L1 Fighter Bomber

L1 Fighter Bomber

In Legion of Lawndale Heroes, the L1 Fighter Bomber is an aircraft designed by the Quest Foundation for Legion use as fast air strike and support and air superiority.

It is VTOL and supersonic capable, and is constructed of radar transparent materials with internal RF reflectors configured to absorb or scatter RF energy in a way that will not return them to their source, and weaken the signal to minimise the radar visibility where a return can not be avoided.

It has an external war load of six Tons (or six Mk 84 bombs plus change) and has avionics designed to operate as wide a range of weapons as possible accept upgrades to wiring and equipment.

Its internal stores consists of two 20mm Cyclovulcans (a version of a normal M61 vulcan -- except it can accept RDX powered ammunition) with 600 rounds each and decoy dispensers with 200 combined chaff and flare rounds.

The radar system is integrated into all external faces of the airframe (with the exception of transparent parts such as cockpit and visual/IR cameras and laser balls) turning the skin into a phased antenna for both passive and active modes, giving the aircraft a sensor traverse of 360 degrees and a sensor elevation of 90 degrees at all headings.

One gripe is that while the power plant is more efficient in its external configuration than what (as an example) the harrier's Pegasus engine is in any configuration (the Pegasus redirects the thrust outwards and then towards the desired vector of force whereas the L1's power plant is aligned with the vector of thrust at all times), the afterburner is unavailable until the power plant is retracted. One way around this is to pitch vertical while simultaneously retracting the power plant during takeoff so that the airframe is vertical and the engine in it's horizontal configuration is pointing down, making the afterburner available before the aircraft has the airspeed for dynamic flight.

Another gripe is that the external configuration severely compromises stealth because the engine is exposed and can't be hidden at any angle except for 4:30 to 7:30, the angles concealed by the air intake and chassis, but again, turning vertical and retracting the power plant during takeoff restores radar stealth.