Ground Attack Plane Dragon [Closed-No posting]

by **Common Territories** » Sat May 02, 2015 2:02 pm

General characteristics
Crew: 2 (Pilot + weapons operator. 1 is technically only needed).
Length: 16.36 m.
Wingspan: 17.85 m.
Height: 4.48 m.
Wing area: 48 m².
Empty weight: 11,300 kg.
Max takeoff weight: 25,000 kg.
Powerplant: Two CE TF-203B turbofans, 9,070 lbf (40.45 kN) each.
Internal fuel capacity: 5,000 kg.
Cost: $12.5 Million NSD per unit.

Performance
Maximum speed: Mach 0.6 (740.8 km/h).
Ferry range: About 4,200 km. on internal fuel.
Combat radius: CAS: 500 km. for 2 hrs. About same for other.
Service ceiling: 13,700 m.
Wing loading: 490 kg/m².
Thrust/weight: 0.38.

Armament
Guns: One WA Leerings 40 mm 7-barreled Gatling Cannon (1,400 capacity).
Hardpoints: 11 (8× under-wing and 3× under-fuselage pylon stations) with a capacity of 7,850 kg and provisions to carry combinations.

Avionics
ROVER
EYES Targeting Pod (similar to Sniper system).
INS.
Eisen-Schloss Combat Networking System. (includes GPS, warnings and other flight alerts.).
ADS-22/21 (Active Defensive System).
Autopilot function.
WA-ECM-900 ECM Pod.

Design/Background

The Ground Attack Plane Dragon or GAP “The Flying Fire Breathing” Dragon, is a twin engine, straight-swept wing design jet aircraft developed in 2005 based off similarly rolled aircraft from the West and East. Its primary duty is attacking ground targets, close-air support, and killing tanker/armored units. The TECT Imperial Air Force requested a jet aircraft that could compete with such aircraft like the A-10 and Sukhoi Su-25; commanders wanted a jet plane capable of deploying a wide and large amount of ordinance, armed with a large gatling cannon, and a variant of this aircraft for uses on aircraft carriers/assault ships. Designers imagined the Dragon as a ferocious and steadfast aircraft - much similar to its inspired name, the Dragon would have a fearsome attack and could linger waiting for more victims to ravage. Its hardpoints also utilize aircraft pods for jamming and targeting roles, giving the Dragon a longer detection range and protecting it from ground and air threats; the EYES targeting pod, for example, allows a Dragon to detect targets from farther ranges, track and use laser guided ordinance, and visually target enemy positions.

The Dragon was designed to be nimble at slower speeds, giving it a better situation for attacking smaller, more slower ground units. Its wings are built with reinforced lightweight paneling in a honeycomb structure in order to reduce weight and improve the strength of the wings; this is similarly done with other portions of the aircraft, such as its flaps and rudders. The Dragon is capable of performing many diverse maneuvers utilizing its simplistic wing layout and large wing area - which allows the Dragon to perform many attack patterns and have tight control over the aircraft's movements. This also allows Dragons to take off and land on short runways, such as front line airstrips and assault ships at sea. The body of the aircraft is built around the forty millimeter gatling rotary cannon which is its main armament; the front wheel is put off to its direct right rather the usual center location. Durability was highly stressed as a design feature; this is why the airframe, especially the cockpit, has major armoring to ensure survivability. There is over 555 kilograms of armor on board, made up of mostly a composite titanium alloy with Kevlar layers. Dragons are designed to fly with one engine, one tail, one elevator system, and half of one wing missing - a testament to how durable and how determined a Dragon is in staying in the fight.

GAP Dragons entered service in mid 2006 attached to ground support elements in ground force branches. They quickly became popular among ground troops for their firepower and increased reliability; the iconic blast of the rotary cannon and high accuracy of all its weapons really impressed ground troops. In 2012, Wolf Armaments under contract from the Imperial Air Force constructed 'B' models that featured upgraded cockpits and a two seater function for weapons officers; older models were converted during this period as well to these standards - although it is still not required for their to be a second crewman as the pilot can perform ground support missions solo if required (the pilot still controls the cannon too). This upgrade also saw to it that the naval variant be constructed and improved from earlier schematics. GAP Dragons now serve as the Imperial Air Force's primary heavy ground support aircraft and as ground attack/attack aircraft - the Imperial Navy utilize it for amphibious operations and anti-ship missions.

