NationStates Jolt Archive


Secret IC: Avalon Aerospace develops SZ-20 'Valkyrie' advanced strike fighter

Sarzonia
13-09-2005, 21:39
[OOC: This is an extremely rough draft of a possible L-82 Hussar competitor. I used the 'Predator' interceptor that Doom designed for me and the Hussar itself as inspirations for my own design.]

SZ-20 ‘Valkyrie’ advanced strike fighter (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/msarzo/SZ-20C.png)
OOC: Pic designed by Space Union.

Background Following the Incorporated Sarzonian Air Force’s failures in Inkana, a review (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=443094) of the Sarzonian military’s performance in the war turned up deficiencies in technology available to Sarzonian pilots. The F-78 ‘Sokol’ variant used by the Doomies in Inkana vastly outstripped Sarzonian-built and designed fighter aircraft and the only kills registered by the ISAF came when SZ-1 ‘Vulture’ strike fighters shot down two aircraft as they were taking off. The recent commissioning of the L-82 ‘Hussar’ (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=443521) strike fighter forced the Incorporated Sarzonian Air Force to contract the Avalon Aerospace Corporation to design an advanced strike fighter to serve as a competitor to the Hussar. The result is the SZ-20 ‘Valkyrie’ advanced strike fighter.

Propulsion Taking their cue from the SZ-19 ‘Predator’ interceptor, originally built as an answer to the F-78 ‘Sokol,’ Avalon Aerospace Corporation engineers provided the Valkyrie with two Avalon Aerospace Corporation T-9000 Pulse Detonation/Turbofan Hybrid engines, providing a combined thrust of 130,000 pounds. On a relatively light airframe designed largely with stealth in mind, the Valkyrie has been tested at speeds approaching Mach 4.2 with a supercruise capability of Mach 2.75. Instead of kevlar armour protection, critical areas have been given a backing of biosteel to provide additional protection against shrapnel and weapon splinters. The Valkyrie’s six internal hard points have been designed to reduce radar and IR signatures and aerodynamic drag created by externalised weapons bays. Radar absorbent materials have also liberally been applied to further reduce an enemy’s ability to detect the aircraft. Like the ‘Predator,’ the Valkyrie has been painted medium gray to allow it to fool the naked eye. The Valkyrie’s wings have been swept forward to allow for greater stealth and the delta wing configuration of the Predator has been adopted for the Valkryie for similar maneuverability and stealth.

Avionics Avalon Aerospace Corporation took a close look at their design for the Predator and incorporated many of the targeting features that make the aircraft an excellent dogfighter. Namely, features that include an AHDS-1 Helmet Mounted HUD System, which allows for the pilots of the aircraft to simply look at the target to achieve a lock and a SCS-1 Mobile Super Computer System, which gives the aircraft nearly unmatched processing power. Control capabilities of the Valkyrie rival the Predator’s through use of the same FBW-1029B Advanced Fly By Wire system.

Weapons The Hussar’s 35 mm ETC chaingun forced the Avalon Aerospace Corporation to adapt, and the result of that forced adjustment is a new 32 mm ETC chain gun with an equivalent 1,800 rpm rate of fire. Similarly to the Hussar’s, the Valkyrie’s weapon allows it to be used for dogfights or for anti-personnel strafing runs. Unlike the larger ordnance of the Hussar, it is not as capable against armoured units. Its weapons bay contains room for six 115 kg ‘Robin’ small diametre bombs and four 1000 lb air-to-surface munition bombs. Four extra-long range air-to-air missiles, the ‘Warp’ ELAAM, designed exclusively for the Valkyrie, have speeds of Mach 5.5 and are guided by a radar feed from the firing plane, the same way the Asteroid ELRAAM the Warp is based upon is. However, the Warp has been modified to include advanced heat-seeking technology and GPS-based target acquisition software to make spoofing more difficult. Should the aircraft be expected to perform in air superiority roles, four of the Robins and two of the air-to-surface munition bombs can be replaced with Warp ELAAMs.

The ‘Yellow Jacket’ mini-SAM that has served the Incorporated Sarzonian Navy extraordinarily well has been adapted for use aerially. The resulting missile, the Apollo mini-AAM can serve as a last ditch, extremely short-ranged anti-aircraft or anti-missile missile, though it is largely considered a desperation tactic and is believed to be largely ineffective.

Electronics For the Valkyrie to compete with some of the world’s elite fighters, the aircraft’s designers realised they needed to have electronics that allow it to keep up with the latest advances in technology. To do that, they have adopted the APG-100 Advanced Long Range Millimetric Wave Radar for air-to-ground detection, an APG-120 Advanced LIDAR/LADAR Receiver, and a IRTS-1 Infrared Scanning System. Such allows the aircraft to target buildings, personnel, and fortified positions from the air. The radar system can be adapted to use the APG-90 Advanced Long Range Millimetric Wave Radar for air-to-air operations.

