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36-451: The Ilyushin Il-40 ( NATO reporting name : Brawny ) was a two-seat Soviet jet-engined armored ground-attack aircraft . The first prototype flew in 1953 and was very successful except when it fired its guns, as their combustion gasses disturbed the airflow into the engines and caused them to flameout or hiccup. Remedying this problem took over a year and involved the radical change of moving

72-489: A flash hider , suppressor or muzzle shroud ). Muzzle flash can be broken down into five distinct components. Muzzle flashes create distinct signatures that can be located using infrared imaging technology. Technology is being developed to detect enemy muzzle flashes before the projectile reaches its target. Muzzle flash, particularly the longer-duration secondary flash, is an inherent problem in most firearms. Due to its brightness , muzzle flash can temporarily blind

108-425: A sideslip by the engine on the side opposite the sideslip. Several solutions were evaluated to cure the problem, but Ilyushin pushed for the more radical solution of extending the air intakes for the engines all the way to the nose of the aircraft and moving the guns to the bottom of the nose, behind the air intakes. The change in position of the guns and the extension of the air intakes, which looked "uncannily like

144-462: A different series of numbers with a different suffix (i.e., SA-N- versus SA-) for these systems. The names are kept the same as a convenience. Where there is no corresponding system, a new name is devised. The Soviet Union did not always assign official "popular names" to its aircraft, but unofficial nicknames were common as in any air force . Generally, Soviet pilots did not use the NATO names, preferring

180-484: A double-barreled shotgun," allowed the nosewheel to be moved forward to lengthen the wheelbase. The guns were mounted behind the nosewheel well and a special shield was added to protect the gun barrels from debris thrown up by the nosewheel; it was mechanically linked to the nosewheel and extended when it did. Other changes included the replacement of the original AM-5F engines by the Tumansky RD-9 V, an improved version of

216-401: A maximum of twelve TRS-82 or eight TRS-132 rockets could be carried. Two cameras were fitted in the rear fuselage for day and night damage-assessment photos. The Il-40 first flew on 7 March 1953, and flight tests revealed no serious shortcomings in the air. The operational CG was too far aft, but this was only a minor problem when landing, taking off and taxiing , especially when coupled with

252-514: A native Russian nickname. An exception was that Soviet airmen appreciated the MiG-29 's codename "Fulcrum", as an indication of its pivotal role in Soviet air defence. To reduce the risk of confusion, unusual or made-up names are allocated, the idea being that the names chosen are unlikely to occur in normal conversation and are easier to memorise. For fixed-wing aircraft, the number of syllables indicates

288-452: Is not made for helicopters. Before the 1980s, reporting names for submarines were taken from the NATO spelling alphabet . Modifications of existing designs were given descriptive terms, such as " Whiskey Long Bin ". From the 1980s, new designs were given names derived from Russian words, such as " Akula ", or "shark". These names did not correspond to the Soviet names. Coincidentally, "Akula", which

324-826: The Antonov An-124 or "Candid" for the Ilyushin Il-76 . The initial letter of the name indicates the use of that equipment. The alphanumeric designations (eg AA-2) are assigned by the Department of Defense . The first letter indicates the type of aircraft, e.g., "Bear" for a bomber aircraft refers to the Tupolev Tu-95 , or "Fulcrum" for the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 fighter aircraft. For fixed-wing aircraft, one-syllable names are used for propeller aircraft and two-syllable names for aircraft with jet engines. This distinction

360-417: The muzzle of a firearm during shooting . Both the blast and flash are products of the exothermic combustion of the propellant ( gunpowder ), and any remaining unburned powders reacting with ambient air . The size and shape of the muzzle flash is dependent on the combustion energy of propellant being used, the amount of combustible ejecta remaining, and any devices attached to the muzzle (such as

396-453: The muzzle brakes or blast suppressors tested made any difference; the engines would hiccup even if only a single gun fired just five to ten rounds. A decision was made to replace the six NR-23 guns in the nose with four AM-23 cannon with 225 rounds per gun that had a rate of fire 50% greater than that of the NR-23 and to totally revise the gun installation. The guns were moved to the very tip of

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432-542: The AM-5F, the normal bombload was increased to 1,000 kg and 1,400 kg (3,100 lb) in overloaded condition, and a rearview mirror was added to allow the pilot to better observe the rear upper hemisphere. Ilyushin began construction of another prototype to evaluate this solution and this was endorsed on 16 October 1954 when the Council of Ministers ordered production to begin at Factory ( Zavod ) No. 168 at Rostov-on-Don of

