![]() ![]() As Told by Lima, when Intruders were striking some targets, A-7 Corsairs and F-4 Phantoms flew along in formation and released their ordnance when directed by the A-6 crews using DIANE. The Intruder demonstrated to possess a real all-weather capability thanks to a new bomb release system, the Digital Integrated Attack and Navigation Equipment system, or DIANE, that combined an innovative tool which could take into account any angle of climb or dive, speed, G force, and wind with an analog computer to calculate when dropping a payload accurately. “We managed to out-turn them all, but I remember the sound of those five rocket motors from the SAMs as they went by. At their intercept speed of about Mach 3, the SAMs couldn’t turn with the A-6, especially at low level.” Owens, who have flown almost every version of the Intruder, remembers approaching a target when several SAMs pointed towards its aircraft, streaming long, bright tails of flame, five in all. “You could outfly the SAMs with the A-6,” explains the former A-6 pilot (retired) Rear Admiral Rupe Owens in Rafael Lima article Legends of Vietnam: Shoulder to Shoulder The Grumman A-6 was ugly, but it sure could cook published on Air & Space “What you did was make hard turns. ![]() During this kind of sorties, to avoid SAMs Intruder pilots relied not only on their own skills at low altitude flying but also in the eyes of their BNs. ![]() One of the many missions performed by the A-6 that requested a good crew coordination was the “Iron Hand” one (that is today known as Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses, SEAD), during which the Intruder had to attack and destroy SAMs (Surface to Air Missiles) and AAA (Anti Aircraft Artillery). ![]()
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