Af-3 Bat - Anyone Make This Model?

[Rrotz]

[robokochan]

Interesting...what is that from?

[Viceland]

Interesting...what is that from?

355225[/snapback]

What Rob said... and you got any bigger scans of that lineart?

[Goshawk]

looks like a cross between a booster and a VF-4. interesting design though

[Gundamhead]

It's from Mospeada. That's Yellow's fighter that he crashes on Earth after the first failed Mars Base attack force. I don't think it was ever offered as a kit.

[Ranger565]

Yep you can tell by the symbol on the plane its from Mospeada

[cobywan]

It sure looks like Volvo's take on a VF-4

[Rrotz]

I. Dimensions:

Total Length: 17.1 m

Total Height: 4.1 m

Total Wingspan: 9.5m

Total Dry Weight: 12.9 metric tons

II. Type:

(-8A, -8B): One seat heavy air/space attack aircraft.

(-8T) : Two-seat combat-capable trainer.

III. Service History:

-8A: Served with the REF Air Force from 2019 until replaced by the -B variant in the 2020s.

-8B: Served with the REF Air Force from 2021 until 2038.

-8T: Served with the REF Air Force from 2019 until 2038.

IV. Propulsion:

2 x Nakajima/P&W/Rolls Royce FF-2011-4 fusion turbines, max. unboosted output 140 kN each (overboost, 275 kN each).

2 x Nakajima/P&W/Rolls Royce FF-2011-4S plasma-shock expansion reaction engines, max. output 121.5 kN each (overboost, 249 kN each).

Fuel capacity:

16 standard canisters of protoculture

8.1 liter D20 reactant for fusion engines.

Assorted auxiliary and maneuvering thrusters.

V. Performance:

Max level speed at 30+ km : Mach 5.4.

Delta-v capacity : 5.2 kps

Powercell endurance: 200 hours continuous use

Initial climb rate : over 30000m per minute.

Unboosted service ceiling : 29 km.

G limits : -5.4/+12.0.

VI. Electronics:

Radar tracking:

Hughes APG-99 X-band pulse-Doppler phased array, providing spherical long-range detection and tracking of targets at all attitudes.

Optical tracking:

Phillips AllView multi-band digital camera system, for medium range spherical infra-red imaging, optical and ultra-violet band detection and tracking.

Thomson LT-5 multi-frequency laser ranger and designator.

Tactical Electronic Warfare System (TEWS):

Elettronica Radar Warning Receiver (RWR)

OlDelft Infra-red Warning Receiver (IRWR)

Westinghouse ALQ-250(V) active sensor jammer

Chaff dispenser

Flares.

VII. Armament:

Cannons:

2 x Colt E-19 4.5MJ lasers in fixed-forward firing position. Both lasers can fire 40 times per minute, and are recessed in the ventral fuselage.

Missiles:

1 x MM-16/8 Multi-missile system. Four missile bays under flip-open covers on inner and outer edges of the upper nacelles; each carries 2 medium range (65km) Mach 3.2 combined infra-red imager and active radar homing 260mm Diamondback and four 190x540mm short range (8.2km) combined active radar + home-on-jam/infra-red imager guided Hammerhead missiles each, for a total of 16 SRMs and 8 MRMs.

Hardpoints:

4 underwing hardpoints under the inner wings can each mount:

1 x RMS-3 "Archangel Of Death" Nuclear stand-off missile. Reaction warhead (500 kT) mounted on a long range (354 km) Mach 4.0 combined multi-spectrum imager and active radar homing missile. Customized for anti-starship operations. Maximum delta-v in space is 9.8 kps.

or 1 x CBM-200 Anti-mecha Cluster Missile. Two hundred guided cluster bombs with a range of 500 meters mounted on a long range (80 km) Mach 4.0 combined multi-spectrum imager and active radar homing missile. Customized for anti-mecha operations both in space and on the ground. Maximum delta-v in space is 3.5 kps.

or 1 x Carapace missile container, carrying 6 medium range (65km) Mach 3.2 combined infra-red imager and active radar homing 260mm Diamondback missiles or 12 190x540mm short range (8.2km) combined active radar + home-on-jam/infra-red imager guided Hammerhead missiles.

or 1 x RMS-2 'Angel of Death' Nuclear Stand-off missile. A reaction warhead (200 kT) mounted on a long range (293 km) Mach 4.0 combined multi-spectrum imager and active radar homing missile. Preferred ordnance for anti-starship missions. Maximum delta-v is 5 kps.

or 1 x Firebird missile. A conventional warhead mounted on the frame of a RMS missile with a range of 234 km and a speed of Mach 6.5, guided by a combined IIR and active/passive radar seeker. Weapon has a delta-v of 4 kps in space.

or 1 x Silencer anti-radiation missile.

or 1 x Hughes GU-11 55mm three barreled smoothbore rotary gun pod; has a 500 round capacity. Cannon fires APFSDS (Armor Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot) and HESH-I (High Explosive Squash Head-Incendiary) rounds at 600 rounds/minute.

or 1 x Rheinmetall GU-12 single smoothbore barrel gun pod. Fires 100mm APFSDS and HEAP (High Explosive Armor Piercing) semi-combustible case munitions at 110 rounds/minute. Ammunition supply is 60 rounds.

or 1 x MER for three optical, IIR, and active radar-guided Derringer missiles, with a range of 70km and a speed of Mach 3.0. Note however that because of the proximity of the hardpoints only one MER can be carried on the inner hardpoints; the outer hardpoints will have to remain unused in this case.

or any other military cargo such as a reconnaissance pod, missile or cargo pod.

