The Dassault Étendard IV is a transonic carrier-borne strike fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation .
134-559: Development of the Étendard originally commenced during the 1950s. Despite not having attracted the interests of either the French Army or any of the NATO air forces, a more powerful proposal had attracted the interest of the French Navy . Accordingly, Dassault developed a navalised demonstrator, which made its first flight on 24 July 1956. Its performance having met with the service's satisfaction,
268-568: A 14,000 man expeditionary force of troops to the Papal State under General Nicolas Charles Victor Oudinot to restore him. In late April 1849, it was defeated and pushed back from Rome by Giuseppi Garibaldi 's volunteer corps, but then recovered and recaptured Rome. The French army was among the first in the world to be issued with Minié rifles , just in time for the Crimean War against Russia, allied with Britain. This invention gave line infantry
402-461: A corps of five small rapid-intervention divisions formed in 1983, was also disbanded, though several of its divisions were re-subordinated. Opération Sentinelle is a French military operation with 10,000 soldiers and 4,700 police and gendarmes deployed since the aftermath of the January 2015 Île-de-France attacks , with the objective of protecting sensitive "points" of the territory from terrorism . It
536-509: A local indentation of the fuselage above and below the wing root. This proved to not be very effective. During the development of the Douglas DC-8 airliner, uncambered airfoils were used in the wing root area to combat the unsweeping. Swept wings on supersonic aircraft usually lie within the cone-shaped shock wave produced at the nose of the aircraft so they will "see" subsonic airflow and work as subsonic wings. The angle needed to lie behind
670-462: A means of creating positive longitudinal static stability . For a low-speed aircraft, swept wings may be used to resolve problems with the center of gravity , to move the wing spar into a more convenient location, or to improve the sideways view from the pilot's position. By 1905, Dunne had already built a model glider with swept wings followed by the powered Dunne D.5 , and by 1913 he had constructed successful powered variants that were able to cross
804-475: A more lightweight variant, aimed at export markets. However, despite the building of a prototype for both variants, there was initially little interest on the part of both the French military and other potential buyers. However, this lack of demand did not curtail Dassault's ambitions. Early on, the company had decided to embark on the development of a larger and more powerful variant, which was originally designated as
938-477: A pair of proposed fighter aircraft equipped with swept wings from Hawker Aircraft and Supermarine , the Hawker Hunter and Supermarine Swift respectively, and successfully pressed for orders to be placed 'off the drawing board' in 1950. On 7 September 1953, the sole Hunter Mk 3 (the modified first prototype, WB 188 ) flown by Neville Duke broke the world air speed record for jet-powered aircraft, attaining
1072-536: A peace. In 1812, Napoleon invaded the Russian Empire with a new Grande Armee , seeking to remove their influence from eastern Europe and secure the frontiers of his empire and client states. The campaign initially went well, but the vast distances of the Russian Steppe and its cold winter forced his army into a shambling retreat preyed on by Russian raids and pursuit. This force could not be replaced and with
1206-579: A record-breaking speed of Mach 1.06 (700 miles per hour (1,100 km/h; 610 kn)). The news of a successful straight-wing supersonic aircraft surprised many aeronautical experts on both sides of the Atlantic, as it was increasingly believed that a swept-wing design not only highly beneficial but also necessary to break the sound barrier. During the final years of the Second World War, aircraft designer Sir Geoffrey de Havilland commenced development on
1340-453: A reflex curve at the trailing edge. This results in a much weaker shock wave towards the rear of the upper wing surface and a corresponding increase in critical mach number. Shock waves require energy to form. This energy is taken out of the aircraft, which has to supply extra thrust to make up for this energy loss. Thus the shocks are seen as a form of drag . Since the shocks form when the local air velocity reaches supersonic speeds, there
1474-549: A relatively high external load capacity. Having been sufficiently satisfied with this demonstration of the aircraft's capabilities and performance attributes, the French Navy opted to procure a total of 69 Étendard IVM fighters and 21 Étendard IVP aerial reconnaissance aircraft. The Jaguar M , a navalized variant of the Anglo-French SEPECAT Jaguar , was intended to be the Étendard's replacement, but this effort
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#17328550076301608-446: A series of ground tests, its maiden flight occurred on 24 July 1956. Meanwhile, the French Navy sought to acquire the Étendard, once tests had deemed it suitable as a carrier-based ground attack aircraft, along with a secondary, low-altitude interception role. As part of the trials process, a total of five pre-production aircraft were manufactured. Flight testing of the type revealed it to have favourable performance qualities, including
1742-677: A single SNECMA Atar turbojet engine, which had also powered the French Air Force 's Dassault Mirage III . The engine's configuration was broadly similar to that of the Mirage III's powerplant, albeit with the exception of the removed afterburner . In flight, the Étendard was capable of attaining transonic speeds, being only able to exceed the speed of sound when in a dive. The Étendard could be furnished with various equipment to carry out its mission roles, which included attack, photo-reconnaissance, and aerial refueling tanking. In addition to
1876-420: A swept wing as it travels through the air. The airflow over a swept wing encounters the wing at an angle. That angle can be broken down into two vectors, one perpendicular to the wing, and one parallel to the wing. The flow parallel to the wing has no effect on it, and since the perpendicular vector is shorter (meaning slower) than the actual airflow, it consequently exerts less pressure on the wing. In other words,
2010-587: A wave of revolutions swept Europe and brought an end to the French monarchy. The army was largely uninvolved in the street fighting in Paris which overthrew the King but later in the year troops were used in the suppression of the more radical elements of the new Republic which led to the election of Napoleon's nephew as president. The Pope had been forced out of Rome as part of the Revolutions of 1848, and Louis Napoleon sent
2144-545: A weapon with a much longer range and greater accuracy and lead to new flexible tactics. The French army was more experienced at mass manoeuvre and war fighting than the British and the reputation of the French army was greatly enhanced. A series of colonial expeditions followed and in 1856 France joined the Second Opium War on the British side against China; obtaining concessions. French troops were deployed into Italy against
