AFVG

The AFVG (standing for Anglo-French Variable Geometry) was a supersonic multi-role combat aircraft with a variable-geometry wing, being jointly developed by British Aircraft Corporation in the United Kingdom and Dassault Aviation of France. The project was cancelled in June 1967, when the French Government withdrew from participation. BAC modified the specification to solely satisfy Royal Air Force needs, reconfiguring the design as the UKVG and sought out new partners to procure the aircraft, which ultimately emerged as the tri-national consortium-funded MRCA Panavia Tornado, a variable-geometry wing fighter aircraft.

Background
The AFVG project followed on from the earlier BAC P.45 design study for a variable-geometry strike/trainer/fighter aircraft for the Royal Air Force; one of a number of proposed designs to meet AST.362.

Anglo-French collaboration
Discussions took place in 1964 between France and Great Britain on collaborative military aviation programs with Handel Davies, the co-chairman of an Anglo-French committee, and his French counterpart, Ingénieur-General Lecamus, negotiating the launch of two new military combat aircraft. The French would take the lead role in a light ground-attack/trainer, while the British assumed the leadership of a swing-wing multirole fighter project.

On 17 May 1965, after the cancellation of the BAC TSR-2, the British and French governments signed agreements for the two joint projects; one based on the Breguet Aviation Br.121 ECAT ("Tactical Combat Support Trainer") proposal; this would later evolve, after the cancellation of AFVG, to become the SEPECAT Jaguar. The other was the AFVG, a larger, variable-geometry carrier-capable fighter aircraft for the French Navy (Aéronavale) as well as fulfilling interceptor, tactical strike and reconnaissance roles for the Royal Air Force.



Design specifications
In RAF service, the AFVG was originally intended as a fighter, replacing the English Electric Lightning. However, following the RAF's decision to procure the F-4 Phantom II instead, the AFVG's expected role changed in 1966 to supplementing the F-111K strike aircraft in replacing the English Electric Canberra and the V bomber force.

The AFVG was to be powered by two SNECMA/Bristol Siddeley M45G turbofans, fed by Mirage-style half-shock cone inlets. The engine development programme contract was to be issued by the French government to a SNECMA/Bristol Siddeley joint venture company registered in France.

Cancellation
For Marcel Dassault, the founder of the firm that bore his name, relinquishing leadership on a major project, essentially taking a subordinate position to BAC on the AFVG threatened his company's long-term objective of becoming a premier prime contractor for combat aircraft. After less than a year, Dassault began to actively undermine the AFVG project, working on two competing "in-house" projects: the variable-geometry Mirage G and the Mirage F1.

In June 1967, the French government announced their withdrawal from the AFVG project ostensibly on grounds of cost. The unilateral French decision led to a censure debate in the House of Commons. By 1967 when the French withdrew from the AFVG programme, the Air Ministry was faced with a dilemma stemming from the imminent prospect of cancelling the F-111K, a decision that was taken in November 1967, to be formalized on 20 March 1968.

Redesign
With the prospect of no operational aircraft available to fulfill the RAF's strike role, BAC revamped the AFVG design, eliminating the carrier capabilities that were no longer necessary, into a larger, more strike-oriented VG aircraft, renamed UKVG. While funding for the UKVG in the United Kingdom was seriously restricted, the government sought partners in NATO to create a common NATO strike aircraft. This eventually led to the Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) project, later to become the Panavia Tornado.