F-8Z Super Crusader

One of the Wedge Defense Force's famed "Retrotech" designs from the 2380s, the F-8Z is an Overtechnology reinvention of the F-8 Crusader, a jet fighter built by the now-defunct Chance Vought aircraft corporation of Earth in the latter half of the 20th century. As with all the Retrotech craft, the purpose of the F-8Z was intended to mirror the function of its 20th-century counterpart - in this case, to serve as a carrier-based aerospace superiority fighter with cannon primary armament.

The original F-8 was notable in its day for its continued reliance on cannon in an era when most military strategists believed that guided missiles were the future of air combat armament. Indeed, several contemporary designs, including the F-4 Phantom II, lacked any sort of gun armament at all, relying entirely on missiles. For this reason, the Crusader was known in its time as "the last of the gunfighters".

In practice, exclusive adoption of missile weapons proved to be tactically unsound, a evolutionary dead end, and subsequent pre-Contact fighters, including later models of the F-4, would have cannons - but never again would an Earth-built fighter rely on guns as primary armament. The cannons on later-model jets and early Earth aerospace fighters like the SF-22 Space Raptor were intended as contingency weapons, for use when missiles failed or were exhausted. Not until the Starfuries began to enter service in the mid-2300s were fixed weapons restored to the apex of the armament pyramid for Earth-built starfighters.

The WDF's policy toward fixed armaments has always been more favorable. The VF-1 Valkyrie, which has served as a front-line WDF aerospace superiority fighter for so long that it has become permanently identified with the Wedge Defense Force in the public consciousness, is liberally equipped with blasters, not to mention its equally iconic GU-11 gunnery pod/battroid rifle. Many of the WDF's fixed-configuration starfighters have been Salusian-built, and the Salusians have always respected the gunfighter/dogfighter ethos.

Thus, the F-8Z Super Crusader was intended not as a return to, or last echo of, the gunfighting spirit, but rather a celebration of same. With its sturdy spaceframe, powerful single engine, and concentrated firepower, the Super Crusader quickly earned a place in the hearts and souls of many WDF fixed-configuration starpilots. It remains a front-line combatant with the WDF's non-Veritech fighter forces today.

Designation: F-8Z Super Crusader
WDF Procurement Number: F8U-99
Pilot nicknames: Gunslinger, Zulu
Manufacturer: WDF Armory Aerospace Division
Entered service: 04/04/2385

Power system: ExoSalusia FR.9g power converter/fusion reactor
Propulsion system: Pratt-Whitney XF-9000 axial fusion turbine (rated at 600 KTU)
Speed rating: 110 MGLT
Flight control system: Virtual Labs, Inc. HotStick-III dynamic flight control/avionics package
Maneuver rating: 88 DPF
Navigation: Convergent Technologies Ministar-G computer system
FTL: None (but see Special Equipment below)
Shields: Forward/rear-projecting ExoSalusia G-Barrier Model 28
Shield rating: 50 SBD
Armor: Composite-reinforced titanium steel hull
Armor rating: 60 RU

Description: Carrier-based aerospace superiority fighter
Crew: 1 pilot

Mass, fully loaded (standard armament): 29,000 lb.
Mass, empty: 18,000 lb.
Reaction mass capacity: 9,000 lb.

DIMENSIONS
Length: 54'3"
Wingspan, extended: 35'8"
Height: 15'9"

ARMAMENTS
Fixed armaments: 4x WDF Armory GU-11SF 55mm high explosive cannon, lower fuselage
Ammunition: 4x 250 rounds
Expendable armaments: 2x WDF Armory triple standard-arms pylons
2x WDF Armory twin standard-arms pylons
Typical load: 6x AIM-91A Reaper II Medium Range Aerospace Intercept Missile
4x MIM-177X Hornet's Nest Multiple Independent Attack Vehicle Missile

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

The F-8Z was intended as a short-range carrier-based fighter, and does not carry an onboard means of FTL propulsion. However, all currently operational Super Crusaders have been retrofitted with metaspace navigation equipment, enabling them to make use of the existing jumpgate network and/or carrier-created jump points. In addition, a Special Space Combat Equipment Package is available for the F-8Z. Similar in design philosophy to the original SSCEP developed for the VF-1, the F-8's model provides additional armor protection, greater top speed, FTL capabilities, and more armament at the cost of sublight endurance. An F-8Z with the SSCEP installed will consume its reaction mass approximately 1.85 times as fast as one in normal trim.