2278-412: A wing carry-through box position to achieve a desired cabin size, e.g. HFB 320 Hansa Jet . 2. providing static aeroelastic relief which reduces bending moments under high g-loadings and may allow a lighter wing structure. For a wing of given span, sweeping it increases the length of the spars running along it from root to tip. This tends to increase weight and reduce stiffness. If the fore-aft chord of
2412-434: A wing is generated by the airflow over it from front to rear. With increasing span-wise flow the boundary layers on the surface of the wing have longer to travel, and so are thicker and more susceptible to transition to turbulence or flow separation, also the effective aspect ratio of the wing is less and so air "leaks" around the wing tips reducing their effectiveness. The spanwise flow on swept wings produces airflow that moves
2546-534: A world speed record. On 12 April 1948, a D.H.108 did set a world's speed record at 973.65 km/h (605 mph), it subsequently became the first jet aircraft to exceed the speed of sound. Around this same timeframe, the Air Ministry introduced a program of experimental aircraft to examine the effects of swept wings, as well as the delta wing configuration. Furthermore, the Royal Air Force (RAF) identified
2680-410: Is a certain " critical mach " speed where sonic flow first appears on the wing. There is a following point called the drag divergence mach number where the effect of the drag from the shocks becomes noticeable. This is normally when the shocks start generating over the wing, which on most aircraft is the largest continually curved surface, and therefore the largest contributor to this effect. Sweeping
2814-429: Is placed in an airstream at an angle of yaw – i.e., it is swept back. Now, even if the local speed of the air on the upper surface of the wing becomes supersonic, a shock wave cannot form there because it would have to be a sweptback shock – swept at the same angle as the wing – i.e., it would be an oblique shock. Such an oblique shock cannot form until the velocity component normal to it becomes supersonic." To visualize
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#17328550076302948-447: Is rare and the wing must be unusually rigid. There are two sweep angles of importance, one at the leading edge for supersonic aircraft and the other 25% of the way back from the leading edge for subsonic and transonic aircraft. Leading edge sweep is important because the leading edge has to be behind the mach cone to reduce wave drag. The quarter chord (25%) line is used because subsonic lift due to angle of attack acts there and, up until
3082-801: Is responsible to the President of France . CEMAT is also directly responsible to the Ministry of the Armed Forces for administration, preparation, and equipment. The French Army, following the French Revolution , has generally been composed of a mixed force of conscripts and professional volunteers. It is now considered a professional force, since the French Parliament suspended the conscription of soldiers. According to British historian Niall Ferguson , out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since
3216-767: Is the principal land warfare force of France , and the largest component of the French Armed Forces ; it is responsible to the Government of France , alongside the French Navy , French Air and Space Force , and the National Gendarmerie . The Army is commanded by the Chief of Staff of the French Army (CEMAT), who is subordinate of the Chief of the Defence Staff (CEMA), who commands active service Army units and in turn
3350-483: The Sabre dance in reference to the number of North American F-100 Super Sabres that crashed on landing as a result. Reducing pitch-up to an acceptable level has been done in different ways such as the addition of a fin known as a wing fence on the upper surface of the wing to redirect the flow to a streamwise direction. The MiG-15 was one example of an aircraft fitted with wing fences. Another closely related design
3484-598: The 2nd Armoured Division left Versailles and was installed at Châlons-en-Champagne in place of the disbanded 10th Armoured Division . On 5 March 1998, in view of the ongoing structural adoptions of the French Army, the Minister of Defence decided to disband III Corps , and the dissolution became effective 1 July 1998. The headquarters transitioned to become Headquarters Commandement de la force d'action terrestre (CFAT) (the Land Forces Action Command). During
3618-683: The English Channel . The Dunne D.5 was exceptionally aerodynamically stable for the time, and the D.8 was sold to the Royal Flying Corps ; it was also manufactured under licence by Starling Burgess to the United States Navy amongst other customers. Dunne's work ceased with the onset of war in 1914, but afterwards the idea was taken up by G. T. R. Hill in England who designed a series of gliders and aircraft to Dunne's guidelines, notably
3752-930: The Foreign Legion , National Territory , Training. The Army is divided into arms ( armes ). They include the Infantry (which includes the Chasseurs Alpins , specialist mountain infantry, the Troupes de Marine , heirs of colonial troops and specialist amphibious troops), the Armoured Cavalry Arm ( Arme Blindée Cavalerie ), the Artillery, the Engineering Arm ( l'arme du génie ), Matériel , Logistics ( Train ) and Signals ( Transmissions ). Each brigade will have several armes within its units. The French Foreign Legion
3886-982: The French Empire : more than 220,000 in Africa (including 140,000 in French North Africa ), and forces in Mandate Syria and French Indochina . Free French Forces , under the command of Charles de Gaulle , continued the fight with the Allies until the final defeat of the Axis in 1945. After 1945, despite enormous efforts in the First Indochina War of 1945–54 and the Algerian War of 1954–62, both lands eventually left French control. French units stayed in Germany after 1945, forming
4020-595: The French Forces in Germany . 5th Armored Division stayed on in Germany after 1945, while 1st and 3rd Armoured Divisions were established in Germany in 1951. However NATO -assigned formations were withdrawn to fight in Algeria; 5th Armoured Division arrived in Algeria in April 1956. From 1948 to 1966, many French Army units fell under the integrated NATO Military Command Structure . Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Central Europe
4154-768: The French National Guard joined the revolt, the loyal Swiss Guards were massacred and the King was deposed. From 1792, the Revolutionary Army fought against a combination of European powers in the French Revolutionary Wars , with the state directing most of its industry and population to war efforts, marking the start of modern conscription in the world, it also allowed more flexible military strategies, setting way for Napoleonic warfare . Moreover, many noble officers were retired, decreasing stratification and increasing military specialism . These, and
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4288-648: The Hundred Years' War , though the Army was not disbanded because it saw continued use by the Kings of France following the conflict. Upon the outbreak of a conflict, an ordonnance would be issued to govern the length of service, composition and payment of units. The Compagnies d'ordonnance formed the core of the Gendarme well into the 16th century, and were stationed throughout France and summoned into larger armies as needed. There
