Role Counter-insurgency aircraft
National origin Argentina
Manufacturer Fábrica Militar de Aviones
First flight 20 August 1969
Introduction May 1975
Status In service
Primary users Argentine Air Force
Sri Lanka Air Force (historical)
Uruguayan Air Force (historical)
Produced 1974–1993
Number built 110
In August 1966 the Argentine state aircraft factory, Dirección Nacional de Fabricación e Investigación Aeronáutica (DINFIA), began development of the AX-2, a Counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft to meet a requirement of the Argentine Air Force. The project was promoted by engineer Ricardo Olmedo and became under the guidance of engineer Aníbal Dreidemie, who also designed the IA-52 Guaraní II and the IA-63 Pampa. The chosen layout was a low-wing monoplane powered by two turboprop engines mounted in wing-mounted nacelles and fitted with a T-tail. In order to test the proposed layout, DINFIA first built a full-scale unpowered glider test vehicle, which flew for the first time on 26 December 1967
The IA 58 Pucará is of conventional, all-metal (mainly duralumin) construction. The unswept cantilever wings have 7 degrees of dihedral on the outer panels and are fitted with slotted trailing-edge flaps. The IA-58 has a slender fuselage, with a tandem cockpit arrangement; the crew of two is seated under the upward opening clamshell canopy on Martin-Baker Mk 6AP6A zero/zero ejection seats and are provided with dual controls and good visibility, at least in the lateral and front quarters. The clean aerodynamic design allow the Pucará to reach relatively high speed, higher than the American OV-10 Bronco, another COIN aircraft. On the other hand, the IA 58 has no cargo bay inside the fuselage as requested for the American aircraft.Ceiling
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Aircraft Speed
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The first units were delivered in May 1975 to the Argentine Air Force (Spanish: Fuerza Aérea Argentina, FAA), equipping the 2° Escuadron de Exploración y Ataque, part of the 3rd Air Brigade (Spanish: III Brigada Aérea) in Reconquista, northern Santa Fe province
The FMA IA 58 Pucará (Quechua: Fortress) is an Argentine ground-attack and counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft
The FMA IA 58 Pucará (Quechua: Fortress) is an Argentine ground-attack and counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft