The Aerialbots' Alt-Modes and Possible Upgrades
Hmm. Despite my enjoyment of combat fighters, I have no jet icons. Woe.
This started as an e-mail conversation with someone and quickly devolved into me rambling on a lot about the jets the Aerialbots have as alternate-modes. It's a quick overview of each fighter jet used, its mission profile, and any quirks that I know about and think are worth mentioning. Immediately after each jet is a quick overview of a possible upgrade, as well as any quirks I know about and think are worth mentioning.
This is intended as a quick bit of information for non-plane buffs who like to write the Aerialbots. Keep in mind the actual capabilities of the Aerialbots are usually above and beyond what the real-world version of their alternate-mode can do. Slingshot being supersonic immediately comes to mind as a big difference; a real-world Harrier cannot break the speed of sound.
However, it might be of interest to people.
The F-15 Eagle (Air Raid, Seekers), F-16 Falcon (Skydive), and F-4 Phantom (Fireflight) are Air Force planes. The F-4 is actually dual-service: it was used by both the Air Force and the Navy. The AV-8 Harrier (Slingshot) is a Marine jet, because of its Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) capabilities. It can get in and out of places with a minimum of fuss. (Also, if you check Youtube, it can pull some incredible maneuvers that few other jets can. On the flip side, it's very difficult to learn how to pilot and has a habit of killing pilots.)
The F-15 is an air-to-air jet. It fights other jets and does that very well. It also does ground attack, with the F-15E Strike Eagle variant optimized for that role. The F-15 is in widespread use all over the world, making it excellent camouflage.
The F-22 does everything the F-15 does, but better. (Except for ground attack, where it has to carry its devices internally or lose stealth.) It is designed for stealth and has a radar profile in the range of a bird. (Its stealth design also includes making it more difficult to see visually, give off less radio and noise emissions, and have more controlled thermics so it can't be "heat-sought" easily.) However, there are only a few squadrons of them in the US, and there are none elsewhere in the world. The Department of Defense will not allow them to be sold to others.
The F-16 is a "multirole fighter", which means it can be easily adapted to doing just about anything it's possible for a jet to do. It is also a jet in worldwide use, like the F-15.
It's intended replacement is the F-35. The F-35 is another multirole fighter, with much the same stealth capabilities of the F-22. However, the F-35 is just starting to go into production, and there are very few, if any, currently active in military operations.
The F-4 is a fighter-bomber. It's actually a better interceptor than fighter - it goes really fast in a straight line, but doesn't turn so well. Carries a very heavy ordinance load. Curiously enough, it was no longer in production in 1984, instead being replaced by F-15s, F-16s, and F-18s in the various services. Worldwide, most F-4s have been retired from use.
The Tornado IDS is the interdictor-strike variant of the Panavia Tornado, and thus is a better, more modern version of the F-4. Still not current modern, just as the F-4 wasn't really current modern when Fireflight first came online in the G1 cartoon. It's also not an American plane, so depending on how and where the Aerialbots are picking up their upgraded alternate-modes in a story, the F-15E Strike Eagle might be a better choice.
The F-15E Strike Eagle is a variant on the basic F-15. It's better, stronger, and faster than the F-4 at all of the same missions. On the down side, there's a strong, but not exact, resemblance to any other Aerialbots that might have F-15 modes.
The AV-8B Harrier is a Marine jet. Primarily a light attack craft1, but the peculiarities of its VTOL system make it a very effective dogfighter. (As a note, the difference between a dogfighter and an air-superiority fighter is that the latter does missiles and long-range air combat.) I really suggest hitting Youtube for Harriers doing their stuff to really get an idea of what they can do.
The F-35B is the Marine variant of the F-35, and it posses STOVL capabilities.
The Concorde is a supersonic passenger jet. Which says interesting things about the interdynamics of the Aerialbots, when you've got a guy who turns into a passenger jet managing all of these combat fighters. Because of the Concorde was invented before swing-wings were, its body design is optimized for traveling at Mach 2 or faster. This is a poor design for traveling subsonically and a bitch for taking off/landing with. This is why the Concorde has a bendable nose - to improve the pilots' visibility when taking off and landing.
There are very, very few Concordes ever produced, and they almost always operated outside of the US. We had a tendency to ban them over the sonic booms annoying people. All Concordes were retired in 2003.
There are no current replacements for the Concorde. The Quiet Supersonic Transport won't be ready for flight tests until 2013. However, if the actual real-world existence of the jet isn't necessary but the supersonic passenger jet IS, this is a good choice. The quiet part in its name references to the designs in it that 'shape' its sonic booms to be very, very low.
For military planes, there's the B1-B Lancer. Supersonic strategic bomber with swing-wings. It is in service in the US Air Force, though I don't believe it's used anywhere else.
