F/E-406 Wakizashi

F/E-406 Wakizashi

The Fighter/Electronic Warfare-406 Wakizashi is the UNSC's specialist front line air/space electronic warfare jet. The vessel was smaller and carried a similar number of armaments, though substanially smaller cannons. It carried a mixed ordnance of anti ship and anti aircraft missiles. The craft is armed with a number of ammo stores, six large and four smaller ones for launching ordnance. There are two under the cockpit and one to each side, by standard mount TITAN LASER cannon in the tube and the battery storage for 200 shots in the ammo store, in the segment of each wing where it meets the fuselage it carries the electronic warfare pods and in the wings it carries a number of smaller cyclic launchers for air to air missiles, two in each wing. It also carries its main engines in its fuselage and manouvering engines in its wings to give it a more stealthy profile over the Longsword. In the nose it carries a AESA RADAR with emissions control and a LIDAR, along with one on each wing tip and on the tail, supported by telescoping optical and infrared systems.

The Electronic Warfare systems consists of two pods, the AN/ALQ-57 VANGUARD jamming system, capable of intercepting and deciphering radio systems, intercepting RADAR transmissions and intercepting MASER transmissions and then tracking the sauce and jamming it through low detectable directed narrow ban jamming or wide area jamming, at the cost of stealth. The second pod is a Electronic Protection Pod that interferes with enemy attempts to intercept and jam communication and detection systems by producing narrow beam 'burn outs' that confuse and jam enemy attempts to jam them. Along with that, it uses a CPU driven decryption system that protects against attempts to intercept communication systems or preform cyber warfare attacks, usually through vicious back hacks and maze barrier systems.

The frame is constructed from superplastic-formed diffusion-bonded metal matrix composites. These light, oxidation resistant matrix composites are formed from high modulus, high strength gold and chrome doped zirconium oxide reinforced fibres and a titanium aluminide matrix. The skin is formed from four layered plates attached to the frame. The inside layer is a carbon composite which is bonded to the middle layer of single crystal carbon, which does not melt on reentry and protects the ship and occupants. The third layer is a resin bonded layer of structural titanium aluminide with a titanium mesh insert.The fourth layer is a outer layer of AEGIS, providing thermal and oxidation protection. The cock pit is situated in titanium-AEGIS compound armoured 'tubs'. These give limited protection against enemy fire. The windscreen is bullet-proof diffusion-bonded stretched-acrylic.

The Wakizashi presents one of the most balanced fighters in the known galaxy, mixing power ordnance, excellent dog fighting capacities, high speed and agility and excellent stealth properties. With its two powerful variable geometry engines, it is capable of mach 4 in atmospheric conditions and with its unstable flying wing design, computer assistance and dozens of control surfaces, it has exceptional agility for a aircraft of it's size. Again, thanks to it's unique flying wing design, internal ordnance bays, application of LASER and RADAR absorbent paints and engines sunk deep into the wings, it can maintain a minimal RADAR cross section in comparisson to its size. With its mixed armaments of anti aircraft and anti capital ship missiles, it can preform multiple duties with exceptional prowess and thanks to its agility and speed and its TITAN LASER bays, normally deployed as anti aircraft or anti tank guns on ground vehicles such as the M812E4 Komodo Anti Vehicle Platform and point defence systems like the Firestorm Close-in Weapon System. With them, it can devastate enemy opponents through the hitscan (instant hit due to the fact its beams travel at the speed of light) nature of beams, making it unrivaled in the position of dog fighting, a practice firmly applied in UNSC Air Force and Navay Air Arm training.

UNSC Comments
"The LASERs make a mess of enemy fighters and enemy tanks. Perfect"

"The Kantana and the variants are well liked, capable craft. No reason to even dream of replacing them in the next fifty years"