Stonewell Bellcom and others have tried to replace the VF-1 several times, but it's never quite worked out. The proposed replacements have usually been too expensive (the VF-19, though a highly capable Veritech fighter, isn't so much better than the Valkyrie that it's worth the extra cost), unreliable (the YF-21's unstable flight control system and dynamic-flexion hull look great on paper, but never really worked), or both (the VF-2, fielded by the WDF in the War of Corporate Occupation and the first to be trumpeted as "the Valkyrie killer" in the marketplace, cost a mint and had mechanical problems). Or, like the VF-4 that briefly saw WDF service after the VF-2s were withdrawn, they just weren't better than uprated Valkyries.

The truth of the matter appears to be that the WDF's engineers hit the perfect medium aerospace superiority Veritech fighter design the first time out of the box, and as long as they keep stuffing updated technolgy into it, that spaceframe design will keep performing as well as or better than anything anybody can come up with to try and compete with it.

(This doesn't address the nearly-as-venerable Legios system, which occupies a different niche in the military field, but that design is almost as remarkable in its own right. Like our own beloved B-52, there's just nothing else out there that can do what the Alpha and Beta do for the money.)

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

And while I didn't follow the same path with regards to the VF-series of mecha, I can totally see your argument that the basic VF-1 design is superior to anything else they've come up with since. It's certainly an archetype of transformable mecha, no matter what the design (in fact, the Valkyrie and the Alpha are pretty much the 2 main archetypes for transformable aircraft - anything else I've ever see or designed can trace its transformation style to one or both of those mecha).

Offsides

[...] in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.
-- David Ben Gurion
EPU RCW #π
#include <stdsig.h>

Well, that's one of the things I enjoy about the UF universe. If I find something that, deep at its heart, works, I can keep it around indefinitely, just updating the bells and whistles around it.

Oh, one Veritech fighter I forgot to mention in the rundown above is the Viper Mark X. It's much faster (in a straight line) and has considerably greater fixed firepower than the Valkyrie, but its space maneuverability isn't as good and its atmospheric performance is quite poor, and it carries fewer missiles - plus it's saddled with the endurance limitations and fire hazards of a volatile-fuel propulsion system. It's nigh-on perfect for what the Colonial Forces require of it, but even if they exported Vipers, which they don't, it would never have the broad-based appeal of the VF-1.

Also, it's much harder to fly. The VF-1 is a gracious lady; she'll dance with almost anyone, but it takes a long time before she'll trust you enough to show you her best moves. The VX is more like a punk chick. She rocks from the word go, but even if you do everything right she might kill you anyway, just for kicks.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

That summary of fighters sounds like something that Kozue would find on the last page of Aerospace Today, as a humor piece.

Peter Eng
--
I'm only a Charter Member because of the DCForum upgrade, and because there's no rank below "Clueless F!wit."

As the only member of Rogue Squadron to have flown both fighters, she may have written it for the last page of Aerospace Today. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

I could see her writing that, maybe more even. Indulge me for a second, because I can picture a poster seen on the bulletin board in J. Random Fighter Squadron in the WDF, Salusia, CFMF, etc...

"In this quarter's edition of Wedge Fighter Weapons School (Fall 2412)

"The Mark X Viper versus the 2392-edition Valkyrie: Don't Go There" by Lt Kozue Kaoru

"Re-thinking Beyond Visual Range Target Sort in the Mark VII" - Lt Kara Thrace

"Has Anybody Seen My Wingman? Visual Formation Recovery" by "Haywire" Luchini

"Kilrathi Defensive Countertactics...such as they are" - reprint from Summer 2210 edition by Cmdr Benjamin "Gryphon" Hutchins

"Decepticons Always Go For Guns...and other myths" - guest article by Starscream

(all meant in good fun)

EDIT: It was. Never mind. :)

Heh. In the 25th century, the emphasis has shifted to the other half of the title (it appears on the cover as "Aviation Week & Space Technology"), but a lot of people still call it AvLeak.

>Of course, now I'm imagining special articles to go with the occasion.
>A Famous VF-1s gallery, major historical incidents,
>got-back-in-(nearly)-one-piece photos, at least one foldout exploded
>diagram, amusing VF-1 mishaps, nose art galleries... it probably
>filled that whole issue.

Indeed, there was at least one issue that year entirely devoted to the VF-1 (and another mostly focusing on other WDF aerospace tech that debuted at around the same time; the Legios system followed the VF-1 into service by only a few months).

