Pinching this link from Runebo because I already had something like it in the works....
http://www.gizmag.com/two-seater-hummel ... age/11586/
Paladin Steel VTOL-8C ‘Flitter’ Light VTOL “’Flying call boxes’ is what we call them in the ‘force...pure brute force aviation, with those two big engines being all that’s keeping you aloft...The grease monkeys call them ‘cement mixers’ because those big engines can ingest just about any sort of flying debris....dirt, salt spray, dropped tools, pigeons, and keep supplying lift....Hope that’s true, because if those thrusters cut out on you at altitude, you got zip aero-lift to drop you to a safe landing, and damn little time to bail out...if you bothered with strapping on a ‘chute in the first place!”
---Captain Twillen Morantz, Vermont Free State Civil Aviation
“I am constantly asked why we at Paladin Steel produce so many vehicle designs that would seem to be redundant ....too many designs serving the same purpose....especially in our military, where a flattening of logistical demands would appear to be in order..
I remind such questioners that we are a COMPANY, and that we produce not solely for the military needs for the GNE. We must constantly keep our eyes on our profit margins, and to maintain that, we must produce products that people both CAN and WILL buy. We are not the only arms manufacturers on the market, not even the best, and we cannot devote ourselves to producing only high end military hardware that only a few prosperous nation states can afford and maintain.
However, by virtue of those high end systems, those states and surrounding communities have seen a bloom of emerging commercial activity, and the return of a middle class and population working at more than subsistance. It is this emerging segment of the global population whose potential we seek to tap, for who we design most of our products.
Transportation is one of our most important products; with larger communities and growing trade, secured trade routes and the stabilization of regions once dominated only by chaos, travel, and the infrastructure to support it, is again becoming a dynamic in our societies and in our world. A dynamic we will serve and foster, towards the establishment of common global civilization. Starting with the individual traveller. “
----Deneva Khalane, Paladin Steel CEO
Despite their rather different designs, this VTOL design, together with its cousin, the Boston Aviation PHS-11a, have become so ubiquitous, buzzing around the cities and territories of 5ST, that many people in the Greater New England region often confuse them, ascribing them to be variants of a common design, which, given the fact that both vehicles shared a common development team, isn’t too far from the truth.
The PS/VTOL-8C is a light Vertical TakeOff and Landing vehicle designed to fill the role of a light helicopter or private plane. The vehicle consists of a reinforced crash-cage and glassite crew compartment squating on a fixed tripod-landing gear, with two large turbofan engines swivel- mounted atop, and to the rear of, the crew cabin. The PS/VTOL-8C is a brute-force, directed-thrust aircraft that relies entirely on engine thrust to remain aloft; it has effectively no aerodynamic lift in event of engine failure(a large parachute deployed from the roof of the cabin provides some measure of hope in an emergency ditch). Fortunately, the Flitter relies on the PS-Alison-118C Turbo-Fan, an extremely reliable design whose various variants have been in service in both civil and military use for over a decade now.
The ‘Flitter’ is noisy and short-ranged, and ill-suited for aerial combat, but it is easy to fly, reliable, and inexpensive to operate. Its sturdy crash-cage design and reinforced nacelles can take a surprising amount of punishment, either from enemy action or undue buffeting and debris ingestion/impact. Though it’s not really intended for combat, the VTOL does have two light hardpoints on the lower front of the hull, intended to carry searchlights, camera pods, and sensor modules, but which can accomodate light gunpods, rocket pods, and energy weapon modules.
The ‘Flitter’ has become an extremely common air vehicle in the Greater New England region, and it is starting to make inroads into theregular commercial market. The VFS/CoM use these machines as forestry patrol craft, traffic monitoring, internal security, and light transport, while an increasing number of allied nation-state citizens, with large amounts of disposable income, have acquired these craft as personal transport.
Type:PS/VTOL-8C
Class: Light General Purpose Directed Thrust Vertical TakeOff and Landing Craft
Date of Introduction: 105 PA
Crew: One, plus 1-2 passengers
MDC/Armor By Location
Main Body 90
Lift Thrusters(2) 50 each
Landing Legs(3) 5 each
Length: 10 ft
Width: 15 ft(Folds to 7 ft)
Height:10 ft(15 ft w/ fans raised in lift position)
Weight: 1,800 lbs
Cargo: Small 2x2x3 ft bin space behind the seats for internal stowage, and can carry additional cargo on the external hardpoints(up to 400 lbs)
Powerplant: Liquid Fuel, Electric, or Nuclear(w/ 5-year energy life)
Range: 300 miles w/ Liquid Fuel and Electric
Speed: Hover to 300 MPH, maximum altitude 15,000 ft
Market Cost: 75,000 credits for the liquid-fueled version, 85,000 for electric, 600,000 credits for nuclear.
Systems of Note:
*Radio---100 mile range
*Mini-Radar---20 mile range
*Altimeter, air speed guage, standard small craft instrumentation
*Landing Lights
*Small directional spotlight--300 ft range
*External loudspeaker
*Cabin Environmental Control and Air Filtration
*Emergency Descent Parachute---Deploys from the top of the aircraft to slow its descent.
*Crash Protection Systems(crash cage, auto-lock belting and restraints, airbags)---Reduces crash damage to occupants by HALF.
Weapons Systems:
None standard, but has two small external hardpoints(2), each one of which can hold ONE of the following:
a) Cargo Pod---Can carry 200 lbs, or a stretcher pod
b) Sensor Pod---Optical Pod, Forward-Looking InfraRed, Radiation Detector, or Molecular Analyzer.
c) Heavy Spotlight---500 ft range
d)Sprayer/CropDuster Pod
Range: 200 ft, covers a 15 ft area
Damage: Varies by chemical used; if using water a blast does 1d4x10 HP damage to vampires.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Tank with 20 blasts of chemical/water
Cost: 5,000 credits
e)Micro-Missile Pod---The advent of long-ranged 15mm and 20mm micro-missiles has made it possible to fit the Flitter with a more compact ‘sting’:
*15mm Micro-Missiles---Vehicle-mounted version of the McMLR-14 MMRifle, with 14 rd cassette.
