SF-72 Starblade Hypersonic Fighter:
The KEM launcher flashed, and
Captain Avery flew through the fireball which had been the last of the
fighters defending a Middle-Eastern country. He turned his Starblade around
to take a look at the devastation being wrecked by the Hypersoar bombers which his
squadron was escorting. Together the flight of bombers and fighters had travelled
through the stratosphere all the way to a country across the world to rain fire and
death on its inhabitants.
"So much for those damned terrorists!" Avery thought. His sister had
been in the New York Arcology when the bioweapon had been released. Mary had
been one of the first victims, and now Avery was here to avenge her. The Hypersoar
bombers were hitting targets which the sea-launched cruise missile strikes might not
take out, and Avery and his men had taken great care to clear the skies of any
who would challenge the bombers. Not that that had been particularly difficult, with
the enourmous speed and maneuvrability advantages the Starblades enjoyed.
His sattelite radio came to life with the voice of colonel Jones, all
the way from Cheyenne mountain.
"Alpha and Beta force, prepare for Arclight thirty miles to your east. Splash
will be in thirty seconds, I repeat, splash will be in thirty seconds from NOW!"
Avery checked his instruments a final time. His plane was fully shielded against EMP,
and he didn`t worry much. Even the shockwave shouldn`t pose much of a
threat at this distance.
Thirty seconds later night became day as the light from nuclear fires illuminated
the sky and millions of people died.
Through the sensornet Avery watched the distant fires with interest and glee. It wasn`t
like you saw nukes going off every day, and the Starblade`s sensors gave him a unsurpassed view.
Deep in his hart he knew he should have felt horror at the deaths of so many, but
all there was in his mind was hate, and a terrible joy.
So enthralled he was with the growing mushroom clouds that it took the voice from
his weapons officer to make him take notice of something else.
"Say Captain, what do you suppose makes those lightnings? Atmospheric disruptions
from the shockwaves?"
Avery didn`t answer right away, but the Lieutenant was right: strangely colored lightnings
crawled in intricate shapes around the base of the mushroom clouds, and at maximum
enhancement it almost looked as if something was moving INSIDE of the lightnings themselves.
"I really don`t know Lieutenant" answered Avery, "but it looks as if those things are
moving in our direction. I think we should get out of here. No use gawking around anyway, the
bombers are already done."
As the flight of Starblades began to climb and gain speed, the lightnings were converging
into ever larger streams of fire. Suddenly one of the streams leapt away, and started
out at the Starblades. When the pilots realized it, they opened their throttles
fully, and climbed more steeply, all to reach an altitude where they could safely ignite
the full power of their nuclear pulse engines and race out of there. The Rift continued to open up
wider, and swallowed the first fighters, the pilots barely having time for a scream.
Avery cursed at the threat, and reached out for the button which would maximize
the plasma feed into his pulse engines, which would then propel his fighter into the safety of the Stratosphere.
He nearly made it.
Excerpt from Fox's Combat Aircraft of the World, 2090 to 2091:
The Starblade fighter is the front-line fighter of the USAF, and last year saw the introduction of this magnificent fighters C version. Few pictures of the new version have been released, and much of the data in this discussion regarding the C version is conjectural.
In 2080 the Starblade came out of a requirement of the USAF for a escort for their new Hypersoar bombers. This obviously meant that the fighter to escort these bombers had to be something rather special. Like the bombers it was able to reach mach 11 at the very boundary between atmosphere and space, but unlike the bombers it would still have to be every bit as agile as a normal fighter when flying in the atmosphere. Added to that would have to be a good sized weapons load and, if at all possible, the plane also had to be reasonably stealthy. Lockheed delivered the then very controversial Starblade.
In the years that followed the Starblade proved itself to be everything that both Lockheed and the Airforce had said it would be. The single-seat A version was followed in 2083 by the two seater B version which proved to be even more efficient because of the addition of a weapons officer. Last year saw the introduction of the newer C version. Like the B version this appears to be a two-seater craft. This version is supposed to keep the Starblade in service well into the next century, and as a matter of fact there is still no word that the USAF is looking into a replacement for the Starblade. Which does NOT mean that there isn`t work being done on one...
The shape of the fighter itself is almost identical to the B version, and is a remarkable compromise between the need to
achieve extreme velocities and the need to maintain a good maneuvrability. The latter is most clearly
seen in the forward-swept wings, and the two canards PLUS two elevators, rudders and vectorized exhausts. This is
a abundance of control systems seldomly seen in a modern plane, and it provides the Starblade with a
remarkable agility.
It also offsets the detrimental effects of the shape of the main body. The air inlets are
located conventionally enough just below the canards, but for some reason the slightly downswept canards seem to run
all the way over the back of the plane, leaving a sharp indentation beneath them, and giving the plane
the appearance of having a slight hump. The most likely explanation put forward is that this feature
allows the planes hypersonic shockwave to be funneled to provide some measure of thrust, much
like the far simpeler shape of the Hypersoar Bomber does. The Starblade C appears to have a somewhat more
rounder shaped body than the B, with a correspondingly larger internal volume, but it is unclear
if this volume is taken up by more weapons, electronics or the new engines.