If anyone is really curious, the aircraft shown in the VF-1 Mark LXXX advertisement is 92-002, the VF-1J-80 prototype, shown here in the colors of the WDF's Veritech Squadron VVF-11 (The Red Line). At the controls is Major General Cheryl A. Zukowsky, chief of flight test operations for WDF Fighter Command. If the design passes muster with the Red Line (as it in fact does in 2394), the next squadron - and first operational combat squadron - to receive them will of course be VVF-261 (Eight-Ball Squadron), which went back to using VF-1-79s after the VF-2s were withdrawn from service in 2390.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

Ah, yes, that very familiar pun. I wonder if they drive the WDF/IPO crazy with some of the stuff they manage to acquire (much as AvLeak does today.

-Joe-

I'm not seeing it.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

-Joe-

That's not a decal, it's a structural feature. It's the recessed handle of a rotating lock mechanism, either for that panel or for part of the structure underneath it. There's another one on the nose just forward of the cockpit.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

Oh, there's quite a lot of intraservice rivalry between Veritech and fixed-config pilots in general, and of course history shows us that any pilot is automatically partisan about his particular ride even within its own class. Case in point: F-8Z and T-65F pilots get on each other's cases all the time ("Hey, Larry, why do they call the X-wing a trainer? It's only got one seat!" "I think it's because if they told the X-wing jocks they were actually in operational combat fighters they'd wet themselves!"), though usually in good fun, and the rivalry between Valkyrie pilots and Legios drivers (their own term) is a thing of great venerability.

In the everlasting Veritech vs. fixed-config debate, the relative positions are usually "I can handle a ride that's three weapons in one" vs. "really? I only need one to get the job done in the first place." :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

"Legios" is the name for the Veritech spacecraft system that encompasses both the Alpha and Beta fighters. On the original Genesis Climber Mospeada, "Legioss" (with an extra s) was the name for what Robotech calls the Alpha, while Robotech's Beta was originally called "TREAD", which was an acronym for... um... something.

Anyway - in UF at least - the two spacecraft are technically known as the Alpha Legios and Beta Legios, and when docked, the combined vehicle is simply called Legios.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

Because TED wasn't cool enough, I assume.

I wonder if they ever tried to mate a Beta to a Valkyrie...

Not so! The VT-8 Logan Veritech primary trainer is used extensively by many of the forces that deploy combat Veritechs. It's considered an excellent stepping stone to full Veritech training: it's easy to fly, easy to handle during transformation, and teaches the fundamentals of variable combat without forcing rookie students to confront the complexities of managing three modes. (At the same time, primary-level Veritech pilot trainees are getting their battroid chops in specially configured RX Machine Weapons with replica Veritech battroid cockpits. Later, in advanced training, they move to VF-1Ds and bring it all together.)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

As I recalled, someone did mate a Beta to something, not a Valkyrie though. I'll try to see if I still have the picture. I remembered from one of the Core Fics. Think it was called the Kuldge from Hell (spelling might be wrong, can't remember the exact name).

---------
-"I came, I saw, I sought therapy. And it hurts"-

"A good plan executed now is better than a perfect plan next week" - Gen George S. Patton, Jr.

I was about to say I didn't actually know what it was, until I noticed that one of the scans was the cover. It appears to be called Tenjin Hidetaka Art Works of Macross: Valkyries. (Though it is, in fact, not all Valkyrie art; there's also some Macross Plus stuff, a couple shots of a Monster, and, for no apparent reason, a Spitfire and a MiG-29. Oh, and a Tomcat. I didn't notice that at first, since at thumbnail size they look much like VF-1s. Maybe the Tomcat and the MiG-29 have to do with Macross Zero? I've only seen, and now only vaguely remember, the first episode of that.)

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

-Joe-

Yes indeed, the F-14 and the MiG-29 appear in the first episode of Macross Zero. The Tomcat's supposed to be an F-14A+ Kai "Super Tomcat" and the MiG-29 is just...well, a MiG-29. I'd guess a naval variant, considering how far out to sea they are, but the early part of the first episode really was just there to establish a main character, not to delve into the intricacies of the U.N. Wars.

--------------------------
CdrMike, Overwatch Reject

Somewhere in the multiverse, HK-47 just became extremely smug.

------
Jon Helscher

I'm here to slow you down, cost you money, and generally retard the process.

-Mike Rowe: Dirty Jobs

If we're talking about Ifurita, then I just might agree with you.

--------------
Lime2K
The One True Evil Overlord
After all, it''s what she was originally designed for...

Ha!

The hard part was finding a pic without a really obvious "UN SPACY" decal (and you can see the "CY" at the back of the left engine). :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/