Disclaimer: Image taken from Kitsune's Palladium Web Page, because RIFTS Earth doesn't get enough love.
Image above is a composite reconstruction of a new Japanese fighter undergoing testing in Los Angeles-held areas of Nevada.
Sources indicate that Los Angeles is producing these fighters for all branches of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and as replacements for the Los Angeles National Guard stocks of F-16 Falcons as first-strike multi-role aircraft.
All data gathered so far indicates that Los Angeles is preparing a massive military build-up in relation to the unknown objective of 'Operation Killswitch' as indicated in previous reports...
Intercepted excerpt of CIA report from Japan on observation of the FV-45J Super Hawk VTOL multi-role fighter. Following in this report are personal notes from Agent Meyers.
LAC-Japanese FV-45J Super Hawk VTOL Multi-Role Fighter
The Japanese Self-Defense Forces were formed after World War 2 not to be a standing army but rather as a military security force with limited tactical support and peacekeeping roles. It didn't really change after the United States left the Home Islands and until the 23 Hours, it likely wasn't going to change.
After the Hours, the SDF needed to expand and in the chaos of the world powers reorganizing the world and defining new borders for the various new (and often Fictional) regions and states that had arisen, they did so until they hit a snag.
While mecha, new weapon upgrades for their existing vehicles and soldiers and other advancements along with experienced military personnel including an Alternate of Misato Katsuragi as a field commander were well received, the high command wanted a new aircraft to service all branches of the JSDF and they wanted the plane to be capable of utilizing Mega-Damage materials and weapons.
Even with the new materials and technology available, Mega-Damage weapons and other materials are incredibly expensive to produce in quantity as the metals have to be refined constantly and mixed with various artificial compounds to create super-alloys that were difficult to shape once the metals had cooled with conventional machining technology and had such a high melting point that what could be produced was typically inferior to the real thing.
It wasn't until Los Angeles finally ended its period of self-imposed isolation after building itself up into one of the first true 'mega-cities' of Coreline did the Japanese have a chance to act on the wishes of the JSDF high command.
Los Angeles Customs, or LAC for short, was one of the first companies to actively promote itself outside Los Angeles, proclaiming that they could take any concept design and make it a reality and after proving that they spoke the truth, they were approached by the JSDF with a concept design for a new fighter that they wanted made entirely out of MDC materials and expected to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for only one prototype.
LAC told them they'd have a production model in a week for only two.
The result from the concept work was a delta-winged, twin-engine aircraft that had a dedicated VTOL capability and a reduced cross-signature on radar while scanners would pick up a drastically reduced footprint of the aircraft thanks to Mega-Damage Composites designed for stealth and yet contained a massive internal payload thanks to Dimensional Compression and was fitted with a deadly standard arsenal with integrated conformal micro-missile launchers and a powerful multi-barreled laser cannon.
Currently the JSDF is the only force using the Super Hawk alongside the Los Angeles National Guard, whom LAC have provided with a far superior model capable of delivering tactical-level WMD ordnance.
Note: This is information pieced together from interviewing the original design staff on the Japanese side. As expected, LAC staff security rules make getting info out of their design teams practically impossible! To say nothing of their security, which is ridiculous, even for a place as paranoid as Los Angeles against external and internal threats.
Specialized MDC Stealth Nano-Composites with reactive nano-gel and energy deflective chemical treatments.
Note: A prime example of LA's near magical ability to natively create high-quality MDC materials like it was paper when other governments nearly bankrupt their countries to get a single sheet that can withstand conventional weapons like the fictional counterpart material, and then enhance it before actually making a product, a clear testament to the technological advancement of the city.
The industrial capacity of Los Angeles is disturbing though, three-quarters of their factories are offline and their stocks of raw materials are barely touched. What are they stocking up for? The apocalypse came and went already!
Note: All data is based on the Japanese aircraft. To date, all attempts by agents inside the Los Angeles National Guard to acquire statistics on their variant code-named 'Shadow Hawk', have all failed spectacularly.
-Length: 68.5 feet (20.9 meters)
-Wingspan: 45.5 feet (13.9 meters)
-Height: 12 feet (3.65 meters) with landing gear down and 9 feet (2.7 meters) with landing gear retracted.
-Weight: 18 tons (16.4 metric tons) empty, 26 tons (23.6 metric tons) fully loaded
-Power Source: Palladium Reactor, provides indefinite power supply.
