New Sovietskiy Su-47D Foxfire Multi-Role Fighter:

Introduction:

Just a few minutes before, Ksanochka Sadovnikova had been considered an excellent pilot and had a bright future in Soviet frontal aviation. She was a captain in an important base in Kamchatka and considered herself to be one of the best pilots. She had always scored high in training and had been involved in several unacknowledged engagements against the Chinese.


Now, she was a fugitive who had little time to escape or she would be dead along with her brother and his family. She had an early flight and had gotten a call from her brother. He wanted to reach her before she left. There was also the possibility that she would be involved in training on one of the Pacific fleet carriers. While she had been talking to her brother, she heard over the phone someone forcing their way into his home. She then heard someone accusing him of passing secrets to the Americans and then gun shots. She heard him scream out at the same time. She then heard several more shots and assumed that his wife and children had also been murdered.


Ksanochka though she knew the truth. Her brother had been an engineer in a fusion reactor powered power plant which was under construction near Moscow. His superior, who had strong Communist party connections, had tried to force him to sign off on several design problems with had yet to be properly resolved. Her brother had been killed to replace him with an engineer who would sign off on the problems. She believed that her brothers superior would also go after her to silence her.


She knew that her only chance was to escape before anyone at her base was informed that she was to be 'detained' as they would likely call it. She had to be in her fighter and in the air by then. She had been briefed that an American Carrier, the Constellation, was operating several hundred miles north of Midway Island and she planned to give a 'Passing secrets to the Americans' that no one would forget. The pilots had been told to avoid the area of radar coverage around the carrier due to not wanting to give the Americans a chance to get electronic intelligence on the Su-47D. Unfortunately, it would also mean that she could never fly her beloved Golden Eagle again and might even mean that she never get to fly anything again.


She drove her car up to the main gate and showed her I.D. card to the soldier who was standing guard. Her heart pounded so hard that he was scared that he would hear it and watched him nervously. She was praying that her name had not already been flagged. He asked "Here a little early, according to the schedule you are not supposed to be here for three more hours."


She nodded and steeled herself before she responded. "There were a few problems with my fighter and I wanted to make sure that everything was ready before the flight." She hoped that he would not hear the nervousness she thought she heard in her own voice. Apparently he did not notice anything because he saluted and opened the gate. She saluted back and drove her car through the gate.


Her fighter was parked outside the hanger along with three other Su-47D fighters. Her fighter, along with the others, was fully armed and the ladder was down. She climbed up into the cockpit and felt much better on entering the cockpit and dropping the canopy. This, she knew how to do. She immediately began bringing the fusion reactor from shut down to up to full power. The power up would take about fifteen minutes and she used the time to do a check list on all other systems. All systems showed as operational except for the IFF repeater which she had disabled herself so they could not track her.


Just as the fusion reactor reached full power, she began hearing from her radio commands to shut down the fighter. She hoped that the missile defense batteries would still be powering up. Just as she brought power up for the two engines and take off, she saw lights from police vehicles including one coming down the runway toward her. She though that she could still take off, she vectored the engines, wings, and canard for a minimum takeoff and brought the engines to full power. She accelerated down the runway toward the police vehicle and it appeared as if it was accelerating as well. She took off just in time and just barely missed hitting one of the lights on the top of the vehicle.


Instead of keeping on gaining altitude, she kept the fighter as low as possible to limit the ability of surface to air missiles from shooting her down. Looking back, it appeared that the police vehicle had rammed one of the parked aircraft. That would mean that she would have only two fighters following her immediately. Several missiles had already been launched against her. She fired several chaff and flare packs and was able to decoy the pursuing missiles into the ground. Keeping near the ground would make her hard to detect but would slow her down. While she could have tried to run away from pursuing fighters by just gaining altitude, the secondary problem was that it would make her a target for ground launched missiles.


She was in the air and away from the base but she knew she was not near out of danger. The closest place to escape to would be Alaska but it would the one she would be most expected to take. She did not plan to go that way but instead go south and attempt to land on the American carrier which she been informed about on the mission briefing she had been in yesterday. The problem was that she needed to make the fighters that would be chasing her that she was heading for Alaska instead of to the south.


She suddenly had an idea on how to do this but she hoped that whoever was caught by it would be able to eject before they crashed. She was carrying four long range missiles under the fuselage and could program them to search for a target a long distance away from where she is. The missiles would be set to travel the same course that she would be most likely to fly if going to Alaska and would be programmed to go after the first target which they detect. Her fighter would still have its rail guns and medium range missiles and the reduction in weight would make it easier for her to land on a carrier. She had never landed on an American carrier and wanted to make it as safe as possible.


