F/A-37 Talon
The F/A-37 Talon is a fighter craft that featured in the movie Stealth.
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History
The F/A-37 Talon was part of a United States military program in creating the next generation of highly advanced aerial fighter craft. Created by the early 21st century, it was formed by the United States Navy who took custody of the project as well as its deployment of its operations. The goal was the creation fo a craft that was able to deal with the threat posed by international terrorists along with other enemies of the state. Furthermore, these missions were required to be conducted both quickly and quietly. Thus, the program was authorized with the development and testing of new technology in order to achieve this mission objective. By 2016, the end result was the F/A-37 Talon that possessed all the necessary traits that were desired by the United States Navy. Following completion of the craft, the need for pilots was sought with over 400 applicants made for the position. However, only three such craft were made and only three were selected to be chosen for the privelege of piloting the US Navy's latest combat craft.
Of the hundreds of pilots, the three that were chosen were Lieutenants Ben Gannon, Kara Wade and Henry Purcell. The project and its three advanced fighter craft were stationed on the US naval aircraft carrier the USS Abraham Lincoln which served as the headquarters for Control as well as the headquarters for the three elite pilots. These three were able to beat all competition for the prestige of flying the F/A-37 Talon and were involved in testing operations as well as regular training to hone their abilities. Their first mission scored 100/100 and was based on the maximum casualties with minimum collateral damage. At the same time, the US Navy had also been developing an Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) that was based on the F/A-37 Talon. This vehicle consisted of an artificial intelligence designed to pilot it and was designated the Extreme Deep Invader. The automated fighter was also stationed on the USS Abraham Lincoln that was deployed in the Philippine Sea in order to use the jets artificial intelligence to learn combat maneuvers from the Talon pilots.
During a practice run to train EDI air combat maneuvers (ACMs), a crisis emerged when the USS Abraham Lincoln recieved a report that the heads of three terrorist cells were meeting at a summit at downtown Rangoon. However, the nature of their base of operations meant that it was near impossible to strike their facility by normal means. EDI calculated that the mission success was only achievable by a high-risk strike that was fatal to a human pilot who was capable of leading to a high amount of civilian casualties. Thus, control ordered the AI to make the attack which led to Lieutenant Gannon defying orders and performing the strike himself. Following the success of the mission, the three Talons along the UVAC returned to base of operations. However a new crisis emerged when the UCAV EDI went rogue after being struck by lightning. This led to the AI attempting to perform a twenty year old war scenario designated Caviar Sweep. The act forced the three Talon pilots to attempt to destroy EDI but all three Talons were destroyed by the AI.
Overview
This fighter jet was a single seat aircraft with only three such vehicles being constructed for field evaluation. Among their advanced capabilities included the capacity to enter hypersonic flight with two combined Pulse Detonation/Scramjet engines with a movable forward switchblade wings. This gave it an effective range of 4,000 NM with a maximum speed of Mach 4+. The capabilities of these jets allowed them to perform a front-to-back flip over whilst in flight which it did so by undertaking a 360 degree roll at high-G's. In addition, the planes were equipped with a sophisticated stealth mechanism designed to make them invisible to enemy radar.
Internally, the pilot had a viewscreen that allowed them to see their wingmen and the controls were streamlined. Furthermore, these jets possessed transponders that were directly linked with the pilots base of operations or carrier. The sensitive and highly advanced technology used in the creation of these aircraft meant that they were equipped with a self destruct mechanism in case of a system failure in order to prevent the planes systems from falling into enemy hands.
To further complement the craft was its Common Integrated Processor (CIP) which was a central brain tasked with aiding the pilot. It was capable of making damage assessments allowing it to determine the potential casualties inflicted on enemy forces as well as possible collateral along with civilian casualties in an engagement. These complex calculations included the ability to estimate nuclear fallout as well as projecting odds of survival. This computer communicated through the voice and projection displays in the jets cockpit.
Among its weapon arsenal included an internal cannon for close-in engagements along with a wide range of ordnance. This included; a GAU-12 Equalizer, AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missiles, AGM-130C air-to-surface "Blue Ferret" missiles, along with fuel air explosives (FAE) of an unknown variety, and Truncheon implosion bombs. It was this arsenal that allowed the F/A-37 Talon to conduct fast, precise assaults with minimal destruction.
Notes
- According to aerospace journalist Steve Douglass, Northrop Grumman was one of the technical advisors for the Stealth movie.
- The game Empire Earth features a fighter called the Talon in the "Digital Age Epoch". It is almost identical to the F/A-37, although it is a white land-based fighter instead of a black carrier-based one.
Appearances
- Stealth: (2005)
