ATTN: MOBY (SF-40 WHITE SHARK repost, SOTS)

For 'verse proposals, random ideas, musings, and brainwaves.

Moderators: Invictus, speaker-to-trolls

Post Reply
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

ATTN: MOBY (SF-40 WHITE SHARK repost, SOTS)

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

I can't believe I wrote this nearly five years ago.


Encyclopedia Galactica > Science & Technology > Military Technology > Space Warfare Technology > Schrom Corp SF-40 White Shark space superiority fighter

It’s sleek, it’s big, it’s fast and it carries more armament than you could count. It is piloted by some of the finest spacemen in the galaxy and is the most feared fighter in space. It has earned its place in the public’s hearts and minds through the holoscreens, the movies and the news. It is the US Navy’s SF-40 White Shark space superiority fighter, a revolutionary spacecraft designed to engage and destroy virtually any viable target and dominate areas literally crawling with bogies. In its over three decades of service, it has done everything in its job description and more, outliving its contemporaries and outperforming even the most modern fighter craft. In short, it is the space superiority fighter of the 26th century.

How does the Shark do it? Simple, it has the firepower, the sensors and the power plant all wrapped into one large, robust and aerodynamic (as the Shark is also an atmospheric superiority fighter) thirty-four meter long, thirty-meter wide frame.

The Shark is literally loaded to capacity with weapons. Its armament consists of six 80mm plasma cannons, multiple missile/bomb bays, wing-integrated launchers, external hard points and powerful missile accelerators mounted between the wings and the fuselage, bearing resemblance to the intake nozzles of jet aircraft. The vast array of armaments of the Shark includes standard close range micro-missiles, medium range missiles, long-range missiles and anti-ship torpedoes. However, unique to only the Shark is the FLORMT Mk1 (FTL Long Range Missile-Torpedo), a missile-torpedo hybrid that sports an incredibly small hyperdrive. The FLORMT is the longest ranging and most expensive conventional weapon ever sported on a fighter craft. It is modular and can sport standard plasma explosives, nuclear fusion warheads, anti-matter detonators or bomb-pumped x-ray lasers, which can come in the form of a single anti-capship warhead or anti-fighter MIRVs. The capability to sport massive quantities of standard weaponry and its special FLORMT gives the Shark control of any engagement and the ability to engage and dominate multiple targets at once. For balance, the Shark carries a shield generator that provides it with adequate defenses and survivability above that of most other fighters, although the best defense is still not to be hit.

The Shark's active detection systems were state-of-the-art during some thirty years ago and are still amongst the most potent fighter mounted arrays today. They are designed to burn through extensive jamming and ECM to monitor multiple bogeys (30 at most) both in front and behind the Shark and lock on to at least a dozen of them while beyond their sensor range. The SF-40B and later variants also carry a secondary hyperwave array specifically designed to go hand-in-hand with the FLORMT. Passive sensors support this formidable system and in the case of the SF-40D, the latest White Shark incarnation, these passive sensors are almost as potent as their primary counterparts are. In turn, these sensors also come with competent countermeasures, from conventional ones such as chaff, flares and micro-beacons to shield-reflected/magnified ECM, a feature not found on most other fighters. Additional sensors and countermeasures can be mounted on specialized hard points located on the dorsal side of the wings. These dorsal pods are designed to blend into the hull and look like streamlined blisters, minimizing sensor profile. Plasma cannons can also be attached to these dorsal hard points.

The brainchild of a joint venture between Lockheed and Schrom Corp, the Shark’s powerful triple ion thrusters and wing-integrated supplementary thrusters give the starfighter incredible maneuverability (for a ship its size) and speed, forcing pursuing fighters to literally eat its stardust. Another result of Lockheed and Schrom’s venture is a compact nuclear fusion reactor that provides enormous quantities of energy to all of the Shark’s systems. Because they have plenty of energy to spare, the reactors are capable of quickly directing excess energy to a particular system, such as the shields for vastly improved defenses or the ion thrusters for a tremendous burst of speed - an idea that would cause enemy pilots to shit their pants. And when this incredible sub-light speed is not enough, there are hyperdrive engines - made by Rendell Stardrives - built into in the latest generation of White Sharks. Consequently, the SF-40D, which is larger than the previous Sharks, also sports an even more powerful nuclear reactor in order to power the new drive. Prior to the SF-40D, Rendell Stardrives was already equipping older Sharks with external hard point mounted hyperdrives.

