The FMA IA 58 Pucará is a twin-engined counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft made in Argentina, flown for the first time on August 20, 1969. It is designed to be able to operate from small front-line airfields, and is heavily armed. This aircraft is unusual because of the tandem cockpit arrangement in a twin-prop-driven military aircraft. The Pucará represents an indigenous Argentine effort to produce a cost-effective combat aircraft in the face of hyperinflation that plagued the Argentine economy for much of the 20th Century. Counter-insurgency is the combatting of Insurgency, by the government (or allies) of the territory in which the insurgency takes place. ... Argentina is a country in southern South America, situated between the Andes in the west and the southern Atlantic Ocean in the east. ... August 20 is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... A 500,000,000,000 (500 billion) Serbian dinar banknote circa 1993, the largest nominal value ever officially printed in Serbia, the final result of hyperinflation. ...

While the Pucará is a robust and versatile aircraft in its primary role of defeating insurgents, it was not suited for defending the Falkland Islands against the British counter-attack during the Falklands War of 1982. As the only Fuerza Aerea Argentina aircraft available in substantial numbers for deployment on the islands (no runways long enough existed for FAA Skyhawks and Mirages) to be deployed, many Pucarás were destroyed on the ground by British forces before ever taking part in actual combat. The Falkland Islands are an overseas territory of the United Kingdom in the South Atlantic consisting of two main islands known as East Falkland and West Falkland and a number of smaller islands. ... The Falklands War or the Malvinas War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas), was an armed conflict between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands, also known in Spanish as the Islas Malvinas, between March and June of 1982. ... Contents // Categories: Military of Argentina | Military stubs ... The Douglas A_4 Skyhawk (formerly A4D Skyhawk, Douglas later McDonnell Douglas, now Boeing) is an attack aircraft originally designed to operate from United States Navy aircraft carriers. ... Former South African Air Force Mirage IIICZ The Dassault Mirage III is a supersonic fighter aircraft designed in France during the 1950s, and manufactured both in France and a number of other countries. ...

Apart from Argentina, Pucarás have also been exported to the Air Forces of Uruguay, Colombia, and Sri Lanka. The Republic Eastern of the Uruguay (Spanish: República Oriental del Uruguay), is a Spanish speaking country located in southern South America. ... The Republic of Colombia is a country in north-western South America. ... The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (ශ්රී ලංකා in Sinhala / இலங்கை in Tamil) (known as Ceylon before 1972) is a tropical island nation off the southeast coast of the Indian subcontinent. ...

Specifications (IA 58 Pucará)

General Characteristics

• Crew: two
• Length: 14.25 m (46 ft 9 in)
• Wingspan: 15.36 m (47 ft 1 in)
• Height: 5.36 m (47 ft 1 in)
• Wing area: m² ( ft²)
• Empty: 4,020 kg (8,860 lb)
• Loaded: kg ( lb)
• Maximum takeoff: 6,800 kg (15,000 lb)
• Powerplant: 2x Turbomeca Astazou XV1G turboprops, 1,456 kW (1,952 shp) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 750 km/h (466 mph)
• Range: 3,710 km (2,000 nautical miles)
• Service ceiling: m ( ft)
• Rate of climb: m/min ( m/min)
• Wing loading: kg/m² ( lb/ft²)
• Power/Mass: kW/kg ( hp/lb)

Armament

• 2x 20 mm Hispano cannon
• 4x 7.62 mm FM M2-20 machine guns
• 3x hardpoints for up to 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) of gun pods, bombs, rockets, mines, or torpedoes.

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Comparable aircraft: OV-10 Bronco The North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco is a turboprop-driven light attack and cargo aircraft. ...

Designation sequence: IA 58