Author Topic: Grand Owl Tanker Airplane  (Read 2875 times)

NullVoid

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Grand Owl Tanker Airplane
« on: 20 January 2014, 11:30:48 »
This could be one of a number of otherwise unremarkable tanker planes manufactured across the inner sphere and the periphery for mid-air refueling of aircraft, if not for its unusual power source:  Its four Supermagnetic II turboprop engines are powered by a Zimmer Nucleodynamics Thorium-cycle Fast Reactor, making it one of the more unusual beasts flying in the skies of several worlds along the periphery rim.  It's capable of carrying 36,5 tons of liquid hydrogen in a refrigerated compartment and fuel up to six crafts at a time; the liquid hydrogen can be swapped for aviation-grade kerosene for keeping those turbine-based conventional fighter with a simple flush of the compartment.

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Grand Owl Tanker Airplane:
Medium Support Vehicle
Total Mass: 100 t
Rating: C/E-E-D/D

Chassis: Fixed-wing (Propeller-Driven), TL C [12 tons, 22500 C-Bills]
Engine: Fission Engine, Speed 4/6, TL C [35 tons, 525000 C-Bills]
Fuel: Not Applicable (unlimited thrust points), TL C [0 kg, 0 C-Bills]
Seats: 7 crew  [0 kg, 0 C-Bills]
Armor: 26 Front, 26 Sides, 26 Aft, BAR 6, TL C [5 tons, 26000 C-Bills]
Refrigerated Cargo: 36,5 tons [42 tons, 8400 C-Bills]
Refueling Drogue (x6): [6 tons, 150000 C-Bills]

Total: 100 tons, 2195700 C-Bills

Notes: Has the Bad Reputation and Fast Reload design quirks; 7 crew, 36,5 tons of refrigerated cargo and can refuel up to six fighters at a time

Even though the reactor is fairly safe and the thorium fuel rods being recyclable and easy to dispose, when they are shot down they may still cause a bit of an ecological catastrophe, so it's bad reputation isn't wholly undeserved.  The cargo bay has been designed to be quickly filled at the base, increasing turnover rate and enabling the craft to efficiently service a fairly large air group.

Since most fighters have a 5-ton fuel tank, I could free up to 7.5 tons for other equipment/generic cargo and still have enough for refueling six regular fighters.  Do y'all think there's something that would make more sense than extra fuel?  I could put a look-down radar there, but that's not quite the point of the craft...
« Last Edit: 20 February 2014, 06:03:03 by NullVoid »

Sabelkatten

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Re: Grand Owl Tanker Airplane
« Reply #1 on: 20 January 2014, 12:11:13 »
You could simply drop the weight (and cost) a bit with a smaller cargo load...

Or add a couple of MGs for point defense. They'd be prime targets for an enemy that could reach them, after all.

wolfgar

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Re: Grand Owl Tanker Airplane
« Reply #2 on: 20 January 2014, 18:13:53 »
ECM of some kind.  Used to work around KC130's and the pilots all hated that they had to have a dedicated ECM platform flying with them instead of being able to cover their own rears.
Wolf wins every fight but one, and in that one he dies, his fangs locked on the throat of his opponent.

NullVoid

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Re: Grand Owl Tanker Airplane
« Reply #3 on: 22 January 2014, 19:48:52 »
Dropping the extra tons is an idea.  The plane can be slimmed down to as far as 86 tons, making it about 18% cheaper.  Adding machine guns would give it a nice WWII bomber vibe, but it's better to avoid giving people ideas that this is a war plane... it's a strategic objective, not a battle asset.  ECM is less offensive, but a Guardian suite would kick the plane up to overall tech rating from C to E, which may be a bit much... however, 7.5 tons is exactly the mass of the old Capellan EW Equipment, which is delightfully retro at tech level D.  Another alternative is the famous 7 tons of Communications Equipment; it is also tech level D, but in advanced rules the crew could attempt to generate sensor ghosts to keep at least some of the shots from hitting.

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Grand Owl Tanker Airplane(Comm):
Medium Support Vehicle
Total Mass: 100 t
Rating: D/E-E-D/D

Chassis: Fixed-wing (Propeller-Driven), TL C [12 tons, 22500 C-Bills]
Engine: Fission Engine, Speed 4/6, TL C [35 tons, 525000 C-Bills]
Fuel: Not Applicable (unlimited thrust points), TL C [0 kg, 0 C-Bills]
Seats: 14 crew  [0 kg, 0 C-Bills]
Armor: 26 Front, 26 Sides, 26 Aft, BAR 6, TL C [5 tons, 26000 C-Bills]
Refrigerated Cargo: 30 tons [35 tons, 7000 C-Bills]
Refueling Drogue (x6): [6 tons, 150000 C-Bills]
Comm. Equipment (7 tons): [7 tons, 70000 C-Bills]