---
1. "Attack" in the context of combat aircraft meaning "ground attack".
This started as an e-mail conversation with someone and quickly devolved into me rambling on a lot about the jets the Aerialbots have as alternate-modes. It's a quick overview of each fighter jet used, its mission profile, and any quirks that I know about and think are worth mentioning. Immediately after each jet is a quick overview of a possible upgrade, as well as any quirks I know about and think are worth mentioning.
This is intended as a quick bit of information for non-plane buffs who like to write the Aerialbots. Keep in mind the actual capabilities of the Aerialbots are usually above and beyond what the real-world version of their alternate-mode can do. Slingshot being supersonic immediately comes to mind as a big difference; a real-world Harrier cannot break the speed of sound.
However, it might be of interest to people.
The F-15 Eagle (Air Raid, Seekers), F-16 Falcon (Skydive), and F-4 Phantom (Fireflight) are Air Force planes. The F-4 is actually dual-service: it was used by both the Air Force and the Navy. The AV-8 Harrier (Slingshot) is a Marine jet, because of its Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) capabilities. It can get in and out of places with a minimum of fuss. (Also, if you check Youtube, it can pull some incredible maneuvers that few other jets can. On the flip side, it's very difficult to learn how to pilot and has a habit of killing pilots.)
The F-15 is an air-to-air jet. It fights other jets and does that very well. It also does ground attack, with the F-15E Strike Eagle variant optimized for that role. The F-15 is in widespread use all over the world, making it excellent camouflage.
The F-22 does everything the F-15 does, but better. (Except for ground attack, where it has to carry its devices internally or lose stealth.) It is designed for stealth and has a radar profile in the range of a bird. (Its stealth design also includes making it more difficult to see visually, give off less radio and noise emissions, and have more controlled thermics so it can't be "heat-sought" easily.) However, there are only a few squadrons of them in the US, and there are none elsewhere in the world. The Department of Defense will not allow them to be sold to others.
The F-16 is a "multirole fighter", which means it can be easily adapted to doing just about anything it's possible for a jet to do. It is also a jet in worldwide use, like the F-15.
It's intended replacement is the F-35. The F-35 is another multirole fighter, with much the same stealth capabilities of the F-22. However, the F-35 is just starting to go into production, and there are very few, if any, currently active in military operations.
The F-4 is a fighter-bomber. It's actually a better interceptor than fighter - it goes really fast in a straight line, but doesn't turn so well. Carries a very heavy ordinance load. Curiously enough, it was no longer in production in 1984, instead being replaced by F-15s, F-16s, and F-18s in the various services. Worldwide, most F-4s have been retired from use.
The Tornado IDS is the interdictor-strike variant of the Panavia Tornado, and thus is a better, more modern version of the F-4. Still not current modern, just as the F-4 wasn't really current modern when Fireflight first came online in the G1 cartoon. It's also not an American plane, so depending on how and where the Aerialbots are picking up their upgraded alternate-modes in a story, the F-15E Strike Eagle might be a better choice.
The F-15E Strike Eagle is a variant on the basic F-15. It's better, stronger, and faster than the F-4 at all of the same missions. On the down side, there's a strong, but not exact, resemblance to any other Aerialbots that might have F-15 modes.
The AV-8B Harrier is a Marine jet. Primarily a light attack craft1, but the peculiarities of its VTOL system make it a very effective dogfighter. (As a note, the difference between a dogfighter and an air-superiority fighter is that the latter does missiles and long-range air combat.) I really suggest hitting Youtube for Harriers doing their stuff to really get an idea of what they can do.
The F-35B is the Marine variant of the F-35, and it posses STOVL capabilities.
The Concorde is a supersonic passenger jet. Which says interesting things about the interdynamics of the Aerialbots, when you've got a guy who turns into a passenger jet managing all of these combat fighters. Because of the Concorde was invented before swing-wings were, its body design is optimized for traveling at Mach 2 or faster. This is a poor design for traveling subsonically and a bitch for taking off/landing with. This is why the Concorde has a bendable nose - to improve the pilots' visibility when taking off and landing.
There are very, very few Concordes ever produced, and they almost always operated outside of the US. We had a tendency to ban them over the sonic booms annoying people. All Concordes were retired in 2003.
There are no current replacements for the Concorde. The Quiet Supersonic Transport won't be ready for flight tests until 2013. However, if the actual real-world existence of the jet isn't necessary but the supersonic passenger jet IS, this is a good choice. The quiet part in its name references to the designs in it that 'shape' its sonic booms to be very, very low.
For military planes, there's the B1-B Lancer. Supersonic strategic bomber with swing-wings. It is in service in the US Air Force, though I don't believe it's used anywhere else.
---
1. "Attack" in the context of combat aircraft meaning "ground attack".