AvPro Projects

Artist's impression of AVPRO Marauder in Airborne Early Warning (AEW) configuration. Cruising in ground effect mode is intended to minimize fuel burn. The craft is capable of landing on the water to refuel.

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The AVPRO Marauder is modular so that the craft can be reconfigured. For example, an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) version equipped with a sea-going hull can be converted to a strike aircraft by replacing the hull with bomb bay.

Other potential roles of the AVPRO Marauder are:

  • Search and Rescue (SAR)
  • Fire-fighting/Oil pollution at sea clean-up
  • Special forces landing craft
  • Ground attack/close air support
  • AWACS/Stand-off target acquisition
  • Interceptor

Source:
Oliver, David and Ryan, Mike. Warplanes of the Future London: Salamander Books. 2003. pp. 80-81
 
Artist's impression of AVPRO Marauder landing special forces.

Marauder would make a highly effective landing craft. In addition to two crew, the Marauder is intended to carry 12 fully-equipped troops in a bay inside the hull. The ability of the craft to approach a beach at low level and high speed would reduce the probability of detection and the exposure of crew/troops. In addition, because of ground effect, a high speed approach to the drop zone would be terminated by dropping the throttles and allowing the craft to glide/ride hence reducing the acoustic signature and making detection by the enemy less risky.
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Source:
Oliver, David and Ryan, Mike. Warplanes of the Future London: Salamander Books. 2003. pp.83-84.
 
Artist's impression of a Royal Navy Manta approaching a beachhead at low speed, being escorted by a Royal Marine Commando WAH-64D Apache helicopter, and Fleet Air Arm Marauder combined-attack capability WIGs.

Source:
http://www.zonamilitar.com.ar/foros/fotos-y-videos-de-fuerzas-aereas/11579-fotos-ineditas-y-dificiles-fotos-118.html
 

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OK-1. The perspective on that WIG landing craft is screwed up. The truck is way too small compared to the cockpit.
2. The AEW cruising in ground effect would of course save fuel, but what is it to warn against? Geese? Doesn't flying in ground effect defeat the purpose of AEW?
 
They probably had just in mind to reach the loiter area as WIG craft and then
climbing up to operational altitude. And perhaps it should just show, that the
Marauder was to be a Jack-Of-All-Trades, even suitable as AEW platform. ;)
BTW, in Warplanes of the Future" two different AEW version were featured, one
as "AEW only", the other with command and control capability.
 

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Artist's impression of AVPRO Manta. The Royal Navy variant of the Manta is clearly different than the US Navy/Marines variant.

Source:
http://www.zonamilitar.com.ar/foros/fotos-y-videos-de-fuerzas-aereas/11579-fotos-ineditas-y-dificiles-fotos-118.html
 

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Triton said:
Artist's impression of AVPRO supersonic jet trainer aircraft concept.
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one of the few concepts that appears (IMO) to be actually a viable aircraft. presumably the idea was a LO, thrust vectoring, trainer to help pilots adapt to the unique operational issues of planes like the F-22 or F-35?
i'd imagine that, had something like this actually been built, it could also have been sold to friendly nations much like the F-5 was? it certainly has the "low cost export fighter" vibe to it like the F-5 does..
 
Triton said:
Artist's impression of AVPRO Stealth Trimaran Aircraft Carrier (STAC) concept.

The 40,000 tonne (44,092 US tons) STAC could operate an air wing of up to 55 aircraft using both ski-jump for STOVL aircraft and a 450 ft (140 m) long diagonal flight deck for launching CTOL aircraft.
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Just thought I should add for the record that this STAC flight deck is total nonsense. Great art school work but drawn by someone with no real carrier experience. It would be impossible to land on the high angle flight deck. The approach pattern required would need an incredibly tight turn with no opportunity for adjustment. Also the landing aircraft would hit the island's turbulence burble just as it is about to touch down. Other features are equally fanciful but of little consequence since no one could actually land on this thing.
 
Abraham Gubler said:
Just thought I should add for the record that this STAC flight deck is total nonsense. Great art school work but drawn by someone with no real carrier experience. It would be impossible to land on the high angle flight deck. The approach pattern required would need an incredibly tight turn with no opportunity for adjustment. Also the landing aircraft would hit the island's turbulence burble just as it is about to touch down. Other features are equally fanciful but of little consequence since no one could actually land on this thing.
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That is very disappointing considering AvPro was trying to sell design services for real air, land, and sea weapons platforms and they made a great deal of their close relationship with DERA and their years of aviation experience.
 
mithril said:
Triton said:
Artist's impression of AVPRO supersonic jet trainer aircraft concept.
Click to expand...
one of the few concepts that appears (IMO) to be actually a viable aircraft. presumably the idea was a LO, thrust vectoring, trainer to help pilots adapt to the unique operational issues of planes like the F-22 or F-35?
i'd imagine that, had something like this actually been built, it could also have been sold to friendly nations much like the F-5 was? it certainly has the "low cost export fighter" vibe to it like the F-5 does..
Click to expand...
I was just about to ask why a training aircraft has features of current-generation combat aircraft, too. My theory was the one where they design something obviously more than a trainer and call it that to sneak it past the doves in government.