-Cargo: Minimal (Storage for small equipment). Does not include hard points and ordnance bays.
-Taxi speed: Maximum taxi speed is 40mph (64kph) when not taking off or landing.
-Flight Speed: Unloaded the Super Hawk can fly at Mach 4.1 with a maximum flight altitude of 63,000 feet. Fully loaded, the Super Hawk's max speed is Mach 3.7 with the same maximum altitude.
-Range: Theoretically Unlimited, but the engines will overheat after 72 hours of continuous flight. Rest stops to allow the engines 2 to 6 hours to cool down allow for indefinite travel.
Armaments and equipment:
Note: Again, this is data on the Japanese version, but rumour persists of the National Guard Shadow Hawk possessing similar armament capability, save for a main weapon known on as 'Starblade Cannon'.
-1x Multi-barreled Laser Cannon: This eight-barrel weapon can fire either a single barrel at a time or engage multiple barrels to fire simultaneously, up to all eight at a time with a rate of fire of 50 shots per minute. Max effective range is 2000 meters.
-2x Integrated Conformal Micro-missile Pods: Micro-missile pods fitted as part of the wing roots, used for dog-fighting, missile interception, and ground strafing.
-1x Main Ordnance Bay: Max payload limit is 96 Short-Range Missiles, 48 Medium-Range Missiles, or 24 Long-Range Missiles. The equivalent in Light, Medium, and Heavy Bombs and Torpedoes can also be carried and ordnance may be mixed.
-2x Secondary Ordnance Bays: Can carry 12 Short-Range Missiles or 6 Medium-Range Missiles in these intake mounted bays. Controlled by the co-pilot.
-8x Wing Hardpoints: Four to each wing, capable of carrying a single high-capacity micro-missile pod or mount 1 Long-Range Missile, 2 Medium-Range Missiles, or 4 Short-Range Missiles or mount the equivalent in bombs, torpedoes and depth charges.
-Chaff and Flare Dispenser: Three internally-mounted dispensers launch two packets of specially treated chaff and a pod of eight flares when engaged. Good for twenty usages before requiring reloading.
-Advanced Towed Decoys: Two decoys are fitted near the middle of the wings and when engaged, are pulled behind the aircraft on a thin cable approximately 200 meters behind the aircraft and are designed to lure in missiles and other guided ordnance with specially designed sensor and radar returns and jamming signals.
-FLIR: Forward Looking Ifra-Red, a necessity these days for all modern aircraft.
-Internal Active and Passive Jamming Gear: Passive Jamming prevents the majority of radar returns to the aircraft that penetrate the stealth skin, but Active Jamming seeks out and disrupts all scanning and radar returns, which can be used to detect and track the aircraft and attack it with specially designated weapons.
-Radar: Max range of 1000 kilometers and combines conventional radar with advanced scanners for all-weather capability and terrain-following for low altitude flight. Can track up to 72 separate targets and fire upon 16 at a time, with the co-pilot controlling missile flight and target designation in real-time.
-Laser Nav-Comm. System: Active laser terrain mapping for low-altitude flight and allows for real-time encrypted line-of-sight communications with allied planes.
Note: This is the only bit of data we can actually confirm from our agents, and only because we believe that Los Angeles let us have it. Contacts in major aircraft manufacturers and major resource corporation have confirmed the last set of numbers. This only confirms that Los Angeles is mining a planet in an alt-verse for the materials needed. How else could they have such low production costs?
LAC Production Costs as billed to the Japanese: $4.2 million dollars.
Actual LAC production costs as billed to the National Guard: $1.2 million.
Projected Cost of producing a Super Hawk outside Los Angeles: $100-$120 million dollars.
Final notes: We have to get agents placed higher in Los Angeles who can access data on what the city is planning. So far, all intel indicates an intent to push south and annex the Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. Frankly, this worries us.
Why all this expansion, this planned annexation of territory that on paper at least still belongs to Mexico? Los Angeles already engulfs more than half of California and houses nearly a billion people and it hasn't even begun to become crowded.
This is all clear indicators that we need to get agents placed higher up and find out what Rothschild is planning but in my personal opinion, this is a military build-up towards a secession from the Union.
If that is true, then we could have no way to stop Los Angeles from doing so.