Copperhead F-33
IS experimental
40 tons
BV: 539
Cost: 1,762,680 C-bills
The Copperhead is one of the earliest aerofighers created, first entering service in 2317 (a couple of years after the Chimera), during the first years of the Terran Hegemony. Though one of the granddaddies of the aerofighters that dominate modern space and air combat, at the time the Copperhead wasn't seen as either particularly special or revolutionary. These first generation fighters were derived from earlier fusion powered short range craft used for transportation between ships, orbital stations, or close planetary bodies, differing only in the sense that it was equipped with weaponry and its spaceframe was designed to support combat maneuvering in both space and atmospheric situations as needed. Despite this versatility, however, the Copperhead was intended as a purely defensive, low cost, point defense platform. Military doctrine of the time advocated that ship to ship action be conducted primarily by a combination of long range nuclear missile bombardment and strikes by small craft capable of long range sustained burns. This was intended to protect valuable and at times fragile combat jumpships from direct attack, while also buying time to complete the drawn out process of deploying the dropshuttles of the era. Even the naval weapons of the time were expected to serve as a last resort to fend off enemies who got too close, rather than a primary weapon. With this in mind, the Copperhead's inability for sustained long term acceleration led it to be deemed relatively useless on the attack. Changing doctrines following the development of the first WarShips shifted some of these priorities, however it wouldn't be until the campaigns of persuasion that the Hegemony fleet would begin to realize the value of the early aerofighters. The handfuls of aerofighters deployed with the fleet would prove themselves time and again in both the space and skies above target worlds, and historians generally agree that if the Hegemony had made a critical mistake, it was in not deploying more fighters like these.
Still, the Copperhead had its weaknesses. Early Copperheads suffered sealing problems around their weapon systems, and in a hard re-entry, these seals would occasionally give way, resulting in a catastrophic integrity failure that could severely damage or destroy a Copperhead. While a shallower, more controlled re-entry would usually prevent this from happening, in a fluid combat situation Copperhead pilots and the forces on the ground they were supporting often didn't have that kind of time. Also, while it was as fast as contemporary conventional fighters such as the Hurricane and Mosquito, it didn't handle as well as a dedicated airbreather.
The Copperhead served the Terran Hegemony for roughly a century before the craft was gradually phased out in favor of the new Hammerhead. Surplus craft were sold to buyers across the Inner Sphere, though these would only serve for a generation or so before being phased out again in favor of newer designs. The last squadrons of these fighters would be retired from service in the Taurian Concordat and Magistracy of Canopus by the mid 26th century, only to be pulled back into service during the Reunification War to supplement the badly outnumbered Periphery Forces. The last handfuls of these fighters, assigned to reserve units in the Hyades, were scrapped by the SLDF shortly after the end of the war.
Variants:
Shortly before the Reunification War, the Taurian Concordat deployed their own TAF-132 Viper aerofighter. Though billed as a purely Taurian design, the Viper was in many ways a modernized Copperhead, boasting superior performance and armor protection, though lacking two of the Copperhead's machine guns. Despite problems with the flight control computer (a result of the rush to bring the fighter into service), the Concordat managed to assemble hundreds of vipers during the war, most of which never saw service due to a lack of trained pilots. The surviving Vipers were handed over to House Davion after the war, though only a handful have survived to the present day. Even so, rumors of new Vipers or Copperheads operating with forces in the periphery has been a persistent rumor since at least the end of the Third Succession War.
Movement: 6/9
Engine: 195
Heat Sinks: 10
Cockpit: Primitive Cockpit
Structural Integrity: 6
Armor: 91 (Primitive)
Armor
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Nose 28
Left Wing 22
Right Wing 22
Aft 19
Weapon Loc Heat
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AC/5 NOS 1
Machine Gun RWG 0
Machine Gun RWG 0
Machine Gun LWG 0
Machine Gun LWG 0
Medium Laser LWG 3
Medium Laser RWG 3
Ammo Loc Shots
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AC/5 Ammo NOS 20
Half Machine Gun Ammo NOS 100