Nice design too, it looks like an F23 and a Su-35 had a baby. ;D
 
Perhaps a bit OT, but what exactly was their business model? What things were they going to produce to sell?
 
"What things were they going to produce to sell?"
I'm tempted to say : Acrylic colours on canvas. As mentioned before,
the only hardware ever shown (although just as a mock-up, too) by this
company was the Protheus modular cruise missile and probably the only
thing within their engineering capabilities was the EXINT pod. But I think,
Avpro never actually was company for designing aircraft and ships, but for
working out, what types and concepts could be operational in the future.
So their "designs" perhaps should be regarded with some indulgence.
 
dannydale said:
mithril said:
Triton said:
Artist's impression of AVPRO supersonic jet trainer aircraft concept.
Click to expand...
one of the few concepts that appears (IMO) to be actually a viable aircraft. presumably the idea was a LO, thrust vectoring, trainer to help pilots adapt to the unique operational issues of planes like the F-22 or F-35?
i'd imagine that, had something like this actually been built, it could also have been sold to friendly nations much like the F-5 was? it certainly has the "low cost export fighter" vibe to it like the F-5 does..
Click to expand...
I was just about to ask why a training aircraft has features of current-generation combat aircraft, too. My theory was the one where they design something obviously more than a trainer and call it that to sneak it past the doves in government.

Nice design too, it looks like an F23 and a Su-35 had a baby. ;D
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actually, i get more of a MiG-29 vibe from the color artwork. definately the F-23 though. combined with the BAE Hawk trainer.. with that single 2D thrust vector nozzle, i bet it would have had amazing pitch rates...kinda pointless to have only one though.. the underside bay looks to be big enough for sidewinders, but i'm not sure you could have fit AMRAAMs or their equivilents in it..
 
Jemiba said:
"What things were they going to produce to sell?"
I'm tempted to say : Acrylic colours on canvas.
Click to expand...

...And you'd have been correct. IIRC, they didn't have *any* facilities outside of a few offices and some drafting tables. Even if someone had gone for their biggest concepts, they'd have had to outsource everything, including quite a few VPs.
 
Sounds sort of like Martin-Bakers business model until decided to specialize in ejection seats. The problem is anything Martin Baker or Avpro could do, a real aerospace company could do in-house.
 
But Martin-Baker actually designed and built a/c, although it's doubtful, if the
company could have handled a series production of larger numbers. AvPro was
just a kind of think tank, similar maybe to Bauhaus Luftfahrt e.V.
But they answered the phone really kindly and were quite helpful, although not
willing to give away for free any information, that perhaps could be found on one
of their CD. ;D
 
Jemiba said:
"I wonder if they are attempting to illustrate that the EXINT pod is a comfortable way to fly?"

I think, we shouldn't discuss that point too much, otherwise maybe someone could
have an idea ... ;D
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I think the company went out of business because all the $ was going to the illustrator. This guy was prolific. Almost like he lived in a world of perpetual war and unlimited funds. ;D

Would you want to "fly" slung under the wing of airliner in one of those "coffins" for 4 hours? Thank God this company went bankrupt and the idea didn't catch on. Could you imagine being trapped in one of those for a long flight? What if you had to go? Would the airlines throw a few bags of peanuts in the tube for a snack?
 
Hey the way airline travel goes to s**t just a little more each year, I wouldn't be surprised if it came down to this. At one point in the past, who would've thought we'd have to pay for little things like a pillow? Those suits in the boardrooms will think of anything to save money. I wouldn't put a single thing past them.
 
It could lead to great reductions in fuel consumption, I think, as especially take-off and
landing need a lot of fuel. It's just a matter of a clever routing ... ;D

"We ask our 3rd class passengers to prepare for arrival. We'll reach the drop zone in
about 5 minute, your descent will take about 2 minutes. If you'll miss the landing zone,
please contact the nearest customs officer as soon as possible."
 
The key question is: How much do you trust the pilot? If he (or she) runs into trouble, will he punch off all of the stores (drop tanks, bombs, you in your little Exfil tube) to make it easier to do a runner? I didn't see a reserve parachute on the back of the pod or on the passengers.


Coincidentally my replacement copy of Warplanes of the Future arrived today. It was a fun (and as I recall expensive) read back in the day.


Anyone know where I could find one of the CDs?


Thanks.
 