Note: The Shark was originally designed to sport built-in hyperdrive engines, a feature present in all modern fighters and even some of the Shark’s contemporaries, but the Shark was ‘simplified’ due to Congress’ budgetary restrictions. This slight disadvantage was overlooked because the Shark was originally only meant to establish space superiority around its mothership. However, things were bound to change given the Shark’s incredible track record, not to mention CEID Division One’s successful usage of hyperdrive-equipped White Sharks.

This menagerie of systems, armaments, countermeasures, defense and detection, makes the SF-40 an extremely competitive and lethal craft whose only weaknesses is its inability to engage in agile dogfights and its very high cost. And despite its specific designation as a ‘space superiority fighter’, the Shark is very flexible, also seeing extensive action as a strike fighter, a fighter-bomber and even a reconnaissance craft (though with limited success).

From the Sovereignty's borders to various hot spots across the stars, the Shark has seen combat in practically every modern conflict and has continuously come out on top. The Shark is among the most widely deployed fighter in all time, sported by the US Navy, the USMC, the Army and even in foreign/alien powers allied to the Sovereignty. With all of this in mind, one can easily see how the Shark, during its thirty years in the service of the Sovereignty and her allies, has earned one of the most obscenely high kill-rates of all time and continues to increase this fearful record as it defends the Sovereignty from enemies both old and new.

Note: There are plans to equip the next generation of Sharks, the SF-40E, with passive stealth systems. This enables it to continue service up to the last decade of the century, making it the longest-serving fighter craft in history. There have been accounts from various military encounters on Sharks sporting both passive and active stealth systems. Though the military refuses to comment on any of these ‘encounters’, it is widely believed that these ‘Black Sharks’ are owned by CEID Division One.
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
User avatar
Booted Vulture
Posts: 965
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 9:33 pm

Re: ATTN: MOBY (SF-40 WHITE SHARK repost, SOTS)

Post by Booted Vulture »

OH mang! That's is old. Plus you never really list why it is so awesome, and why can't anyone else bolt a whole shitload of weapons and a frame and get an equally good fighter.
Ah Brother! It's been too long!
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: ATTN: MOBY (SF-40 WHITE SHARK repost, SOTS)

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

OH mang! That's is old.
I knows, man. It's an old article for my first-ever verse, and pretty much back then I was totally basing hardware off pre-existing military machines as well. This is pretty much the F-14, which explains why for a future space fighter all it can do is track 30 enemies at once. My tank article also had dimensions based off the M1 Abrams' length/width/height. :P
Plus you never really list why it is so awesome, and why can't anyone else bolt a whole shitload of weapons and a frame and get an equally good fighter.
Because I was a complete n00b back in the day, and like just 15/16 years old with not a single clue about military things at all? Am i rite? :lol:

I guess it's so awesome because, like, the White Shark was totally the most expensive thing money could buy back then and totally high performance - and nowdays, nobody really invests that much in their modern space fighters, preferring them to be cheap and small compared to the big and expensive White Shark. Upgrades can keep the White Shark sufficiently modernized to match any contemporary foe, and perhaps in the year 2567 technology doesn't progress as fast as it did in the past. Maybe during its extensive time of service, it got a whole lot of upgrades that expanded its capabilities in all sorts of ways that'd make it still pretty capable compared to more modern fighters fresh out of the factory.

With all the bigass space fleets of capships flying around, maybe people just chose not to emphasize the performance of their space fighters anymore. After the White Shark, maybe they just didn't go for anything as ambitious again because fighters are really insignificant in the big strategic picture? Perhaps the White Shark is the last vestiges of the badass space dogfighter pilot of lore, the last true starfighter!

Or something.

In New SOTS, I'll totally keep the White Shark and keep it badass - but I'll probably emphasize its age and, like, how its chief role is to lug around a whole shitload of missiles to ruin people's days with.
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
Post Reply