NF-21 Skydog Multirole Aerospace Fighter

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by Victor933

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The mainstay of the Hadean aerial forces, the NF-21 Skydog VTOL doubles as an attack/interceptor craft for the Navy's carriers. The NF-21 is capable of operating in an atmosphere as well as in space, thanks to its sophisticated thrust-vectoring mechanisms.

The Skydog uses electrodeless plasma thrusters for propulsion -- the vents straddling the fuselage are for cooling during atmospheric flight and remain closed in spaceflight except in dire overheating emergencies, as the resulting rapid cooling can cause substantial damage to the thruster mechanisms. The entire craft is powered by a 15 kW miniaturized cold fusion reactor situated towards the rear of the fuselage.

The dome on the nose of the craft houses the sophisticated image capturing suite used by its 'Ghost' IFF-IG-FAF (Identification Friend or Foe, Image-Guided, Fire And Forget) missiles to extrapolate a three-dimensional model of the target, which the launched missile then tracks. Just below the imager module is a small cluster bomb bay. Bombs are not loaded individually into the bay, but rather in cylinders functioning similarly to the cylinder in a revolver. The NF-21 also mounts four 10mm autocannons in the nose.

Sophisticated fire control computers eliminate the need for a second crewmember to operate the craft's weapons, allowing the NF-21's sole pilot to easily track multiple targets and maintain a high degree of situational awareness even in the often chaotic realm of three-dimensional warfare.

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