In many cases, General Moor has used aircraft from the universe she came from. The Adventure III is no exception to this. The design was one of the first aircraft which was built in Florida after the establishment of the base. In REEF front line service, this aircraft has been replaced by the Sabertooth advanced fighter but the aircraft is still operated by militia units. The aircraft is still in production and the aircraft is popular with Mercenary companies. The aircraft does carry a huge payload like the old A-6 Intruder and might be accurately described as a bomb truck. The aircraft also shares features with the AV-8B Harrier.

The basic design has some modifications from the original design based on new construction materials and systems available on Rifts Earth. The armor of the aircraft's frame and body have been constructed using some of the stronger alloys and the aircraft can withstand about four times the abuse of the original model. On the outer sides of the aircrafts main fuselage, two additional medium range missiles were added for striking targets at longer ranges than short range missiles. The wing hard points were modified to allow the attack craft to use light bombs or to use mini missile launching pods instead of just short range missiles. The aircraft also had low powered lasers mounted one either side under the aircraft's cockpit. The avionics and sensors were increased to Rifts Earth standards to give the aircraft a better tracking ability. The systems have approximately the same abilities as the sensor systems on a robot vehicle. Finally, a special modified fusion engine was designed for use in the aircraft and the aircraft is available as either fusion powered or uses conventional jet engines. The original LVT Adventurer was capable of VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) and the Adventurer III has retained this very useful important feature. The fusion powered thrusters are based on those carried by Sky Cycle type designs and are of fairly simple design. The versions of this aircraft that uses conventional engines have a refueling probe similar in design that was used by the United States Navy in the late Twentieth Century and most of the Twenty-First century.

There is an upgrade version of the fighter known as the Mark II. This version has better sensor and tracking systems. Also, the system includes a laser navigation system. Weapon systems are slightly altered as well. The REEF has copied a feature of many Metalworks' fighters. Two JA-12 Juicer assault rifles were modified to replace the light laser cannons and gun firepower has been increased by about three times. The hard points have been upgraded so that any REEF hard point pods can be carried in the place of short range missiles. There are several REEF pods that Florida will not sell. Commonly sold pods include Mini-Missile Pods and Rail Gun Pods. Less common are the Towed Decoy Pods but are still available. The other pod types are not available for sale to most parties. Neither the engines or the body of the aircraft are modified in the Mark II version. All Adventurers in service in the REEF militia are of the upgraded model. Most of these will carry at least one towed decoy pod and often several will be converted into jamming escort aircraft by having four of their missile hard points carrying Jamming pods.

While neither version of this aircraft is a good aircraft design for a dog fight, it is quite capable of defending itself from small vehicles such as sky cycles and power armors and the amount of ordnance is much greater than any sky cycle or power armor can carry making the aircraft very useful.

Model Type:	REEF-A20	Adventurer III Attack Aircraft
	REEF-A20 Mk II	Upgraded Adventurer III Attack Aircraft

Vehicle Type: Twin Engine Attack Craft
Crew: One with up to two passengers

M.D.C. by Location:

	Forward Mounted Laser Cannons (2):	30 each
	[1] Wings (2):	120 each
	[2] Tail:	100
	Landing Gear (3):	10 each
	Cockpit:	100
	[3] Engines (2):	120 each
	[4] Main Body:	320

Notes:
[1] Destroying a Wing will cause the plane to crash
[2] Destruction of the tail will still allow the fighter to be controlled by the varying of power levels of the engines but the fighter has a penalty of -10 to dodge, and a -30% penalty to all piloting rolls.
[3] The destruction of one engine will reduce the fighters top speed by half and give the pilot a -2 penalty to dodge as well as giving a 10% penalty to piloting. Destruction of both engines will cause the aircraft to crash. Pilot may attempt an emergency landing or pilot can choose to eject.
[4] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will shut the Aircraft down completely, rendering it useless and causing it to crash if in flight

Speed:
Driving on Ground (Taxiing): Only possible for take offs and landings as well as for parking and storage. Speed is 40 mph (64 kph) when traveling and not on take off or landing.
Flight: The Adventurer III can hover and go up to a maximum speed of 730 mph (1175 kph). It can hover stationary and can fly up to 55,000 feet (16,765 m).
Range: With Fusion engine effectively unlimited range, need to cool down after 20 hours of flight at maximum speed. If traveling at less then half of top speed, can travel indefinitely. With conventional engine range is 2,200 miles (3540.5 km.) The range is slightly increased due to larger fuel tanks. Reduce aircraft's range by 15% if partially loaded (over 50% of capacity) and by 25% if fully loaded.

Statistical Data:
Length: 35 feet (10.7 meters)
Wingspan: 55 feet (16.8 meters)
Height: 14 feet (4.3 meters)
Weight: 5.8 tons (5.3 metric tons) fully loaded, 4.2 tons (3.8 metric tons) empty
Power Source: Nuclear, Should have an average life span of 10 years, or conventional liquid fuel.
Cargo: Minimal (Storage for small equipment), does not include hard points.
Market Cost: Nuclear Reactor: 10 million credits for initial model and 12.5 million for upgraded model. Convention Fuel Version: 3 million credits for initial model and 5.5 million for upgraded model.

