Arment Nightshade

Another aircraft I invented.

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Description:

The Nightshade fleet defense interceptor and maritime air superiority 4th generation fighter was developed by the Arment Corporation. It is roughly comparable to the Grumman F-14 Tomcat or Sukhoi Su-33 "Flanker-D". The airframe features all-moving canard foreplanes, delta wings, a V-tail, and an elevator placed between the widely-spaced engines. The engines are two afterburning turbofans fed by a pair of ventrally-mounted, variable geometry intakes. The aircraft is capable of carrying long-ranged, medium-ranged, and short-ranged missiles, of both the radar-guided and infrared-guided types. The missiles can be mounted under the wings or along the sides of the fuselage.

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Variants:

Nightshade NIT1 - Prototype. 75 feet in length. Features a mechanically-steered radar aperture and two afterburning turbofans rated at 24,500 pounds of thrust (static, sea level, uninstalled thrust). Maximum speed is Mach 2.45.

Nightshade NIT2 - First production model. Slight airframe changes to improve range and decrease drag. FLIR (forward-looking infrared) and RWR (radar-warning receiver) fitted to the airframe.

Nightshade NIT3 - Upgraded variant of NIT2. Features a PESA (passive electronically-scanned array) in placed of the older mechanically-steered array. Old engines replaced with newer turbofans rated at 27,000 pounds of thrust in afterburner.

Nightshade NIT4 - Proposed upgraded variant. Never constructed. Would have featured an AESA (active electronically-scanned array) in place of the PESA. Engines would have been uprated to 31,500 pounds of thrust and fitted with TVC (thrust vector control) nozzles capable of deflecting 15 degrees in pitch. Project cancelled in order to allocate funds for the Wolverine WOV2 5th generation air-superiority fighter.