In 2058 Project Muddy Waters gave BAe a pre-production engine design. It was an improvement to the standard EmDrive and EgDrive. The drive consisted of a ring aerofoil that combined the best of the two drive systems. Feedback from space pilots was that an craft designed for atmospheric operation was less efficient in a vacuum than dedicated scraft. BAe developed the Cyclone with a vast amount of feedback from operational RSF pilots and their engineering crew.
This new ring aerofoil engine was essentially tipped on its side with the engine providing the maximum amount of thrust and manoeuvrability with forward facing weapons and sensors. The new craft was designed to fulfil both the offensive and defensive role required by the RSF.
The initial design was a four winged X shaped craft. Each wing had an EmDrive at the tip providing the best movement potential. To these wings additional weapons and sensor systems were added. Eventually these four wings merged in to one circular airfoil encompassing the craft.
There are two versions of the Cyclone; the standard strike fighter and the heavier gunstar.
the gunstar version mounts four, high-speed, 200 degree traverse turrets, one to each wing tip. Each turret mounts twin coil guns capable of firing 30mm kinetic penetrators at extreme speeds. the kinetic round has an extremely high energy potential due to high impact velocities. The turret mounts enable the Cyclone-G to make high-speed strafing runs past enemy capital ships.
"Just two of these Cyclone-Gs took out a US destroyer that had been captured by Caliphate insurgents. One run past saw that big lump of armour sliding towards the Martian landscape!"
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