BSI-12A

“Off we go into the wild blue yonder,
Climbing high into the sun;
Here they come zooming to meet our thunder,
At 'em boys, Give 'er the gun! (Give 'er the gun now!)
Down we dive, spouting our flame from under,
Off with one Hell of a roar!
We live in fame or go down in flame.
Hey! Nothing'll stop the C.S. Air Force!”

-Sampled from the Commonwealth’s Fighter Auxiliary’s Official theme song.

Overview

    The BSI-12 was one of those designs that could be considered a modern miracle. While other proposed designs crashed, exploded or crashed then exploded somehow the unlikely and seemingly impossible BSI-12 made it through trials with no accidents or problems to its record. The commonwealth’s officials decided that this star fighter would enter production shortly there after bringing it into a more rigorous set of trials to determine its strengths and weaknesses.   The design upon its second run of testing seemed so incredibly unlikely it wasn’t funny. The design was based on a biplane design with the rudders set into and across the wins acting as a wing stabilizer and as a horizontal control surface the craft seemed all set to mimic a lawn dart. In operation however the massive engine, and relatively small fuselage size the craft proved very compatible with the assisted take off methods and arrested landings of carrier operations. In fact, as trials would prove the BSI-12 in original format was incredibly terrible at making landings on fixed airbases simply because of the central reactors output being unable to throttle below 45%. Minimal take off power was no less than 80% and thus only skilled pilots could begin to use the fighter from planetary positions without assisted take off measures. A series of noted accidents in testing revealed additional flight characteristics that built a growing operations manual for the type. Once a growing cadre of pilots mastered the craft it became the standard craft of the navy. Ironically the BSI-12 was one of the first space-capable vessels of any scale to have something resembling shielding as they had the reactive inertial dampening systems installed.

Capabilities

    Weighing in at ten tones even assuming the retractable wing pylons are not used to carry outboard ordinance such as missiles or bombs the BSI-12 A is a compact craft that is perfect for carrier operations. It’s small turn radius and resilience to the hard landings associated with carrier operations has earned it a critical place with the navy. As such it is no surprise that all fighter pilots are navy personnel and thus there is no issue of what branch of service gets what. As a whole the fighter bears a fully hardened frame and a thick coat of armor for its size. All of this comes at a cost however as the fighter is rather small. The compact arrangement fo the fighter’s primary reactor and engine systems are cramped and noted to be a real knuckle buster for fighter mechanics. Likewise pilots over a certain height simply cannot safely fit in the fighter as elements of the reactor and drive system pass under the floor of the cockpit towards the main thruster systems to the rear of the fighter.  The shape of the reactor and the position of the weapons bays in the nose of the craft have ironically all contributed to the fighter’s unique frontal fuselage profile which some have compared to a stretched rounded hexagon. From a system distribution perspective, the frame work and armor each take up 2 tons of the crafts weight whereas the propulsion system weighs about 3.3 tons.  Granted the Dahlmer-Watt 903 series reactor and battery system is reliable and tolerant it is notorious for being noisy in an atmosphere and can get away from inexperienced pilots which have caused a number of training accidents planet side. Accidents aside the remaining tonnage is devoted to weapons as 2.2 tons are spread between the sensor systems, wing weapons pylons and the actual weapons package. The almost schizophrenic way components are packed into the fighter and it’s strange handling in an atmosphere has earned the craft the pilot’s nick name of “Bat Shit Insane” an humorous yet sometimes accurate allusion to the makers initials.

    When one takes the time to understand the craft it proves it self to rather well behaved when operated away from planetary landing strips. Its armor and turning radius and redundant systems keep it flying with impressive amounts of damage. The top speed of the craft is about average, and it’s limited fuel capacity (572 gal) hampered it’s range in any interception role then one supporting a limited mobility objective. The nature of the fighter’s complicated wing design meant that outboard fuel tanks were not possible. Internal reactor configuration also meant that in-flight refueling was incredibly dangerous and thus avoided.  Fortunately the excellent acceleration and handling for what range it does have is made up for by the crafts excessive armament. In a center-line configuration the BSI-12A is armed with four 12-VA type legacy guns supported by almost a half-ton of munitions. Supporting the 12-VA’s, the fighter mounts a pair of 21-A legacy cannon, which are mounted in false barrel sleeves so they outwardly resemble their smaller comrades. The cannon are provided with almost a ton of munitions making them sufficient for tearing up targets rapidly with velocity-assisted munitions. The effect is that the BSI-12A is a deadly fighter with exceptional interception capabilities, it can put a lot of munitions on the target and since its sensor package is not lacking it has a good chance to spot them early as well.

Deployment (as of 2052)

    As of the publication of this article the BSI-12A goes wherever CT-9 carriers go. It should be noted that elite pilots more often than not have planetary postings due to the fighter’s unusual landing and takeoff characteristics in an atmosphere.

[Artist's Note:  Toby-Phealin started this space biplane business with an early art of one named the SF-P3. I don't know if that design will appear again but it was plenty cool.]