4422-557: The Jaguar M . However, development of the Jaguar M was terminated and, shortly after, it was announced that the Super Étendard had been ordered in its place. For a time, the Étendard IV was operated alongside its improved model before being progressively withdrawn during the 1980s. In 1991, the fighter models of the type was finally retired from service by its sole operator, while the reconnaissance variant
4556-455: The Junkers Ju 287 or HFB 320 Hansa Jet . However, larger sweep suitable for high-speed aircraft, like fighters, was generally impossible until the introduction of fly by wire systems that could react quickly enough to damp out these instabilities. The Grumman X-29 was an experimental technology demonstration project designed to test the forward swept wing for enhanced maneuverability during
4690-650: The Malagasy Uprising in Madagascar in 1947. French officials estimated the number of Malagasy killed from a low of 11,000 to a French Army estimate of 89,000. In February 1996, President Jacques Chirac began the transition of the Army to a professional force, and as part of the resulting changes, ten regiments were dissolved in 1997. On 1 July 1997, the specialized support brigades were transferred to various communes ; Lunéville for signals, Haguenau for artillery and Strasbourg for engineers. On 1 September 1997,
4824-462: The Mystère XXIV , as a private venture in parallel to the issued specifications. The French Navy showed open interest in this prospective Mystère XXIV variant. Bolstered by this, Dassault proceeded with the construction of a single navalised prototype, features of which included new navigation and radar systems, folding wings, deck landing hooks, along with the reinforcement of the fuselage. Following
4958-756: The Swiss Guards , French Guards and the Regiments of Musketeers being the most famous. The white/grey coated French Infantry of the line Les Blancs with their Charleville muskets were a feared foe on the battlefields of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, fighting in the Nine Years' War , the Wars of Spanish and Austrian Succession , the Seven Years' War and the American Revolution . The French Revolution caused
5092-520: The Westland-Hill Pterodactyl series. However, Dunne's theories met with little acceptance amongst the leading aircraft designers and aviation companies at the time. The idea of using swept wings to reduce high-speed drag was developed in Germany in the 1930s. At a Volta Conference meeting in 1935 in Italy, Adolf Busemann suggested the use of swept wings for supersonic flight. He noted that
5226-418: The de Havilland Comet , which would become the world's first jet airliner. An early design consideration was whether to apply the new swept-wing configuration. Thus, an experimental aircraft to explore the technology, the de Havilland DH 108 , was developed by the firm in 1944, headed by project engineer John Carver Meadows Frost with a team of 8–10 draughtsmen and engineers. The DH 108 primarily consisted of
5360-417: The nacelles also had slight sweepback for similar reasons. 2. to provide longitudinal stability for tailless aircraft, e.g. Messerschmitt Me 163 Kometuu . 3. most commonly to increase Mach-number capability by delaying to a higher speed the effects of compressibility (abrupt changes in the density of the airflow), e.g. combat aircraft, airliners and business jets. Other reasons include: 1. enabling
5494-527: The "Réserves 2000" plan, the brigades de zone were finally disbanded by mid-1993. 1st Army Corps was disbanded on 1 July 1990; 2nd Army Corps in August 1993. At the end of the Second World War , France was immediately confronted with the beginnings of the decolonisation movement. The French army, which had employed indigenous North African spahis and tirailleurs in almost all of its campaigns since 1830,
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5628-461: The "ulcer" of the ongoing war in the Spanish peninsular against Britain and Portugal, the French Army was badly short of trained troops and French manpower was almost exhausted. After Napoleon's abdication and return, halted by an Anglo-Dutch and Prussian alliance at Waterloo, the French army was placed back under the restored Bourbon Monarchy. The structure remained largely unchanged and many officers of
5762-412: The 1930s and 1940s, but the breakthrough mathematical definition of sweep theory is generally credited to NACA 's Robert T. Jones in 1945. Sweep theory builds on other wing lift theories. Lifting line theory describes lift generated by a straight wing (a wing in which the leading edge is perpendicular to the airflow). Weissinger theory describes the distribution of lift for a swept wing, but does not have
5896-405: The 1980s. The Sukhoi Su-47 Berkut is another notable demonstrator aircraft implementing this technology to achieve high levels of agility. To date, no highly swept-forward design has entered production. The first successful aeroplanes adhered to the basic design of rectangular wings at right angles to the body of the machine. Such a layout is inherently unstable; if the weight distribution of
6030-509: The Army and training. The two Services are the service of ground equipment, and the integrated structure of operational maintenance of terrestrial materials (SIMMT, former DCMAT). This joint oriented service is responsible for project management support for all land equipment of the French army. The holding-operational equipment the Army is headed by the Service de maintenance industrielle terrestre (SMITer). Historically there were other services of
6164-646: The Army comprises: The French Army was reorganized in 2016. The new organisation consists of two combined divisions (carrying the heritage of 1st Armored and 3rd Armored divisions) and given three combat brigades to supervise each. There is also the Franco-German Brigade . The 4th Airmobile Brigade was reformed to direct the three combat helicopter regiments. There are also several division-level ( niveau divisionnaire ) specialized commands including Intelligence, Information and communication systems, Maintenance, Logistics, Special Forces, Army Light Aviation ,
6298-740: The Army engineered a military coup that toppled the civilian government and put General de Gaulle back in power in the May 1958 crisis . De Gaulle, however, recognized that Algeria was a dead weight and had to be cut free. Four retired generals then launched the Algiers putsch of 1961 against de Gaulle himself, but it failed. After 400,000 deaths, Algeria finally became independent. Hundreds of thousands of Harkis , Muslims loyal to Paris, went into exile in France, where they and their children and grandchildren remain in poorly assimilated " banlieue " suburbs. The Army repressed
6432-519: The Army to lose most of its officers to aristocratic flight or the guillotine , and thus it became demoralised and ineffective. The revolutionary militias of Sans-culottes , and the bourgeoise National Guard formed the nucleus of the French Revolutionary Army alongside the remnants of the dissolved Royal French Army ; it was created following the storming of the Tuileries palace , where
6566-483: The Army who were all grouped together with their counterparts in other components to form joint agencies serving the entire French Armed Forces. After the health service and the fuel service were both replaced respectively by the French Defence Health service and Military Fuel Service , other services have disappeared in recent years: The Army Commissariat was dissolved on 31 December 2009 and intégrated into