She launched her four long range missiles and diverted her fighter to the south east. She kept an ear on transmissions and watched her radar detection gear to attempt to see where her pursuit was. Periodically, a call for her to surrender would also be transmitted. Suddenly, she heard what was unmistakably a panicked "Mayday" and a few seconds later a crack could be heard before the transmission went dead. She could then hear a bunch of chatter as fighters converged on that location. She hoped again that the pilot had ejected in time. She turned her fighter to the south.


Three hours later, she found herself nearing where she would be detected by the Kingfisher electronics warfare aircraft's radar system. She also knew that it was only a matter of time before the Soviets would decide that the attack was a decoy and search in other directions. She decided it would be best to get the Americans attention before they detected her. She was glad she had learned English although she had originally learned it to read American manuals on fighter tactics. In broken English she said, "This is a Soviet Fighter coming in from the North, I wish to defect"


There was a pause and she watched four fighters with their radar system active approaching her position. According to her radar detector, they were the radar system carried on the American Panther II fighter. She knew she could not fight the four of then even if she wanted to. One of them transmitted back to her while closing "This is Ace Leader to approaching fighter. We will form around your fighter and you will fly exactly as instructed. If you deviate from this course, you will be immediately splashed." As she watched, the two of the fighters formed behind her and two fighters formed in front of her. She was carefully escorted to the carrier while more American fighters warned off approaching Soviet aircraft.


As she got positioned for a landing on the flight deck, her escorts pulled away to allow her to land. She noted that the ship’s point defense weaponry was still pointed at her fighter as she approached. They were taking few chances. Suddenly she was at the edge of the flight deck and then she felt the tail hook grab the arrester gear. She popped her cockpit and raised her hands.


Excerpt from Fox’s Combat Aircraft of the World, 2090 to 2091:

When the United States developed the FB-22XL Super Raptor, there was a scramble by the reformed Communist nation to build a fighter to compete with it. The Soviet nation did not trust the United States announcement that the fighter was just a technology demonstrator. The Soviets decided to use the S-37 as the basis for the design. The S-37 had been a contemporary of the F-22 and seemed like a good basis for the new design. Unlike the FB-22XL, which was developed primarily as a ground attack aircraft with a secondary role as a multi-role fighter, the Su-47D was developed as an air superiority fighter with the secondary role as a ground attack fighter.


It is ironic is that the development of the Su-47D is what allowed the United States Air Force to get Congress to fund production of the F-22XL. The four test bed models of the FB-22XL were complete and the air force did not want to press for more of the aircraft and instead went ahead with the F-38 Panther program in cooperation with the Navy. The Panther did use much of the technology first developed for the Super Raptor and so the F-22XL was not considered a waste.


Development on the Su-47D was begun in 2044, the same year as the Super Raptor rolled out of the Lockheed Martin plant although planning for the new Soviet fighter had already begun when production for the FB-22XL began. The first prototype of the Su-47D rolled out of the Sukhoi plant in 2049 but was not ready for production for several years. Development had been rushed and the first several prototypes crashed. The Su-47D was first seen by American Intelligence in satellite photos in 2052. It is said that the technician who first saw the fighter jokingly called it Foxfire from the reversing of the name 'Firefox' from the fictitious plane from the movie of the same name and the name stuck. The Soviet state retained the name Berkut from the S-37 which means Golden Eagle in English.


The fighter was first shown in an air show in 2054 with full production beginning the same year. The fighter was designed to be able to operated from carriers as well as ground bases. The plane was produced until 2088 due to having problems developing a replacement fighter. It is thought that around 2,500 fighters total were manufactured between 2054 and 2088. At the time of the writing of this entry, the Su-47D forms the bulk of the Soviet fighter forces and is operated off of both ground bases and carriers. No Su-47D fighters have been exported due to the Soviet State not wanting the technology to be released.


In 2066, a Soviet pilot from Kamchatka attempted to fly a fighter to an American carrier operating in the North Pacific and requested asylum. Much about the situation is still classified by both sides. The United States claims that the fighter crashed into the ocean before making it to the carrier. The Soviets claim that the United States government is lying and that the fighter safely landed safely on the carrier. They point to the fact that there has been no wreckage found on the ocean floor. It is very deep and Soviet underwater recovery technology has always been behind the American technology.