468-619: The Air Standardization Coordinating Committee (ASCC), which is separate from NATO . Based in Washington DC, AFIC comprises representatives from the militaries of three NATO members (Canada, the United Kingdom and United States) and two non-NATO countries (Australia and New Zealand). When the system was introduced in the 1950s, reporting names also implicitly designated potentially hostile aircraft. However, since

504-588: The aircraft was turned over and the State acceptance trials lasted from 21 January — 15 March 1954. The tests were generally successful with the Il-40 proving to be easy to fly, maneuverable enough to be a handful for the MiG-15bis and MiG-17 fighters opposing it and considerably superior to the piston-engined Ilyushin Il-10 M ground-attack aircraft then in service. However flight tests did reveal blast gas ingestion when firing in

540-656: The battlefield. Sergey Ilyushin had begun design studies during 1950–51 for a jet-engined ground-attack aircraft possessing better performance characteristics than was possible with piston-engined aircraft. By the end of 1951 the Ilyushin design bureau had prepared a technical proposal for a two-seat armored aircraft using two Mikulin AM-5 axial-flow turbojets rated at 2,150 kgf (4,740 lbf) at maximum power (without afterburner ) and 2,700 kgf (5,952 lbf) with afterburner. In January 1952 Ilyushin sent this proposal to

576-508: The end of the Cold War, some NATO air forces have operated various aircraft types with reporting names (e.g. the "Fulcrum" Mikoyan MiG-29 ). The United States Department of Defense (DOD) expands on the NATO reporting names in some cases. NATO refers to surface-to-air missile systems mounted on ships or submarines with the same names as the corresponding land-based systems, but the US DOD assigns

612-531: The engine air intakes all the way to the very front of the aircraft and repositioning the guns from the tip of the nose to the bottom of the fuselage, just behind the nosewheel. The aircraft, now resembling a double-barreled shotgun from the front, was ordered into production in 1955. Only five production aircraft had been completed before the entire program was canceled in early 1956 when the VVS discarded its close air-support doctrine in favor of tactical nuclear weapons on

648-448: The government, which was quickly accepted, and he was directed to design and build one prototype. The Il-40 had wings set low on the fuselage, swept back at an angle of 35°, and a tricycle undercarriage. The two AM-5 engines were in pods adjacent to the fuselage. As was traditional for Ilyushin ground-attack aircraft, the core of Il-40's structure was a load-bearing armored shell that protected both crew positions, six fuel tanks and part of

684-464: The improved version, designated as the Il-40P. The Il-40P prototype first flew on 14 February 1955 and began State acceptance trials on 12 October 1955. The changes had resolved all the problems suffered by the earlier design and an order for a first batch of forty production machines was placed. Five of these had been completed by the spring of 1956 and were undergoing preflight tests when the entire program

720-414: The loud sound of gunfire , can also suppress muzzle flash. This is done by trapping and delaying the expansion of the propellant gases with containing multiple sound baffles , which slows the gases and dissipating their energy over a larger surface area before releasing them at a cooler temperature. The enclosure of the silencer can also serve as a muzzle shroud to physically conceal any light emitted by

756-453: The nose in a separate compartment made of heat-resistant steel and provided with a special blast deflector chamber to deflect the blast gasses away from the engine inlets. Two doors were provided at the bottom of the chamber to ventilate the chamber while firing. One problem occurred almost immediately during testing when the blast gases accumulated in the section where spent cartridges and links were saved and sometimes ignited. Occasionally this

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792-426: The nose, three on each side, each with 150 rounds, with their muzzles protruding into the slipstream . One NR-23 was mounted in a remotely-controlled Il-K10 tail barbette with 200 rounds. It had a maximum elevation of 55°, a maximum depression of 40° and could traverse 60° to either side. The Il-K10 could traverse at a rate of 42° per second and elevate at a rate of 38° per second. Four small bomb bays were fitted in

828-506: The primary cause of the secondary flash is combustion of hydrogen and carbon monoxide , chemical approaches are also used. In World War I , bags of sodium chloride (table salt) were placed in front of the propellant charges of artillery to suppress the flash. Addition of a few percent of alkali salts to the powder for flash suppression is common, typically salts of potassium such as potassium chloride , potassium sulfate , potassium carbonate and potassium bicarbonate . In both cases,

864-402: The radio and electrical equipment. The thickness of the shell ranged from 3 to 8 mm (0.12 to 0.31 in) in thickness. The armored bulkhead protecting the pilot from the front was 10 mm (0.39 in) thick. The cockpit glazing was also bulletproof and the pilot was given an 8 mm (0.31 in) armored headrest to protect him against shells fired from above and behind. The gunner

