>I imagine overall flight tech is going to keep things where they are
>at the end of RS:CFSFTD issue 5 (mid 2410), with the VF-1 dash 80
>maintaining its supremacy and Macross Plus/Seven era mechs serving
>niche and background roles. Other space nations may end up with the
>alternate "aggressor" mecha designs as competitors/deterrents to the
>ZC/WDF-backed Valkyries in the arena of variable-configuration mecha
>but never manage to quite get past the VF-1's dominance.
>

Its funny you say that about niche roles, because NUNS is STILL flying Macross-universe-standard VF-171 Nightmare Plus fighters while XAOS flies the VF-31, much like SMS flew the VF-25s during Frontier. Private military contractors are flying the much more advanced fighters, serving specialised roles. (Delta Platoon acts as an aerial demo team when not called upon to defend Walküre, and carries some of the SFX gear that the group uses. Skull squadron in Frontier were basically a Special Forces squadron or crisis response squadron, so again specialized roles)
To be fair, NUNS is lucky to achieve mediocrity at this point in the ongoing meta-story of the Macross universe, so settling for a substandard but inexpensive fighter is about par for the course. They've skipped 2 upgrade cycles now (YF-24, which led to the VF-25 and 27, then the YF-30, which led to the VF-31).

>Note that the characters from Macross Frontier are around, if
>you're willing to look -- they're just flying more standardized
>equipment.
>

Curiousity: does the WDF or IPO even HAVE a sniper variant Valkyrie? Its definitely the least "standard", and while I know there are ELINT variants, (and the concept of a giant sniper mech is somewhat amusing), I don't recall ever reading anything about one.

-D-