Came up with a bit of a backstory for the Banshee which features a fair bit in my current (Slow moving
) project.
Not canon, but seemed to make sense in context
Mikoyan-Sukoi/BAe/Dassault F/A 51-E Banshee Atmospheric Strike Fighter.
In service 2222, C-Model 2235, E-Model 2244
Two Rolls Royce Turbojets, rated at Mach 3.6
Two Wright RAM jets rated at Mach 17.6 (To be used for high speed travel without missiles)
Optional rocket propulsion pods for trans orbital flight
Standard armament- Two Light pulse cannons, 15 hardpoints
Single pilot and integrated flight computer, VTOL capable, Basic E-Web system. Atmosphere capable only.
Banshee
In the days before First Contact the fledgling Earth Alliance, established after World War Three, began to expand up into space. At first space technology was limited to large vessels which gradually increased in both size and power allowing travel and colonisation within the Solar System. A true space combat force was not originally part of the EA charter and it took the Belt Alliance to create the original space going fighter aircraft to protect themselves from the new found threat of Raiders and aggressive competition.
Earth Force was soon established to provide a dedicated space going Navy and with the resources of the Alliance members soon deployed pure warships beyond anything the Raiders or Belt Alliance could field. As part of this Earth created a new fighter designed from the ground up for both space and atmospheric operations named the Raptor. The Raptor series evolved over time, merging with Belt Alliance projects to eventually create the Delta series ‘Zephyr’ which remained humanity’s prime fighter until First Contact.
After meeting the Centauri Earth quickly realised the Delta series was inadequate. While the Belt Alliance favoured upgrading the triangular craft Earth Force decided it was impossible to build a fighter that could compete with the older powers but also be atmosphere capable. They instead created the highly successful Starfury programme which did indeed create a superb space only fighter, but took over a century to create a dual space/atmosphere capable craft that could also take on the best fighters in the galaxy.
While the Starfury was entirely satisfactory for the Navy, the Army had to manage with handed down Delta fighters that while useful did not carry the sort of warload necessary for supporting ground forces. They were sluggish in an atmosphere, weakly armed and suffered from poor agility.
The Army requested a new fighter. Recognising that the Delta series represented the best dual region fighter Earth could build they reached the same conclusion as the navy, they needed a pure atmospheric fighter that sacrificed space flight for the ability to dominate within an atmosphere.
With resources funnelled into Starfuries it took decades before the Army was allocated a budget for its own refinements. The first decade of the twenty third century finally saw the Army receive the attention it deserved with a massive modernisation and standardisation that brought the disparate national armies into a single functional Earth Force. Beside the new types of vehicles, tanks, artillery and VTOL’s funding also went towards two new aircraft. One was the Wraith Bomber, the other came to be the Banshee.
Earth had a long experience to draw on regarding fighters. While pure atmospheric fighters had largely died out after the creation of the Raptor the Russian Consortium was swift to resurrect their archaic knowledge and begin work on an evolution of their WWIII HALO interceptors. The scale of the project required both Sukoi and Mikoyan to join forces, along with Dassault and British Aerospace. The resulting fighter would be a direct counterpart to the Starfury, which was produced largely by the American Mitchell and Japanese Hyundyne corporations.
The requirements laid down by the Army were substantial. The Banshee was required to operate in a swing role, engaging enemy aircraft and acting as a ground attack plane with no modifications. It had to carry a range of weapons ranging from anti ship torpedoes, aerial interception missiles, dumb bombs, cluster munitions, guided bombs, anti armour missiles and nuclear weapons to name just a few. It was also expected to perform recon missions in the absence of satellites or UAV’s.
The fighter was expected to match or exceed atmospheric speeds for the Centauri Sentri, the best known fighter of the era, and out manoeuvre it at any speed or altitude. The fighter also needed trans continental range with the ability to reach any point on a planet within two hours, necessitating a high altitude/Low orbit capability. All of this had to be provided in a fighter small enough to be stored and deployed from current naval units and rugged enough to operate from the most basic of forward airstrips. It was a daunting challenge.