There are few details available on the replacement fighter to the Su-47D and the Soviet government has released but it is believed to be VTOL in design. It is supposed to have improved stealth, and be capable of much higher speeds. Western aviation experts do not believe that the performance of the new fighter is believed to not compare with the United States Starblade hypersonic fighter.


While based on the basic design of the S-37, the Su-47D has many changes and improvements and should be considered virtually a new aircraft. Like the S-37, the wings of the fighter are forward swept to increase maneuverability and the Su-47D is incredibly maneuverable with the forward swept wings combined with the vectored thrusters. Thrust is provided by two Soyuz / Moscow FP-55A fusion turbine engines which each produce 180 Kilo-Newtons of thrust on full power although the thrust can only be sustained for relatively short periods of time. The fighter is designed to be unstable and cannot be flown without the use of computers. The Su-47D has four computers to prevent the loss of control while in flight. Computer failures were the cause of several crashes in the prototype aircraft. The fighter is controlled by a fly by wire system with a quadruple redundant control system which is integrated with the vectored engines. The flight control is designed so that the fighter can be forced into maneuvers which can potentially cause unconsciousness in the pilot. The fighter was originally planned to be manufactured in both a single pilot model and in a two crew model but only the single seat fighter was produced. The Su-47D is designed with a tail hook for carrier landings. The fighter is believed to carry towed decoy pods in the wings. The pod is believed to be copied from a pod from an EF-2000 Euro-Fighter Typhoon which was purchased from a Polish mechanic. The fighter is designed with radar absorbing materials and is designed with a reduced radar cross signature. The fighter has a total of eight hard points with four hard points on the fuselage and two hard points on each wing. The hard points are recessed so that reduction in the radar cross signature is less than it would be otherwise. The fighter has an advanced fire control system which allows the pilot to engage multiple targets simultaneously. The original version of the Su-47D was armed with a 30-mm gun pod. The gun is identical to the one carried on the Su-27. It was replaced in later models by two rail guns. While the rail guns have about the same range, the rail guns have a much larger payload.


Designation: Su-47D Berkut (NATO Name Foxfire)
Vehicle Type: Advanced Air Superiority Fighter with Ground Attack Capability
Crew: One


M.D.C. by Location:

Forward Mounted Gun (1 or 2; Wing Base):25 each
Missile Hard Points (8):10 each
[1] Forward Canard Wings (2):50 each
[2] Wings (2):90 each
[3] Elevators (2):50 each
[3] Rudders (2):50 each
Cockpit:80
[4] Engines (2):100
Landing Gear (3):5 each
[5] Main Body:150


Notes:
[1] Destroying one or both Canard Wings will result in reducing bonuses to dodge by two and removing the 10% bonus to piloting the aircraft.
[2] Destroying a wing will cause the plane to crash
[3] Destruction of rudders or one elevator will still allow the fighter to be controlled by the varying of power levels of the engines but the fighter has a penalty of -10 to dodge, and a -30% penalty to all piloting rolls. Destruction of both of the elevators will leave the plane uncontrollable and pilot must eject to survive.
[4] The destruction of one engine will reduce the fighter’s top speed by half and give the pilot a -2 penalty to dodge as well as giving a 10% penalty to piloting. Destruction of both engines will cause the aircraft to crash. Pilot may attempt an emergency landing or pilot can choose to eject.
[5] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will shut the aircraft down completely, rendering it useless and causing it to crash if in flight. Damage to the main body will also reduce the aircraft's stealth, for every 10% of damage to the main body, reduce the aircraft's stealth by 10% of its total.


Speed:
Driving on Ground (Taxiing): Only possible for take offs and landings as well as for parking and storage. Speed is 40 mph (64 kph) when traveling and not on take off or landing. Because of the vectoring of the thrusters, the fighter can take off in a short distance.
Flying: The fighter can go up to a maximum speed of Mach 2.4 (1,779.5 mph/2,863.8 kph). Its cruise speed is up to Mach 1.0 (741.5 mph/ 1,193.3 kph) and has a maximum altitude is about 65,000 feet/ 19,812 meters. Because the aircraft ordnance is carried in recessed hard points, performance reduction is less then might be expected. With a full load of external ordnance, Maximum speed is reduced to Mach 2.1 (1,557.1 mph /2,505.8 kph) on full output
Maximum Effective Range: Effectively Unlimited. Thrusters overheat after 8 hours of use from 200 mph (321.9 kph) to 600 mph (965.6 kph), and 4 hours of use over 600 mph (965.6 kph).