Specifications
Name: SZ-20 ‘Valkyrie’ advanced strike fighter (and air superiority fighter variant)
Manufacturer: Avalon Aerospace Corporation
Maximum Speed: Mach 4.2 (Mach 2.75 supercruise)
Protection: 2.6 mm biosteel; 10 mm titanium honeycomb
Armament: 1 x 32 mm ETC chaingun mounted internally in the fuselage.
Four ELRAAM bay slots
Six SRAAM bay slots
[I]Total bay space[/b]: 1,650 kg
Ten strike pylons
Total Pylons: 7,500 kg
Crew: Two
Range: 1,450 km
Weight: 20,240 kg
Length: 18.8 m
Wingspan: 14.9 m
Operational Ceiling: 24,700 m
Price: $135 million
NOTE: Sale will be subject to extensive background search into the prospective purchasing nation. Production rights will be available only to close allies.
Space Union
13-09-2005, 21:50
Sarzonia nice plane but heres some problems:

1) Your engines produce 130,000 lbs of thrust !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even with a pulse-detonation, the engine would be way, way, way too big for a fighter let alone a bomber. Even a bomber would need to be pretty big to go with that. I would suggest 55-60,000 lbs of thrust for each engine.

2) I highly doubt your aircraft can carry six 500 kg ‘Robin’ small diametre bombs and four 1000 lb air-to-surface munition bombs. My fighter is bigger than this and can only carry 4 1,000 lbs bombs internally along with 8 AAM if you try.

3) Also 12 internal hardpoints are way too much. I would suggest maybe 6 or 8 but 12 I doubt you could fit that many in.

4) Your weight should be more like in the area of 30,000 kg if you want to have all those weapons and still get somewhere.

5) You should up your surface ceiling so that its more in the range between 60,000 ft and 90,000 ft or more.

Overall nice job.
Doomingsland
13-09-2005, 22:05
OOC:Yeah, and I'm pretty sure supercruising at mach 3.1 is pretty much impossible. Also, might wanna replace fly-by-wire with fly-by-light, change the radar to a phased array, and, uh, that's about it, SU said pretty much everything else. Good job! (also, might wanna make those same avionics adjustments on the Predator (I kinda forgot about those factors when I was putting it together...)
Isselmere
13-09-2005, 22:14
The Robin small diameter bomb is only 115 kg. A 500 kg bomb would be over 1000 lbs, which is quite large. If I remember correctly, the F/A-22 carries about 6 SDBs within its weapons bay (690 kg).

Speed incurs its own penalties. The Valkyrie's leading edges would be glowing red from air friction making it the ideal candidate for an IR weapon. Even at altitude and high speed, it would be a key target for radar-guided SAMs. At high altitude and high speed, the aircraft will be flying a straight line - all one would have to do is fling up something to detonate in the predicted path and bye, so long.

Semi-active radar homing missiles were the former style of missiles, such as the AIM-7 Sparrow. The AIM-120 AMRAAM has a brief semi-active period for initial guidance on long range shots with active terminal guidance. Missile approach warning systems tend to use either radar or infra-red sensors to detect incoming missiles.

Millimetric radar is generally for shorter ranges. The active electronically scanned array used by the F/A-22 has a low probability of intercept because the searching and tracking beams used are comparatively low-powered, thus able to slip through the targetted aircraft's electronic support measures (such as radar warning receivers) as electronic noise rather than something to warn against.

Mach 4.1 is possible using turbojets or turboramjets with present or near future technology. Cruising at Mach 3 is possible (F-12(?)/SR-71) but your plane needs to be a massive fuel tank (like the SR-71), and the engines would probably have to be turboramjets.

Steel radiates radar energy extremely well. Powder metallurgy and titanium are the way to go in aircraft: light weight, high heat resistance, low probability of fracture.

Anything striking a modern aircraft, as Col. Broughton noted in "Thud Ridge", is liable to hit something vital and cause it to split apart like a piñata. The A-10 is safe from that simply because there is hardly any spiffy electronics on that bird.

Also, the armour's a bit thick, especially if it covers the entire aircraft.
Soviet Bloc
14-09-2005, 02:07
Looks great, very nice...


