Be-12 Chaika (Mail) ASW

Total number (active): 4 Inventory: NAVY: Be-12 "Mail", 4, ASW Competitor NA NAVY 4 * where available

Length, m 30.17
Wingspan, m 29.71
Height, m 7.00
Number/ type of power units 2 / turboprop Progress AI-20D
Afterburning/ non-afterburning traction, kilogram-force - / 2 * 5500
Weight, kg 24 500
Take-off weight, kg 36 000
Payload mass, kg 5 000
Full speed at the ground level/at height, km/h 473 / 610
Absolute altitude, m 8 000
Range, km 3 200
Ferry range, km 4 200
Limit operating load -
Weapons Anti-submarine 450 mm torpedos AT-1 or AT-2, depth-bombs

Two previously unknown types of large flying boat made their first appearance at the Soviet Aviation Day flypast of 1961. The swept wing, jet powered, Beriev Be-10 was one of the stars of the show; whilst another Beriev's design, the turboprop engined Be-12 attracted little attention. Widely assumed to be a simple conversion of the 1949 vintage Be-6, the Be- 12 was overlooked in many contemporary press reports. Not long after, however, the Soviet Naval Air Force chose the Be-12 to be the standard equipment of its coastal anti-submarine force, and the Be-10 was never to be seen in public again. Three decades on, the Be-12 is still in widespread service around Russia's coasts, and has become renown for its versatility and robustness.

Flying Boat Expertise

The Beriev Design Bureau, located at Taganrog near Rostov on the Azov Sea, has vast experience of designing ocean-going flying boats. Formed on August 6, 1934, with Georgii Mikhailovich Beriev as chief designer, it initially concentrated on developing his first complete design, the MBR-2 short range reconnaissance flying boat. Production of this type eventually ran to some fifteen hundred examples. It was widely used throughout the Great Patriotic War and many examples survived well into the nineteen-fifties on second line duties.

In October 1941, the approach of German forces brought all production at Taganrog to a halt. It wasn't until 1945 that the Beriev Bureau was re-established at Taganrog, and it's next major design only appeared in June 1947. The LL-143 long range reconnaissance flying boat was in a similar class to the Martin PBM Mariner, and adopted a similar gull wing arrangement for mounting its two piston engines. After a number of design changes to the engines, armament and sensors, a production version designated Be-6 flew in February 1949. One hundred and fifty examples of this aircraft were built at Taganrog 1951-55, and twenty were later exported to the Chinese Navy. The Be-6 received the NATO reporting name 'Madge'.

Beriev's next major design was the Be-10, a large twin-jet fast attack flying boat, with sharply swept wings and tail surfaces, powered by two Lyulka AL-7RV turbojets - unreheated versions of the Sukhoi Su-7 powerplant - tucked under the wing roots. Twelve Be-10 prototype and pre-production aircraft were built, the first flying on June 20, 1956.

Submarine Threat

In the late nineteen-fifties, the US Navy began development of the first Polaris nuclear missile submarines (the SSBN-608 USS George Washington class, first commissioned on December 30, 1959). Due to range and accuracy limitations, the Polaris A-1 missile needed to be launched from a position fairly close to the coast of the target country - especially one as large as the Soviet Union. Consequently, Aviatsiya Voenno-Morskovo Flota - Soviet Naval Air Force issued a requirement in 1957 for an aircraft capable of detecting and killing nuclear missile submarines in the coastal waters of the USSR.

It was anticipated that surface ships or shore based direction finding stations would indicate the approximate location of an enemy submarine. An ASW aircraft would then follow up with short range radar, MAD probe and sonobouys to locate and classify the target. An attack would then take place, usually in co-operation with surface ships. Although the Be-6 had been progressively updated, the Soviet Naval Air Force needed a larger aircraft capable of carrying all the necessary weapons and up-to-date sensor equipment.

Accordingly, while development of the Be-10 continued, Beriev began work on a completely new design for a slower more comprehensively equipped aircraft. In the late fifties, Beriev is thought to have flown an experimental Be-6 converted with turboprop engines. This probably led to consideration of a turboprop powered aircraft based on the Be-6 layout. In the event, the new design shared only the gull-wing layout and twin tail of the old Be-6. The first prototype of this new design, designated Be-12, flew from Taganrog on October 18, 1960. The Be-12 was only slightly smaller than the Be-10, but much lighter, and with a similar hull shape.