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F-60A Starsabre
Role: Air Supremacy Fighter
National Origin: 
Ascoobis
Manufacturer: Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems Racing Drone Corporation Aerospace Division Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Boeing Defense, Space, and Security Cyberdyne Aviation
First Flight: 2029
Introduction: 2031
Status: Entering Service and Initial Production
Primary User: The Ascoobian Air Force
Produced: 2028-
Number Built: 11
1 YF-60
10 F-60A
Program Cost: $1Trillion by 2060
Unit Cost: $175 million (As initial production phase of 2031)
Northrop Grumman-RDC F-60A Sabre
The F-60A Sabre is a sixth-generation, titanium-graphene-composite, twin engined, modular, two-seated, optionally unmanned all-weather stealth fighter aircraft developed primarily for the Ascoobian Air Force. The winning result of 2020s' Counter Fighter Program to regain worldwide aeronautical superiority from the Fifth-Generation fighters that were emerging as a worldwide commodity during this period. Designed mainly as an air superiority fighter that serves a node in Ascoobian air defense, it also has the capabilities to attach modules which could extend its role to encompass ground-attack, electronic warfare, and signal intelligence capabilities. While, the frame shape was originally an idea of Northrop Grumman, nearly every major aerospace company on the continent shares a role in the development of its bleeding-edge technologies and production.
Origins
YF-60 Prototype
In 2018, in Empress Diana's administration, the requirements for the aircraft which would become the F-60 was completed.
And with foreign powers producing potential rivals to the F-56 then in service, funding was put in place to invest in a future fighter. The requirements would include a vast array of new or hypothetical technologies, such as remote piloting, drone control, aeroelastic wings, and effective direct-energy weaponry. to be used in combat.
Two entries into the program were announced in the entry deadline of Spring of 2019 by North America's aerospace giants. One a Boeing-Lockheed Martin entry and the other being an unexpected coalition of Northrop Grumman, the Racing Drome Corporation, and Cyberdyne. Both were given a highly generous 120 month time table to complete a successful technology demonstrator. The entire program was put into jeopardy early on by Empress Diana's 2020 abdication but was swiftly put back on track by the Sierra Administration, however, while under the same time table.
The Boeing-Lockheed teams working from Phantom and Skunk Works were the first to launch their prototype, YF-57 Aether, in February 2027, but a pilot error resulted in a fatal crash upon its first flight, leading to a major redesign of the platform.
Leaving the Northrop/RDC/Cyberdyne Coalition wide open to unveil the presently unchallenged first YF-60 Starsabre prototype in December 2027 with the first flight successfully conducted in the Spring of the following year along with second constructed YF-57 Aether prototype. The competition began in November 2029, two years to make the technology demonstrators combat capable, and lasted until May 2030. With the F-60 proven to the better platform.
The Starsabre's competitor,
Boeing-Lockheed Martin's YF-57 Aether Prototype #2
The YF-60 incorporated surprisingly more superior technologies from its competitor and entered serial production in January 2031 as the F-60A at the RDC Twin Peaks production site in Utah, Ascoobis in utmost secrecy fulfilling the Ascoobian order for a first batch 1,000. Current production, while inefficient, is able to churn out two of these planes a month. The fellow members of the ATCO have been asked to, if they are interested, to propose ideas for variants of the plane that would fit their own doctrine. This truly is meant to be an alliance-wide program.
Avionics
The Avionics suite in the fighter is where Cyberdyne performs its best. Its advantage as a technology giant gives it the expertise and unique perspective to research increasingly more advanced R.A.D.A.R.s and navigation, encrypted communication systems, and electro-optic systems, besides the aircraft actual electronics. Even going as far as to attempt to attempt to merge major EMP-resistance and other safety measures into the aircraft's electronics.
Notable Equipment
Northrop AN/APG-85 AESA RADAR
AN/ALR-99 Radar Warning Reciever
AN/AAR-60 Ultraviolet Missile Launch detector
OLED HUD and other displays
The fighter's unique OS
R.P.A. (Remotely Piloted Aircraft) Menu
RDC/Cyberdyne cockpit model
Cockpit
The Racing Drome Corporation had much to say regarding the ergonomics and the placement of technologies of the cockpit, with experience in well-designed functional automobile interiors and lessons learned through their work on the F-56, they have grown to be a valued member of this coalition. As could be seen, the cockpit has been highly simplified, leaving the pilot to pay his or her attention to the mission then the dials, buttons, and alerts of older aircraft. Introducing a new flight suit with the aid of Space-X and a matching "smart-glass" helmet. The new suit is a fully enclosed fabric with inbuilt sensors to monitor the pilot's vitals and keep the pilot conscious during more extreme high-G maneuvers. In sync with the rest of the plane's notification systems, it will send a warning onto the H.U.D. if measurements move beyond the safety zone. Made up of the same material as newer space suits, it should be able to provide better flame retardant should an emergency arise.