Armament
GAP The Flying Dragon's primary weapon is the WA Leerings 40 mm 7-barreled Gatling Cannon. This large gatling cannon is the essence of firepower for an aircraft and is the largest caliber weapon ever mounted as the primary armament for any combat aircraft in the Imperial Air Force's history; coupled with armor piercing depleated uranium ammunition, the Dragon can easily rip apart armor of most ground vehicles. Dragons were born to rip apart armored vehicles, tanks, and defenses - anything else is just cannon fodder. The primary cartridge of the Leerings is the LE-API Armor Piercing Incendiary (DU) 40 mm; alternatively, the Leering also uses LE-HEAP High Explosive Armor Piercing 40 mm made to combat less armored targets (such as standard vehicles and boats) and infantry forces. The firing position is centered at the 9'oclock position while the actively firing position is roughly at 3'oclock to match the center line; this means each round is loaded and being fired when a barrel arrives at 3'oclock but is fired out of the cannon by time it hits 9'oclock. The cannon is also mounted on the aircraft's center of gravity along the pilot's front sight. This arrangement accurately centers the recoil forces, preventing changes in pitch or yaw when fired, and keeps the aircraft stabilized from the firing forces. The configuration also provides space for the front landing gear, which is mounted slightly off-center on the starboard side of the nose. The gun's drum can hold up to 1,400 rounds of ammunition; the 40 mm rounds are linked and dispensed back into the ammo drum until the expended material can be removed, ejecting it in flight could disturb the the aircraft's operation or even damage it. Dragons can fire up to 2,100 or 4,200 rounds per minute depending on their setting; it takes half a second for the barrel to reach full speed, therefore 50 rounds are fired during the first second, 65 or 70 rounds per second thereafter. The rate of fire is limited to protect the barrel and conserve ammunition - accuracy and barrel health is high stressed, so one to two bursts are common for a standard strafe run.

The heavily armed Dragon is armed to the teeth with ground attack ordinances and other weapons, besides its primary 40 mm gatling cannon. Dragon's utilize their extensive wing area to carry multiple ordinances, equipment, and a varying degree of other tools for missions. Underneath there is eleven pylons for weapons attachments - eight under-wing and three under-fuselage pylon stations with a capacity of 7,850 kg. capacity of weight. In a standard operation, a Dragon has two equipment pods on each wing - the first is usually a targeting pod used to identify enemy targets at a greater distance. This pod is standard armed with dual laser guidance system that allows it to track laser designators by ground crews and to use its own laser system to track enemy targets, meaning the Dragon does not need assistance from ground troops or other aircraft to use laser guided munitions. The other pod commonly used is a ECM pod. These pods are used in countering enemy electronic warfare attempts at jamming the aircraft - they protect the aircraft's systems from being interfered with by enemy sources in the air or on the ground so that they can perform their mission accordingly without mistake. The second purpose of these pods is to perform their own jamming functions; the offensive mode of these pods are usually dedicated to jamming enemy radar and tracking radar functions, which usually protects the aircraft from hostile missile launches - radar and tracking jamming will interfere with their ability to either lock on or track an aircraft. This ability renders many ground sites useless until the jamming has ceased, and aircraft often have issue spotting aircraft armed with such strong jamming pods. These are the common functions of the WA-ECM-900 ECM Pod.

Dragons have a wide variety of armaments that they can utilize; the obvious mass majority of these are designed for attacking ground targets or other surface threats. Among the list are guided missiles, bombs, the Commoner Speer-ASGM, and a wide variety of other missiles. Gun pods ranging from 20 mm cannons and the 14.5 mm SMJ-AMG gatling machine gun can be mounted to underwings in order to add additional strafing capabilities; rockets like the Hydra 70 are also common for these roles. Dragons also come equipped with two or more air-to-air missiles for protection against enemy fighters and helicopters, such missiles like the Commoner Slingshot-ALU are used for this purpose. A list of compatible (example) systems for the Dragon is listed bellow:

Missiles
Air-to-Air

Air-to-Ground

Air-to-Ship

Harpoon (missile).
Joint Strike Missile (JSM).
Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM).
NY - 4 Naginata / NS - N - 12 Shipburn (Length warning).
TYPE YW - 7V (YAWARA) AShM.

