The HAI-F7 Shuriken Space Superiority Fighter was the mainline Terran Protectorate fighter for several decades between the first and second wars with the Imperial Consortium. It holds the record of the most mass produced units for a human star fighter and has the second longest service record. It is still used as a trainer and by planetary militias and reserves. The fighter was the first combat fighter to be transatmospheric in both ascent and descent, due to a scramjet design that can kick in during atmospheric operations, but which seals up and switches over to a compressed Helium-3 Squirt Injection Fusion Thrust system in deep space. The fighter was designed to be both carrier and land-based and was used by both the Stellar Navy and the Colonial Marines. Even though it only saw minor conflicts and anti-piracy operations, the design is considered a military success, primarily because it was a "warchild" design. It's initial design phase occurred during the last phases of the first war, and it was built and conceptualized entirely based on actual combat experience and military needs without much political interference. It is easy to maintain, cheap to manufacture, moderately armored, very heavily armed, has good speed and good maneuverability. Most importantly, it is pilot friendly in design and operation. One of the urban myths about the Shuriken is that Ace of Aces Hanzo Midori was able to sit in the cockpit blindfolded for the first time and get the fighter airborne without ever having been briefed on the instrument layout. He just reached his hands out and all the controls were where he wanted them to be. While Midori was known to be a design consultant on the project, lending his combat expertise to its development, the veracity of this story has never been confirmed. The Shuriken is armed with two pulsed plasma cannons which use compressed hydrogen gas as ammunition. The gas is heated to a plasma state by the fusion drive and fired through a magnetic field out of the cannons in the nose. Ammo capacity is determined by the amount of gas in the hydrogen bottles. The lack of moving parts (the entire system is operated by vacuum pressure) and ease of design gives the weapon rapid fire capabilities. The fighter also has six missile mounts (three under each wing). Typical weapon loadout was two anti-ship missiles and four anti-starfighter missiles, though a variety of combinations are possible. The Shuriken has been retired from service and surplus fighters have been sold to planetary militias, corporate security services, law enforcement agencies and licensed mercenary operations. Since the fighter was produced at more than 50 different facilities, a number of the factory templates have also been sold by facilities that were retooling for different projects, and knock-offs of the fighter and replacement parts are not hard to come by. Also, virtually all retired fighter pilots working as security consultants were trained and flew the Shuriken, making it easier for them to train non-military personnel in their use. Enjoy, and let me know what you think. I had the design basics for a while, but finished them up and textured it to my liking this week. Could never get that rugged look I wanted until now. In a way, they're supposed to kind of subliminally remind you of Cold War-era fighters like the F4 Phantom...because they were designed during a similar Cold War between the Consortium and the Protectorate. Ships designed and textured in DOGA-L3 and Carrara. Background created in GIMP 2.6.