A-4K Kahu - The modernized Kiwi

[FlyingOstridge]

@joshwagstaff13

These are identical in capability to the early 1980s A-4K as far as weapons are concerned, but with the addition of being able to also mount Sidewinders on the inner underwing stations (2 and 4), which came from their time in RAN service.

They should be lighter though without the hump and the carrier systems. Unless those were removed.

[joshwagstaff13]

So, at about the same time as the A-4Gs were undergoing the interim G-to-K conversion (the end result of which can be seen with NZ6213 above), the A-4Ks were themselves also undergoing a transformation.

The avionics humps on the Ks weren’t empty - rather, they’d had the assorted control boxes for things like the jammer installed, but none of the other circuitry, antennae, or even control panels for such systems were fitted to the aircraft. So as a result, they were something of a dead weight.

With the G-to-K conversion going on, the decision was made to remove the humps from the Ks. The result of that far simpler process can be seen with NZ6202 here:

The bridle hooks required for carrier operations had gone from the Ks as early as 1972, per photos (by all accounts they were a bit of a safety hazard), with the Gs seeming to have had their bridle hooks removed as part of the aforementioned G-to-K conversion.

So really, by the time KAHU rolls around, you’d be looking at both sets of aircraft being more or less identical from a flight characteristics and all-up weight perspective. Obviously there would be a bit of difference, but we’re talking something that’s likely in the single-figure to low double-digit kilos range.

[FlyingOstridge]

So there’s 3 versions of the A-4K then. What else changed when the K’s underwent a transformation?

[joshwagstaff13]

@FlyingOstridge

So there’s 3 versions of the A-4K then.

Sort of? Roughly speaking:

1970 A-4K has the hump.

1984 A-4G has no hump and a few avionics differences compared to the K (different radios and IFF, 4x Sidewinders)

1988 A-4K has no hump, but is otherwise identical to the 1970 one in terms of capabilities.

1988 A-4G (after interim G-to-K conversion) is practically identical to the hump-less 1988 A-4K (apart from the Sidewinders)

Then you finally get to the A-4K KAHU (technically 1988, but let’s say 1991 to avoid confusion because that’s when the last one finished conversion), where the entire fleet is now modernised A-4Ks with identical capabilities.