Bombs

Rockets

Gun Pods

SMJ-AMG.
GAU-19/B.

Propulsion
Nimble and strong; the Dragon, like its mythical counterpart, feature powerful wings that keep it afloat, carry heavy loads, and swiftly move through the sky while on the attack. The Dragon is propelled by two CE TF-203B turbofan engines; they are placed strategically above the airframe to protect them from incoming ground fire. The Dragon's nimble maneuvering is credited to the aircraft's two special designed wings and two aileron style flap systems; these are split into a bottom and top set, the bottom portion being of two more sets of develeron for slight controlled movements. For major movements, the top set of two ailerons are used in conjuncture with the bottom sets for full turning and roll movements at high rates. These, along with rear set of tail ailerons, provide the Dragon with an impressive amount of control over the aircraft during flight. Additionally; there are two nacelle points on the Dragon (one per wing). They are intended for holding additional fuel for the aircraft as well as provide drop tank attachments; these positions also hold room for the the rear landing gears. The primary fuel tanks are located near the top of the rear half of the aircraft - placed so like the engines to add additional protection from ground fire. A refueling nozzle system is built into the top portion of the aircraft's nose - this allows for aerial refueling that can keep aircraft in the air for longer periods.

GAP Dragons were not intended to be the fastest aircraft in the sky - it was actually intended that their speed was maintained rather then pushed to the extreme. Each engine produces 9,070 lbf (40.45 kN) of thrust which propels the Dragon bellow the sound of speed (around Mach 0.6). This allows Dragons to see their targets better than any fast jet in the sky - without the urgency of a faster jet, designers could place more armor and improved the wing systems for heavier loads. As an aircraft that is in the cross hairs of self-propelled anti-air guns, the Dragon comes fitted with a double-redundant hydraulic flight systems, and a mechanical system as a back up if hydraulics are lost; similar layouts have saved aircraft like the A-10 from crashing and have actually allowed them to continue fighting to land safely afterwards. Flight without hydraulic power uses the manual reversion control system; pitch and yaw control engages automatically, roll control is pilot-selected. To learn more about the aircraft's armoring and protections, they are detailed in other relevant areas.

A Dragon is famous not for being the fastest beast in the sky, but the creature that spits fire and rains hell on its victims more then any other.

Avionics/Protection
A Dragon is a creature that flies high in the sky and chooses its target well. It stalks often and when it sees the chance to strike, it goes for the kill. GAP Dragons are like their mythical namesakes in this regard as well. They do not require the most fancy equipment, but advances in aircraft avionics have given close air support aircraft like the Dragon an advantage over those who attempt to hide from them. Dragons themselves are not equipped with the most advanced equipment, but substitute that with the most advanced tool mounts possible. Imperial Airmen often complained the main issue with the A-10 was their need for ground troops to identify their targets perfectly; although they could spot where the troops point, it helps little if they are not in a CAS roll or troops cannot make an accurate location identification. People make mistakes, so Wolf Armaments wanted pilots to be able to ascertain foes with or without ground forces - ground troops may not always be present after all or cannot ascertain the enemy positions. That is why designers installed many avionic improvements to the Dragon to give it the ability to not only support but to also hunt - just like its mythical namesake.

Standard on all Dragons are the EYES Targeting Pod, as are many aircraft in the Commoner arsenal. EYES gives aircraft who lack powerful avionics the ability to target foes from longer ranges then they normally would be able to. It provides positive target identification, autonomous tracking, coordinate generation, and precise weapons guidance from extended standoff ranges. EYES are also equipped with laser guidance systems, allowing to use its own beams or track ground beams to drop laser guided ordinances. The pod incorporates a multi-spectral sensor capability with a high-resolution, medium-wave third-generation FLIR and a CCD-TV, giving pilots and ground forces access to each other's viewpoints (ROVER). Advanced sensors, combined with advanced image processing algorithms and rock-steady stabilization, produce target identification ranges that permit operations minimizing exposure to many threat systems. This gives aircraft like the Dragon the ability to detect and identify tactical-size targets outside threat rings for the destruction of enemy air defense mission, as well as outside jet noise ranges for urban counter-insurgency operations - essentially protecting aircraft by allowing them to keep a lengthy distance where they originally couldn't be to perform their missions.

