Fiddler & Arrow.

This is coolbert:

From a comment to the blog by Steiner:

"steiner said... Interesting how the Fiddler mirrors the spec of the Canadian Avro Arrow, which would have been in service at the same time had the Soviets managed to build a heavy bomber with 'over-the-pole' capability."

The Soviet era Tu-28 and the Canadian CF-105 Avro Arrow are indeed instances of parallel development?

Combat aircraft, Soviet and Canadian both having very similar, very analogous missions!

Warplanes best thought of as INTERCEPTORS! NOT multi-role-combat-aircraft [MRCA] or fighter planes able to "dogfight". Tu-28 and the Arrow STRICTLY interceptors with a limited mission the characteristics and operational requirements of resulted in parallel development!

Interceptor aircraft able to:

* Get very high very fast!
* Engage an approaching enemy intruder aircraft with MISSILES only!

1. "The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was a delta-winged interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Aircraft Limited (Canada) . . . Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry . . . was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond."

2. "The Tupolev Tu-28 (NATO reporting name Fiddler) was a long-range interceptor aircraft introduced by the Soviet Union in the 1960s. The official designation was Tu-128, but this designation was less commonly used in the West. It was the largest and heaviest fighter ever in service."

"The PVO requirement called for a supersonic aircraft with enormous fuel tanks for both a good patrol time and a long range, a capable radar, and the most powerful air-to-air missiles possible."

According to Suvorov from "Inside the Soviet Army" the Fiddler:

"is designed to attack enemy aircraft attempting to penetrate Soviet air space across the endless wastes of the Arctic or the deserts of Central Asia."

From the various operational and performance characteristics as listed for the Arrow and Fiddler we find:

Arrow: "Combat radius: 360 NM (410 mi, 660 km)"

Fiddler: "Range: 2,565 km when armed (1,595 mi)"

Range not the same as combat radius. "Combat radius refers to the distance from an airbase that a warplane can reach, patrol there for a set amount of time and return to base with minimal fuel left". Fiddler was able to take off at one airbase, complete the mission - - and land at another airbase? Range of Fiddler was ABOUT twice that of Arrow?

In particular - - Fiddler - - an interceptor aircraft, a warplane as carried in the inventory of the Soviet Air Defense and NOT Soviet Air Force. And that distinction must be made clear. The former, Soviet Air Defense, referred to as the PVO Strany!

And both warplanes if an when deployed and operational for combat, operating in what would have undoubtedly have been a nuclear environment, the Cold War turned hot and big time. Manned high-flying long-range bomber aircraft of the Soviet Union and the United States, intruder aircraft confronted and shot down by interceptors of the types Fiddler and Arrow.

Fiddler and Arrow a specific response to specific requirements the role of which is now filled by MRCA almost across the board!

coolbert.