I know what the Royal Navy was expected to look like with all its trimarine ships and carriers, but besides some of the artwork in Flightglobals and some images BAe and AVPRO produced is there any more better images of the RAF might have looked like from the 90s or is that the limit. If I have put this in the wrong subject I am sorry.
 
Off the top of my head there's really only three things that come to mind. FOAS (Future Offensive Air System) is the main one for a GR4 replacement. Many different designs studied and various bits of art around this site for both manned and unmanned concepts. It sort of got bundled into JCA a bit and other capabilities pushed back. JCA is the other one, which could have been any of the JSF concepts (LM/Boeing/MDD). The only other one that comes to mind is A400M, which looked pretty similar to the actual end product. I can't remember seeing anything different for FSTA.
 
AVPRO produced a book with all sorts of what-if stuff in. I cannot remember the title but it was
very comprehensive
 
Without wishing to stray too far from topic, does "Warplanes of the Future" contain 3-views? I ask because I'm rather interested in 3-views of the manned FOAS concept (blended wing - body, twin tails).

TIA,

S
 
It does actually. Just read it again a couple of nights ago. The book's a good read if you can get a copy. Out of curiousity, would this happen to be the design you're looking for? I don't have a scanner so I ran a quick Google search.

http://www.the-blueprints.com/blueprints-depot-restricted/modernplanes/modern-f/foas_raf-24775.jpg

Try this link also. It has a some images from the old "X-Planes" special that came out back in the day (another good read if you can find a copy), plus some other FOAS images.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/211833/thread/1105369477/1105461828/What+is+the+current+status+of+FOAS-+Please+judge+%28warning%2C+big+pictures%29
 

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Quite interesting. I'll have to do some research on these FOAS concepts in the future. I know now what I want for christmas!
 
Photos of Avpro EXINT pods

Source:
http://theaviationist.com/2013/12/06/exint-man-carrying-pods/
 

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Hi there, this is quite amazing, I was just having a casual conversation with my accountant in Auckland NZ. He sent me a
video of a drone taking off from a carrier. I said I did artwork for this way back in 1999....for Avpro. I didn't give him the name of the company I worked for, but he did give me a link which leads to you. After 47 attempts to register I got in.......so......I worked with Mike Ryan on these CDsand did a lot of the artwork, mostly diagrams and colour 3 views. I still have all the artwork, I may even have a CD somewhere, if not I may...and I do stress MAY be able to remake the CDs. This could require redesigning the artwork as some of the programmes I used to make the booklet no longer exist. I do have enough to put a CD of some sort together including all of the artwork shown here....who's interested? cheers Pete West
PS I live in New Zealand now, but regularly do artwork for the UK...see Flypast
 
Pete West said:
Hi there, this is quite amazing, I was just having a casual conversation with my accountant in Auckland NZ. He sent me a
video of a drone taking off from a carrier. I said I did artwork for this way back in 1999....for Avpro. I didn't give him the name of the company I worked for, but he did give me a link which leads to you. After 47 attempts to register I got in.......so......I worked with Mike Ryan on these CDs and did a lot of the artwork, mostly diagrams and colour 3 views. I still have all the artwork, I may even have a CD somewhere, if not I may...and I do stress MAY be able to remake the CDs. This could require redesigning the artwork as some of the programmes I used to make the booklet no longer exist. I do have enough to put a CD of some sort together including all of the artwork shown here....who's interested? cheers Pete West
PS I live in New Zealand now, but regularly do artwork for the UK...see Flypast
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Hi Pete - very cool - I have of course seen your artwork in print for many years.

I am in NZ too these days, a few of us Poms around :)
 
Pete West said:
Hi there, this is quite amazing, I was just having a casual conversation with my accountant in Auckland NZ. He sent me a
video of a drone taking off from a carrier. I said I did artwork for this way back in 1999....for Avpro. I didn't give him the name of the company I worked for, but he did give me a link which leads to you. After 47 attempts to register I got in.......so......I worked with Mike Ryan on these CDsand did a lot of the artwork, mostly diagrams and colour 3 views. I still have all the artwork, I may even have a CD somewhere, if not I may...and I do stress MAY be able to remake the CDs. This could require redesigning the artwork as some of the programmes I used to make the booklet no longer exist. I do have enough to put a CD of some sort together including all of the artwork shown here....who's interested? cheers Pete West
PS I live in New Zealand now, but regularly do artwork for the UK...see Flypast
Click to expand...

Count me in!
 
Welcome Pete! It sure would be nice to see this artwork... If you could make the CD and send it to PaulMM, that would be really great. Thanks for the offer!
 
Skyblazer said:
Welcome Pete! It sure would be nice to see this artwork... If you could make the CD and send it to PaulMM, that would be really great. Thanks for the offer!
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I'll second that motion!
 

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