6700-512: The Austrians, the first use of railways for mass movement. The French army was now considered to be an example to others and military missions to Japan and the emulation of French Zouaves in other militaries added to this prestige. However, an expedition to Mexico failed to create a stable puppet régime. France was humiliated following its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War , and while
6834-490: The Empire retained their positions. The Bourbon restoration was a time of political instability with the country constantly on the verge of political violence. The army was committed to the restoration of Spanish monarchial absolutism in 1824. It achieved its aims in six months, but did not fully withdraw until 1828. By comparison with the earlier Napoleonic invasion, this expedition was rapid and successful. Taking advantage of
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#17328550076306968-609: The First World War. The news of the fall of Algiers had barely reached Paris in 1830 when the Bourbon Monarchy was overthrown and replaced by the constitutional Orleans Monarchy . During the July 1830 revolution , the Paris mobs proved too much for the troops of the Maison du Roi and the main body of the French Army, sympathetic to the crowds, did not become heavily involved. In 1848
7102-407: The French Army and standardised their equipment and tactics. The army of the Sun King tended to wear grey-white coats with coloured linings . There were exceptions and the foreign troops, recruited from outside France, wore red (Swiss, Irish etc.) or blue (Germans, Scots etc.) while the French Guards wore blue. In addition to the regiments of the line the Maison du Roi provided several elite units,
7236-451: The French Army deployed 2,240,000 combatants grouped into 94 divisions (of which 20 were active and 74 were reservists ) from the Swiss border to the North Sea .These numbers did not include the Army of the Alps facing Italy or the 600,000 men dispersed through the French colonial empire . After defeat in 1940 , the Vichy French regime was allowed to retain 100–120,000 Armistice Army personnel in unoccupied France, and larger forces in
7370-404: The French Army reserve consisted of 22 military divisions, administering all reserve units in a certain area, seven brigades de zone de défense , 22 régiments interarmées divisionnaires , and the 152nd Infantry Division, defending the ICBM launch sites. The plan was put into action from 1985, and brigades de zone , such as the 107th Brigade de Zone, were created. But with the putting-in-place of
7504-423: The French Navy ordered the type into production, receiving a total of 69 Étendard IVM fighters, in addition to 21 Étendard IVP , the latter being a specialised aerial reconnaissance variant. The Étendard would serve as the basis for the more advanced Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard . During the 1970s, it had been intended to replace the Étendard IV with a navalised version of the SEPECAT Jaguar , designated as
7638-523: The actual aircraft speed is, this becomes a problem during slow-flight phases, such as takeoff and landing. There have been various ways of addressing the problem, including the variable-incidence wing design on the Vought F-8 Crusader , and swing wings on aircraft such as the F-14 , F-111 , and the Panavia Tornado . The term "swept wing" is normally used to mean "swept back", but other swept variants include forward sweep , variable sweep wings and oblique wings in which one side sweeps forward and
7772-434: The air does have time to react, and is pushed spanwise by the angled leading edge, towards the wing tip. At the wing root, by the fuselage, this has little noticeable effect, but as one moves towards the wingtip the airflow is pushed spanwise not only by the leading edge, but the spanwise moving air beside it. At the tip the airflow is moving along the wing instead of over it, a problem known as spanwise flow . The lift from
7906-421: The air would be added to the previously perpendicular airflow, resulting in an airflow over the wing at an angle to the leading edge. This angle results in airflow traveling a greater distance from leading edge to trailing edge, and thus the air pressure is distributed over a greater distance (and consequently lessened at any particular point on the surface). This scenario is identical to the airflow experienced by
8040-414: The aircraft changes even slightly, the wing will want to rotate so its front moves up (weight moving rearward) or down (forward) and this rotation will change the development of lift and cause it to move further in that direction. To make an aircraft stable, the normal solution is to place the weight at one end and offset this with an opposite downward force at the other - this leads to the classic layout with
8174-422: The aircraft to reach speeds closer to Mach 1. One limiting factor in swept wing design is the so-called "middle effect". If a swept wing is continuous - an oblique swept wing - the pressure isobars will be swept at a continuous angle from tip to tip. However, if the left and right halves are swept back equally, as is common practice, the pressure isobars on the left wing in theory will meet the pressure isobars of
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#17328550076308308-418: The airspeed over the wing was dominated by the normal component of the airflow, not the freestream velocity, so by setting the wing at an angle the forward velocity at which the shock waves would form would be higher (the same had been noted by Max Munk in 1924, although not in the context of high-speed flight). Albert Betz immediately suggested the same effect would be equally useful in the transonic. After
8442-408: The allied armies repeatedly until 1812. Napoleon introduced the concept of all arms Corps , each one a traditional army 'in miniature', permitting the field force to be split across several lines of march and rejoin or to operate independently. The Grande Armée operated by seeking a decisive battle with each enemy army and then destroying them in detail before rapidly occupying territory and forcing
8576-413: The angle of attack at the tip, thus reducing the bending moment on the wing, as well as somewhat reducing the chance of tip stall. However, the same effect on forward-swept wings produces a wash-in effect that increases the angle of attack promoting tip stall. Small amounts of sweep do not cause serious problems, and had been used on a variety of aircraft to move the spar into a convenient location, as on
8710-403: The army had far superior infantry weapons in the form of the Chassepot and Mitrailleuse , its tactics and artillery were inferior, and by allowing the Prussian Army to take the initiative, the French Army was rapidly bottled up into its fortress towns and defeated. The loss of prestige within the army lead to a great emphasis on aggression and close quarter tactics. In August 1914, following
8844-401: The basic concept of simple sweep theory, consider a straight, non-swept wing of infinite length, which meets the airflow at a perpendicular angle. The resulting air pressure distribution is equivalent to the length of the wing's chord (the distance from the leading edge to the trailing edge). If we were to begin to slide the wing sideways ( spanwise ), the sideways motion of the wing relative to