The most common payloads for this mecha are:

Aerospace strike: 4 RMS-3 missiles.

Interceptor : 4 Firebird missiles.

Atmosphere strike A: 6 Derringer missiles.

Atmosphere strike B: 4 CBM-200 missiles.

VIII. Armor:

The skin of the Bat is composed of an advanced titanium-steel alloy. The armored skin stops all small arms fire, provides good protection against heavier infantry weapons, such as a 12.7mm machinegun round, and fair resistance to light mecha-mounted weaponry, such as the Zentraedi 22.3mm HE autocannon round. The total protection marginally better than that on the Valkyrie. The Bat provides full protection from nuclear, biological, and chemical hazards, using an overpressure cockpit environment activated by radiation and hazardous chemical sensors, or manually when biological warfare conditions are anticipated. The internal consumables supplies can provide atmosphere for one day maximum.

IX. Development:

In the middle 2010s the Earth government started replacing the mecha of its defence forces with newly designed models incorporating the lessons of the Robotech War. For the RDF Air Force, and the embryonic REF Air Force, this meant that many pre-war aircraft such as the Dragon were retired, and that their main mecha, the VF-1 Valkyrie, would be the next to follow. The first replacement for the Valkyrie was the VF-6A Alpha air superiority fighter. This mecha was more than capable of taking over the Valkyrie's air superiority and ground support roles, but was incapable of assuming the role of strike mecha due to its limited armament options compared to the Valkyrie. The Air Force first planned to replace their strike-tasked Valkyries by a project called VA-X which would have delivered a Veritech attack mecha. However, budgetary realities killed this project after a year. The Air Force then tried to procure an Air Force version of the VF-4 Lightning, which was to save on development costs by having an 80% commonality with the Naval VF-4. This was also not acceptable to the Treasury department, and the Air Force finally settled (with a lot of grumbling under its top officers) for an unaltered VF-4. At about that time, however, the government began an investigation into the replacement of some of the expensive Veritechs with non-transformable planes. For the Navy, this caused a large fraction of their planned VF-4 production to be canceled in favor of the Vulture space fighter, and as the Air Force had not yet procured any VF-4s, a design competition was held between the VF-4 and a number of non-transformable aircraft. The results of this competition showed that the strike role of the Air Force could be done as well (and more cheaply, even with greater numbers of aircraft) with a suitable non-transforming fighter. By the time a decision was to be made, the RDF Air Force had been effectively disbanded, but its daughter, the REF Air Force, selected the AF-3 Bat as its next generation strike aircraft, and procured nearly 4200 of them.

The shape of the Bat was inspired by the Veritech Lightning; the four engines were mounted in large engine pods on the wings. From there, relatively small wings led to the main hull, which contained the reaction mass tankage, the cockpit, electronics and the two lasers. The missile hardpoints were mounted under the inner wings. Compared with the VF-4, the Bat had a higher acceleration and top speed, and nearly the same effective weapons load. Late in the design stage Alpha-style internal bays for Hammerhead and Diamondback missiles were added to the upper nacelles, to allow for a greater defensive capability. The Bat was originally procured in two versions: the AF-3A, the basic combat aircraft, and the AF-3T, a combat-capable trainer. After two years newly delivered single seat aircraft were of the AF-3B version, which had mainly minor improvements and the REF standard sensor suite. All remaining AF-3A models were subsequently refitted up to AF-3B standards.

As the Sentinels' War began, the Bat proved to be the ideal weapon against massed Invid mecha formations. The RMS missiles were more than capable of destroying an Hive or, if the Bat was used to strengthen the Naval Air assets, an Invid Mollusk troopcarrier, and the cluster weapons were welcome for their ability to thin out ranks of Invid mecha in space, or on the ground. However, as the Beta Fighter came into ever wider service, it was realized that a pair of Alpha/Beta Legios fighters were quite capable of doing the same job, and just at the time the Bat began to suffer its worst attrition in the field, it was also made a victim of the REF's perceived need for logistical simplicity and standardization. Most of the remaining Bats returned to Earth with the Relief Expedition that linked up with the Southern Cross at the end of the Second Robotech War, and after the war, some 500 aircraft were stored at moon base Luna, and were eventually used by the troops stranded there in a futile attack on Reflex Point several years before the return of the REF Mars Division.

