×
Aircraft / Aviation Vehicles & Artillery Infantry Arms Warships & Submarines Military Pay Chart (2023) Military Ranks
Advertisements
HOME
AIRCRAFT / AVIATION
MODERN AIR FORCES
COUNTRIES
MANUFACTURERS
COMPARE
BY CONFLICT
BY TYPE
BY DECADE
COLD WAR
MODERN AIRCRAFT
Aviation / Aerospace

Britten-Norman Defender


Reconnaissance / Transport / Patrol Aircraft [ 1989 ]



The Britten-Norman Defender was developed from the similar Britten-Norman Islander transport aircraft to serve in the military utility transport role.



Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 08/05/2019 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

GO TO SPECIFICATIONS [+]
Advertisements
The Britten-Norman Defender is a militarized version of the successful Britten-Norman Islander twin turboprop-powered aircraft. The Islander originated in the 1960s and became a global entity, seeing over 1,200 examples produced and delivered by the end of her tenure. Within these orders, the type proved versatile enough to handle a wide range of sortie requirements that only served to strengthen her legacy as a durable Short Take-Off and Landing (STOL) airframe. Following financial difficulties, Britten-Islander was bought by a pair of Omani business men (brothers in the Zawawi family) and formed into B-N Group. Both the Islander and the Defender continue to be marketed today under various product faces to enhance her reach. The Islander/Defender replaced the Beaver in the British Army inventory and is only one of two types of fixed-wing aircraft currently in service with the Army Air Corps.

The Defender has since served in a variety of roles including that of counter-insurgency (extensively so during Northern Ireland operations), reconnaissance, surveillance and utility light transport. Among other sortie types in the Defender's forte became light attack and forward air control (FAC) when necessary. The Defender has proven a capable and robust platform since her inception into service leading to the "Maritime Defender" - a designation covering the armed maritime version of the base Defender multi-role utility transport. The Defender was officially added to the ranks of the British Army on March 10th, 1989.

Design is wholly utilitarian and is most characteristically defined by the high-mounted monoplane wings. Each wing maintains an Allison 250-B17F turboprop engine powering a three-bladed propeller. The cockpit compartment is held well forward in the squared off fuselage with slab sides and features a useful sloped nose for improved downward visibility. The undercarriage is a conventional tricycle arrangement and made up of two double-tired main landing gear legs and a single-tired nose landing gear leg - as a whole, the undercarriage is non-retractable. The empennage is dominated by a single large-area vertical tail fin clipped at the top and sporting some sweep along the leading edge. Horizontal tailplanes are affixed to the vertical fin tail. Typical accommodations are for two pilots and up to six passengers. Entry/exit is via side doors, two forward and two aft. Her gross weight is listed at 7,000lbs. Each wing can field four hardpoints for various munition options to include gun pods, rocket pods and bombs if need be or external fuel tanks for extended loitering times and operational range. Specialized reconnaissance and surveillance mounts are fitted with applicable tailored equipment, cameras and jamming pods as well as a bevy communications options. Airborne Early Warning (AEW) Defenders sport a hideous-looking nose radome that quickly identifies the type and its role.

In 2003, the UK military purchased three (some sources state four) Defenders to help with the deteriorating conditions in Iraq following the 2003 coalition invasion. These aircraft carried the designation of Defender 4S AL Mk 1 and sported underwing dispensers to protect against surface-to-air guided munitions. This model was furthered defined by the implementation of an electro-optical turret under the extreme end of the nose.

The Defender 4000 is the current military version of the Defender series and first flight of this system was achieved in August of 1994. The Defender 4000 features a larger wing component similar to that of the Trislander and operates with increased weight tolerances. Her engines are more powerful than previous versions and she sports an enlarged nose section for the fitting of search radar. Top speed is a reported 225 miles per hour.©MilitaryFactory.com
Note: The above text is EXCLUSIVE to the site www.MilitaryFactory.com. It is the product of many hours of research and work made possible with the help of contributors, veterans, insiders, and topic specialists. If you happen upon this text anywhere else on the internet or in print, please let us know at MilitaryFactory AT gmail DOT com so that we may take appropriate action against the offender / offending site and continue to protect this original work.
Advertisements

Specifications



Service Year
1989

Origin
United Kingdom national flag graphic
United Kingdom

Status
ACTIVE
In Active Service.
Crew
2

Production
35
UNITS


National flag of Denmark National flag of Ireland National flag of Morocco National flag of Pakistan National flag of the Philippines National flag of the United Kingdom National flag of the United States Denmark; Ireland; Mauritius; Morocco; Pakistan; Philippines; United Kingdom; United States
(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)
Close-Air Support (CAS)
Developed to operate in close proximity to active ground elements by way of a broad array of air-to-ground ordnance and munitions options.
Special-Mission: Airborne Early Warning (AEW)
Specially-equipped platform providing over-battlefield Command and Control (C2) capability for allied aerial elements.
Special-Mission: Electronic Warfare (EW)
Equipped to actively deny adversaries the ElectroMagnetic (EM) spectrum and protect said spectrum for allied forces.
Transport
General transport functionality to move supplies/cargo or personnel (including wounded and VIP) over range.
Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance (ISR), Scout
Surveil ground targets / target areas to assess environmental threat levels, enemy strength, or enemy movement.


