AS-9 Firehawk - Attack VTOL

AS-9 Firehawk Attack VTOL (Xbox Friendly)

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-=Manufacturer's Notes=-

The AS-9 Firehawk Attack VTOL is a small one-manned attack craft based on the chassis of the Olympus 200 and was created to fulfil two main roles; firstly as an escort for assault transports as they fly back and forth between a planet's surface and their Mother-ship in orbit, and secondly to provide close air support for any friendly forces that are already on the ground.

While most combat in space is usually fought with larger vessels using guided missiles, heavy anti-ship weaponry and attack drones, there is still the occasional requirement for smaller spacecraft to have a human pilot at the controls, such as orbit to surface operations where the longer ranges and possibility of hostile EA (Electronic Attack) may compromise the use of drones, or where the intervention of a human operator is deemed to be a necessary requirement of the mission. In fact the TCA Marshals made frequent use of modified AS-9's as their personal shuttle craft for years before many of them upgraded to the more capable AS-10 Warhawk.

Despite being several decades old, the AS-9 still enjoys continued service within the Terran Space Force, Martian Navy and several corporate security fleets, as even though they have been gradually phased out of service and replaced by the newer AS-10 Warhawk, the AS-9 Firehawk with it's fixed hydrogen-only thruster configuration and non-nuclear power plant means that they are cheap, easy to maintain and due to their forgiving flight characteristics they also make excellent training craft.

Name: AS-9 Firehawk
Type: Attack Spacecraft (Aerospace VTOL)
Manufacturer: Olympus Aerospace
Mass: 47,720 kg
Block Count: 663
Length: 13.0 m
Height: 4.5 m
Width: 9.5 m
Thruster Acceleration Forward in Vacuum: 17.50 m/s/s
Thruster Acceleration Upward in 1G: 8.20 m/s/s
Area of Operation: All Environments
Weapons: 6 x 25mm Gatling guns (Forward facing)
2 x 25mm Gatling Turrets

*Author's Notes*
Since all my amazing followers on Xbox can't use the AS-10 Warhawk that features in season 3 of Space Engineers:Into the Unknown (As it uses scripts that control the thrusters on the tilt-rotor modules) I've decided to release the AS-9 Firehawk on Mod io. This is a single-seat attack spacecraft that I made a few years back during a survival game because it was easier to build than a Warhawk - The projectors in Space Engineers hate multi-grid blueprints - and I liked it so much that I kept the blueprint on my hard drive, which as it turns out was a good thing as it means I can release it here for the rest of you to enjoy.

This thing is extremely survival friendly. It doesn't have any sub-grids, it can be built using all the resources available on the starting planets, it's connector allows it to recharge and refuel from larger vessels and space stations (including those belonging to friendly NPC factions), and those six Gatling guns and two Gatling turrets will make short work of those enemy drones and even some of the smaller capital vessels.

I didn't add any rocket pods to the Firehawk, as the planet I started on didn't have any uranium, but you can swap around one or two guns at the front of the spacecraft for some rocket pods instead if you plan on going up against larger spacecraft or fixed installations, but don't forget that you only get 4 rockets per pod and they won't reload automatically.

Also remember that this thing only has hydrogen thrusters, so keep an eye on your propellant levels and try not to linger for too long in a planet's atmosphere otherwise you'll risk not having enough fuel to be able to get back into orbit again.. Unless of course the planet has ice on it, in which case you can just stick some into the H2/O2 Generator and slowly refuel it again!

-=Credits=-

Scripts used:
None