900-471: The rather short wheelbase . The biggest problem proved to be the guns and their effect on the engines. During the first aerial test of the cannons at the end of March 1953 the muzzle flash temporarily blinded the pilot and both engines flamed out . The pilot was able to restart the engines and returned safely, but Sergey Ilyushin immediately started an investigation into the cause of the engine problems. Ground tests with high-speed cameras revealed that none of

936-428: The salts act as catalysts , and interfere with the hydrogen-oxygen combustion to reduce the muzzle flash. The side effects of the alkali salts are a reduction in power, an increase in smoke, and fouling and corrosion of the firearm and nearby equipment (a significant concern with aircraft guns). Ammonium chloride and ammonium nitrate salts have also been tried with success. Silencers , while designed to mitigate

972-401: The shooter, or give away the shooter's location, especially at night. Ingestion of the muzzle flash from aircraft-mounted guns has also been implicated in compressor stall and flameout , causing loss of aircraft. Flash hiders attempt to suppress the flash mechanically, by interfering with the blast wave using either a cone or a series of slots at the muzzle of the firearm. However, since

1008-582: The type of the aircraft's engine. Single-syllable code names denote reciprocating engine or turboprop , while two-syllable code names denote jet engine . Bombers have names starting with the letter "B", and names like "Badger" ( Tupolev Tu-16 ), "Blackjack" ( Tupolev Tu-160 ) and "Bear" ( Tupolev Tu-95 ) have been used. "Frogfoot", the reporting name for the Sukhoi Su-25 , references the aircraft's close air support role. Transports have names starting with "C" (for "cargo"), resulting in names like "Condor" for

1044-488: The wings with a maximum capacity of 100 kg (220 lb) each. Alternatively, four bomb racks could be fitted under the wings that could carry bombs up to 500 kg (1,100 lb),82 mm (3.2 in) TRS-82 or 132 mm (5.2 in) TRS-132 rockets, or drop tanks with a total capacity of 1,100 litres (290 US gal). The normal bombload was 400 kg (880 lb), but 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) could be carried at overload. Under overloaded conditions,

1080-451: Was an artillery-spotting version known as the Il-40K. This model added a third crewman in a redesigned forward fuselage. The air intakes were reverted to their original position as the guns had been placed in the small wing bomb bays and there was no danger of the engines ingesting blast gasses from the guns. The spotter-navigator was given an extensively glazed position at the tip of the nose that

1116-504: Was assigned to an attack submarine by NATO, was the actual Soviet name for the ballistic missile submarine NATO named " Typhoon-class ". The NATO names for submarines of the People's Republic of China are taken from Chinese dynasties . Muzzle flash Muzzle flash is the light — both visible and infrared — created by a muzzle blast , which is caused by the sudden release and expansion of high-temperature, high-pressure gases from

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1152-619: Was canceled at an early stage. Data from OKB Ilyushin: A History of the Design Bureau and its Aircraft, The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft from 1875–1995 General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era NATO reporting name The assignment of reporting names is managed by the Five Eyes Air Force Interoperability Council (AFIC), previously known as

1188-665: Was canceled on 13 April 1956 and all components in preparation scrapped. A week later, the Attack Aviation branch of the VVS was superseded by the Fighter-Bomber branch and the doctrine of the VVS was drastically modified. No longer would the VVS provide close support to the Army, but rather it would use tactical nuclear weapons as part of the nuclear battlefield. Before the program was canceled, two variants had been studied by Ilyushin. The first

1224-477: Was protected by armor 4–10 mm (0.16–0.39 in) thick. The total weight of the armored shell and the bulletproof glass was 1,918 kg (4,228 lb). Ejection seats were provided for both crewmembers. Three perforated airbrakes were fitted on the rear fuselage, one on each side and one underneath, to enhance the aircraft's maneuverability during a dive. The initial armament was six 23 mm (0.91 in) Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 autocannon mounted in

1260-564: Was strong enough to actually deform the chamber. The spent shell case section was thoroughly ventilated and muzzle brakes were introduced to successfully cure the problem. Resolving the problem with the guns had prevented the aircraft from undergoing its State acceptance trials in July 1953 as stipulated and a special commission was appointed to conduct the trials on 31 December 1953. After the manufacturer's trials were successfully concluded in January 1954

1296-454: Was well-protected with armor and bulletproof glass. The first fuselage was nearing completion when the order came to cancel the entire program. The second variant was a torpedo -carrying version called the Il-40T which was based on the fuselage of the Il-40K, but the navigator-bombardier's position had optically flat glass panels to facilitate aiming. Not much effort was devoted to this model and it

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