8978-412: The capability to include chordwise pressure distribution. There are other methods that do describe chordwise distributions, but they have other limitations. Jones' sweep theory provides a simple, comprehensive analysis of swept wing performance. An explanation of how the swept wing works was offered by Robert T. Jones : "Assume a wing is a cylinder of uniform airfoil cross-section, chord and thickness and
9112-415: The command of General Jacques Massu and the 25th Parachute Division under the command of General Sauvagnac. After the Algiers putsch , the two divisions, with the 11th Infantry Division, were merged into a new light intervention division, the 11th Light Intervention Division, on 1 May 1961. During the Cold War , the French Army, though leaving the NATO Military Command Structure in 1966, planned for
9246-418: The cone increases with increasing speed, at Mach 1.3 the angle is about 45 degrees, at Mach 2.0 it is 60 degrees. The angle of the Mach cone formed off the body of the aircraft will be at about sin μ = 1/M (μ is the sweep angle of the Mach cone) When a swept wing travels at high speed, the airflow has little time to react and simply flows over the wing almost straight from front to back. At lower speeds
9380-502: The defence of Western Europe. In 1977 the French Army switched from multi-brigade divisions to smaller divisions of about four to five battalions/regiments each. From the early 1970s, 2nd Army Corps was stationed in South Germany, and effectively formed a reserve for NATO's Central Army Group . In the 1980s, 3rd Army Corps headquarters was moved to Lille and planning started for its use in support of NATO's Northern Army Group . The Rapid Action Force of five light divisions, including
9514-412: The effects of compressibility in transonic and supersonic aircraft because of the reduced pressures. This allows the mach number of an aircraft to be higher than that actually experienced by the wing. There is also a negative aspect to sweep theory. The lift produced by a wing is directly related to the speed of the air over the wing. Since the airflow speed experienced by a swept wing is lower than what
9648-482: The end of the Second World War . It has the effect of delaying the shock waves and accompanying aerodynamic drag rise caused by fluid compressibility near the speed of sound , improving performance. Swept wings are therefore almost always used on jet aircraft designed to fly at these speeds. The term "swept wing" is normally used to mean "swept back", but variants include forward sweep , variable sweep wings and oblique wings in which one side sweeps forward and
9782-460: The engine in front and the control surfaces at the end of a long boom with the wing in the middle. This layout has long been known to be inefficient. The downward force of the control surfaces needs further lift from the wing to offset. The amount of force can be decreased by increasing the length of the boom, but this leads to more skin friction and weight of the boom itself. This problem led to many experiments with different layouts that eliminates
9916-601: The extreme investments into war efforts allowed France to begin a steady advance into Europe . Under Napoleon I , the French Imperial Army conquered most of Europe during the Napoleonic Wars . Professionalising again from the Revolutionary forces and using columns of attack with heavy artillery support and swarms of pursuit cavalry the French army under Napoleon and his marshals was able to outmanoeuvre and destroy
10050-535: The fastest aircraft of the era were only approaching 400 km/h (249 mph).The presentation was largely of academic interest, and soon forgotten. Even notable attendees including Theodore von Kármán and Eastman Jacobs did not recall the presentation 10 years later when it was re-introduced to them. Hubert Ludwieg of the High-Speed Aerodynamics Branch at the AVA Göttingen in 1939 conducted
10184-616: The first wind tunnel tests to investigate Busemann's theory. Two wings, one with no sweep, and one with 45 degrees of sweep were tested at Mach numbers of 0.7 and 0.9 in the 11 x 13 cm wind tunnel. The results of these tests confirmed the drag reduction offered by swept wings at transonic speeds. The results of the tests were communicated to Albert Betz who then passed them on to Willy Messerschmitt in December 1939. The tests were expanded in 1940 to include wings with 15, 30 and -45 degrees of sweep and Mach numbers as high as 1.21. With
10318-442: The freestream conditions around the rest of the aircraft, and as the flow enters an adverse pressure gradient in the aft section of the wing, a discontinuity emerges in the form of a shock wave as the air is forced to rapidly slow and return to ambient pressure. At the point where the density drops, the local speed of sound correspondingly drops and a shock wave can form. This is why in conventional wings, shock waves form first after
10452-715: The immediate post-war era, several nations were conducting research into high speed aircraft. In the United Kingdom, work commenced during 1943 on the Miles M.52 , a high-speed experimental aircraft equipped with a straight wing that was developed in conjunction with Frank Whittle 's Power Jets company, the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) in Farnborough , and the National Physical Laboratory . The M.52
10586-614: The infantry and the engineering arm. The Troupes de marine are the former Colonial Troops. They are the first choice units for overseas deployment and recruit on this basis. They are composed of Marine Infantry ( Infanterie de Marine ) (which includes parachute regiments such as 1er RPIMa and a tank unit, the Régiment d'infanterie-chars de marine ) and the Marine Artillery ( Artillerie de Marine ). The Aviation légère de l'armée de Terre (ALAT, which translates as Army Light Aviation ),
10720-402: The intention that variants of it would satisfy both specifications. These variants were designated Étendard II and Étendard VI respectively; according to Dassault, these aircraft would have incorporated major advances in terms of high lift devices, which enabled lower take-off and landing speeds to be used. The Étendard II was evidently optimised for speed and payload, while the Étendard VI was
10854-474: The interior of the nose. During December 1961, the French Navy took delivery of their first Étendards. The following year, the type was deployed for the first time aboard both of the service's newly built Clemenceau -class aircraft carriers , the Clemenceau and Foch . The Étendard IVM was in French Navy service for several decades, even following the development of the more capable Super Étendard. The type
10988-472: The introduction of jets in the later half of the Second World War , the swept wing became increasingly applicable to optimally satisfying aerodynamic needs. The German jet-powered Messerschmitt Me 262 and rocket-powered Messerschmitt Me 163 suffered from compressibility effects that made both aircraft very difficult to control at high speeds. In addition, the speeds put them into the wave drag regime, and anything that could reduce this drag would increase
11122-494: The introduction of supercritical sections, the crest was usually close to the quarter chord. Typical sweep angles vary from 0 for a straight-wing aircraft, to 45 degrees or more for fighters and other high-speed designs. Shock waves can form on some parts of an aircraft moving at less than the speed of sound. Low-pressure regions around an aircraft cause the flow to accelerate, and at transonic speeds this local acceleration can exceed Mach 1. Localized supersonic flow must return to
