Supermarine had had high hopes for the export prospects of the F.4, and indeed it was a very capable fighter. Unfortunately, no foreign orders came to pass. Several NATO members expressed interest in the type, including Denmark, Norway and Greece, but Supermarine was unable to match the cost-offer put forth by General Dynamics, and so the Shukopoots F.4 lost out to the F-16 on economic grounds. In other cases - notably India and Brazil - it was the choice of radar that prevented the export: while the AN/APG-70 was a significant part of why the F.4 was as good as it was, the US refused to allow export of the radar to these countries.
This had already become apparent with the Shukopoots F.3 and its AN/APG-63 radar, which had forced Supermarine and India to find an alternate system - the Cyrano IV - for the Indian Vidyuts. Thus in 1986, after the cancellation of the F-20 program, the US authorised the sale as-is of the AN/APG-67 project to BC.
The Sensors Division of the BC Telephone Company was established in 1951 to manufacture ground-based radar systems for civilian and military use. The BC Defence Procurements Establishment, who had purchased the AN/APG-67, assigned the project to BCT-Sensors, who by 1988 had a production-ready system completed. This was given the designation "Blue Gold". Despite the similarity, this was not a Rainbow Code name, though the name was a tip of the hat to the names of the Blue Parrot and Blue Fox systems; BC Telephone's corporate colour scheme at the time was blue, gold and white. The Blue Gold was further refined over the years, with the Blue Gold II replacing the Blue Gold in RBCAF service in 1999, and the Blue Gold III being the radar of choice for the RBCAF's Eurofighter Spitfire F.2 until the Blue Gold IV, an AESA system, is ready for service.
The RBCAF started receiving its first
Shukopoots FGA.6 in 1988. These were new-built airframes with the nose modified for the new Blue Gold radar, and were powered by the Spey 207. The air to air capabilities were identical to that of the FGA.5 - Red Top could be carried, but the standard was the AIM-9L Sidewinder. Air-to-ground ordnance was similar to the FGA.5 as well - iron bombs, CRV-7 rockets, Paveway II-series LGBs, Matra Durandal anti-runway bombs. Amongst air-to-ground missiles, the FGA.6 options differed somewhat from the FGA.5: the Sea Eagle, AGM-65 Maverick, Martel, AGM-88 HARM and AM.39 Exocet capability was retained, while the AGM-62 Walleye glide-bomb was deleted. Added were the Penguin and AGM-123 Skipper.
With the FGA.6 a new - and, as it happened, final - strike scheme was introduced which was applied to all strike aircraft, replacing the three previous schemes with one scheme of Ocean Grey 605, Forest Green 403 and Marking Grey 607 camouflage over Haze Grey 603. The FGA.6 wore this scheme for the entirety of its RBCAF career - 22 years from 1988 to 2010, which was third in length after the 33 years (1978-2011) of the FR.3 and the 23 years (1988-2012) of the T.4.
The FGA.6 first saw action in Operation Hastings, the BC contribution to Operation Desert Storm. The RBCAF deployed one fighter squadron (111 Sqn with Shukopoots F.4) and one strike squadron, 101 Sqn, with the FGA.6. Prior to deployment they were repainted in a desert scheme of RAF Desert Sand over BC standard Sky 503.
Over the years the FGA.6 also took part in operations in Yugoslavia (1999) and Afghanistan (2001-2010).
The inability to secure any export sales of the F.4 was a significant setback to Supermarine. The FGA.6 received some interest as well, but in the event no sales were forthcoming. The Dark Corner had been working on a number of projects in the meanwhile, but the likelihood of any of these coming to fruition was reduced to near zero after BC signed on to the EFA project in 1985. Supermarine contributed to the design of the Eurofighter Typhoon (Spitfire F.2 in RBCAF service) and though scaled back, Supermarine exists to this day, manufacturing components for the Typhoon and, since 1984, UAVs for the BC Army. The Dark Corner continues to do its work, primarily focussing on UAVs of all sorts and air-launched weapon systems.
Ironically, the end of Supermarine as a constructor of complete aircraft and its restructuring as a components and UAV manufacturer was beneficial to BC. Had Supermarine tried to compete against the Eurofighter with a new design of its own, it may well have ceased to exist completely by now, whereas it continues to play an important role in the BC Aerospace industry, supplying components not only for Eurofighter but for De Havilland BC and other customers.
