The Pterodactylus fighter came as an unpleasant surprise for a Japanese Empire strike force when they first encountered them in the tail-end of 2349. Amongst the Pterodactylus’ armaments was a pair of Japanese Empire-built ion cannons. The GTSR had not been assumed to have retained enough infrastructure to be able to manufacture Japanese ion cannons. But the presence of them on the GTSR’s new fighter indicated otherwise. The Pterodactylus is an all-round, generalist fighter and is thus expected to be seen deployed in larger numbers. From its observed performance, it is very solidly a jack-of-all-trades, but master of none. Manoeuvrability is slightly above average for a fighter at 490 MEUs, but at the cost of an acceleration of only 41mc. As with most fighters, it has very little armour, rated only to an AIC of 10TXq. The Pterodactyl’s substantial 150TXq shielding makes it durable. Analysis of the Pterodactylus’ power emissions suggest that it carries a hyperdrive, though when first encountered, the squadron was being carried by a militarised Oxen-class freighter, presumably to be delivered to a proper carrier.
The weapons payload is fairly light. In addition to the two 19TXq ion cannons on the upper wings, each lower wing mounts a single lazer cannon, rated to 20TXq. A pair of light torpedo launchers are each rated to a Standard Warhead Capacity rating of 6. In the observed conflict, these were each loaded with six standard 30TXq-yield Herosine Arms Mk 30 torpedoes. It is expected that when involved in anti-ship missions, these would be replaced with BSE-manufacture AST-450 Hammer anti-ship light torpedoes, four in each tube.
The armament and drive profile marks the Pterodactylus as a discount assault gunboat. The ion cannons as a default load-out seem to suggest an emphasis towards disabling enemy vessels for capture and are likely seen as more of an insurgence-suppression weapon or policing weapon. This likely furthers the GTSR’s narrative as a unifying power that seeks to end wars.
Notably, the Pterodactylus does not use the binomial nomenclature seen on the capital ships, which suggests that there are no planned variants. That said, it would be a relatively simple matter to swap out the ion cannons for additional lazers (or vice versa). The design seems to have more than a passing semblance of the CT-1 Cutthroat, and thus if the warheads launchers are also partly modular like that fighter, adapting them would not be a difficult task.
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Range: Grand Terran Sovereign Republic
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