The designers met the specifications with enthusiasm, working tirelessly to build a craft that would be to ground warfare what the Starfury was in space. Highly specialised the designers pulled out all the stops, testing several innovative techniques to produce a fighter without equal.
The prototype Banshee took flight in 2219, utilising brand new Rolls Royce turbojets that were similar in principle to engines built hundreds of years earlier. These engines were widely spaced for greater stability and turn control, with full mechanical and magnetic thrust vectoring. Inboard of these engines on the centreline were two Majestique SCRAM jet engines which were activated once the fighter hit a certain altitude and speed.
The Banshee used an extremely efficient fuel of highly concentrated chemicals. A relatively small amount produced more power than hundreds of gallons of old fossil based aviation fuel and was simpler to store than liquid oxygen. A Banshee could circumnavigate the Earth twice on internal fuel alone if required, though combat situations vastly reduced its effective range.
The turbojets could push the jet to mach 3.6 with a full combat load, while in clean configuration the SCRAM jets gave a maximum safe speed of mach 17.6 at low orbit.
The Banshee is rated for space travel, and can be fitted with disposable solid rocket boosters to launch it into orbit. However once there the fighter’s air breathing engines will be useless and the Banshee will rely on friendly forces for recovery. It does however provide a means of escape from a fallen planet.
On the other hand a banshee is not rated for re-entry. For planetary insertions the Banshee is encased in a protective drop pod that absorbs the heat and friction of re-entry before breaking apart in the upper atmosphere allowing the fighter to engage immediately in battle. These pods are usually deployed ahead of landing shuttles to provide immediate air cover during landings.
Some experiments were conducted to add ion engines to the design in place of the turbojets, but these did not provide adequate thrust in a gravity well and were abandoned.
Primary armament for the Banshee is centred on two plasma cannons, later upgraded to pulse cannons. The prototype flew with rail guns, though plasma cannons were always planned due to issues with ammunition storage. The guns are powered by a micro fusion reactor and mounted in the forward fuselage ahead and below the cockpit. Due to atmospheric ablation these weapons have a much shorter range than their Starfury mounted cousins, but pack a considerable punch. They are effective against any known fighter and make short work of all but the heaviest vehicles.
Secondary armament can be carried on 15 hardpoints, three of which are ‘wet’ allowing for the carriage of drop tanks for extended range. In the air to air role the Banshee carries a mix of short range ‘Starburst’ and long range ‘Starblaze’ missiles. Both types of weapon use a multi seeker warhead capable of locking a target with Radar, thermal, optical or tachyon returns. The missiles are also capable of being fired blind, programmed to seek out a particular target profile by the pilot. In such a mode they will hunt down their targets, communing with each other to avoid overkill. The variety of sensor inputs make the missiles very difficult to spoof and only the best ECM has proven effective, and even then rarely 100%.
In an atmosphere an aircraft is subject to gravity, friction and drag making Starfury style manoeuvres impossible. However due to several complex innovations a Banshee can perform a series of brutal twists and turns once considered only possible in space. A Banshee’s atmospheric agility is considered better than the space based agility of the latest Narn and League craft, barring the Cascor. Within an atmosphere the Banshee is unmatched.
Thrust vectoring accounts for much of this, especially at low speeds, but the Banshee utilises several other techniques to improve agility. The first is using very large control surfaces. All parts of the tail plane, horizontal, vertical and diagonal are fully articulated. The Banshee does not have traditional flaps but rather moves the full wing area. The entire outer halves of the main wings are also articulated, with only the inner half of the main wing being fixed to provide a rigid support for the hard points. Nozzles on the engine sides used for Vertical Take Off can also be employed in dogfights giving the Banshee excellent deceleration and roll characteristics.
These systems were all present in WWIII era fighters, but the Banshee adds to this with an articulated main fuselage. The main body can arch along its centreline changing from a flat profile to a more triangular shape, while the nose and cockpit can angle up to thirty degrees in any direction. This movement fundamentally shifts the centre of gravity in the aircraft altering its stability dependant on speed and mission profile. The turning of the forward fuselage, shifts in the centre of mass, thrust vectoring and large control surfaces all add up to a massively effective dogfighter.
