Grumman Sapphire Cougar

Jet-Powered Carrierbased Fighter Proposal

United States | 1953

"Proposed by Grumman though not taken up by the United States Navy, the Sapphire Cougar undoubtedly influenced the upcoming F11F Tiger swept-wing fighter for the company."

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 02/21/2018 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site; No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.

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As the age of the jet fighter was getting its feet underneath, longtime fighter supplier Grumman approached the United States Navy (USN) with a concept for a new carrier-based solution which came to be known as the "Sapphire Cougar" for its lineage related to the earlier F9F "Cougar" and its choice of engine, the British Armstrong-Siddeley "Sapphire" turbojet. The engine was a local-license model from Curtiss-Wright which tagged it the "J65". The fighter was intended as a compact product to serve from the decks of the space-strapped Essex-class aircraft carriers then in USN service. As such it would have featured carrier-operation qualities like wing-folding, a reinforced under-structure, and arrestor hook equipment.

The aircraft certainly mimicked aspects of the F9F and the subsequent F11F "Tiger" developments put forth by the same company. A swept-back, high-mounted mainplane form was used as were side-mounted intakes. The pilot's position was well-forward in the design, positioned just over the nose. The tail section featured a single fin with a pair of horizontal planes - all featuring sweepback. A tricycle undercarriage rounded out the list of modern features.

It is assumed that the Sapphire Cougar would be outfitted with 4 x 20mm cannons to fulfill the fighter requirement. This would be consistent with carrier fighters of the late 1940s and early 1950s. The high-mounted wing mainplanes also opened the design to carrying underwing stores such as early-form Air-to-Air Missiles (AAMs), conventional drop bombs and rocket pods - the latter two offering an inherent strike capability and doubling the design's tactical usefulness.

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The USN eventually showed little interest in the Sapphire Cougar concept and the design fell away to military aviation history in time. At least a wind tunnel model was completed for testing to go along with design drawings and this marked the Sapphire Cougar as a stepping point towards the upcoming F11F Tiger - which was adopted by the USN in useful numbers (200).

As the Sapphire Cougar was never built and flown, performance figures remained estimated by Grumman engineers as part of the USN proposal. This included a maximum speed of 725 miles per hour, a service ceiling up to 51,000 feet and a combat radius reaching 320 miles.

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Power & Performance
Those special qualities that separate one aircraft design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for the Grumman Sapphire Cougar Jet-Powered Carrierbased Fighter Proposal.

1 x Wright J65-W-3 (Armstrong-Siddeley "Sapphire") afterburning turbojet engine developing an estimated 7,000lb dry thrust and 10,000lb with reheat.
Propulsion

637 mph
1,025 kph | 553 kts
Max Speed

51,001 ft
15,545 m | 10 miles
Service Ceiling

652 miles
1,050 km | 567 nm
Operational Range

13,400 ft/min
4,084 m/min
Rate-of-Climb

City-to-City Ranges
Operational range when compared to distances between major cities (in KM).

NYC

LON

PAR

BER

MOS

TOK

SYD

LAX

NYC

Structure
The nose-to-tail, wingtip-to-wingtip physical qualities of the Grumman Sapphire Cougar Jet-Powered Carrierbased Fighter Proposal.

1
(MANNED)
Crew

41.2 ft
12.57 m
O/A Length

31.7 ft
(9.65 m)
O/A Width

13.1 ft
(4.00 m)
O/A Height

12,787 lb
(5,800 kg)
Empty Weight

15,807 lb
(7,170 kg)
MTOW

Design Balance
The three qualities reflected below are altitude, speed, and range. The more full the box, the more balanced the design.

RANGE

ALT

SPEED

Armament
Available supported armament and special-mission equipment featured in the design of the Grumman Sapphire Cougar Jet-Powered Carrierbased Fighter Proposal .

PROPOSED:
4 x 20mm Colt Mk 12 cannons under the nose section.

Optional:
4 x AIM-9 "Sidewinder" short-ranged Air-to-Air Missiles (AAMs) OR Aerial rocket packs OR 2 x Jettisonable fuel stores.

Variants
Notable series variants as part of the Grumman Sapphire Cougar family line.

"Sapphire Cougar" - Named Proposal; not selected by the United States Navy for development.

Operators
Global customers who have evaluated and/or operated the Grumman Sapphire Cougar. Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national aircraft listing.

Total Production: 0 Units
Contractor(s): Grumman Aircraft - USA

[ United States ]

1 / 1

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Going Further...
The Grumman Sapphire Cougar Jet-Powered Carrierbased Fighter Proposal appears in the following collections:

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