11256-423: The joint-service Service du commissariat des armées. Swept wing A swept wing is a wing angled either backward or occasionally forward from its root rather than perpendicular to the fuselage. Swept wings have been flown since the pioneer days of aviation. Wing sweep at high speeds was first investigated in Germany as early as 1935 by Albert Betz and Adolph Busemann , finding application just before
11390-522: The late 15th century, Swiss instructors were recruited, and some of the 'Bandes' (Militia) were combined to form temporary 'Legions' of up to 9000 men. The men would be paid, contracted to fight and receive military training. Henry II further regularised the French Army by forming standing infantry regiments to replace the Militia structure. The first of them (Régiments de Picardie, Piémont, Navarre and Champagne) were called Les Vieux Corps (The Old Corps). It
11524-452: The latter of which could be used to assist braking during land operations. A compact Dassault-built Aida radar unit was installed within the aircraft's nose, along with a compact infrared sensor , which could be used for guiding various munitions. Alongside the Aida radar unit, a Swedish-made SAAB bombing computer was added to increase accuracy. The aerial reconnaissance-orientated Étendard IVP
11658-399: The maximum Thickness/Chord and why all airliners designed for cruising in the transonic range (above M0.8) have supercritical wings that are flatter on top, resulting in minimized angular change of flow to upper surface air. The angular change to the air that is normally part of lift generation is decreased and this lift reduction is compensated for by deeper curved lower surfaces accompanied by
11792-420: The need for the downward force. One such wing geometry appeared before World War I , which led to early swept wing designs. In this layout, the wing is swept so that portions lie far in front and in back of the center of gravity (CoG), with the control surfaces behind it. The result is a weight distribution similar to the classic layout, but the offsetting control force is no longer a separate surface but part of
11926-502: The new 4th Airmobile and 6th Light Armoured Divisions , was also intended as a NATO reinforcement force. In addition, the 152nd Infantry Division was maintained to guard the S3 intercontinental ballistic missile base on the Plateau d'Albion. In the 1970s–1980s, two light armoured divisions were planned to be formed from school staffs (the 12th and 14th). The 12th Light Armoured Division (12 DLB)
12060-433: The other back. The delta wing also incorporates the same advantages as part of its layout. Sweeping a wing forward has approximately the same effect as rearward in terms of drag reduction, but has other advantages in terms of low-speed handling where tip stall problems simply go away. In this case the low-speed air flows towards the fuselage, which acts as a very large wing fence. Additionally, wings are generally larger at
12194-467: The other back. The delta wing is also aerodynamically a form of swept wing. There are three main reasons for sweeping a wing: 1. to arrange the center of gravity of the aircraft and the aerodynamic center of the wing to coincide more closely for longitudinal balance, e.g. Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet and Messerschmitt Me 262 . Although not a swept wing the wing panels on the Douglas DC-1 outboard of
12328-559: The outbreak of the Great War , the French Armed Forces numbered some 1,300,000 soldiers, and by the end of the war the French Army had called up 8,817,000 men, including 900,000 colonial troops; of these around 1,397,000 French soldiers were killed in action, mostly on the Western Front . French soldiers, at the beginning of the war, still wore the colourful uniforms of the Franco-Prussian War , with this conspicuous dress proving unsuited to
12462-421: The pairing of the front fuselage of the de Havilland Vampire to a swept wing and small vertical tail; it was the first British swept wing jet, unofficially known as the "Swallow". It first flew on 15 May 1946, a mere eight months after the project's go-ahead. Company test pilot and son of the builder, Geoffrey de Havilland Jr ., flew the first of three aircraft and found it extremely fast – fast enough to try for
12596-458: The performance of their aircraft, notably the notoriously short flight times measured in minutes. This resulted in a crash program to introduce new swept wing designs, both for fighters as well as bombers . The Blohm & Voss P 215 was designed to take full advantage of the swept wing's aerodynamic properties; however, an order for three prototypes was received only weeks before the war ended and no examples were ever built. The Focke-Wulf Ta 183
12730-402: The presentation the host of the meeting, Arturo Crocco , jokingly sketched "Busemann's airplane of the future" on the back of a menu while they all dined. Crocco's sketch showed a classic 1950s fighter design, with swept wings and tail surfaces, although he also sketched a swept propeller powering it. At the time, however, there was no way to power an aircraft to these sorts of speeds, and even
12864-422: The problem. In addition to pitch-up there are other complications inherent in a swept-wing configuration. For any given length of wing, the actual span from tip-to-tip is shorter than the same wing that is not swept. There is a strong correlation between low-speed drag and aspect ratio , the span compared to chord, so a swept wing always has more drag at lower speeds. In addition, there is extra torque applied by
12998-459: The professionalisation process, numbers decreased from the 236,000 (132,000 conscripts) in 1996 to around 140,000. By June 1999, the Army's strength was 186,000, including around 70,000 conscripts. 38 of 129 regiments were planned to be stood down from 1997 to 1999. The previous structure's nine 'small' divisions and sundry separate combat and combat support brigades were replaced by nine combat and four combat support brigades. The Rapid Action Force,
13132-608: The regiments in existence, leaving only the Vieux and a handful of others, which became known as the Petite Vieux and also gained the privilege of not being disbanded after a war. In 1684, there was a major reorganisation of the French infantry and another in 1701 to fit in with Louis XIV 's plans and the War of the Spanish Succession . The reshuffle created many of the modern regiments of
13266-403: The right wing on the centerline at a large angle. As the isobars cannot meet in such a fashion, they will tend to curve on each side as they near the centerline, so that the isobars cross the centerline at right angles to the centerline. This causes an "unsweeping" of the isobars in the wing root region. To combat this unsweeping, German aerodynamicist Dietrich Küchemann proposed and had tested
13400-431: The root anyway, which allows them to have better low-speed lift. However, this arrangement also has serious stability problems. The rearmost section of the wing will stall first causing a pitch-up moment pushing the aircraft further into stall similar to a swept back wing design. Thus swept-forward wings are unstable in a fashion similar to the low-speed problems of a conventional swept wing. However unlike swept back wings,
