Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Apollo Fighter

"Keep the tires and light the fires!"

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The Apollo Fighter is the interceptor fighter used by the Andoran Republic as a further development of the Vinland J35J Draken fighter. Planned to be voiced by

Tactical analysis

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Appearance
The Apollo in Gaiaterra bears much resembles a J35 Draken (Notable the proposed MOD Level 4 one) than the Red Alert 3 one.

History
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In spite of the combined treasuries of the Republic, ongoing struggles against the Voshkod war machine have proven undeniably costly. As a result, the Republic have increasingly sought to fill their military with highly specialised and efficient machines that perform exceedingly well in a given role yet work best as part of a combined-arms strategy. One of the finest results of this philosophy is the Angstrom's F-11 Apollo Fighter, born from the development of the Vinland-made Saab Draken Fighters and now seeing active duty. This is one of the world's best, fastest, most dangerous air superiority fighters, on par against the F-15 Eagle and the Su-35 Flanker.

The Apollo features a VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) engine configuration, which provides maximum stability and manoeuvrability. This also lets the Apollo operate effectively in urban environments as well as out in the open. The sight of this delta-wing jet slicing through the sky with incredible agility and speed is amazing, yet its triple thrust vectoring nozzles keep the Apollo trim with near-perfect stability - all the better to let the Apollo bring its 20 mm "Sol" radar-tracking autocannons to bear on any enemy bandits.

The Sol is a single-barrel weapon yet can spit out 500 rounds of armour-piercing ammunition per minute easily. Moreover, it is extremely accurate for such a weapon, partly due to the Apollo's own targeting systems and manoeuvrability. Once an Apollo has marked an enemy target, there is little the enemy can do to escape the Apollo's withering fire, especially because the Apollo can outpace virtually any other aircraft.

The Apollo Fighter is very direct in its design. For better or worse, it is armed with a more-conventional weapons system than Sea Harrier III or the Eurofighter. However, a little-known fact is that the Apollo underwent several bids and design modifications of the Draken before the Andorans finally accepted the model currently in use. Predecessors of the F-11 lacked the VTOL engine configuration, which made them far faster in the skies but also far less reliable and, in the end, less survivable or dependable.

The Andorans also experimented with fitting a modified version of Solaris cannon design onto the aircraft, to make it score enemy kills even faster while potentially taking down multiple hostiles in a single brilliant attack. However, the Solaris cannons tended to temporarily blind Apollo test pilots, even through their goggles, which was an unexpected safety concern that Saab continues to lament to this day. So this design was ill-conceived, as well as prohibitively expensive. The Apollo model now in use, by comparison, is widely appreciated by for its tried-and-true performance (though the concept of a spectrum armed interceptor was not totally abandoned).

Today, Apollo Fighters are a common sight in Andoran bases, and frequently take point alongside close-support or bomber aircraft such as Cryocopters, Tornados or Century Bombers. They have proven to be absolutely vital to this role, for their unparalleled ability to defend these mission-critical assets. At the same time, Apollos excel at hunting down Destroyers aircraft reckless enough to trespass into Andoran airspace.

The sleek angles of these fighter jets, as well as the age-old romantic allure of air combat--not to mention the necessity of having to fight for one's freedom against the Destroyers--have drawn out many brave men to Allied flight schools worldwide in the hopes of one day being the Republic's next famous fighter ace.