The Grumman A6 Intruder is an American twinjet allweather attack aircraft developed and manufactured by American aircraft company Grumman Aerospace and operated by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.

It was designed in response to a 1957 requirement issued by the Bureau of Aeronautics for an allweather attack aircraft for Navy longrange interdiction missions and with short takeoff and landing (STOL) capability for Marine close air support. It was to replace the pistonengined Douglas A1 Skyraider. The requirement allowed one or two engines, either turbojet or turboprop. The winning proposal from Grumman used two Pratt & Whitney J52 turbojet engines. The Intruder was the first Navy aircraft with an integrated airframe and weapons system. Operated by a crew of two in a sidebyside seating configuration, the workload was divided between the pilot and weapons officer (bombardier/navigator (BN)). In addition to conventional munitions, it could also carry nuclear weapons, which would be delivered using toss bombing techniques. On 19 April 1960, the first prototype made its maiden flight.

The A6 was in service with the United States Navy and Marine Corps between 1963 and 1997, during which time multiple variants were prototyped and produced. Two of the more successful variants developed were the EA6B Prowler, a specialized electronic warfare derivative, and the KA6D tanker version.It was deployed during various overseas conflicts, including the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. The A6 was intended to be superseded by the McDonnell Douglas A12 Avenger II, but this program was ultimately canceled due to cost overruns. Thus, when the A6E was scheduled for retirement, its precision strike mission was initially taken over by the Grumman F14 Tomcat equipped with a LANTIRN pod.

As a result of the fairweather limitation of the propellerdriven Skyraider in the Korean War and the advent of turbine engines, the United States Navy issued preliminary requirements in 1955 for an allweather carrierbased attack aircraft. The U.S. Navy published an operational requirement document for it in October 1956. It released a request for proposals (RFP) in February 1957. This request called for a 'close air support attack bomber capable of hitting the enemy at any time'. Aviation authors Bill Gunston and Peter Gilchrist observe that this specification was shaped by the service's Korean War experiences, during which air support had been frequently unavailable unless fair weather conditions were present.

In response to the RFP, a total of eleven design proposals were submitted by eight different companies, including Bell, Boeing, Douglas, Grumman, Lockheed, Martin, North American, and Vought. Grumman's submission was internally designated as the Type G128.
General characteristics

Crew: 2 (pilot, bombardier/navigator)
Length: 54 ft 9 in (16.69 m)
Wingspan: 53 ft 0 in (16.15 m)
Width: 25 ft 2 in (7.67 m) wing folded
Height: 16 ft 2 in (4.93 m)
Wing area: 528.9 sq ft (49.14 m2)
Aspect ratio: 5.31:1
Empty weight: 26,660 lb (12,093 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 60,400 lb (27,397 kg) (shorebased operations)
Fuel capacity: 2,385 US gal (1,986 imp gal; 9,030 L) (internal fuel)
Zerolift drag coefficient: 0.0144
Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney J52P8B turbojets, 9,300 lbf (41 kN) thrust each
Performance

Maximum speed: 560 kn (640 mph, 1,040 km/h) at sea level
Cruise speed: 412 kn (474 mph, 763 km/h)
Stall speed: 98 kn (113 mph, 181 km/h) (flaps down)
Never exceed speed: 700 kn (810 mph, 1,300 km/h)
Combat range: 878 nmi (1,010 mi, 1,626 km) (with max payload)
Ferry range: 2,818 nmi (3,243 mi, 5,219 km)
Service ceiling: 42,400 ft (12,900 m)
g limits: 2.4 to 6.5
Rate of climb: 7,620 ft/min (38.7 m/s)
Lifttodrag: 15.2
Takeoff run to 50 ft (15 m): 4,530 ft (1,380 m)
Landing run from 50 ft (15 m): 2,540 ft (770 m)
Armament
Hardpoints: Five hardpoints with a capacity of 3,600 lb (1,600 kg) each (4 under wings, 1 under fuselage), 18,000 lb (8,200 kg) total, with provisions to carry combinations of:
Rockets:
12x LAU10 4round 5 inch (127 mm) Zuni pods
12x LAU68 7round 2.75 inch (70 mm) FFAR pods
12x LAU61/LAU68 19round 2.75 inch (70 mm) FFAR pods
Missiles:
AGM45 Shrike antiradar missile × 2
AGM78 Standard ARM antiradar missile × 2
AGM62 Walleye TVguided glide bomb
AGM65 Maverick airtoground missile× 6
AGM84 Harpoon antiship missile/AGM84E Standoff Land Attack Missile × 4
AGM88 HARM antiradar missile
AGM123 Skipper airtoground missile
AIM9 Sidewinder airtoair missile
ADM141 TALD decoy missiles
Bombs:
28× Mk 82 500 lb (227 kg) GP bombs or Mk 20 Rockeye II cluster bomb
13× Mk 83 1,000 lb (454 kg) GP bombs
5× Mk 84 2,000 lb (907 kg) GP bombs
5x GBU12/16/10 laserguided bombs
5x CBU72 FuelAir Explosives
Up to three B43, B57 or B61 nuclear weapons
Other:
Mk 60 Captor Mine
Up to 5 300 US gal (250 imp gal; 1,100 L) drop tanks
Various practice stores, chaff launchers, baggage pods, flares

#a6 #intruder #aircraft