Avpro Concepts

[Mossie]

Given a bump up!

[KJ_Lesnick]

Other than the Russian designs, were any of the other concepts that were taken seriously as possible developments, or were they kind of just sketches that never went anywhere?

[Weaver]

Just vapourware that never got anywhere for the most part.

The EXINT pod got as far as a mockup, and allegedly Israeli Special Forces bought a handful to use on Apaches, but take that info with a BIG pinch of salt.

Ranchoth's Arsenal on Shapeways makes 3D -printed models of them: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/ranchoth?li=pb

[Mossie]

There was a little more, the Proteus missile was also mocked up.  The stealth  trimaran aircraft carrier was officially submitted for the Royal Navy's CVF competition, it was rejected early on.

I feel that Avpro tried to be a serious concern, but were a minnow in a pond of pike, they were unlikely to last long.

[Weaver]

Thread on Twitter ("X" ) here with most of the ones posted by Mossie, but without the Botophucket watermarks) and quite a few more besides:

https://x.com/Mikethehuman_/status/1298334632283451393?s=20

I'll post some into the thread for anyone who's interested and can't/won't go on Twitter: speak up.

[Steel Penguin]

if you cam post them up, that would be great.
 

[Weaver]

Okay here we go.

There were no names or descriptions with these, but some of them duplicate what Mossie posted so you can get them from there.

First off: naval concepts:

[Weaver]

Next up - Air Force/Army concepts:

(it can be a bit hard to tell whether some of the grey jets are supposed to be navy or air force, since some of the artists don't seem to have appreciated that FAA aircraft don't have tail flashes)

[Weaver]

EXINT pods:

[Weaver]

And finally Cyril, the DamnRuskis:

[kerick]

Wow! Most of that looks like it should be on Deviant Art's website.
Thanks for posting all of those. I pretty sure I've seen a few of those before but the rest are really cool too!

[Andrew Gorman]

Yes, these are nice pictures and interesting designs. Thank you!

[Steel Penguin]

indeed,  Thank you for the posts.     some look far more concept art than others,

[Weaver]

indeed,  Thank you for the posts.     some look far more concept art than others,

Well they were trying to sell the EXINT pod as a real, near-term thing, so they wanted to show it on current aircraft as well as projected ones.

I think some of them were also intended to illustrate FCAS proposals, hence why we see Jaguars, Tornados and F-111s with drone wingmen, a concept which is now coming to pass.

Lastly some are clearly intended to illustrate aircraft options for the RNs projected big carriers, hence wny we see Rafale Ms, F-18Es, hooked Typhoons, F-32s and F-35s.

[PR19_Kit]

An ASTONISHING level of modelling inspiration there H, thanks for posting the whole lot.   

Where did you find them though, I've never seen THAT many of Avpro's stuff before.

I'm not too keen on the mega-angled deck carrier though. I'm not at all sure that the maritime part of the crew would relish sailing THAT far of the apparent wind at high speed!