallet inside the weapons bay that would feature a British designed reconnaissance system, with three camera windows located next to the nosewheel undercarriage (which the US versions were not fitted with). The aircraft was designed with an aerial refuelling probe compatible with the "probe and drogue" system used by the RAF, similar to the one fitted to the F-111B, although mounted differently.

Cancellation
In April 1966, a firm order was placed for 10 F-111s for the RAF, with options for another 40, covering the standard F-111K models and a number of dual-control TF-111K trainers, with the purchase price set around £2.1m ($5.95m) per unit (1965 prices). This was intended to show a significant reduction in cost when compared with the development and estimated production costs of TSR-2. However, at the same time the actual cost of F-111 production had increased; in April 1967, when the RAF's 40 additional aircraft were ordered, the per unit cost of the F-111C for the Royal Australian Air Force was US$9m. This eventually led to an admission from the British government that the cost would increase from the initial figure set out - in 1967, the then Secretary of State for Defence, Denis Healey, stated that adjusting for inflation was taken into account, which would add approximately 2.5% to the cost of each aircraft. This did not include the cost of installing the British adaptations. The total estimate cost by the time the last aircraft was due to be delivered in 1970 was approximately £2.7m. Despite this, the government still maintained that the F-111 programme (combined with the proposed AFVG) would be cheaper than TSR-2 to the tune of approximately £700m.

The first two aircraft, a standard strike/recce version and a dual control trainer/strike version, began assembly in July 1967, and were issued with the serial numbers XV884 and XV885. These were intended as development aircraft, to undertake airframe, avionics and weapons testing prior to them being refurbished as operational units. The two airframes were in the final stages of assembly at General Dynamics' plant at Fort Worth, Texas in early 1968 when the British Government then decided to cancel the F-111K procurement. The devaluation of sterling in 1967 had led to the per unit cost rising to approximately £3m. Additionally, the production schedules were slipping; while the RAAF had its first F-111 delivered in 1968, official acceptance of the type into service did not occur until 1973 due to structual and development problems (which led to the RAAF having to lease 24 F-4 Phantoms as an interim measure ). All of the components that had been assembled for the production of the main F-111K fleet that shared commonality were diverted to the FB-111A program, while the two aircraft under construction were re-designated as YF-111As with the intention that they be used as test aircraft in the F-111A program.

The cancellation of the F-111K still left a requirement for a strike aircraft to replace the Canberra, so the government ordered 26 new Blackburn Buccaneer aircraft for the RAF - somewhat ironically, the Buccaneer had been rejected as a contender for the original RAF requirement that had led first to the selection and cancellation of TSR-2, and subsequently the F-111K.

The two F-111Ks were never operated as test aircraft - in July 1968, almost exactly a year after the first airframe began construction, the US Air Force decided not to take them over, and General Dynamics were ordered to use them for component recovery.