13534-402: The stagnation point on the leading edge of any individual wing segment further beneath the leading edge, increasing effective angle of attack of wing segments relative to its neighbouring forward segment. The result is that wing segments farther towards the rear operate at increasingly higher angles of attack promoting early stall of those segments. This promotes tip stall on back-swept wings, as
13668-409: The standard dual 30mm DEFA cannon , various armaments and munitions could be carried on the four wing-mounted hardpoints , such as short range air-to-air missiles , air-to-surface missiles , rocket pods, bombs , and drop tanks . A retractable nose-mounted refueling probe was also fitted. Other optional equipment included a tactical air navigation system (TACAN) receiver and a drogue parachute ,
13802-540: The swept wing design used by most modern jet aircraft, as this design performs more effectively at transonic and supersonic speeds. In its advanced form, sweep theory led to the experimental oblique wing concept. Adolf Busemann introduced the concept of the swept wing and presented this in 1935 at the Fifth Volta Conference in Rome. Sweep theory in general was a subject of development and investigation throughout
13936-411: The tips are most rearward, while delaying tip stall for forward-swept wings, where the tips are forward. With both forward and back-swept wings, the rear of the wing will stall first creating a nose-up moment on the aircraft. If not corrected by the pilot the plane will pitch up, leading to more of the wing stalling and more pitch up in a divergent manner. This uncontrollable instability came to be known as
14070-450: The tips on a forward swept design will stall last, maintaining roll control. Forward-swept wings can also experience dangerous flexing effects compared to aft-swept wings that can negate the tip stall advantage if the wing is not sufficiently stiff. In aft-swept designs, when the airplane maneuvers at high load factor the wing loading and geometry twists the wing in such a way as to create washout (tip twists leading edge down). This reduces
14204-404: The tips to bend upwards in normal flight. Backwards sweep causes the tips to reduce their angle of attack as they bend, reducing their lift and limiting the effect. Forward sweep causes the tips to increase their angle of attack as they bend. This increases their lift causing further bending and hence yet more lift in a cycle which can cause a runaway structural failure. For this reason forward sweep
14338-498: The trenches and, accordingly, by 1915 the mostly blue and red peacetime uniforms had been replaced by bleu-horizon (light blue-grey), with the Adrian helmet in place of the kepi . The traditional capote of the French infantry continued to be worn in the trenches but in bleu-horizon . Colonial and North African soldiers adopted khaki uniforms. At the beginning of the Battle of France
14472-571: The weakness of the local bey , the French invasion of Algiers in 1830 again rapidly overcame initial resistance. The French government formally annexed Algeria but it took nearly 45 years to fully pacify the country. This period of French history saw the creation of the Armée d’Afrique , which included the Légion étrangère . The Army was now uniformed in dark blue coats and red trousers, which it would retain until
14606-472: The wing also remains the same, the distance between leading and trailing edges reduces, reducing its ability to resist twisting (torsion) forces. A swept wing of given span and chord must therefore be strengthened and will be heavier than the equivalent unswept wing. A swept wing typically angles backward from its root rather than forwards. Because wings are made as light as possible, they tend to flex under load. This aeroelasticity under aerodynamic load causes
14740-448: The wing experiences airflow that is slower - and at lower pressures - than the actual speed of the aircraft. One of the factors that must be taken into account when designing a high-speed wing is compressibility , which is the effect that acts upon a wing as it approaches and passes through the speed of sound . The significant negative effects of compressibility made it a prime issue with aeronautical engineers. Sweep theory helps mitigate
14874-402: The wing has the effect of reducing the curvature of the body as seen from the airflow, by the cosine of the angle of sweep. For instance, a wing with a 45 degree sweep will see a reduction in effective curvature to about 70% of its straight-wing value. This has the effect of increasing the critical Mach by 30%. When applied to large areas of the aircraft, like the wings and empennage , this allows
15008-469: The wing to the fuselage which has to be allowed for when establishing the transfer of wing-box loads to the fuselage. This results from the significant part of the wing lift which lies behind the attachment length where the wing meets the fuselage. Sweep theory is an aeronautical engineering description of the behavior of airflow over a wing when the wing's leading edge encounters the airflow at an oblique angle. The development of sweep theory resulted in
15142-524: The wing, which would have existed anyway. This eliminates the need for separate structure, making the aircraft have less drag and require less total lift for the same level of performance. These layouts inspired several flying wing gliders and some powered aircraft during the interwar years. The first to achieve stability was British designer J. W. Dunne who was obsessed with achieving inherent stability in flight. He successfully employed swept wings in his tailless aircraft (which, crucially, used washout ) as
15276-485: The year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10; this makes France the most successful military power in European history in terms of number of fought and won. The first permanent army of France , which was paid with regular wages instead of being supplied by feudal levies , was established in the early 15th century under Charles VII . It was formed due to the need for reliable troops during
15410-488: The Étendard had reportedly carried out in excess of 200,000 flight hours. Data from The Complete Book of Fighters General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists French Army The French Army , officially known as the Land Army ( French : Armée de terre , lit. ' Army of Land ' ),
15544-566: Was a French Army officer, and many key NATO staff positions were filled by Frenchmen. While an upper limit of 14 French divisions committed to NATO had been set by the Treaty of Paris, the total did not exceed six divisions during the Indochina War, and during the Algerian War the total fell as low as two divisions. The Army created two parachute divisions in 1956, the 10th Parachute Division under
15678-418: Was also provisions made for francs-archers , which was a militia of bowmen and foot soldiers raised from the non-noble classes, but the units were disbanded once war ended. Meanwhile, the bulk of infantry was still provided by urban or provincial militias, which were raised from an area or city to fight locally and that were named for their recruiting grounds. Gradually, the units became more permanent, and in
15812-564: Was another swept wing fighter design, but was also not produced before the war's end. In the post-war era, Kurt Tank developed the Ta 183 into the IAe Pulqui II , but this proved unsuccessful. A prototype test aircraft, the Messerschmitt Me P.1101 , was built to research the tradeoffs of the design and develop general rules about what angle of sweep to use. When it was 80% complete, the P.1101
