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Fighter Bomber FB-223S "Heavy Wedge” (Vanilla)

Fighter Bomber "FB-223S Heavy Wedge” (Vanilla)

Classification: Fighter
Sub Classification: Mid-Range Fighter and Bomber - Single Seater
Registration: FI-223S “Heavy Wedge”
Manufacturer: Chung-Wol Hyper Flight Systems –Astro division
Nation of Origin: Gaya National Congress
Planet of Origin: P231-Cf “Yong-Goong”
Year of First Model Rollout: 178 IA
Models: S Model (Single seater)
The other variant is the Dual Seater D Model
Crew Complement: S Model - 1 (Pilot)
Drone Mode: No
Armaments: 4 x Gatling Guns
S Model - 2 Anti-ship missile CMM-29B (Dumb Fire and Remote modes)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1251835102

Description
Based on the Fighter Interceptor FI-223 “Wedge" design, FB-223S “Heavy Wedge" is a fighter bomber which carries 2 Anti-ship missile CMM-29B. Other than the addition of missile pods and other slight enhancements to the “Wedge” design to compensate for the additional mass of the missiles, the characteristics of FI-223 “Wedge” remain in its bomber variant. Its minimal armor, streamlining of armaments to 4 Gatling Guns, and heavy investment in gyroscopes makes it a very nimble and maneuverable fighter. However, this means that it has to depend on those positives to increase its survival chances as minor hits would tear through its light armor.

Since it is only space capable, the “Heavy Wedge” is primarily stationed on carriers with the task of hitting enemy capital ships with its missiles to either disable them or slow them down before they encounter their targets. It can be categorized as a Mid-Range bomber especially with its hydrogen booster attachment. While this bomber has significant range it does not have a dedicated life support system and leaving the S model pilots to carry their own life support. Once, divested itself of its missiles, the “Heavy Wedge” could be used as fighters with just a minor reduction in capability compared to the “Wedge” fighter.
The FB-223S “Heavy Wedge" can fire its missiles in dumb fire mode or Remote mode. With dumb fire mode, the pilot uses the missile’s camera to point it at the target and then launches the missile. Then, the missile is on its own. Going in a straight line. The issue with this is that over the 2km, the recommended distance for the CMM-29B missile, there can be drift of several meters once the missile reaches its target. This also makes it preferable to fire the missile while stationary. With Remote mode, after the missile is launched and traveled 300 meters or so, the missile becomes remote controllable. You can make adjustments to its trajectory once the missile is near its target. The FB-223D model only is capable of Remote mode.

History
The Fighter Bomber "FB-223S” is a variation on the "FI-223” Fighter Interceptor design. The latter has some interesting history to its origin. Commissioned by a consortium of outer systems, its initial design parameters were ambitious but simple. It was intended to be a fighter that would perform both the fleet defense “dogfighting” fighter and a Mid-Range Interceptor roles. In addition, the design parameters required it to be a basis for various design variations such as a bomber variant without significant additional investment in manufacturing or design. Not to mention that the design had to be delivered cheap and fast. Most well established companies in the industry did not take the contract. There were enough business within the core systems to not put resources into developing a fighter for some poor outer systems. They would rather sell them fighters from their existing catalog which were too expense and not versatile enough for the clients’ needs. .

This gave a chance to a relatively young company “Chung-Wol Hyper Flight Systems” which started out as a terrestrial aeronautics company located on P231-Cf “Yong-Goong”. Using their civilian commercial expertise, the FI-223 “Wedge” was delivered and met most of contract’s requirements. For one, it came under the budget and Chung-Wol Hyper Flight Systems were able to set up production within 2 months once the design was finalized. However, there were downsides. The fighter Interceptor FI-223 “Wedge" was not the best design for either roles of fighter or Interceptor. While maneuverable as fighter, the 223 was fragile even for a light fighter. As an interceptor, the base unit lacked the speed and thus required a hydrogen booster to be attached to fulfill its purpose. The dependence on Gatling Guns as its sole armament did not help its reputation also. Over the year, many would come to say that the light bomber variation of 223 was better than the fighter FI-223 “Wedge”. However, at the time, the FI-223 “Wedge” was enough for the customers who were governments of turbulent outer systems. War was in the winds and they needed fighters fast. This made the FI-223 “Wedge” a major best seller.

A few years after the initial release of the “Wedge”, alterations were done to the 223 design for it to accommodate Anti-ship CMM-29B missiles. This was actually done in the field to overcome the lack of flight ready bombers. And, once this attempt was shown to perform well, Chung-Wol Hyper Flight Systems started to manufacture the bomber variate officially with their own reworking of the 223 design. This was the S model which became a much sought after product. However, after about 2 years, the Dual Seater D model was released. And, overtime, the D model became the mainstay of the bomber line and the S model was phased out within a decade or so. However, used units of the S model were in service for many years after the production was ceased.

Missile Operations
At pilot seat, Press #4 for Right Missile camera view.
Point the missile to target using zoom camera view.
Press #5 to fire.
Fire and Forget!
Or after 20 seconds, you can guild missile using remote control.

At pilot seat, Press #6 for Left Missile camera view.
Point the missile to target using zoom camera view.
Press #7 to fire.
Fire and Forget!
Or after 20 seconds, you can guild missile using remote control.


Controls
Page 1
1 Gatling Guns
2 Gun Camera
4 Right Missile Camera
5. Right Missile Launch Trigger
6 Left Missile Camera
7 Left Missile Launch Trigger

Page 2
1 Left Camera
2 Right Camera
3 Back Camera
4 Bottom Camera
5 Antenna On/Off
6 Gyroscope On/Off
7 Thrusters On/Off
8 Battery Recharge On/Off
9 Connector Lock On/Off