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FX/A Imperial Jayhawk

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The FX/A Jayhawk is the premiere superiority and interception starfighter of the Imperial Star Republic military. It can operate effectively in both space and various atmospheric conditions and pressures. It is capable of rapid surface to orbit ascents and can be launched from any planetside airbase or from any hangar bay large enough to accommodate it's fixed wing span.

The single pilot, twin engine craft is known for being sleek and extremely fast, it's agility second to none in normal operating conditions. The Jayhawk is equipped with two heavy impulse engines and four smaller booster engines located on the tip of its wings. For additional maneuvering capabilities in space, the Jayhawk is equipped with four vertical thrusters mounts on it's wing pods, as well as multiple RCS thruster spurs along its hull. While the Jayhawk can traverse a entire planet with relative ease and speed without worry of running out of fuel, in space the Jayhawk has a much smaller range and no FTL capability, making it a short range fighter craft deployed from starbases or carrier vessels.

Offense wise the Jayhawk is equipped with eight pulse laser cannons and three heavy beam cannons, giving it a powerful and deadly punch to craft up to three times its own size. The pulse laser cannons are located along the main hull, four near the wings and four attached to the main fuselage, while all three heavy beam cannons are attached to the main fuselage, two directly to the side and behind the cockpit and one slung under the main hull. The smaller pulse lasers can fire thousands of times without needing to otherwise recharge or be replaced, while the heavy beam cannons can only fire up to twelve times before needing to recharge or otherwise have it's emitter array replaced. The Jayhawk relies entirely on these energy weapons unless otherwise modified for carrying missile payloads to a target. The Jayhawk can carry up to twelve normal anti-armor missiles and four anti-capital torpedoes, however these load outs severely hamper the Jayhawk's overall speed and maneuverability, making it a bomber of last resort. The Jayhawk also excels at bomber escort.

The Jayhawk is designed to operate both in space and in varying atmospheric conditions, however the need for additional correctional thrusters to accommodate space combat, the Jayhawk is somewhat slower within atmosphere, though it's in-atmosphere speeds are still more than capable of engaging in high speed maneuvers and aerial dogfights.

The Jayhawk is a top contract of the major military industrial manufacturer Typhon Dynamics. Shortly after the Gate War, the Imperial Star Republic looked to replace their aging Valravn starfighter, a strikecraft that had been in use since the second colonial expansion. Designed largely for space, the Valravn was barely capable of holding its own against the starfighters of the enemy fleet over the planet Foer, holding their own largely due to the relative primitiveness of the enemy's own fighters. Following the ceasefire, the IStaR began a period of intense modernization of its naval forces and contracted Typhon Dynamics to create a better, more capable starfighter. In the following years through intense and expensive development, the Jayhawk was born.

 The new fighter quickly became iconic within the IStaR. It's sleek and predatory design quickly gained a popular civilian following, and it's performance was lauded within the IStaR military. The Jayhawk quickly became a fixture in the Imperial Navy's recruitment efforts, as it quickly produced new ad campaigns to capitalize on its civilian popularity. Seen here in a promotional shot, two Jayhawks skim the atmosphere of a gas giant's moon during a recon patrol.

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The Jayhawk is the realization of my dream to build a strikecraft that doesn't look dumb. I am also aware that it looks like a Russian SU-29 Flanker, but that can't be helped.

The main hull of the Jayhawk is actually from an old, old old shuttle that I built somewhere between 2012-2013. The shuttle itself was supposed to be some sort of heavy cargo/civilian transport but I didn't like many aspects of it, plus I was less skilled with DOGA back then so I just shelved the model. A few nights ago I was looking through my older files and happened to stumble across the shuttle again, and I began going about fixing all the construction errors that I have made while adding onto it. After a while I realized I had a perfect shape for a strikecraft, so I began to make it more sleek and predatory looking.

The main weapons in on this thing are hard to spot from this picture (the typical Space Engine background but I ran it through Paint.net to achieve a better overall 'skimming the atmosphere' look), but there are four pulse lasers on the upper and lower wing support structure. The remaining four light pulse lasers are mounted on the blister directly to the side and behind the cockpit. The upper two heavy beam cannons are located here as well, and the lower cannon is mounted on the underside of the craft. Although it may seem foolish to not include missiles as default armament, I felt the Jayhawk, in normal operations, did not need it as the heavy beam cannons replace the missiles and have the same general firepower and can be used multiple times as opposed to the one and done nature of a missile. But as it says in the fluff lore, it does have the ability to carry missiles, it just makes it less effective as a fighter.

Flufflore is a little rushed, but meh.

For a bonus, here are the sounds that the Jayhawk's weapons make (at least since I have nothing to create said sounds myself).

Pulse lasers: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdI6PM…
Heavy beam cannons: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj4iRa…

Model made with DOGA L3

Background taken in Space Engine

Image edited in Paint.net

Sounds are from Mechwarrior Online and Halo Reach.

FX/A Jayhawk, Imperial Star Republic, Vocian/Vocenae, Typhon Dynamics and Valravn belong to me. Do not use without my expressed, written permission.

Image size
1920x1080px 1.24 MB
© 2017 - 2024 ManiacalSpark
Comments8
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buried-legacy's avatar
Nice work although why no air to air missles?