Weapons loadout is a point which is unclear in the C version. Unlike the A and B versions which carry both
a laser and a mini-missile launcher in the nose for a versatile mix of weapons the C version appears to have a
single firing port on the bottom of the plane just aft of the nosecone. Since this is shuttered closed in all
pictures it is unclear what
for a kind of weapon is behind it. Most likely this will be a ion pulse cannon, since these versatile weapons
seem to have become the new standard for any USAF craft.
Located on the bottom center of the body is still a single large ordnance bay. This bay appears to be
unchanged in size from the previous versions, and conventional wisdom and the size of this
bay seem to dictate that the loadout should be around 4-6 large munitions, or a corresponding amount of smaller ordnance.
Since versatility is a must nowadays, even in such a highly specialized machine it is likely that both missiles
and bombs can be carried. The same cannot be said from what appear to be two smaller bays, one in each wing
root. Their location and shape would seem to restrict them to missiles only. Like in the A and B versions there
is no clear way of telling
how many weapons can be mounted in these bays. They might even be connected to magazines inside of the plane.
To the rear of these two smaller bays are two (for each wing one) large panels. These appear to be acces panels
of some kind, but to what is unknown. At first they were thought to be covering flight avionics bays, because
the wing at that point is too thin to house large munitions. New information seems to indicate that these are
in fact hardpoints, countersunk into the wing to minimize aerodynamic disruptions.
On the each of the wings proper there is a single standard hardpoint, but it is unknown what the effect of carrying
munitions on these points would be on the Starblades high speed performance.
Electronics are among the hardest to determine: The only thing to be said with safety is that at the very aft end
of the plane there are two decoy dispensers. The streamlined covers are instantly recognisable from the
A and B versions.
Radar is almost certain to be a Phased array type, perhaps a enhanced version of the set mounted in the earlier
versions, which itself was closely related to the set carried in the Sea Hawk fighter.
Visual equipment must be present and quite powerful, since the plane has a opaque cockpit cover (apparently made of
the same armor composite as the rest of the plane). Almost certainly fiberoptics are used, dispersed throughout
the entire hull. In combination with the latest virtual helmets this would give the pilot a full and unhampered
360 degree vision all around the plane.
No real guesses on countermeasures can be made. For quite some time now the antenna for such systems have been
integrated as phased arrays into the skin of a plane, and as such are no longer recognisable.
Engines are equally unclear. The smaller size of the engine covers and the shape of the vector exhausts seem to indicate a different engine than the P&W 1300 MKII airbreathing nuclear turbines carried in the A & B versions of the Starblade. These engines provide more than enough thrust to propel the plane to the required speed of mach 11. They are also capable of delivering this thrust over the entire performance spectrum required, and are extremely reliable. It is unclear with what for a kind of engine the nuclear turbines have been replaced. Some sources indicate that a new kind of fusion pulse engine has been mounted in the Starblade C, but at this moment in time it is impossible to verify this.
Although questions remain over the abilities of the new Starblade C, it is safe to say that they will exceed the capabilities
of the earlier versions. In 2080 the Starblade was cutting edge, and even today the A and B versions are among the finest planes
in the world. There seems to be little doubt that the C upgrade will allow the Starblade to eclipse all of its competitors. Unfortunately this
performance comes at a price. A very steep price in fact. A Starblade B sold for a whopping 193 million Dollar in 2089. Compared to a price of about
60 million for a Navy Panther VSTOL fighter this is a lot, especially if we take into account the fact that the Navy plane actually carries the same
amount of ordnance as the Starblade....
Some detractors of the plane have in fact mentioned this as the reason that the Starblade has never been used in the Air-to-Ground mission, but
the Airforce has always been remarkably reluctant to use its fighters in the "Mud-moving business". The plane itself certainly seems up to the task.
Designation: Lockheed SF-72 Starblade
Vehicle Type: Air Superiority Fighter.
Crew: A version: One Pilot. B&C versions: Two, one Pilot, one Weapons Officer.
M.D.C. by Location:
A&B version | C version | ||
Laser Cannon: | 40 | - | |
Mini Missile Launcher : | 60 | - | |
Kinetic Energy Missile Launcher (C version): | - | 80 | |
Large Belly Ordnance Bay: | 150 | 180 | |
Small Wing Root Ordnance Bays (2): | 70 each | 85 each | |
[1] Wings (2): | 170 each | 200 each | |
[2] Canards (2): | 60 each | 70 each | |
[3] Rudders (2): | 90 each | 110 each | |
[3] Elevators (2): | 90 each | 110 each | |
Landing Gear (3): | 20 each | 20 each | |
[4] P&W 1300 Engines (2): | 130 each | - | |
[4] FT-1500 Engines (2): | - | 175 each | |
[5] Main Body: | 320 | 400 | |
Reinforced Crew Compartment / Cockpit: | 90 | 100 | |
Pilot/Weapons Officer Seat : | 5 each | 5 each |
Notes:
[1] Destroying a Wing will cause the plane to crash while in a atmosphere.