Length
35.9 ft
(10.93 m)
Width/Span
49.0 ft
(14.93 m)
Height
13.8 ft
(4.20 m)
Empty Wgt
4,998 lb
(2,267 kg)
MTOW
8,499 lb
(3,855 kg)
Wgt Diff
+3,501 lb
(+1,588 kg)
(Showcased structural values pertain to the Britten-Norman BN2T-4S Defender 4000 production variant)
Installed: 2 x Allison 250-B17F turboprop engines driving three-bladed propeller units.
Max Speed
225 mph
(362 kph | 195 kts)
Ceiling
24,934 ft
(7,600 m | 5 mi)
Range
437 mi
(703 km | 1,302 nm)
Rate-of-Climb
1,250 ft/min
(381 m/min)


♦ MACH Regime (Sonic)
Sub
Trans
Super
Hyper
HiHyper
ReEntry
RANGES (MPH) Subsonic: <614mph | Transonic: 614-921 | Supersonic: 921-3836 | Hypersonic: 3836-7673 | Hi-Hypersonic: 7673-19180 | Reentry: >19030


(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the Britten-Norman BN2T-4S Defender 4000 production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)
Mission-specific but can include a combination of the following across four underwing hardpoints:

Conventional Drop Bombs
Air-to-Surface Missiles
7.62mm Machine Gun Pods
Rocket Pods
Reconnaissance Pods and Equipment
2,500lbs in External Fuel Tanks


Supported Types


Graphical image of an aircraft medium machine gun
Graphical image of an aircraft machine gun pod
Graphical image of an aircraft air-to-surface missile
Graphical image of aircraft aerial rockets
Graphical image of an aircraft rocket pod
Graphical image of an aircraft conventional drop bomb munition
Graphical image of an aircraft external fuel tank


(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)
Hardpoint Mountings: 4


BN2T "Defender" - Base Utility Transport Variant
BN2T-4S "Defender 4000" - Surveillance Platform; enlarged wing area and nose assembly; FLIR; GPS; increased weights.
BN2T "Maritime Defender" - Maritime Patrol and General Reconnaissance Platform.
Defender AL1 - British Army Designation


Military lapel ribbon for Operation Allied Force
Military lapel ribbon for the Arab-Israeli War
Military lapel ribbon for the Battle of Britain
Military lapel ribbon for the Battle of Midway
Military lapel ribbon for the Berlin Airlift
Military lapel ribbon for the Chaco War
Military lapel ribbon for the Cold War
Military lapel ribbon for the Cuban Missile Crisis
Military lapel ribbon for pioneering aircraft
Military lapel ribbon for the Falklands War
Military lapel ribbon for the French-Indochina War
Military lapel ribbon for the Golden Age of Flight
Military lapel ribbon for the 1991 Gulf War
Military lapel ribbon for the Indo-Pak Wars
Military lapel ribbon for the Iran-Iraq War
Military lapel ribbon for the Korean War
Military lapel ribbon for the 1982 Lebanon War
Military lapel ribbon for the Malayan Emergency
Military lapel ribbon representing modern aircraft
Military lapel ribbon for the attack on Pearl Harbor
Military lapel ribbon for the Six Day War
Military lapel ribbon for the Soviet-Afghan War
Military lapel ribbon for the Spanish Civil War
Military lapel ribbon for the Suez Crisis
Military lapel ribbon for the Ukranian-Russian War
Military lapel ribbon for the Vietnam War
Military lapel ribbon for Warsaw Pact of the Cold War-era
Military lapel ribbon for the WASP (WW2)
Military lapel ribbon for the World War 1
Military lapel ribbon for the World War 2
Military lapel ribbon for the Yom Kippur War
Military lapel ribbon for experimental x-plane aircraft


Ribbon graphics not necessarily indicative of actual historical campaign ribbons. Ribbons are clickable to their respective aerial campaigns / operations / aviation periods.

Images Gallery



1 / 1
Image of the Britten-Norman Defender
Image copyright www.MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.


Advertisements




Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Cookies


2023 Military Pay Chart Military Ranks DoD Dictionary Conversion Calculators Military Alphabet Code Military Map Symbols

The "Military Factory" name and MilitaryFactory.com logo are registered ® U.S. trademarks protected by all applicable domestic and international intellectual property laws. All written content, illustrations, and photography are unique to this website (unless where indicated) and not for reuse/reproduction in any form. Material presented throughout this website is for historical and entertainment value only and should not to be construed as usable for hardware restoration, maintenance, or general operation. We do not sell any of the items showcased on this site. Please direct all other inquiries to militaryfactory AT gmail.com. No A.I. was used in the generation of this content; site is 100% curated by humans.

Part of a network of sites that includes GlobalFirepower, a data-driven property used in ranking the top military powers of the world, WDMMA.org (World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft), WDMMW.org (World Directory of Modern Military Warships), SR71blackbird.org, detailing the history of the world's most iconic spyplane, and MilitaryRibbons.info, cataloguing military medals and ribbons.

View day-by-day actions of the American Civil War with CivilWarTimeline.net. View day-by-day actions of World War II with SecondWorldWarHistory.com.


©2023 www.MilitaryFactory.com • All Rights Reserved • Content ©2003-2023 (20yrs)