The altered specifications of an SSCEP-equipped F-8Z are as follows:

Speed rating: Increased to 150 MGLT
Maneuver rating: Decreased to 75 DPF
FTL: Incom GBk-585 motivator drive unit (hyperdrive)
Drive rating: 1.0
Armor rating: Increased to 75 RU
Additional fixed armaments: 2x GU-11 55mm 3-barrel rotary gun pod
Ammunition: 2x 200 rounds
Additional expendable armaments: 4x WDF Armory twin heavy-arms pylons

SSCEP-equipped or "Hyper" Crusaders are usually employed in a fast strike role, so their SSCEP arms pylons are commonly loaded with ASM-37 Hellhammer Aerospace Strike Missiles. The pylons can be swapped out for triple standard-arms pylons, which would give the vehicle a very impressive total medium missile payload of up to 22 AIM-91A or MIM-177X missiles (for reference, 22 MIM-117 missiles would be a total of 220 light missile warheads on board), but this has never been done operationally.

ANALYSIS

The Super Crusader is a highly effective medium aerospace superiority fighter. With its fully aerodynamic profile, it excels in atmospheric combat, an arena in which many modern aerospace fighters suffer, and its space-borne maneuverability is unhampered thanks to the centuries of lessons its designers learned from the similarly-atmospherically-inclined VF-1. It can even fly in an atmosphere with its wings folded in storage mode - a capability shared by its 20th-century inspiration, as several pilots discovered to their surprise when accidentally launched from carrier catapults in that condition.

It carries a heavy armament load for its size, equivalent to that fielded by some fighters considered heavies, and the optional SSCE package can convert it into a surprisingly capable strike fighter - one which can switch instantly back to the full-on aerospace superiority role in seconds at the cost of jettisoning the modular enhancement package.

The F-8Z really has only two significant limitations. One is its relatively limited range: Without the SSCEP, it lacks FTL capabilities of its own, which is unusual in a modern fighter and could lead to pilots being stranded if their base ships are destroyed or withdraw. The other is its complete lack of any energy weapons: All of the Super Crusader's weapons rely on ammunition. Once it's expended, the fighter is incapable of inflicting further harm on the enemy and must withdraw, if it can.

A NOTABLE F-8Z

Probably the galaxy's most famous F-8Z is WDF Procurement No. F8U-99-11007, Megadeuce, a Block I F-8Z which entered service in 2386, saw action in the Second Battle of Zeta Cygni and several other significant WDF engagements of the late 2380s and early 2390s with VF-931 (Dead Man's Hand Squadron, WDF Malta CVS-183), and was sold for private use in 2399. This fighter became famous not as a front-line combat aerospacecraft, but in its second career as an asteroid racer. 11007 won the 2408 Avalon Fall Classic with Kozue Kaoru at the controls after the Galactic Asteroid Racing Association disqualified her two-time-winning Z-95 Headhunter, Marvelous Miki, on technical grounds. (The disqualification was later rescinded, but Kaoru was unable to compete in the 2409 Classic, as she was in a WDF Advanced Fighter Combat School candidate class at the time.)

OPERATIONAL F-8ZS

The F-8Z Super Crusader is currently serving as a front-line carrier-based aerospace fighter with the following forces:

- Wedge Defense Force
- Royal Salusian Navy
- Imperial Salusian Guards
- Imperial Gamilon Navy
- Zentraedi Battle Fleet No. 17 (Micronized)
- Novaya Rossiya Military Space Fleet

In addition, the following forces operate F-8Zs from fixed bases or space stations in a patrol or interception role:

- Republic of Zeta Cygni System Patrol Service
- New Japan Strategic Self-Defense Force
- Novaya Rossiya Protivo-Vozdushnaya Oborona (Air Defense Force)

NOTE: The Novaya Rossiya forces named above are not to be confused with the armed forces of the similarly-named ex-Russian colony world Novaya Rodina. Zeta Cygni is not allied with and does not sell arms to Novaya Rodina, the Communist government of which the Republic of Zeta Cygni never recognized following the 2350 revolution that brought it to power.

FUTURE PLANS

The WDF and Royal Salusian Navy are still procuring F-8Zs. An improved model, the F-8ZZ, is expected to enter service in 2412. No current plans exist for the type to be phased out in any force it serves with.

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I note the RZC System Patrol Service is one of the organizations flying the Gunslinger. Is this a specialized branch of the WDF or a separate force answerable to the RZC Government?

-Joe-

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CdrMike, Overwatch Reject

"Technical grounds"? I had the impression that asteroid racing was an anything-goes sport, or nearly so, as far as vehicles went. What was the disqualification for, if I may ask?