Range:
Pattern-1A 5,700 ft
Pattern-1B 6,000 ft
Pattern-1C 6,000 ft
Pattern-1D 7,000 ft
Pattern-1E 7,500 ft
Damage/Bonuses:
Pattern-1A---1d4 MD to 2 ft blast radius
Pattern-1B---1d6 MD to 5 ft blast radius
Pattern-1C---4d6 MD to 4 ft blast radius, or 1d4 MD to a 10 ft blast radius in fragmentation mode
Pattern-1D----6d6 MD to a 5 ft blast radius, or 2d6 MDC out to a 18 ft blast radius in fragmentation mode
Pattern-1E---1d4x10 MD to 3 ft blast radius
Bonuses:
Pattern-1A (None) Spin-Stabilized
Pattern-1B (None) Gyro-Compass Chip
Pattern-1C (+1 to strike, in addition to W.P. Heavy bonuses. The Pattern-1C can also be set to be a ‘beam rider’, following a laser illuminator ‘painted’ on the target for an extra +2 to strike. However, this requires expediture of an extra attack per melee on the part of the gunner to keep the laser illuminator on target) Gyro-Compass Chip, Laser-Sensor Microchip, Radar Trigger Chip.
Pattern-1D (+2 to strike, in addition to W.P. Heavy bonuses. Like the Pattern-1C, the Pattern-1D can ‘beam-ride’...again, this requires the gunner to maintain target-lock at the cost of an additional APM, but the -1D is better able to remain on target if the lock is broken. Furthermore, the missile can be keyed to lock on to the laser illuminator of other gunners...done with a pre-determined key-chip...allowing squadmates to ‘paint’ targets for fellow soldiers with micro-missile launchers). Gyro-Compass Chip, Laser-Sensor Microchip, Radar Trigger Chip, Image Sensing Chip.
Pattern-1E(+4 to strike, in addition to W.P. Heavy bonuses, Same ‘beamrider’ capability as with Pattern-1D. ) Gyro-Compass Chip, Laser-Sensor Microchip, Radar Trigger Chip, Image Sensing Chip, Infra-Red Sensing Chip.
Cost:
Pattern-1A 25 credits per McM
Pattern-1B 32 credits per McM
Pattern-1C 60 credits per McM
Pattern-1D 95 credits per McM
Pattern-1E 220 credits per McM
*20mm Micro-Missiles---Adopted from the 20mm ‘Fire Orchid’ ML-SAM launcher system;
Range: 8,000 ft for all types
Damage: (Pattern-2a) 4d4 MD to 2 ft blast radius
(Pattern-2b)6d6 MD to a 5 ft blast radius, or 2d6 MDC out to a 18 ft blast radius in fragmentation mode
(Pattern-2c)(Incendiary)2d4 MD to 5 ft blast radius, does an additional 1d4 burn damage for 2d4 melees
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1, 3, or 9
Payload: 9-shot clip
Bonuses:(All Patterns)(+3 to strike airborne targets, +1 to strike ground targets) Gyro-Compass Chip, Laser-Sensor Microchip, Radar Trigger Chip, Image Sensing Chip, Infra-Red Sensing Chip.
Special Features:
*Sensor Package---The sensor package includes an IR/Thermal sight, laser rangefinder(2 mile range) and directional mini-radar(2 mile range) with audio-alarm to notify the gunner of target-lock.
Cost: 28,000 credits (3,000 for the launcher assembly, 25,000 for the sighting package)
(Pattern-2a) 90 credits each
(Pattern-2b)130 credits each
(Pattern-2c)150 credits each
f)Mini-Missile Pod---7 shot pod
g)Short-Range Missile Pod----4 shot pod
h)Medium Range Missile---1
i)Light Pulse Laser
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 2d6 MD single shot, 6d6 MD triple pulse burst
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: 100 shot battery for conventionally powered models. Effectively Unlimited for nuclear
Cost: 24,000 credits
j)Light Machine Gun---7.62mm GPMG
Range: 9,900 ft
Damage: 6d6 SDC per single round, or 4d6x10 SDC(1d4 MD) per 10 rd burst
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload: 3,000 rd belt
Cost: 4,000 credits
k)Light Rail Gun---Copies of the Coalition’s own C-200 ‘Dead Man’ rail gun.
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 1d4 MD single rd, 4d6 MD per 20 rd burst
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload:6,000 rd drum(300 bursts) per gun
Cost: 60,000 credits
Options:
You really didn’t think we wouldn’t have at least a FEW options, did you?
*Pontoons---Fits the Flitter for landing on water. Each pontoon has 7 MDC, and the whol rig adds an additional 180 lbs of weight. Reduce maximum speed by 20% due to drag. Cost: 4,000 credits.
*Remote Control---This outfits the Flitter with an auto-pilot and remote control, allowing the unmanned aircraft to be piloted from a control rig(a flip switch under the dashboard enables this system from the onboard manual controls). Range limited only by communications range. Cost: 20,000 credits
*Silent Running---Specially designed turbofan blades, bearings, and ducting reduce the noise generated by the ‘cement mixers’ by as much as 80%(effectively giving the Flitter a Prowl ability of 60% by auditory cues alone); perfect for urban operations(those complaining neighbors), covert surveillance, or gray ops. Cost: 110,00 credits