Cutting Edge 1/32 LAU-138 BOL/Chaff Launcher
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When these came through my desk, I had to go check out just what they
were. As I expected, the Federation of American Scientists had a nice,
succinct description:
“The
LAU-138 is a high-capacity chaff dispenser for aircraft self-protection.
The launcher was originally developed for insertion into the LAU-7 Sidewinder
launch rail, where it causes no reduction in either weapon payload capacity
or flight performance. It can also be mounted in other launchers such
as the LAU-127, LAU-128 and LAU-129 launchers. Each LAU-138 dispenser
holds 160 chaff packages that are dispensed without pyrotechnics. The
drive mechanism feeds out the chaff packages one at a time into the airstream,
with dispensing in sequences tailored to decoy specific threats. The LAU-138
system was developed by CelsiusTech in Sweden, and has been selected for
operational use by several customers in Europe and the USA.” (https://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/equip/lau-138.htm)
So, that explains things nicely, and these two rails therefore become
very simple replacements for the Tomcat’s regular Sidewinder missile
rails. For those wanting to build a modern Tomcat, these rails are a must-have.
The parts are cleanly cast in a gray resin, and after removing them from
the casting plug, there should be no problems in adding these to your
favorite Tomcat model.
My thanks to Meteor Productions
for the review samples. Visit their website for ordering information.
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