Saturday, 8 August 2026

Engine Upgrade


Remember those times when the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) had A-4 Skyhawks? These aircraft were, unfortunately, prone to hull losses due to multiple causes, both in combat and outside of combat. In the RSAF's case, all A-4 Skyhawk hull losses were non-combat-related cases. But the hull losses were so bad that a retrofitting campaign was needed. So ST Engineering got to work by procuring a replacement for the Curtiss-Wright J65 engines. They found a very good replacement in the form of the General Electric GE-F404-100D, which was basically a non-afterburner version of the engines found on the F/A-18 Hornet. The RSAF never recorded a single A-4 Skyhawk hull loss after the 1988 retrofitting campaign as a result, and the A-4 Skyhawk was eventually retired from RSAF service in 2012.

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