While the Wraith is normally used for bombing fixed targets, the Banshee is used to strike enemy troop and armour formations. The normal load out is anti tank ‘Hammer’ missiles for close range work identical to those used by ground forces, or longer ranged ‘Yellow Jacket’ multi role stand off missile for larger jobs. The Yellow Jacket is normally used against bunkers or heavy armour. For a more direct attack the Banshee can be loaded with Cyclone gun pods. The Cyclone cannon is a rotary barrelled plasma weapon used on the Valkyrie gunship and the most fearsome gun ever taken into the air. It was too large for internal installation on Furies or the Banshee, but can be carried in a large dedicated pod consisting of the cannon and its reactor. One centreline pod is usually carried but a maximum of three are supportable, though one is usually enough for any job. On one occasion during the battle of Balos an anti tank flight was jumped by Thorun fighters and were forced to turn their Cyclone cannons on the dart fighters. The results convinced Earth Force to install the Cyclone cannon on its next superiority fighter, codenamed Thunderbolt.
In addition to anti armour weapons the Banshee is cleared to drop anti personnel devices including sub munition cluster rockets, frag rockets, guided freefall bombs, thermobaric weapons and lately incendiary weapons. While the Wraith is better in this type of action the Banshee is more than capable of wiping out massive numbers of infantry and levelling swathes of urban areas.
The Banshee is also expected to operate in an anti shipping role, engaging ocean going vessels and if necessary gravity propelled space ships entering an atmosphere. This has only occurred once when a Banshee flight intercepted a Dilgar assault ship trying to land a mechanised brigade behind human lines.
Standard anti ship load out comprises of either Mjolnir cruise missiles, Sun Storm plasma warhead torpedoes (Similar to those used by Furies) or Blue thunder kiloton yield tactical nukes. The Banshee is also cleared to operate strategic weapons, namely Kinetic kill vehicles dropped from low orbit at extreme speed, or the Red Dawn multi megaton fusion device.
While again this is mainly the domain of the Wraith, a Banshee will be used in high threat environments where a Wraith would be destroyed. The superior agility and low level performance will often allow a Banshee to break through enemy air defences and perform a risky ‘Toss’ attack, essentially pulling up sharply and releasing an unguided nuclear weapon on the upward curve allowing gravity to arc the bomb over the thickest defences and down onto the target without exposing the jet. As unpowered bombs are harder to detect and hit than cruise missiles this tactic was used often against Minbari positions.
The Banshee can also carry sensor pods for recon missions or to act as improvised AWAC nodes. With the sensor pods also able to function as extensive jammers usually the lead fighter in any mission will usually carry a sensor pod on its centreline mounting. The fighter can also ferry UAV’s to their deployment zones to increase their range.
The fighter also uses its own internal ECM suite designed to disrupt enemy sensors. After human stealth methods were found ineffective against most alien technology more active jamming was devised. In addition to the disruption transmitters the Banshee also carries the multi-countermeasure system identical to those on Starfuries. These release a small package that detonates in a large cloud of black smoke, the particles in the smoke being effective at masking heat and sensor signatures along with blocking optics. Some Recon craft can deploy long streams of disruptive smoke to continuously fool enemy scans or mask an approaching attack. Coupled with its other abilities this makes the Banshee an excellent SEAD unit, with the ‘B’ and ‘D’ variants specifically optimised for ‘Wild Weasel’ missions.
The hull is relatively thin to allow greater speed and agility, but is aided by an E-Web system to disrupt or degrade incoming weapons fire.
The Banshee entered service in 2222 and a few years later saw its first action defending the border worlds against Narn incursions. The standard Narn Gorith fighter had little chance against the Banshee, and arguably improved its chances of survival by taking on Tiger Furies in orbit. The Banshee also engaged Raider owned Delta V fighters, the aircraft that was considered to fill the Banshee role by certain senators. Those engagements proved decisively that the Banshee was the only rational choice.