As for the comment about 130,000 lbs. of thrust per engine, its actually combined thrust, putting each engine's at about 65,000 lbs. Also, it all depends on how you use the pulse detonation system or what type of turbofan you use [variable bypass, low bypass, high bypass, etc.]. The pulse det. system I use is overly complex by modern standards [remember my fusion reactor comment in the L-82 thread?] but does the job incredibly well. Most of the powerplants in use by AFAR aircraft are commonly referred to as either 'Vortex' or 'Cyclone' powerplants, not for anything going on inside, but the actual external appearance. They're very large powerplants in a large bird capable of going insanely fast but sacrificing stealth [to a degree, it does maintain some measures to at least reduce detection ranges], especially infrared. In fact, its probably a big enough infrared signature that the missile, in all probability, would ignore it, either signing it off as a flair or the sun, lol.


But yes, Mach 3.1 supercruise is a bit excessive [but plausible]. Other than that, the other 'factors' have been covered, and when its all said and done, it should be another outstanding aircraft... Hmm... First Isselmere, then Prae, and now Sarz [I think I'll refer to you all collectively as the Three Stooges... or something along that line]... Somethings going on here, lol. If these are your strike aircraft I sure as hell don't want to see what your air superiority fighters are, lol.
Space Union
14-09-2005, 02:31
Soviet Bloc: This is off-topic but could you send me the specs for your F-78 aircraft (the latest model) because I need its stats for my RP. My oppenent (Doomingsland) uses them and what to now what I'm facing. ;)
Soviet Bloc
14-09-2005, 02:56
Well, Doom has a tendency to take my stuff and then modify the living hell out of it for better or for worse... I'll show you the F-78K SS's specs/etc. but you'd have to get Doom's variant.

The picture in there is of the original F-78, the F-78K is supposed to look different, and I never got around to finishing its picture.

http://s6.invisionfree.com/International_Mall/index.php?showtopic=1945
Isselmere
14-09-2005, 03:19
Hmm... First Isselmere, then Prae, and now Sarz [I think I'll refer to you all collectively as the Three Stooges... or something along that line]
As long as I'm Moe, that's fine (although I've a greater affinity to Groucho of the Marx Brothers, :) ).
Sarzonia
14-09-2005, 03:22
I was calling us the Holy Trinity actually, lol.

My Trinity-class battleship is in fact named to honour the Issel-Praeto-zonian alliance. ;)
The Silver Sky
14-09-2005, 03:28
OOC: lol, you guys are weird, I refer to The Holy Trinity as my three military leaders, infact my newly commisioned Neptune-SD is named in there honor.

Nice fighter Sarz, if only it had a pic, if it did I'd buy a few.
Sarzonia
14-09-2005, 04:13
Nice fighter Sarz, if only it had a pic, if it did I'd buy a few.I suck at pictures, I'm afraid. Unless someone out there can draw one, I may have to rely on imagination. lol
Sarzonia
14-09-2005, 15:23
bump
SkyCapt
14-09-2005, 15:27
Interesting fighter, though it seems your jet's been shot down by the veterans of arial physics.
Sarzonia
14-09-2005, 16:12
Interesting fighter, though it seems your jet's been shot down by the veterans of arial physics.Actually, two of the "veterans of arial physics" (namely Soviet Bloc and Doomingsland) have complimented it and have suggested modifications to what I clearly labelled at the beginning as a draft version of this design.

I'm not impressed by your snide little remark.
SkyCapt
14-09-2005, 16:25
I didn't mean it to be uh, what's the word... Ah, degrading of your fighter design. I certainly didn't mean it to be snide. Uh, so you have my apologies if that's how it sounded.
Sarzonia
14-09-2005, 16:33
I didn't mean it to be uh, what's the word... Ah, degrading of your fighter design. I certainly didn't mean it to be snide. Uh, so you have my apologies if that's how it sounded.Okay, apology accepted.

It's so hard sometimes to tell someone's intent on the Internet...
Sarzonia
15-09-2005, 04:08
*bump*
Sarzonia
15-09-2005, 15:44
*bump*

(Revisions will be made shortly.)
Sarzonia
16-09-2005, 14:16
*bump*
Sarzonia
16-09-2005, 15:45
*made some revisions (others are forthcoming)*
Doomingsland
16-09-2005, 21:01
Well, Doom has a tendency to take my stuff and then modify the living hell out of it for better or for worse... I'll show you the F-78K SS's specs/etc. but you'd have to get Doom's variant.

The picture in there is of the original F-78, the F-78K is supposed to look different, and I never got around to finishing its picture.

http://s6.invisionfree.com/International_Mall/index.php?showtopic=1945
Yup, one of my favorite passtimes, that is :)
Sarzonia
17-09-2005, 03:03
*pic added*
Space Union
17-09-2005, 03:09
*pic added*

Yeah my fighter picture got picked. Thanks :)
The Silver Sky
17-09-2005, 03:14
The Silver Sky wishes to buy proudction rights for the SZ-20 'Valkyrie' and if possible the 'Warp’ ELAAM.

Please name your price.
Sarzonia
12-10-2005, 04:25
*bump*