Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Yak-9

"Time to erase infantry!"

-Yak-9

The Yak-9 is argubly the oldest combat aircraft in Voshkod since 1943 V.C., as most Eorzean forces prefer the most advanced Mikoyan and Sukhoi fighters, the Yak-9 is exclusively used by the Vieran Reserves. Planned to be voiced by Lydia Leonard.

Tactical analysis

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History
"Mwahahahahahaha... Die!"

-An obviously insane Vieran Yak pilot

"A Yak's better than a duck" joke the Vierans. The Yakovlev Yak-9, better known as the Yak, is a creaky old fighter aircraft that was already obsolete when Voshkod-Aquilan War started, having introduced in 1943 V.C. Its early days on the frontlines were completely brutal, as the Aquilan interceptors such as the advanced F-86 Sabres flew circles around the YaK, shooting them down with ease. It was only when the Voshkod began deploying jet fighters and rushing them to the front that the YaKs had a hope of ever reaching their area of operations unmolested. Since a simple burp from any anti-aircraft weapon could down the plane, it was instead used to dive bomb Aquilan formations. The bomb was much too weak to penetrate even a Sherman armor, so it was quickly discarded, but the machine guns proved their worth. In a pinch, any infantry formation could be strafed, with very heavy casualties, leading to the nickname of "Infantry Eraser." The YaK gained a feared and hated reputation for this, not at all helped by the, allegedly, occasional strafing of refugee columns. Indeed, YaKs were often central to many atrocities during Voshkod-Aquilan War, at least that's what most of Guardian report says.

The most infamous, and patently true, of these was the strafing of the town of Saint Maryenne, where a flight of Yak-9s massacred all the local Aquilan troops there and most of its citizens. Despite its success as an anti-infantry and terror weapon, after the war the Yaks was simply too old to be useful in a modern war, or so the Voshkod thought. Though some users such as Encantadia, still uses Yak-9s as their interim-COIN aircraft even some of the creeps like Murlocs and Gnolls use as their main aircraft in case of unavailable advanced aircraft.

After the war, the Voshkod military was exhausted, and the Union's industrial output to replace new war machines was already strained beyond capacity. Commanders had to resort to scavenging mothballed tanks and planes to arm their troops, and the YaK was just the machine they wanted.

Other than modifications to the engine and frame, the YaK is mostly the same as it was a decade ago, with the only major addition being a RATO system taken from the MiG-21s to preclude the use of conventional airfields, so vulnerable in today's battles. In actuality, it's just rockets welded to the side of the YaK that shoots the plane into the air, cutting out before the pilot blacks out.

The other major addition is the lacing of the YaK's bomb with the Desolator Defoliant compound, which works much in the same way as the similar bomb used by the Tu-95 Bear bomber. This has already returned the YaK to one of the most hated symbols of the Voshkod. Aquilan pilots use a special kill symbol for YaKs to decorate their planes, earning a special level of gratitude from infantry divisions.

Trivia

 * Their design is based on the Real-world Yak-9, notably the Yak-9U and Yak-9P and the Yak in Red Alert History mod for Tiberium Wars
 * Role wise is a fusion of the Red Resurrection, Red Alert History and Paradox Yaks.