Statistical Data:
Height: 21 feet (6.4 meters)
Wingspan: 55.1 feet (16.8 meters)
Length: 74.2 feet (22.6 meters)
Weight: 66140 pounds (30,000 kg) empty and 83780 pounds (38,000 kg) fully loaded.
Power System: Nuclear Fusion, Should have an average lifespan of 8 years.
Cargo: Minimal (Storage for small equipment), does not include hard points
Black Market Cost: Not available. Other than any operated by the New Sovietskiy, none are known to have survived the coming of the Rifts. The jet has never been know to have been recovered by enemies or mercenaries. Such an aircraft would sell for 40 to 60 million credits on the open market.


Weapon Systems:

  1. Forward Mounted Guns (2): A fixed forward weapon is mounted on the base of the fighters right wing if the 30 mm cannon is carried and the base of both wings if the rail guns are carried. It serves as the one of last line of defense against enemy planes and missile volleys, although some pilots use it for strafing runs against ground targets when they are out of missiles. Many pilots do not like being exposed to ground weapons fire so it is an uncommon practice.
    1. One DP GSh-301 30 mm cannon: Mounted on the original version of the Su-47D but replaced by a rail gun in later models and many older fighters were refitted with the rail gun as well. The gun was mounted in the Su-27 and is a fairly old weapon system. The standard ammunition has been replaced by high density ramjet ammunition which inflicts heavy damage and enables the fighter to hold its own against other fighter weapons.
      Maximum Effective Range: 6,560 feet (2,000 meters / 2 kilometers).
      Mega Damage: 1D6x10 for a short burst of 10 round burst and 2D6x10 for a long burst of 20 round burst, 3D6 for each round.
      Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the pilot (usually 4 or 5).
      Payload: 150 rounds (15 short bursts or 7 long bursts)
    2. Standard 20 mm Railguns (2): Replaces the 30 mm cannon on later models of the Su-47D and refitted on many of the earlier fighters. The rail gun has the same range as the conventional cannon but has a much higher payload. Rail gun fires standard 20 mm rail gun rounds at a very high speed and is very effective against both other aircraft and ground targets.
      Maximum Effective Range: 6,560 feet (2,000 meters / 2 kilometers).
      Mega Damage: 1D4x10 for a half-burst of 10 rounds, 2D4x10 for a full burst of 20 rounds or for both cannons firing linked 10 round bursts, and 4D4x10 for a full burst from both cannons firing linked.
      Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the pilot (usually 5 or 6).
      Payload: 250 rounds (25 half-bursts/12 full bursts) per gun, 1,000 rounds total.
  2. External Hard Points (8): The Su-47D has a total of eight hard points with two hard points under each wing and four hard points on the fuselage of the aircraft. The hard points on the fuselage are designed for heavier ordinance and can carry a cruise missile each where the wing hard points. The wing hard points can carry one long range missiles each with the ability to carry missile pods as well. Each hard points must carry the same type of missile but different hard points may carry different ordnance types but ordnance is normally carried in symmetrical pairs. Both unguided and guided bombs can be carried by the aircraft. Ordnance reduces fighter’s stealth. Missiles and bombs only reduce the fighter’s stealth from the bottom and reduce stealth by 5% per hard point carry ordnance. Missile pods reduce stealth from the sides as well and reduce stealth by 10% per hard point.
    Fuselage Hard Points (4): Bombs or Missiles only (1 cruise missile or extra heavy bomb, 2 long range missiles or heavy bombs, 4 medium range missiles or medium bombs, or 8 short range missiles or light bombs).
    Wing Hard Points (4): Bombs or Missiles (1 long range missiles or heavy bombs, 2 medium range missiles or medium bombs, or 4 short range missiles or light bombs) or Mini-Missile Pod
    1. Bombs and Missiles: The only restriction is that a hard point must carry all the same type of missiles or bombs. Both unguided and guided bombs can be carried.
      Maximum Effective Range: Varies by missile type for missile and varies by altitude bombs are dropped at (See revised bomb and missile tables for details.)
      Mega-Damage: Varies by missile or bomb type (See revised bomb and missile tables for details.)
      Rate of Fire: Missiles can be fired and bombs can be dropped one at a time per hard point. Multiple hard points can be linked as one attack but must be the same size (light, medium, or heavy) and style of ordnance (all missiles or bombs in a volley.)
      Payload: Varies by hard point (see above - all ordnance on a hard point must be the same size and type of ordnance)
    2. Mini-Missile Pod: Large capacity mini-missile pod. The mini missile pods are normally carried for ground strafing, anti-troop, and anti-emplacement attacks. Normal missile used are armor piercing, plasma, or fragmentation mini-missiles. In two pilot versions, mini missile pods are controlled by the pilot.
      Maximum Effective Range: Varies with missile types, mini-missiles only (See revised bomb and missile tables for details.)
      Mega-Damage: Varies with mini-missile types (See revised bomb and missile tables for details.)
      Rate of Fire: Each pod can fire missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), four (4), eight (8), or sixteen (16) mini-missiles and can be linked with other mini-missile pods for greater number of missiles (Counts as one attack no matter how many missiles in volley.)
      Payload: Each pod carries sixteen (16) mini-missiles.
  3. Anti-Missile Chaff/Flare Dispenser (1): Use the same effects as the TRIAX model. However, each time the system is engaged, the system fires off one chaff and 1D4 flares. Rifts Earth decoy systems are assumed to not operate against Phase World missiles due to technological difference. Reduce effects by 20% against smart missiles (Add +20% to rolls for smart missiles.)
    Effect:
      01-50 Enemy missile or missile volley detonates in chaff cloud - Missiles are all destroyed.
      51-75 Enemy missile or missile volley loses track of real target and veers away in wrong direction (May lock onto another target.)
      76-00 No effect, enemy missile or missile volley is still on target.
    Also note that the chaff cloud will also blind flying monsters that fly through cloud. They will suffer the following penalties: reduce melee attacks/actions, combat bonuses, and speed by half.
    Duration: 1D4 melee rounds.
    Payload: 20 chaff, 40 flares. Each time the system is engaged, the system fires off one chaff and 1D4 flares.
  4. Towed Decoys (4): The Su-47D mounts two dispensers for towed decoys with one near the tip of each wing but merged as part of the wing itself and are not obvious. Each dispenser has two towed decoys. The decoys are not as advanced as those carried on American fighters built at the same time. These drones are dragged about 328 feet (100 meters) behind the aircraft on a thin cable. Each is a specially designed radar lure that creates a radar image to mimic the aircraft. If decoys are not destroyed, they can be recovered and repaired. Rifts Earth decoy systems are assumed to not operate against Phase World weapons due to technological difference.
    M.D.C.: 5
    Effects: The decoy has an 65% chance of fooling ordinary non military radars and non smart guided missiles, the decoy has a 35% chance of fooling military level radars (like those of the Coalition), and the decoy has a 10% chance of fooling advanced military radars (Like those of the New Navy and TRIAX) and smart missiles.
    Maximum Effective Range: Not Applicable although decoy is deployed 328 feet (100 meters) from the aircraft
    Rate of Fire: One can be deployed at a time and requires 15 seconds to deploy (Reel Out) another decoy
    Payload: 4 Decoys (2 each)


