FMA IA 58 PUCARá

The 'FMA IA 58 Pucará' (''Fortress'' in Quechua) is a twin-engined counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft made in Argentina.

Contents

Background

Service

Variants

Military operators

Specifications

Footnotes

External links

Related content

Background

The ''Pucara'' is a robust and versatile aircraft in its primary role of defeating insurgents. The first prototype, powered by US-sourced Garrett engines flew for the first time on August 20, 1969. The IA-58 was designed to be able to operate from small front-line airfields. This aircraft is unusual because of the tandem cockpit arrangement in a twin-prop-driven military aircraft. The crew of two is seated under the upward opening clamshell canopy on Martin-Baker Mk 6AP6A zero/zero ejection seats. Dual controls are provided for the crew.

Service

First units were delivered in 1975 to the Argentine Air Force (, FAA), 3rd Air Brigade () in northern Reconquista, Santa Fe province with almost 100 airframes delivered by 1982. The unit was deployed south during the Falklands War (), performing coastal surveillance from the Patagonia airfields. As the only aircraft available in substantial numbers for deployment on the islands (Port Stanley Airport paved runway was not long enough for FAA Skyhawks and Mirages to be deployed), many ''Pucarás'' were destroyed on the ground by British forces before taking part in actual combat.
The aircraft which did see combat were usually armed with unguided bombs, 2.75-in (70-mm) rocket pods, or 7.62mm machine gun pods. Apart from Port Stanley airport, ''Pucarás'' were also operated from two small grass improvised airfields at Goose Green and Pebble Island. They were used in the reconnaissance role and shot down a Royal Marines Scout on May 28, the only confirmed Argentine air-to-air victory of the war.^[1]. After the war, one was taken back to the United Kingdom, currently in Duxford. A second example (serial number A-515) was taken to Boscombe Down, returned to flying condition and assessed by the RAF. It is now on display at the RAF Museum Cosford. A total of six Pucarás were destroyed in a single instance, along with another five aircraft damaged , when the SAS carried out the Raid on Pebble Island.
They have also seen combat duty in Sri Lanka.
In the 1990s FAA ''Pucarás'', received several minor upgrades, known as IA-58D, and as of 2007 they remain in service within the 3rd Air Brigade and with the Uruguayan Air Force.
In 2007, an IA-58 of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina was converted to carry a modified engine operating on soy-derived bio-jet fuel. The project, financed and directed by the Argentine Government (''Secretaría de Ciencia Tecnología e Innovación Productiva de la Nación''), made Argentina the second nation in the world to propel an aircraft with biojet fuel. The project intends to make the FAA less reliant on costly fossil fuels.

Variants

★ 'AX-2 Delfin' : Prototype.

★ 'IA-58A' : Two-seat counter-insurgency, close-support, attack aircraft. Main production version.

★ 'IA-58B Pucara Bravos' : One prototype aircraft, armed with two 30-mm DEFA cannons.

★ 'IA-58C Pucara Charlie' : One single-seat prototype aircraft.

★ 'IA-66' : One prototype aircraft, powered by two 1,000-ehp (746-kW) Garrett TPE331-11-601W turboprop engines.

Military operators

;

★ Argentine Air Force
;

★ Colombian Air Force
;

★ Sri Lanka Air Force
;

★ Uruguayan Air Force

Specifications

Footnotes

1. www.naval-history.net: Argentine aircraft and successes against British ships

External links

★ Video of the Pucara in flight

★ Milavia

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