Talk:AFOH/@comment-14850713-20160107095143

OOC: Kevin, I hope you don't mind.

IC:

The AIF's fielding of the P-300 Crossfire aerospace fighter has impressed AFOH designers enough for them to launch a prototype aerospace fighter equipped with S-foils. Although a similar project had been contemplated during the Advanced Aerospace Fighter (AAF) program that resulted in the Vautour dual-role (aerospace & atmospheric) fighter, tests had shown that the blended wing lifting body concept of the latter provided the best balance between maneuverability (both in space and within the atmosphere), weapons capacity (due to larger interval volume) and stealth, and this early "X-wing" design was dropped. The recent advances in propulsion and laser weapons that culminated in the high-performance Dark Wolf however, prodded DORAD to once again explore the idea, to be incorporated in a fighter that will cost far less but can be produced in greater numbers (albeit with reduced capability).

Almost an exact copy of the Crossfire, the Excalibur XA-75 is also powered by 4 prodded fusion engines attached to the rear of the fuselage. Armament includes 4 wing-tip laser cannons and an internal bomb bay for bombs or air-launched Hyper Harpoon missiles. It is equipped with a hyperdrive and advanced navigation and targeting systems. The S-foils provide the wing-tip lasers maximum fire coverage, and vastly improved low-speed handling (reportedly matching the Sith TIE fighter's extreme agility). While definitely top notch as a pure aerospace fighter, its performance drops off considerably within the atmosphere, making it unsuitable for surface strike missions, something in which the much larger but non-warping Vautour excels in. This has led the High Command to classify it as a limited procurement program, capping production at 12 mission-capable prototypes. These are currently employed as technology demonstrators and are sometimes used to simulate TIE fighters in dissimilar aerospace combat training (DACT).