?? Timeline For Vf-0 And Vf-1 Development

[ghostryder]

Just reading the Macross Compendium. According to the chronology, the VF-X-1 completed space-worthiness trials in mid-2007, which means reaction engines were tested and approved. The VF-1A was put into mass production by 12/2008.

Question is - the Macross Zero events took place in Sept 2008, so why weren't there VF-1's avaialble to send into the conflict against the Anti-UN? The VF-0 was also essentially a prototype. Wouldnt' there have been at least a handful of VF-1 test mecha to send into combat?

[Knight26]

Nope, if they have not hit FRP (Full Rate Production) then all those available would essentially be test assets. Think about it, we have had DH correct me here, about a half dozen to a dozen raptors for the last 5 years or so, but none of them have been combat deployed. They have all be used as testbeds and for flight testing. The same was probably true of the VF-1s. Also just because the engines were aprroved does not mean that they were approved for mass use, they could have had some serious bugs to work out. As for the VF-0, yes it was a testbed, but at the same time was a more conventional design, using normal engines, so could be more easily field serviced. So I'm sure that the UN was faced with two options, field the somewhat more advanced, and still highly top secret VF-1 that has possibly wonky and harder to support engines. Or, use the tech testbed aircraft VF-0, which you happen to have a lot of and are more reliable because of their engines. So in that way it makes sense, still it would have been nice to see Roy go up in a VF-1 for the final episode, but I think that was a concession that was made to try and get Macross 0 on the foreign market. Let's face it, other then Roy, the UN-Spacy Kite, the Monster, and the name Macross, there is very little that visually links Macross zero to the original Macross, and therefore it could allow an end run around HG. However, the fact that we have still to hear any news about a US release makes me think that the gamble did not pan out.