Weapon Systems:

1. Laser cannon Mounts: On either side of the cockpit of the fighter are light laser cannons. These weapons appear to be bubbles under the cockpit. These were added in order to give the plane the ability to engage in gun combat and not be completely disarmed when out of missiles. The weapons have be found to also be useful for ground strafing Both cannons are fired together, the damage of one cannon is only list for a situation that one of the lasers is damaged. On the nuclear powered version, the laser cannons pull power directly from the fusion reactor of the fighter. On the conventional fuel version, the laser cannons are powered by a high capacity battery
   1. Twin Light Laser Cannons: Main gun of the initial Adventurer II design. The weapons are fairly light but have a relatively good range.
      Maximum Effective Range: 4,000 feet (1,200 meters)
      Mega Damage: 6D6 for both cannons (3D6 MDC for one cannon)
      Rate of fire: Equal to pilots hand to hand
      Payload: Effectively unlimited for fusion, 500 double shots if conventionally powered.
   2. Laser Cannons (2): This weapon system is carried on the upgraded version of the aircraft. The aircraft's laser cannons are from the barrels and inner working of the JA-12 Assault Rifle.
      Maximum Effective Range: 4,000 feet (1,200 meters).
      Mega Damage: 4D6 for one cannon, 8D6 for both cannons, 1D6x10+10 for three round burst from one cannon, 2D6x10+20 for three round burst from both barrels (6 total shots)
      Rate of Fire: Equal to the pilots combined hand to hand (usually 5 or 6).
      Payload: Effectively unlimited for fusion, 600 single shots if conventionally powered (Breaks down into 100 six shot bursts).
2. Medium Range Missile (2 Hardponts): One medium range is fitted on the side of each of the engines. Used to give the plane both a longer range quick attack against intercepting fighters and used as a defensive strike against weapon systems just before a close range attack run. Often medium range missile will be launched at SAM missile launchers to eliminate them.
   Maximum Effective Range: Varies by medium range missile type (Go to Revised bomb and missile table).
   Mega Damage: Varies by medium range missile type (Go to Revised bomb and missile table).
   Rate of Fire: Missile can be fire one at a time or in a volley of two missiles
   Payload: 1 medium range missile each hard point for 2 medium range missiles total.
3. Short Range Missiles (8 Hardpoints): The missiles are mounted identically to how they were on the original Adventurer II Aircraft with 40 short range missiles on 8 clusters of 5 missiles. The short range missile can be replaced by an identical number of light bombs, or a mini-missile launching pod can be fitted in place of bombs or missiles. Upgraded versions are not limited to just mini-missile pods and the aircraft can carry any of the standard R.E.E.F. Aircraft Hard point Pods & Ordnance Loads.
   Maximum Effective Range: Varies by missile type for missile and varies by altitude bombs are dropped at - short range missiles or light bombs only for standard model (Go to Revised bomb and missile table).
   Mega Damage: Varies by missile or bomb type - short range missiles or light bombs only for standard model (Go to Revised bomb and missile table).
   Rate of Fire: Missile can be fired and bombs can be dropped one at a time or in volleys of 2, 3, 4, or 5.
   Payload: 5 short range missile or light bombs each hard point for a total of 40 short range missiles or light bombs (See above about standard R.E.E.F. Aircraft Hard point Pods & Ordnance Loads.
4. Anti-Missile Chaff Dispenser: Located at the very tail of the aircraft are two chaff dispenser. When tailed by a missile, a cloud of chaff and other obtrusive particles can be released to confuse or detonate the enemy's attack. Rifts Earth decoys systems are assumed to not operate against Phase World missiles due to technological difference. Reduce effects by 20% against smart missiles (Add +20% to rolls for smart missiles.)
   Effect:
   01-50 Enemy missile or missile volley detonates in chaff cloud - Missile are all destroyed
   51-75 Enemy missile or missile volley loses track of real target and veers away in wrong direction (May lock onto another target)
   76-00 No effect, missile is still on target
   Also note that the chaff cloud will also blind flying monsters that fly through cloud. They will suffer the following penalties: reduce melee attacks/actions, combat bonuses, and speed by half. Duration: 1D4 melee rounds.
   Payload: Eight (8).

Special Equipment:

The attack craft has all the standard features of a standard fighter (same as standard robot minus loudspeaker and microphone) with the upgrade version carrying the following extra features (ESM is on all versions)::

• Radar (Upgrade Version): Range 500 miles, can identify and track up to 48 targets simultaneously. With Combat & Targeting Computer, the upgraded Adventurer II can fire missiles at up to twelve targets at the same time. It is also capable of Terrain Following for low altitude flight.
• Laser Navigational System (Upgrade Version): Allow flight at low altitude without use of Radar. Gives a map of the Terrain.
• E.S.M. (Both Versions): Radar Detector, Passively detects other radars being operated.

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By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune ).
Copyright © 1998 & 2001, Kitsune. All rights reserved.