A catalogue of CGU combat aircraft, top view. Scale is six pixels : one meter.
These are the air-superiority, ground attack, and multirole fighters used by the various aeronautical branches of the Armed Forces of the Central Galactic Union, around the year 3300. Most jet aircraft are powered using nuclear aircraft engines.
The Sevengill and the Whitetip are among the oldest still in service, having been built in the early 3260s as strike fighters. Then by the late 3260s, design swung back towards specialization, and the F-122 "Mako" was placed into service as slender, fast interceptor. The Sevengill became refitted as a strictly ground-attack fighter with minimal defences against aerial attack. In the 3270s, the Mako's airframe was used as the basis of the VSTOL fighter, the VF-101 "Tilt Shark", strictly for Marine and Naval usage. In the mid 3280s, the pendulum swung back towards multirole aircraft after the combat data of the Great War and the rebellions were analysed. The F/A-178 Tigershark came into service just in time for the Magellanic War, and has served as the mainstay for the Central Galactic Air Force. A low-cost light fighter was also designed to supplement it, the F-163 "Blueshark". In response to the extremely fast combat craft utilized by the Zaaroft Empire, the Air Force rolled out the F-1G "Leopard Shark" in 3293, a hypersonic fighter-bomber capable of extreme speeds despite its reduced armament.
In addition, this category contains both jet and turboprop ground-attack aircraft, and unmanned combat and strike drones.
The PAS-05E Dingo-class Powered Assault Suit. The larger and more powerful counterpart to the Powered Combat Suit, the PAS is built more along the lines of older powered armours, with conventional electric motors and myomer bundles to enhance strength and speed rather than a reactive fluid layer. With layers of heavy armour integrated to the suit, that added strength is necessary. While more powerful than the PCS, the Dingo suit is bulkier, though not quite as bulky as vintage Imperial powered armours; this limits its tactical availability to open field engagements, space combat, or direct assaults of fortified positions. However, it is able to carry and use weapons normal soldiers in the PCS would not be able to- the example in the picture is an 18.1mm automatic rifle. Other weapons include a 13mm Gauss Rifle, a Free Electron Laser, a Linear Plasma Projector Rifle, a 7.92mm rotary machine-gun, or an 105mm Recoilless Rifle. In addition to standard infantry weapons. Even so, its bulkiness has prevented its mass adoption by the Army, and is used more for special forces and Waffen-SG troops.
Depicted here is test pilot Catherine 'Charity' Castiglione with the Southern Cross industrial consortium's prototype heavy mobile suit, the SCV-25 'Orion,' prior to one of its in-house performance evaluation runs.
Lt. Castiglione wears a special hardsuit designed specifically for mobile suit testing. The suit is armoured and has a larger number of medical monitors and biometric sensors which measure and record the wearer’s physiological conditions in real-time. The suit is fully EVA-rated, functions as a pilot's g-suit and can provide basic medical assistance during high-g maneuvers and other physically strenuous situations. The suit also carries a back-up recording unit for the mobile suit's testing, evaluation and diagnostics systems as a precaution against the loss of the mobile suit itself.
The subject of the image is the first of two prototypes constructed for testing & evaluation. This example is currently devoid of weaponry except for the head-mounted integrated rotary pulse lasers, which can be independently elevated from -10 to +80 degrees. Mounted on the head’s left hardpoint is a 'dazzle' pod, designed to jam and overload targeted optronic systems with a low-powered laser rapidly strobing between multiple frequencies and wavelengths. In this case, the pod was being used to test for possible 'fratricide' effects with the mobile suit’s own multi-frequency optronic systems. A larger pair of torso-mounted cooling systems, which restrict the mobile suit’s waist articulation, have been temporarily fitted in lieu of the smaller, standard production units.
Hughes and McDonnell Douglas made several attempts to adapt the AH-64A for a dedicated naval role. The first of these 'marinised' versions came in 1984. An Apache equipped with Harpoon or Penguin anti-ship missiles, Sidewinders for selfdefence, TOW missiles and a mast-mounted radar was proposed for both USMC and USN use. In USMC service the proposed 'sea Apache' could operate in support of amphibious operations from LHAs or LHDs to protect the assault force at sea and on the beach-head. USN aircraft could be based on frigates to provide distant protection for battle groups from surface threats. The 'Sea Apache' would have had a combat radius of 142 miles(228 km) and a mission endurance of 2.8 hours.
These ideas matured into a more developed 'Naval Apache' concept which was unveiled in 1987. This aircraft was radically modified through the addition of a completely redefined forward fuselage (plus IFR probe) with the avionics shifted to a ventral housing, increasing the fuel load. TADS/PNVS sensors and cannon were replaced by a Hughes AN/APG-65 radar. Redesigned stub wing/undercarriage sponsons could mount Sidewinder missiles and the 'Naval Apache' retained its Harpoon anti-ship missile capability. Hopes for over 100 sales proved to be premature.
Crew: 2 (pilot, and co-pilot/gunner) Length: 58.17 ft (17.73 m) (with both rotors turning) Rotor diameter: 48 ft 0 in (14.63 m) Height: 12.7 ft (3.87 m) Disc area: 1,809.5 ft² (168.11 m²) Empty weight: 11,387 lb (5,165 kg) Loaded weight: 17,650 lb (8,000 kg) Max takeoff weight: 23,000 lb (10,433 kg) Powerplant: 2 × General Electric T700-GE-701 and later upgraded to T700-GE-701C (1990–present) & T700-GE-701D (AH-64D block III) turboshafts, -701: 1,690 shp, -701C: 1,890 shp, -701D: 2,000 shp (-701: 1,260 kW, -701C: 1,490 kW, -701D: 1,490 kW) each Fuselage length: 49 ft 5 in (15.06 m) Rotor systems: 4 blade main rotor, 4 blade tail rotor in non-orthogonal alignment
Never exceed speed: 197 knots (227 mph, 365 km/h) Maximum speed: 158 knots (182 mph, 293 km/h) Cruise speed: 143 knots (165 mph, 265 km/h) Range: 257 nmi (295 mi, 476 km) with Longbow radar mast Combat radius: 260 nmi (300 mi, 480 km) Ferry range: 1,024 nmi (1,180 mi, 1,900 km) Service ceiling: 21,000 ft (6,400 m) minimum loaded Rate of climb: 2,500 ft/min (12.7 m/s) Disc loading: 9.80 lb/ft² (47.9 kg/m²) Power/mass: 0.18 hp/lb (0.31 kW/kg)
Guns: 1× 30 × 113 mm (1.18 × 4.45 in) M230 Chain Gun with 1,200 rounds Hardpoints: Four pylon stations on the stub wings. Longbows also have a station on each wingtip for an AIM-92 ATAS twin missile pack. Rockets: Hydra 70 air-to-ground rockets Missiles: Typically AGM-114 Hellfire variants; AIM-92 Stinger may also be carried.
Lockheed Martin / Northrop Grumman AN/APG-78 Longbow fire-control radar (Note: can only be mounted on the AH-64D)
A catalogue of the commonly used CGU Army ground vehicles, circa 4300. Experiments with all-hover vehicular fleets at various times during the Terran Imperial period failed miserably, and left the military with a critical loss of tactical versatility. The late-empire military reforms that carried over into the CGU instituted a mix of wheeled, tracked, and hover vehicles for various purposes. This includes trucks, patrol vehicles, self-propelled artillery, and tanks, built by a wide range of manufacturers such as Toyota Motor Company, Daimler Galactic Automotive, Bavarian Motor Works, Detroit Consolidated Motors, The Fiat Group, and British Aerospace.