Fighters
Contents
UGTO
Mars, Sol system (GNN) – In record time, the UGTO Trade Council has voted to approve a much needed upgrade to the venerable UGTO Fleet Fighter corp. Among these much-needed changes in policy, the UGTO has decided to introduce four new designs of Starfighter and commit a massive fleet wide overhaul of its existing craft.
“The A-32 Panther is an excellent craft,” said Fleet Analysis Chief Admiral O’Connor “and it has served the UGTO well. However, the galaxy is not the same place it was five years ago. The rag-tag Farstars have solidified into a solid nation, the ICC. There is also the new threat of the K’Luth Empire, which posses technology unheard of until recently. To better combat these foes we are announcing the following upgrades.”
A-34 Panther
Admiral O’Connor then proceeded to outline a timetable of upgrades to the venerable Panther, including the reinforcement of it’s hull design and the inclusion of point defense foiling targeting scramblers.
I-19 Hornet
“We shall be pushing for a more well rounded star-fighter fleet,” Admiral O’Connor continued. “so, I am proud to announce the I-19 Hornet Interceptor. Able to achieve tremendous speeds and armed with the new Amplified Coil Beam, this craft is capable and ready to hunt down other fighters and prevent enemy missiles and bombs from reaching their target. When combined with our Panthers and Strata-Bombers, the Hornet can achieve complete space or atmospheric superiority.”
B-27 Strata-Bomber
Admiral O’Connor continued, “Additionally, we have recognized the need for our fleet ships to be able to lend support to our extensive ground actions throughout our space. Towards this end we have created the B-27 Strata-Bomber. She will assist us greatly by allowing us to deliver annihilation to planets from afar.”
B-29 Devastator
"After the conception of the B-27 Strata-Bomber" Admiral O'Connor explains, "our engineers reworked the hull to house weaponry rather than bomb launchers. The Devastator is the result of their work. The Devastator is fitted with a small torpedo launcher that fires three round bursts making it a very powerful weapon against slow or stationary targets. Carrier fleets carrying Devastators can easily engage enemy capital ships from long range without sacrificing firepower."
EWAS
"Finally, the Early Warning Assault Shuttle, or EWAS for short. Our initial encounters with the K'luth made us believe that fighters were all but useless against them as they would simply cloak to force our fighters to disengage. To combat this we attempted to use electronic warfare to raise their signature, as it has been shown K'luth ships have a hard time cloaking with high signatures. Unfortunately, any scouts we sent forward for this purpose were quickly destroyed. The EWAS, however, is nimble enough to safely engage K'luth ships without being immediately destroyed, and thus allows other fighters to engage K'luth ships without them fear of the target dissapearing."
ICC
Exathra, CD-36*15693 (ICCNN) - Today Exthra Military Concepts Designs, Corporation has unveiled three new lines of starfighter craft and system upgrades to the veteran F-29.
Chief Design Engineer Dr. Joshua Gideon stated, "These new fighter craft will be a great asset to the Confederation fleets. With the performance and structural upgrades to the veteran Steelhead series and the addition of four new fighters to the fleet we shall see unsurpassed naval superiority."
F-29 Steelhead
The F-29 Steelhead has received extensive structural reinforcement as well as targeting and weapons system upgrades maintaining its role as the premier Assault Class fighter craft for the ICC Navy.
FI-8 Gamma
The FI-8 Gamma interceptor is the first fleet defensive fighter craft. Greater speed and agility allow the Gamma to hunt down enemy fighters and intercept enemy bombs and missiles before they can reach their targets.
XB-11 Annihilator
The XB-11 Annihilator is the first class of long range fighter craft designed for the expressed purpose of planet liberation. With far larger fuel capacity than that of the Steelhead coupled with her load out of planetary siege weaponry, this vessel will allow fleet commanders to surgically attack enemy planets from safe distances without exposing the carrier fleet to enemy fire.
XB-17 Avenger
The XB-17 Avenger is a direct response to the deployment of the B-27 Devastator from the UGTO. The Avenger is a heavy assault fighter carrying a Sabot rocket launcher capable of attacking enemy capital ships from long range. The superior firepower of the Avenger comes at the cost of accuracy, however, and should not be used against enemy vessels smaller than cruisers.
SRR
The Short Range Recon shuttle, or SRR for short, was created in order to help friendly battle groups target enemy ships that are under the effects of ECM. The SRR can be deployed to safely raise the signature of enemy ships without having to call upon the aid of less nimble scouts that are vulnerable to being destroyed by enemy fire. Recent engagements with the K'luth also suggest that the SRR is capable of impeding the ability of K'luth ships to cloak, allowing friendly units to engage and destroy them without fear of the K'luth simply cloaking and running away.
K'Luth
Earth, Sol System (GNN) - The United Galactic Trade Organization government has recently released to the general public pictures taken by a recent deep probe mission to the Groombridge 34 system which shows the K'luth testing several new small fighter class craft.
In the news briefing earlier Captain Richard Forman of UGTO Intelligence stated, "Several weeks ago we sent several deep reconnaissance probes into K’luth occupied space. Late last week we received telemetry and imagery back from one of the probes sent into the Groombridge 34 system. We lost contact shortly after receiving the initial data…”
Larva
“As you can see here from this first image…”
“The base K’luth Larva fighter remains largely unchanged, though scans indicate a denser hull. There appears to be a change in the weapon load out though at this time we can not confirm that analysis.”
Wasp
“Looking at image two…”
“We see here the hull plating has been stretched and the anterior plating holds obtrusive weapons load-out ports that we can only assume to be bomb pylons of some sort. The military has named this new unit the Wasp bomber. Additional information is still lacking at this time as to the extent of the unit's abilities.”
Havoc
"The fighter in the third image appears similar to the Wasp bomber, but instead of bomb pylons it appears to be fitted with torpedo launchers. Military analysts report that this fighter would be capable of engaging large capital ships with no fear of destruction or loss of firepower. This cannot be confirmed at this time, but if true it would be very chilling news for the crews of our larger warships. In light of this we have dubbed this unit the Havoc."
Tarsus
“This last image was missed during the initial review of the telemetry data from the probes. It's smaller and faster than the other vessels and it appears to be coated with a sensor absorbing material that makes it hard to detect until the unit is in close proximity to the sensor ship. We believe one of these craft is what destroyed our probe. Considering the flight vector and speed, we can only surmise this to be some sort of fighter-to-fighter interceptor craft. We have designated this new contact as: Tarsus.”