The nerve center of the Dragon uses the Eisen-Schloss Combat Networking System, however, this customized fighter aircraft variant (used for all aircraft really) adapts to the reality of intense flight speeds and haste filled decision makings of a fighter pilot. Eisen-Schloss is an integrated and adaptive battlespace network that maximizes combat lethality, performance, and output and enables command and control on an unprecedented scale in any vehicle, unit, and device that uses; the aircraft not only receives information at light speeds from this networking, but also uses this advanced software to display important information and operate the aircraft. Information is sourced not only from multiple sources on the individual platform, but from every Eisen-Schloss equipped friendly vehicle within the battlespace, which provides constant informational updates across a broad spectrum of sources, both known to the operators, and operating below their awareness; this means that the Dragon can provide affective air support, for example, to a pinned down squad by both visualizing multiple feeds and getting a detailed GPS map location of the target from other sources. Dragons, and other aircraft with Eisen-Schloss, utilize the program's guidance and friend-or-foe functionality. This advancement not only improves the safety of ground operators but also increases the efficiency of fighter aircraft, and other combat aircraft, to an unprecedented scale. Eisen-Schloss' ultra-high speed networking permits error-free, high integrity transmission in a bare fraction of the time required for voice-based transmission, and permits transfer of a wide range of data formats, from a multitude of compatible sources through voice, text, and radio. Operators utilize multiple systems including radio and other vocal communication devices, and interfaces that allow multiple communication transmissions, such as video, vocal, and text. These systems, including the Eisen-Schloss Combat System and interaction systems, are rendered proof against electromagnetic interference or EMP-based attack using encryption and anti-electromagnetic technology, although these systems are a highly expensive addition. It was quickly reasoned, however, that when operating in an environment which may include anti-strategic platforms such as the nuclear arms and EMP weapons, the chances of the platform encountering high levels of electromagnetic interference goes up dramatically, and the dangers this presents for aircraft and their pilots far outweigh the relatively modest (though expensive in absolute terms) cost of the implementation of these countermeasure components.

Additionally, the Dragon utilizes additional tools to perform its mission, as well as defend itself from hostile threats. Dragons utilize basic aircraft instruments coiled together with the Eisen-Schloss Combat System that give the pilot total control over the aircraft; these include the aircraft's INS data, communications devices, guidance tools, an autopilot function, and the aircraft's defense systems, among many other systems. Equipped with a wide array of sensory inputs and other avionic tools, the Dragon achieves exceptionally high levels of peripheral awareness through the data collected by its own sensors and also the Eisen-Schloss Combat Networking System. However, this data must be collected and utilized in a coherent fashion to maximize its utility, which is the pilot(s') intuition, training, and avionic tools provided roles. This role is filled by the ADS-22/21 (Active Defensive System). The Active Defensive System is a systems structure that collates the data obtained via the aircraft’s sensory inputs and directs the Dragon’s extensive electronic and physical countermeasures suite accordingly; information gathered by the avionic tools is collated along with additional information provided by combat networking data/information. The term is utilized to refer to both the system and the countermeasure components - it gathers information from the Dragon's perception abilities and then utilizes the active defense systems on-board in a quick matter to protect the pilots and aircraft. As its electronic countermeasures suite, the WA-ECM-900 features two-stage active defensive jamming. The first stage relies on DRFM (digital radio frequency memory) based jamming; digitally capturing radio signals and utilizing solid state transmitters, retransmitting it to the source radar system. The DRFM jamming suite is capable of retransmitting the signal stored in its memory, thus creating the impression of a normal return. However, the signal is modified prior to retransmission; by changing areas of the signal such as frequency, the jamming suite is capable of returning false returns to the source radar that cannot be identified as fabricated signals, while changing key characteristics of the return such as detected size, range and velocity. As such, DRFM is an exceedingly difficult form of jamming to detect and counteract, as it is virtually indistinguishable from actual radar signal returns. This is the ‘low power’ component of ECM-900 defensive jamming suite; it also possesses a high power jamming system which operates along cruder premises, with an active array employing directed active high power radiation beams to directly attack and incapacitate enemy radar arrays directly. In addition to its defensive jammer suite, ADS also utilizes a number of physical countermeasure suites standard to most aircraft. Chaff dispensers stacked horizontally are placed on each side of the aircraft - each canister containing differently sized strips of aluminum coated glass fibre. This is utilized to flood hostile tracking radar with returns. ADS is also equipped with chaff pods (of four launchers, with three cartridges per launcher), the aluminum chaff cartridges employing electrical expulsion of Magnesium/Teflon/Viton pyrolant and separated oxygen for high speed, high effectiveness ignition at higher altitudes.