Total: 100 tons, 2401500 C-Bills

Notes: Has the Bad Reputation and Fast Reload design quirks; 7 crew, 36,5 tons of refrigerated cargo and can refuel up to six fighters at a time

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Grand Owl Tanker Airplane(EW):
Medium Support Vehicle
Total Mass: 100 t
Rating: D/X-F-E/D

Chassis: Fixed-wing (Propeller-Driven), TL C [12 tons, 22500 C-Bills]
Engine: Fission Engine, Speed 4/6, TL C [35 tons, 525000 C-Bills]
Fuel: Not Applicable (unlimited thrust points), TL C [0 kg, 0 C-Bills]
Seats: 7 crew  [0 kg, 0 C-Bills]
Armor: 26 Front, 26 Sides, 26 Aft, BAR 6, TL C [5 tons, 26000 C-Bills]
Refrigerated Cargo: 30 tons [34.5 tons, 6900 C-Bills]
Refueling Drogue (x6): [6 tons, 150000 C-Bills]
EW Equipment: [7.5 tons, 500000 C-Bills]

Total: 100 tons, 3691200 C-Bills

Notes: Has the Bad Reputation and Fast Reload design quirks; 7 crew, 36,5 tons of refrigerated cargo and can refuel up to six fighters at a time

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Grand Owl Tanker Airplane(Lite):
Medium Support Vehicle
Total Mass: 86 t
Rating: C/E-E-D/D

Chassis: Fixed-wing (Propeller-Driven), TL C [10.5 tons, 19687.5 C-Bills]
Engine: Fission Engine, Speed 4/6, TL C [30.5 tons, 457500 C-Bills]
Fuel: Not Applicable (unlimited thrust points), TL C [0 kg, 0 C-Bills]
Seats: 6 crew  [0 kg, 0 C-Bills]
Armor: 23 Front, 22 Sides, 23 Aft, BAR 6, TL C [4.5 tons, 22500 C-Bills]
Refrigerated Cargo: 30 tons [34.5 tons, 6900 C-Bills]
Refueling Drogue (x6): [6 tons, 150000 C-Bills]

Total: 86 tons, 1785918 C-Bills

Notes: Has the Bad Reputation and Fast Reload design quirks; 7 crew, 36,5 tons of refrigerated cargo and can refuel up to six fighters at a time

What do y'all think? I'm leaning towards a cheaper plane and overall TL of C, but would it be interesting to have EW capabilities in what is essentially a secondary target or maybe an escort mission objective?

EDIT: Forgot to post the mods, derp. :P
« Last Edit: 20 February 2014, 06:04:31 by NullVoid »

Sabelkatten

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Re: Grand Owl Tanker Airplane
« Reply #4 on: 20 February 2014, 14:28:16 »
Support vehicle aircraft can use MGs as AMS, can't they? That's where my thought of MGs came from. Put 2-3 MGs aft to give you some protection when running away.

NullVoid

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Re: Grand Owl Tanker Airplane
« Reply #5 on: 20 February 2014, 23:08:19 »
I'm not a big fan of putting weapons in support vehicles; it makes some crazy commanders think they can get away with using, say, a J-27 to go infantry hunting... and the AMS is a wee bit too high-tech for this bird.  Anyway, here's the beastie:

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Grand Owl Tanker Airplane(MG):
Medium Support Vehicle
Total Mass: 100 t
Rating: C/E-E-D/D

Chassis: Fixed-wing (Propeller-Driven), TL C [12 tons, 22500 C-Bills]
Engine: Fission Engine, Speed 4/6, TL C [35 tons, 525000 C-Bills]
Fuel: Not Applicable (unlimited thrust points), TL C [0 kg, 0 C-Bills]
Seats: 14 crew  [0 kg, 0 C-Bills]
Armor: 26 Front, 26 Sides, 26 Aft, BAR 6, TL C [5 tons, 26000 C-Bills]
Refrigerated Cargo: 30 tons [35 tons, 7000 C-Bills]
Refueling Drogue (x6): [6 tons, 150000 C-Bills]
Machine Guns (x8): [4 tons, 40000 C-Bills]
Machine Gun Ammo(600): [3 tons,0 C-Bills]

Total: 100 tons, 2311500 C-Bills

Weapons and Ammo Location Slots Mass
2 Machine Guns Nose 2 1t
6 Machine Guns Aft 6 3t
Ammo MG 600 Body 0 3t

Notes: Has the Bad Reputation and Fast Reload design quirks; 7 crew, 36,5 tons of refrigerated cargo and can refuel up to six fighters at a time

serack

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Re: Grand Owl Tanker Airplane
« Reply #6 on: 21 February 2014, 04:37:26 »
fluff ams as chaff,flares etc