15946-543: Was captured by US forces and returned to the United States , where two additional copies with US-built engines carried on the research as the Bell X-5 . Germany's wartime experience with the swept wings and its high value for supersonic flight stood in strong contrast to the prevailing views of Allied experts of the era, who commonly espoused their belief in the impossibility of manned vehicles travelling at such speeds. During
16080-479: Was derailed by political lobbying on the part of Dassault, who instead favoured their own proposal, which was an advanced version of the Étendard. This model would go on to be ordered by the French Navy, with whom it would enter service as the Super Étendard . Eventually, the more capable Super Étendard would succeed the Étendard in service. The Étendard was a relatively lightweight navalised attack fighter. In service, it
16214-460: Was envisioned to be capable of achieving 1,000 miles per hour (1,600 km/h) in level flight, thus enabling the aircraft to potentially be the first to exceed the speed of sound in the world. In February 1946, the programme was abruptly discontinued for unclear reasons. It has since been widely recognised that the cancellation of the M.52 was a major setback in British progress in the field of supersonic design. Another, more successful, programme
16348-623: Was established in 1831 for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces. The Legion is commanded by French officers. It is an elite military unit numbering around 9,000 troops. The Legion has gained worldwide recognition for its service, most recently in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan since 2001. It is not strictly an Arme but a commandement particulier , whose regiments belong to several arms, notably
16482-540: Was established on 22 November 1954 for observation, reconnaissance, assault and supply duties. It operates numerous helicopters in support of the French Army, its primary attack helicopter is the Eurocopter Tiger , of which 80 were ordered. It is an Arme with a commandement particulier . On the administrative side, there are now no more than one Direction and two services. The Army Human Resources Directorate (DRHAT) manages human resources (military and civilian) of
16616-625: Was gradually relegated to secondary missions in favour of the Super Étendard; as such, it was phased out from active combat roles during 1987. The last examples of the fighter-orientated model were withdrawn during July 1991, the type's final use having been with Squadron 59S, a ship-borne fighter school. Throughout its service life, the Étendard fleet had reportedly flown for a combined 180,000 flight hours, during which 25,300 landings had been conducted. The reconnaissance-focused Étendard IVP outlived its fighter cousin, having remained in active service until 27 July 2000. According to Dassault, by this point,
16750-424: Was largely similar to the fighter model of the aircraft, but did have some key differences. An arrangement of five OMERA cameras was housed within the aircraft's lengthy nose; furthermore, the ventral bay could also accommodate a number of long-focus cameras in lieu of the cannon armament. While a refuelling probe was also present on reconnaissance aircraft, this was non-retractable due to a lack of available space in
16884-517: Was normal policy to disband regiments after a war was over as a cost-saving measure with the Vieux Corps and the French Royal Guard being the only survivors. Regiments could be raised directly by the King and so be called after the region in which they were raised or by the nobility and so called after the noble or his appointed colonel. When Louis XIII came to the throne, he disbanded most of
17018-399: Was often noted for its popularity with its pilots due to its high level of manoeuvrability. It featured a highly swept wing , which was furnished with double-slotted flaps and spoilers , as well as powered ailerons and leading-edge droop flaps . To take up less room onboard aircraft carriers when being stored, the wings of the Étendard were designed to be foldable. The type was powered by
17152-551: Was reinforced during the November 2015 Paris attacks , and was part of a state of emergency in France due to continued terror threats and attacks. The organisation of the army is fixed by Chapter 2 of Title II of Book II of the Third Part of the Code of Defense, notably resulting in the codification of Decree 2000-559 of 21 June 2000. In terms of Article R.3222-3 of the Code of Defence,
17286-634: Was the US's Bell X-1 , which also was equipped with a straight wing. According to Miles Chief Aerodynamicist Dennis Bancroft, the Bell Aircraft company was given access to the drawings and research on the M.52. On 14 October 1947, the Bell X-1 performed the first manned supersonic flight, piloted by Captain Charles "Chuck" Yeager , having been drop launched from the bomb bay of a Boeing B-29 Superfortress and attained
17420-523: Was the addition of a dogtooth notch to the leading edge, used on the Avro Arrow interceptor. Other designs took a more radical approach, including the Republic XF-91 Thunderceptor 's wing that grew wider towards the tip to provide more lift at the tip. The Handley Page Victor was equipped with a crescent wing , with three values of sweep, about 48 degrees near the wing root where the wing
17554-652: Was the leading force in opposition to decolonization, which was perceived as a humiliation. In Algeria the Army repressed an extensive rising in and around Sétif in May 1945 with heavy fire: figures for Algerian deaths vary between 45,000 as claimed by Radio Cairo at the time and the official French figure of 1,020. The Army saw maintaining control of Algeria as a high priority. By this time, one million French settlers had established themselves, alongside an indigenous population of nine million. When it decided that politicians were about to sell them out and give independence to Algeria,
17688-471: Was thickest, a 38 degree transition length and 27 degrees for the remainder to the tip. Modern solutions to the problem no longer require "custom" designs such as these. The addition of leading-edge slats and large compound flaps to the wings has largely resolved the issue. On fighter designs, the addition of leading-edge extensions , which are typically included to achieve a high level of maneuverability, also serve to add lift during landing and reduce
17822-511: Was to have its headquarters to be formed on the basis of the staff of the Armoured and Cavalry Branch Training School at Saumur . In the late 1970s an attempt was made to form 14 reserve light infantry divisions, but this plan, which included the recreation of the 109th Infantry Division , was too ambitious. The planned divisions included the 102nd, 104e, 107e, 108e, 109e, 110e, 111e, 112e, 114e, 115th, and 127th Infantry Divisions. From June 1984,
17956-477: Was withdrawn during 2000. The Étendard has its origins in the early 1950s, with the experiences of combatants in the Korean War and the lessons derived from it subsequently. Two separate specifications were offered to French manufacturers: one for the French Air Force and the other for the numerous air forces of the multinational NATO alliance. In response, Dassault Aviation drew up a single basic design, with
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