But as a close air support rolled aircraft, the Dragon is built for durability and survivability. As explained above, Dragons are capable of flying with missing portions of the aircraft and can operate even with failed hydraulics. This is especially thanks to the durable airframe and extensive armor on the aircraft. Armor is highly stressed on an aircraft that will no doubt become the primary target to hostile ground fire. This is why Dragons are outfitted with 555 kilograms of armor on board, made up of mostly a composite titanium alloy with Kevlar layers. The armor protects especially vital areas like the cockpit (explained later bellow), ammo drum, and sensitive equipment needed for flight; the kevlar layer acts as a fabric spall liner meant to absorb additional fragments and projectiles if they manage to beat the titanium plates. Additional armor is also placed on the ammo drum, the cockpit, and along the bottom of the avionic portions of the aircraft. Armor makes up approximately seven percent of the aircraft's total weight, another example of a dragon with their strong plate like scales.

Cockpit
The cockpit, another important sphere of influence, was designed for and by pilots who used former TECT fighter aircraft; providing ideas, solutions, and much more valued information that went into designing a modern fighter jet's cockpit - in this case, other combat aircraft also apply. Designers studied other aircraft like the Dassault Rafale, A-10 Warthog, and the Lockheed-Martin F-22 - using them as examples for study and improvement. Therefore, Dragons, just like the Bartgeier, have an evolved pilot friendly cockpit utilizing over two-hundred years of technology and input. The Dragon's cockpit is fully glass, two seated cockpit for a flight officer and weapons officer (as per their last upgrade and builds since then), relying almost entirely on digital displays and audio cues to provide real-time information to the pilots; an easy to handle text pad is also available though not entirely needed. Like many aircraft, the Dragon employs a HOTAS (Hands-On Throttle And Stick) layout in a force-sensitive side stick/throttle layout so as to maximize pilot access to key flight and combat systems without changes of position to facilitate the use of the aircraft despite its complex electronics suite. Additionally, the Dragon employs a Voice Input Control (VIC) system to feed command and control interfaces; this additional level of human-machine interaction, albeit primitive and partly user-dependent, provides pilots with an alternative to manual interaction with systems equipment, reducing their workload by increasing the range of tasks accomplishable from the HOTAS position without movement.

The glass cockpit pilot interface is designed with the ability to fully harness the power of the Dragon’s formidable capabilities through a human channel, bring relative simplicity and ease of use to reduce pilot workload, and systems redundancy in the event of failures. The primary source of flight and combat information for the pilot lies in the Helmet-Mounted Display System (HMDS) that forms the cornerstone of data provision on aircraft, as well as providing protection at ejection airspeed to prevent pilot injury when attempting an emergency egress from the aircraft. The integrated active-matrix Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) mounted over the usual location of the pilot's visor provides the pilot with a HUD replacement capable of displaying flight and target information, following the pilot’s head movements to follow targets and engage them if so desired utilizing the IRST tracking functions of the on board or pod systems for off-boresight engagements, and providing better efficiency when displaying various information. Other such information can be shown here; though the uses of the HMDS in actual flight are too varied and too many to be comprehensively listed here, a number of notable capabilities permitted by complete interface/sensor fusion includes the ability to switch between navigation maps within the HMD interface itself, allowing the pilot to fly the aircraft while observing a map at the corner of their eyesight, the HMDS’s complete display of scanned, tracked and engaged targets in real time, allowing pilots to respond more quickly and effective (this is a modifiable attribute of the HMDS, with the option to select displayed targets according to the sensory input used (thus preventing BVR contacts from cluttering the HMDS interface), and the ability to use the all-around IR sensory inputs to shift a 360 degree digitally constructed IR return map onto the HMDS visor, thus giving the pilots complete vision in every direction, complete with the targeting returns obtained by the IRST if desired giving the pilots a significant advantage over traditional ‘analogue’ pilots (this is utilized by most pilots as their all aspect night vision array in place of heavy goggles), and a direct connection to visual and other sources connected to the combat network. This system has been specially modified for Dragons to include firing information for the pilot; this includes an actual gun aiming assistance feature, firing solution information, and the assistance program lines up with the actual physical aiming sights inside the cockpit. The HMDS helmet is also equipped with a piezoelectric vibration microphone so as to ensure that accurate voice returns are obtained over the background noise of the aircraft, as well as an active noise dampener; overall, the high speed responses obtained via the use of the LCD HMDS give the pilots a significant engagement speed advantage despite the relative complexity of the aircraft by further decreasing the workload placed upon certain parts of him, splitting it between other areas of his body as well as passing most visual functions to his display, thus decreasing his reliance on heads-down, attention drawing electronic displays. This makes the Dragon's, and other aircraft, pilots a fast and efficient machine capable of quicker decisions and increasing the pilots efficiency.

