FX-3 class Strikefighter 250 tons 4 Crew 58.5 BP TCS 5 TH 13 EM 0
7528 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 HTK 1 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 0 PPV 12.5
Maint Life 4.47 Years MSP 40 AFR 50% IFR 0.7% 1YR 3 5YR 49 Max Repair 32.8125 MSP
Magazine 12
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Morale Check Required
General Electric F405 (1) Power 37.5 Fuel Use 1711.63% Signature 13.1250 Explosion 25%
Fuel Capacity 26,000 Litres Range 1.1 billion km (40 hours at full power)
General Dynamics Gauss Cannon R300-8.00 (1x3) Range 16,000km TS: 7,528 km/s Accuracy Modifier 8.00% RM 30,000 km ROF 5
General Dynamics Beam Fire Control R16-TS5000 (1) Max Range: 16,000 km TS: 5,000 km/s 38 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
General Dynamics Size 4.0 Box Launcher (3) Missile Size: 4.0 Hangar Reload 100 minutes MF Reload 16 hours
General Dynamics 9.2Mkm Anti-Fighter Missile Fire Control FC9-R5 (1) Range 9.3m km Resolution 5
Raytheon ARM 1 Shrike (3) Speed: 27,950 km/s End: 50.2m Range: 84.2m km WH: 2 Size: 4.000 TH: 93/55/27
Raytheon 4.6Mkm Active Fighter Search Sensor AS4-R5 (1) GPS 11 Range 4.6m km Resolution 5
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and planetary interaction
FX-4 class Interceptor 250 tons 4 Crew 64.2 BP TCS 5 TH 13 EM 0
7528 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 HTK 1 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 0 PPV 14.5
Maint Life 4.55 Years MSP 40 AFR 50% IFR 0.7% 1YR 3 5YR 47 Max Repair 32.8125 MSP
Magazine 14
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Morale Check Required
General Electric F405 (1) Power 37.5 Fuel Use 1711.63% Signature 13.1250 Explosion 25%
Fuel Capacity 11,000 Litres Range 0.5 billion km (17 hours at full power)
General Dynamics Gauss Cannon R300-8.00 (1x3) Range 16,000km TS: 7,528 km/s Accuracy Modifier 8.00% RM 30,000 km ROF 5
General Dynamics Beam Fire Control R16-TS5000 (1) Max Range: 16,000 km TS: 5,000 km/s 38 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
General Dynamics Size 1 Box Launcher (14) Missile Size: 1 Hangar Reload 50 minutes MF Reload 8 hours
General Dynamics 9.2Mkm Anti-Fighter Missile Fire Control FC9-R5 (1) Range 9.3m km Resolution 5
General Dynamics CAM 1 Pikeman (14) Speed: 25,600 km/s End: 3.1m Range: 4.7m km WH: 2 Size: 1.0000 TH: 136/81/40
Raytheon 4.6Mkm Active Fighter Search Sensor AS4-R5 (1) GPS 11 Range 4.6m km Resolution 5
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and planetary interaction
The results of Fleet defense against an attack squadron 2002 (where 20+ missiles were projected to get through the AMM fire from two New York class frigates) alarmed the DoD who immediately put out a tender for a fighter capable of defending against an attack by a hostile fighter squadron. Both Lochheed Martin and a newcomer to the fighter game Northrop-Grumman submitted bids, however these bids were radically different from each other. Northrop-Grumman submitted arguably the most conventional design with the FX-4, an interceptor armed with the General Dynamics R300-8 gauss cannon and 14 General Dynamics CAM 1 Pikeman close attack missiles, the idea was to get in close while remaining too small for the fire controls of the opposing fighters to get target lock, it was calculated that 2 pikemen would be required to destroy each fighter so the FX-4 was capable of destroying 7 fighters before switching to guns (hits were close to guaranteed provided enemy fighters had a similar speed to the F-2). The FX-3, the submission from Lochheed Martin was far more radical, working closely with Raytheon Lochheed Martin built the FX-3 around the unique capabilities of the Raytheon ARM 1 Shrike anti-radiation missile
Missile Size: 4.000 MSP (10.0000 Tons) Warhead: 2 Radiation Damage: 2 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 27,950 km/s Fuel: 645 Flight Time: 50 minutes Range: 84.21m km
EM Sensor Strength: 0.14 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 2,958,040 km
Cost Per Missile: 3.524 Development Cost: 352
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 279.5% 3k km/s 93.2% 5k km/s 55.9% 10k km/s 28.0%
Materials Required
Tritanium 0.5
Boronide 0.084
Uridium 0.14
Gallicite 2.80
Fuel: 645
The thinking behind the Shrike is that any battle against a fighter equipped enemy would take place close to ground based sensors (due to range restrictions as well as there being not much of value in sol apart from the earth at the time) hence any time a scout fighter switched on it's active sensor it would be lit up like a Christmas tree for the ground based tracking stations on earth. The shrike would then be fired at the scout fighter locking on with it's inbuilt EM sensor when it got close and destroying the target, rendering the squadron it was presumably accompanying blind and either causing them to be unable to fire their munitions or causing their munitions (which presumably do not have sensors of their own) to self destruct mid flight. The Shrike was also slightly faster than the ASM 1 Harpoon in order to be able to beat any incoming ordinance 'to the punch' in the words of one Raytheon engineer (as an extra bonus to the cost conscious DoD the Shrike was even cheaper than a Harpoon). The FX-3 mounted 3 Shrikes (2 shrikes were calculated to be enough to disable and E-1 Sentry however a third was included as there was a small chance to miss) plus the R300-8 gauss cannon of the FX-4, this combined with it's long range (for a fighter) and high speed gave it a secondary function as a commerce raider (this wasn't particularly interesting to the DoD but it was a nice touch). The problem for the DoD was that both tactical approaches had huge flaws and easily executable counters, the FX-4 would likely not get into range before incoming missiles hit and the FX-3 could be counted by either turning active sensors off and on to bait the shot or by bringing fighters in closer while leaving the sensor fighter at maximum range in order to reduce the time on target for the incoming ordnance. However an easily countered defense was better than none and the DoD saw promise for the two approaches working together (the threat of the Shrike brining the fighters in closer making it easier for the FX-4 to intercept them). the FX-3 became the Lochheed Martin F-3 Wraith and the FX-4 became the F-4 Phantom. The DoD also drew up the Carrier Concept 02 around this time projecting a future fleet carrier would have 24 F-2 Rapiers, 1 F-3 Wraith, 2 F-4 Phantoms and 2 E-1 Sentries for a total hanger space of 7250 tons on a projected 16,000 ton vessel
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Last American designs for a while I promise (unless I finish the Bunker Hill before I go on holiday on Friday), the next one will probably be visiting Mother Russia for their take on a nuclear deterrent
The F-3 and F-4 are both somewhat compromised designs (needing large engines and loads of fuel (especially the F-3) to achieve that high speed), this means that the F-3 lacks a long range fire control so its kind of stuck in its roll (being unable to launch long-range strikes if the target has no EM signature). On the F-4 the missiles and FC/AS range is far too short (by the time the F-4 gets into range any fighters will probably be long gone). However short of constructing a massive anti fighter sensor on a dedicated platform (which is quite beyond America's capabilities ATM) its the best I could come up with (and what's the fun of being perfect all the time), of course America doesn't have to worry yet because no other power has fighters yet but that may change soon (he says definitely not foreshadowing the next couple of designs or anything)
One last thing the DoD is getting a bit ahead of itself with the Carrier Concept 02 (it doesn't even have the capability to build CVEs let alone a proper CV)