The Pucará was designed for operations from short, rough airstrips. The retractable tricycle landing gear, with a single nosewheel and twin mainwheels retracting into the engine nacelles, is fitted with low pressure tyres to suit operations on rough ground, while the undercarriage legs are tall to give good clearance for underslung weapons loads. Three JATO rockets can be fitted under the fuselage to allow extra short takeoffs. Fuel is fed from two fuselage tanks of combined capacity of and two self-sealing tanks of in the wings. The undercarriage, flaps and brakes are operated hydraulically, with no pneumatic systems. The spring suspension system is like the one used in the Junkers Ju 88, while the tail has a T configuration to improve take-off