RDC Flight Suit
Early Prototype of F-60's Direct Energy Weapon
The F-60 is built around two distinct internal weapons bays. The larger one beneath the fuselage and the smaller directly underneath the cockpit.
The larger is a missile bay armed with 12 of the Cerman AIM10XX BVR missile and locally produced AIM-9 Sidewinder, and if converted for air-to-ground missions, its bomb racks are able to sustain up to 2,000 Kilograms of ordinance. Unlike convention weapon bays, the doors open by sliding rather than on a hinge.
The Smaller internal bay supports the aircraft's secondary weapon in a rotating turret, a 200 KW laser weapon with a retractable door both directly beneath the nose cone and on the underside the cockpit to fulfill both an offensive and defensive position with retractable doors in order to maintain stealth.
Chief Director David Hardy explains:
“A laser is basically a heating device,” Hardy said. “It heats up something. It melts holes in it. That’s what we do.” But it takes a lot of technology to get that hot spot on target, especially when fired from a flying platform. While the military has abandoned the bulky chemical lasers used on the Airborne Laser program, the experience of building ABL taught valuable lessons that still apply to the more compact electrically powered lasers of today, Hardy told me. “Making ABL work was not just fitting the laser in: It was building the beam control system, it was building the pointing system, it was building the targeting,” Hardy said. “We learned a lot from that.”
Hardpoints are nearly nonexistent on this platform in the traditional sense. Rather than carrying individual weapons, the three hardpoints on the aircraft area are able to be equipped with stealthy modules to assist with specialization on individual missions. They could range from extra missile pods, to Electronic Ware Fare equipment, to fuel pods.
A) Main internal bay
B) Laser internal bay
* Hard points
Stealth
The B-60 is an aircraft which was designed to avoid detection through the use of the electromangentic spectrum, with priority towards Radio and Infrared. This effort is most evidently made by its flying wing configuration, a reduced thermal emissions from specifically placed engines and having it possess only internal weapon bays. Other details such as paints and other materials remain classified.
F-60's F135-P&W-100
After its success, several incremental improvements were made to the fighter after its competition with the impressive F-57. Including increased agility by adopting the similar engines its former rival for increased thrust. After which revaluations were done to recalibrate aircraft specifications. The new engines resulted in slightly decreased range, improved the hypothetical combat effectivness of the aircraft in other aspects. This is one of the first fighters in the world with the majority of its components crafted with advanced 3D-printing technology. For example, increased tests of YF-60 Mark II proir to production revelaed imperfections in certain plastic parts which interfiered with overheating. These were quickly replaced with graphene.
The official policy on introduction of new aircraft is that newer aircraft will be sent to replace sqadrons equipped with older equipment first. The first F-60A arrived at Edwards Air Force on November 31st, 2030 to become the lead plane of 109th Sqadron. Production continues to completely replace 109st Squadron's F-20s by the end of 2031.
Washintonian F-15SE-75 in all of its patriotic glory
The first F-60s, the 109th Sqaudron are scheduled to make visit at the next ATCO mult-branch war games to be held in Vancouver, Washinton. Where they will most likely be faced with the likes of the Washinton F-25B, F-38, and put the newest F-15SE-75 to the test.
Little is planned in the way of another block or even something as extreme as a "F-60B", but an investigation is underway on whether the frame could support additional, but fixed, laser emplacements.
Crew: 1
Length: 21.0 m
Wingspan: 20 m
Height: 5.08 m
Wing area: 100m²
Empty weight: 21,000 kg
Loaded weight: 42,000 kg
Max. takeoff weight: 52,500 kg
Fuel capacity: 8,200 kg internally, or 14,000 kg with two external fuel tanks
Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 turbofans
Dry thrust: 43,000 lb (116 kN) each
Thrust with afterburner: >35,000 lb 156 kN each
Maximum speed At altitude: Mach 1.4 [estimated]
Maximum speed Supercruise: Mach 2 (1,220 mph, 1,960 km/h)
Range: 4,000 Km with 2 external fuel tanks
Combat radius: 1,000 Km
Ferry range: 3,000 Km
Service ceiling: 20,000 m
Wing loading: 275 kg/m²
Thrust/weight: 1.30
Maximum design g-load: +9.0/-3.0 g[/i]
Vague F-60A StarSabre Schematics
