XAB-1 Tsubasa

XAB-1 Tsubasa
Role	Flying fortress
Manufacturer	Retinetics Weapons Corp Grunder Industries (post-Circum-Pacific War)
Variants	XB-0 Hresvelgr XB-10 P-1112 Aigaion
Operators	Osea Yuktobania

History

Built in the year 1997 the XAB-1 Tsubasa(at the time under Belkan ownership it was christined XBA-01 Flugel )Retenetic Weapons Corp and Grunder Insdustries design for a bomber/gunship to replace the XB-0 that was stolen by the World With No Boundries and destroyed by Galm Team after the end of the Belkan War. It was much smaller than the XB-0 and most air fortresses developed by other countries in later years. It unfortunatley was rarely used in combat other than training battles with allied countries. In the year 2002 it was sold to Estovakia so Belka could get rid of the waste of money it was for them.

What the XAB-1 was used for by the Estovakians was unknown until late 2004 when the XBA-01 Flugel renamed XAB-1 Tsubasa was sighted by the 41st Fighter Squadron, Meteor Squadron of ISAF. The Tsubasa was on its way to Megalith to defend it against the attack that Mobius Squadron was conducting. Estovakia sent it in aid of their ally of Erusia who were losing the war against ISAF. Meteor Squadron was ordered by their AWACS to attack it after comfirming it was an enemy. They began to destroy the lone air fortress whose escort fighters were reloading on weaponry a top it's small landing pads located on it's middle wing. Meteor 4's F-16 lay victim to the Tsubasa's ASSAILANT laser which sliced it's left wing off and Meteor 4 was forced to eject over the ocean and was confirmed KIA when the fighter's ejection seat was found later floating in the sea it's dead pilot still seated.

The rest of the squadron battered the Tsubasa to near crashing and as it began to lose altitude it launched it's two newly armed fighters which were a F-35B and an X-02 Wyvern. Both fighters were shot down and the Tsubasa never reached Megalith to lay waste to ISAF fighters and possibly Mobius One who's actions led to the end of the war.

In 2007 a research vessel owned by the Osean Oceanography Institute was conducting ocean pollution testing when one of it's submersibles taking water samples halogen lights illuminated a large hull of an aircraft. In 2008 on a later expediton to the site, the wreck was confirmed to be that of the XAB-1 Tsubasa. Estovakia's government claimed the site and all future expeditions were to be made only by Estovakian research institutes. The remains of the Tsubasa were raised and it was according to popular conspiracy theories, transported to "Ghost Town" a rumored military base in Estovakia dedicated to testing secret aircraft. All events invovling XAB-1 after it's salvage are classified by the Estovakian government and it's believed to have influenced the design of the P-1112 Aigaion created by defecting Belkan scientists who many years ago also created the XAB-1 Tsubasa formerly XBA-01 Flugel for their home country.

Design

The Tsubasa has a triplane wing layout with the upper two wings that are akin to the flying wing and a bottom angular wing. The aircraft is a hybrid of plane and airship with most space not taken up by crew spaces, weapons, and fuel and engine systems, these leftover spaces contain helium envelopes to provide lift to it's massive frame. It has a layout of 12 jet engines, 6in the rear of the superstructure and 6 in the tail. The aircraft is refueled by two KC-135's as it consumes more fuel than smaller craft. Due to its size it can not take off or land on conventional runways and instead takes off and lands on waterways much like flying boats.

Armament

• 2 internal bays for 50,000 lb of ordnance, which can carry any of the following:
  • 80× 500 lb class bombs (Mk-82) mounted on Bomb Rack Assembly (BRA)
  • 36× 750 lb CBU class bombs on BRA
  • 16× 2000 lb class weapons (Mk-84, JDAM-84, JDAM-102) mounted on Rotary Launcher Assembly (RLA)
  • 16× B61 or B83 nuclear weapons on RLA
  • 16x AGM-158 JASSM

Tsubasa carries a ASSAILANT (Air-to-Surface Self-Aligning Integrated Laser And Nonlinear Turret) which fires from the front of it's belly to destroy ground targets

It also has 8 small AA turrets two on the tip of each wing and one on both the front and back of the craft.

Tsubasa contains two ESM systems one in the nose and one in the tail.

Specifications

• Length: 535.4 feet
• Wingspan: 600.4 feet
• Height: 98 feet
• Max Speed: 600 mph
• Cruising: 520 mph

Trivia

• Tsubasa means set of wings in Japanese.
• Flugel means wing in German.
• It is the smallest of all air fortresses in Strangereal.
• Its data was probably used along with the data of XB-0 to develop the P-1112 Aigaion.
• Source: http://oni-defense.deviantart.com/#/d39zsma