The Dilgar invasion firmly established the Banshee as a crucial element of the EA warmachine. The fighter experienced its first combat deployment from orbit at Tyree in Markab space, flying straight into action within hours of war being declared and clearing the skies around Earth’s first landing points. The Banshee made short work of Thoruns, but ironically found the older Dilgar Stinger fighters a more respectable challenge. Where the Thorun was optimised for space the Stinger was a pure dual role fighter armed with bolters and missiles in a similar manner to the Banshee. Even so the Earth Fighters remained the better design though the well trained Dilgar pilots did score numerous kills.
The hardest fight of the war was the surprise Dilgar counter attack against Balos. Many Banshees were destroyed on the ground with the majority of the rest destroyed facing overwhelming odds. A few survived and were hidden across the planet in caves or caverns where they took part in humanity’s attempts to retake the world. Only three Banshees survived that campaign and currently reside in museums.
Despite these achievements the Banshee was completely over shadowed by the success of its more glamorous cousins in the Starfury squadrons and relatively few civilians came to understand the remarkable story of the Banshee. Earth Force however was duly impressed and introduced the ‘C/D’ series in 2235 incorporating lessons from the war, mainly around maintenance ease and newer engines.
Between wars the Banshee was largely forgotten along with the rest of the army as funding was slashed and the Navy received the Lion’s share. The fighter maintained its reputation providing support in minor wars and skirmishes across EA and alien space but rarely made the news. Another upgrade came in 2244 improving the fighters systems and adding the new particle pulse cannons that had become Earth’s weapon of choice. In this configuration the Banshee met its biggest challenge.
The Minbari war brought an alien power into Earth space for the first time, crushing any resistance in its way. Invasions of EA colonies brought the Banshees into action, and as with most of the early fights the results were atrocious. Banshee pilots quickly formulated new tactics, staying at low level to avoid precision orbital strikes and working on separating enemy units and engaging them piecemeal.
In space a Nial was invisible, fast and had extreme long ranged weapons. But in an atmosphere it was much clunkier, its direct fire weapons limited by the horizon, and its stealth neutralised by atmospheric friction and turbulence. They were still deadly, but where a Starfury would have found an almost impossible challenge the Banshee could meet the enemy on even terms, in some cases superior.
Nial combat records against Banshees were depressing for the Warrior Caste, and even the lighter Tishat fighters which were brought out of semi retirement proved unprepared for the human fighters. If they had earned fame fighting Dilgar aces, the Banshee became a legend against the Minbari. With the addition of the Valkyrie and the Thor tank it was one of the few human weapons that proved a good match for the enemy and was glorified by the media. The Banshees operated from forest clearings maintained by the resistance, launching hit and run attacks on the Minbari before retreating. In time they were destroyed, or had their bases overrun, but for a long time the Banshee’s resistance showed what Earth could do with a level playing field.
After the war the Banshee remained in service as a vital part of planetary defences, but planned upgrades were scrapped as the EA focused on space combat. In 2259 the Thunderbolt entered service, a design projected to replace both the Aurora Fury and the Banshee. Slowly the Banshee began to be phased out of service.
The fighter saw a little more action in the civil war operated by both sides often against each other. On several occasions the Banshee came up against the Thunderbolts designed to replace them and while most battles were dominated by the new fighters in a few instances when Banshees managed to dictate the height and speed of the engagement they managed to give the far more modern T-Bolts a surprise defeat.
Their performance against Thunderbolts at low level prompted several senior Generals to demand the Banshee be retained. The Thunderbolt was a superb craft, but definitely optimised towards air superiority while the Banshee had a multi role ability. It could carry a larger payload than a Thunderbolt and could more easily hover over a battlefield. It was also far easier to maintain in the field and not in demand by the Navy for fleet defence.
Earth Force finally agreed, and by 2265 a new ‘J’ model was introduced benefiting from ISA technology and nearly two generations of combat experience. The new version is expected to serve until the newly proposed ‘Firebolt’ enters service as an evolution of the Thunderbolt design.
Even then the Banshee has carved itself a place in history, both among humans and the aliens who have witnessed its abilities first hand.