Special Equipment:
The fighter has all the standard features of a standard fighter (same as standard robot minus loudspeaker and microphone) plus these special features listed below.

Combat Bonuses:


[ Altarain TM, Bandito Arms TM, Brodkil TM, Chipwell Armaments TM, Coalition States TM, Cyber-Knight TM, Federation of Magic TM, Free Quebec TM, Golden Age Weaponsmiths TM, Horune TM, Iron Heart Armaments TM, Kankoran TM, Kittani TM, Kydian TM, Larsen’s Brigade TM, M.D.C. TM, Mechanoids TM, Mega-Damage TM, Megaversal Legion TM, Millennium Tree TM, Mutants in Orbit TM, Naruni Enterprises TM, Naut’Yll, New Navy TM, New Sovietskiy TM, NGR TM, Nog Heng TM, Northern Gun TM, Phase World TM, Psyscape TM, Rifter TM, SAMAS TM, S.D.C. TM, Shemarrian TM, Splugorth TM, Stormspire TM, Sunaj TM, Tolkeen TM, Triax TM, Wellington Industries TM, Wilk’s Laser Technologies TM, Xiticix TM, and Zaayr TM are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]

[ Beyond the Supernatural®, Heroes Unlimited®, Nightbane®, Ninjas & Superspies®, Palladium Fantasy®, and Rifts® are registered trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]


Vessel drawing is created and copyrighted by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).


Initial Concepts by Marina O'Leary (LusankyaN@aol.com ).


Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).


Copyright © 2002, Kitsune. All rights reserved.


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