Destruction of the fighters wing has no effect on the fighter in space
but fighter will be unable to re-enter an atmosphere safely
[2] Destruction of a canard will still allow the fighter to be controlled
by the varying of power levels of the engines but fighter has a penalty
of -2 to dodge, and a -10% penalty to all piloting rolls. Destruction
of both of the canards will impose a penalty of -6 to dodge and -30% on all piloting rolls.
[3] Destruction of rudders or one elevator will still allow the fighter
to be controlled by the varying direction of the engines but fighter has
a penalty of -5 to dodge, and a -20% penalty to all piloting rolls. Destruction
of both of the elevators will leave the plane uncontrollable and pilot
must eject to survive.
[4] 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 a emergency landing or can choose to eject.
The engines are placed deep in the main body of the fighter, and can only
be hit on a called shot: -3 to strike.
[5] 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.
Damage to the main body will also reduce the aircrafts stealth, for every
10% of damage to the main body, reduce the aircrafts stealth by 10% of
its total.
Speed:
Driving on Ground (Taxiing): Only possible for conventional
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.
Flying: Standard (A&B) versions: The
jet propulsion system enables the Starblade to reach a maximum speed of
Mach 11 (7,260 mph / 11,616 kph) and climb to an altitude of 93,000 feet
(27,900 meters). It can achieve this with its inner (aerodynamic) hardpoints loaded.
When the fighter is also carrying ordnance on its outer external
hard points, the fighter has a top speed of Mach 8.3 (4,478 mph / 8,786.7 kph)
C Version: The Fusion Pulse engines enable the
improved Starblade to reach a maximum speed of Mach 14.3 (9,405 mph / 15,085.6 kph)
and climb to an altitude of 126,000 feet (37,800
meters). It can achieve this with its inner (aerodynamic) hardpoints loaded.
When the fighter is also carrying ordnance on its outer external
hard points, the fighter has a top speed of Mach 9.6 (6,336 mph /10,163 kph)
All versions of the jet have a minimum glide-speed of 150 mph
(240 kph); if it goes any slower, the wings cannot provide sufficient lift
and the aircraft will crash . Cruising speed at lower altitude
tends to be between 500 mph (802 kph) and Mach 1.6 (1,186 mph/ 1,902.7 kph), although
the Starblade in all versions can reach up to mach 5.8 (4,463.1 mph / 7,158.8 kph) at
altitudes below 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) as long as the outer hardpoints are not used. If the
outer hardpoints are used, maximum speed below 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) drops to mach 4.7 (3,616.7 mph /
5,801.1 kph).
Cruising speed in the stratosphere tends to be close to the maximum performance of the plane.
Anything less would be defeating the very purpose of the Starblade.
Range: Nuclear powered, effectively unlimited. The Starblade`s engines, both the Turbines and the
Fusion pulse engines, do not need to cool down. The plane can effectively circumnavigate the Earth without
stopping.
Statistical Data:
Height: 12 feet (3.6 meters)
Wingspan: 66 feet (19.8 meters).
Length: 90 feet (27 meters)
Weight: A&B version: 39 tons (35.5 metric tons), C version: 44 tons (39.9 metric tons) fully loaded
Power System: Nuclear, has an average lifespan of 20 years.
Cargo: Minimal (Storage for small equipment), does not include
ordnance bays. Heavy Ordnance bay, if emptied of ordnance can carry up
to 15,000 lbs (6,840 kg) of cargo. Light Ordnance bays, if emptied of ordnance
can carry up to 5,000 lbs (2,268. kg) of cargo each.
Black Market Cost: Not for sale! Before the Rifts came this was the latest
and most powerful USAF fighter in production; less than 400 appear to have
been produced before the Rifts, and less than 60 of the C version. None are *believed* to have survived. If found and
in reasonable state the Coalition or the black market would gladly pay up to 500 million for a Starblade C!
Weapon Systems:
Special Equipment:
The fighter has all the standard features of a standard fighter (same
as standard robot minus loudspeaker and microphone) plus these special
features listed.
[Coalition, NGR, and TRIAX are trademarks
owned by Kevin Siembiedact and Palladium Books Inc. ]
[ Rifts® is a registered trademark owned by Kevin Siembieda and
Palladium Books Inc.]
Picture is taken from the game "Ace Combat 3 Electrosphere" by Namco. Go here for the official Namco website: Namco
By Mischa (E-Mail Mischa ).
Copyright © 2002, Mischa. All rights reserved.