As with many tools and machines in warfare, or around the world, they fail; that is why Dragons have alternative systems to operate from in case of any malfunction to operating systems. Directly ahead of the flight officer is a wide field of vision HUD with a rubber buffer to prevent inward shattering during canopy impact, providing the pilot with an alternative display in the event of HMDS failure; relatively simple, it is designed to ensure that the pilot is able to use it immediately when required, employing the same symbology as the HMDS. Directly underneath the HUD mount, a small communications frequency control panel is place to allow the pilot to easily switch across communications channels while remaining aware of the battlefield, adding to the Dragon’s level of communication and connectivity on the battlefield. As well as this communications control panel, a warning display panel is also located into this electronics section to ensure that the pilot is provided with heads-up awareness of faults within the aircraft, ensuring rapid responses. This warning display is a small LCD screen, taking up minimal space on the cockpit panel itself, working in conjunction with the audio cue system to ensure that faults identified by the self-diagnostics system are rapidly communicated to the pilots. The screen arrangement of the Dragon utilizes five screens in a layout that balances ease of utility and system redundancy to ensure usability under any circumstances; this is a common practice among Commoner designed aircraft, as is the entire cockpit, as to ensure total ease of design and training for pilots/engineers. The Central Interface Display is a 36x35cm (height by width) liquid crystal display touch screen located in the center of the cockpit panel. The CID utilities a purely touch-based control interface with no button based redundancy, opting instead to fully employ the available space to present necessary information to the pilot. To either side of the CID, two Secondary Interface Displays (SID) of 32x18cm are found running along the sides of the cockpit panel; like the CID, these are LCD touch screens, but come equipped with MFD physical button based controls for redundancy purposes. Located directly underneath the CID, between the pilot’s legs, a Lower Interface Display (LID) of 15x15cm can be found; against, like the SIDs, this is an LCD touch screen equipped with MFD button based controls.