[robokochan]

Cool and all...this belongs in the Other Anime & SCI FI Section.

Rob

[Noyhauser]

Was it even in mosepeda? I thought it was just a robotech creation.

[Graham]

Arrrrghh......made-up Robotech RPG stats, which are completely irrelevant to Mospeada, not to mention non-canon.

16 standard canisters of protoculture

LOL.......and just how (and why) would you want to fit an ancient alien race into a canister then?

The armored skin stops all small arms fire, provides good protection against heavier infantry weapons, such as a 12.7mm machinegun round, and fair resistance to light mecha-mounted weaponry, such as the Zentraedi 22.3mm HE autocannon round.

Eh, I don't recall ever seeing any Zentradi in the Mospeada anime?

And don't even get me started on the following section, it's enough to give any hardcore Macross & Mospeda purist the fits: -

IX. Development:

In the middle 2010s the Earth government started replacing the mecha of its defence forces with newly designed models incorporating the lessons of the Robotech War. For the RDF Air Force, and the embryonic REF Air Force, this meant that many pre-war aircraft such as the Dragon were retired, and that their main mecha, the VF-1 Valkyrie, would be the next to follow. The first replacement for the Valkyrie was the VF-6A Alpha air superiority fighter. This mecha was more than capable of taking over the Valkyrie's air superiority and ground support roles, but was incapable of assuming the role of strike mecha due to its limited armament options compared to the Valkyrie. The Air Force first planned to replace their strike-tasked Valkyries by a project called VA-X which would have delivered a Veritech attack mecha. However, budgetary realities killed this project after a year. The Air Force then tried to procure an Air Force version of the VF-4 Lightning, which was to save on development costs by having an 80% commonality with the Naval VF-4. This was also not acceptable to the Treasury department, and the Air Force finally settled (with a lot of grumbling under its top officers) for an unaltered VF-4. At about that time, however, the government began an investigation into the replacement of some of the expensive Veritechs with non-transformable planes. For the Navy, this caused a large fraction of their planned VF-4 production to be canceled in favor of the Vulture space fighter, and as the Air Force had not yet procured any VF-4s, a design competition was held between the VF-4 and a number of non-transformable aircraft. The results of this competition showed that the strike role of the Air Force could be done as well (and more cheaply, even with greater numbers of aircraft) with a suitable non-transforming fighter. By the time a decision was to be made, the RDF Air Force had been effectively disbanded, but its daughter, the REF Air Force, selected the AF-3 Bat as its next generation strike aircraft, and procured nearly 4200 of them.

I really shouldn't let this sort of nonsense bother me, but I'm down with the flu and feeling cranky.

Graham

[maxjenius81]

Its not RPG stuff, its from RRG which at least a bit more credentials for backing than the RPG. That being said, its nothing to do with MOSPEADA. Though replace the Protoculture with (i cant remember MOSPEADA's power source) and due to a lack of stats from MOSPEADA itself, they arent too bad.

[EXO]

That's an Artmic creation specifically for Mospeada, not Robotech.

[Rrotz]

Well, RPG or not it gives a breakdown of the aircraft specs and some fictional history. Good input tho.

Samurai, I initially posted in Model Kits to see if anyone made a model or could possibly make a model.

[Noriko Takaya]

Westinghouse ALQ-250(V) active sensor jammer

355397[/snapback]

Shouldn't that be a Northrup Grumman ALQ-250(V) active sensor jammer? Westinghouse hasn't existed as a defense contractor for some time now.

Ugh! I can't believe that I'm contributing to glorified Robocrap statistics...

[Nightbat]

Well, RPG or not it gives a breakdown of the aircraft specs and some fictional history.  Good input tho.

355498[/snapback]

Hmm, I don't know, it's like someone like me were writing up specs for an

F-14 Tomcat, Block 38B -Mk. II

the only part I am sure about is that 'F-14 Tomcat'

David Hingtgen will probably pop up claiming 'Block' is just a term used for aircraft upgrades,

that '38B' doesn't exist or is used on some other aircraft and Mk. II is used for

bombs or something

but doesn't it read cool:

[strongbad]F-14 Tomcat, Block 38B -Mk. II[/strongbad]

[valk1j]

Pictures of the AF-03C Conbat from Mospeada.

[MechTech]

To answer the question, I've never seen that in a kit. Mospeada's creators lost out when it came to marketing. Thought it was an interesting series too.

[Beltane70]

replace the Protoculture with (i cant remember MOSPEADA's power source) and due to a lack of stats from MOSPEADA itself, they arent too bad

That would be HBT.

[Grayson72]

It's a cool craft that I've never seen before. I've only ever seen the stuff from the RPG and the HG hack of the series. I wonder what other cool craft from Mospeada I haven't seen.

Where'd you get that line art man?

[MechTech]

Here's a great fan site for Mospeada:

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~cyc01/index.htm