Ultimately, the Dragon is a combat aircraft; it, like all aircraft, are susceptible to either catastrophic failures or enemy inflicted damage. This is why designers put in place systems and procedures to rescue pilots in the face of immediate danger, most notably the ejection system used for the pilots. When in use, seats are placed at a 29 degree angle, much like other aircraft, to improve pilot tolerance of high g-forces without compromising the pilot’s access and view of flight instruments and controls. In its capacity as an ejection system, the seat is both accessible and effective. Unlike many modern aircraft, the ejection system is can be activated mechanically via a folded lever (the lever/button is unfolded then pressed down immediately, starting the ejection process) placed to the right wall of both pilots; since it is a dual cockpit, both switches will cause the ejection of both pilots - that is why pilots are trained to be weary about accidentally or hastily flipping the switch. Automatically, however, the ADS will activate the ejection if it detects catastrophic damage, cockpit bubble damage, crew environment hazardous conditions, or provides suggestions when to eject - ejection can be triggered through the HMDS interface as well. The seats are a twin catapult and thruster ejection model, mounted along side rails, and comes with a number of features to ensure pilot safety. A net based arm restraint system is mechanically deployed together with the seat’s ejection to keep the pilot’s body within safe confines during the ejection process. An on-board oxygen generator works in conjunction with backup oxygen bottles to provide the pilot with a redundant oxygen supply while nonetheless achieving overall weight advantages over traditional oxygen-bottle based designs, allowing for safe ejection at higher altitudes by balancing out the oxygen supply as necessary. The drogue parachute is located behind the pilot’s head, and forced out by a mortar mechanism; the lack of a fixed cord system or any deployment mechanisms of that nature are to allow the ejection seat to deploy the parachute according to altitude and flight speed data uploaded at the point of ejection, thus maximizing pilot safety according to position and decreasing the possibility of failures such as the application of immense shock to the pilot through parachute deployment at high speed, or late parachute ejection in zero-zero conditions. The seat comes with a survival pack housed in a fiberglass box located underneath it, which include medical supplies, transponder, two MP5E Sub-Machine gun with four (30 round) magazines of ammunition each, two Wolf Fang Multi-Tool, and four 'Doggy Bag' MRE Packs (for TECT pilots, for example).

Pilots, in this case, are special. Normally, and for a long time, Dragon pilots were single crew. It wasn't until the upgrades in 2012 that Dragons became two seater by construction requirement. The second pilot, a weapons officer, is not needed for operations. Although they are often used, flight pilots are more then capable of performing the same mission without an additional hand. A weapons officer is present in order to allow the pilot to concentrate on flight and gun operation - meanwhile, the weapons officer controls and manages avionic systems and ordinance uses, such as missiles and bombs when bombing targets. Although the extra hand is useful, it is not entirely required - this allows Dragons to be flown with either one or two pilots. Additionally, the cockpit is secured with added armoring and protection. As explained above multiple times, Dragons utilize 555 kilograms of armor on board, made up of mostly a composite titanium alloy with Kevlar layers. The kevlar layer acts as a fabric spall liner meant to absorb additional fragments and projectiles if they manage to beat the titanium plates. The cockpit is especially reinforced in a 'bath tub' fashion in order to protect pilots from harm; this reinforcement is comprised of additional plating and kevlar, windscreen and canopy are resistant to small arms fire by utilizing a reinforced glass/plastic design, and additional armoring portions can be used as a shield for the cockpit. Tests conducted have shown that the Dragon, and especially the cockpit, can easily survive cartridges ranging around 20-25 mm; the same tests have also shown the Dragon to be able to withstand some high caliber rounds such as 57 mm - the caliber being famous for a popularly used anti-air gun system.

Variants

GAP-Dragon-NAV: The Naval Attack Variant of the Ground Attack Plane Dragon is a amphibious, and aircraft carrier, launched variant of the Dragon. Used by the TECT Imperial Navy, the NAV is a capable ground support jet aircraft used to support ground troops either stationed close to the coast, or, to provide close-air-support to marine units conducting an amphibious assault. The Imperial Navy also uses these aircraft to conduct patrols, attack multiple types of surface and bellow-surface threats, and are part of the Imperial Navy's Anti-Speed Boat Mission (ASBM); in short, they are used to combat enemy fast attack craft, which are often used in large numbers or in waves. NAV Dragons come with the standard equipment like most naval variations of aircraft do; they posses their main counterpart's systems but include a reinforced arrestor hook for landing on aircraft carriers/assault ships, foldable wings near the halfway point to save additional space, and come with a automatic deployable sea life raft (reflective orange and yellow) that detect water landings and deploys shortly after (comes with sea survival kit, such as water catcher and sun shade flaps as well as the standard survival kit).

Export
The Ground Attack Plane Dragon is available for export on the Wolf Armaments official storefront page for $12.5 Million NSD per unit (Both ground and naval variants cost the same). Domestic Production Rights are restricted on case by case basis; only trustworthy nations with permission from the Imperial Government of TECT are allowed to purchase the DPR rights. The cost for the DPR rights to the aircraft, including plans, example models, avionics and tools, and engineer advisers for early production monitoring will cost $130 Billion NSD.

Ground Attack Plane Dragon [Closed-No posting]

Ground Attack Plane Dragon [Closed-No posting]

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