Kalistan

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IBSI and DefMin releases specs for new Kalistani Attack Aircraft
Heavily armored Subsonic Aircraft designed for exclusive CAS role
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
September 30, 5699


New Artist Conception of KDC-152 designed with AeroKal and KalMilInCo

The Imperial Bureau of Security Intelligence released the first drawings of a new line of Ground Attack and Close Air Support aircraft that are being designed. During its design process, it has been dubbed the KDC, or Kalistan Design Craft 152, though if the prototype is adopted, it will be designated KA-11 or the Kalistani Attack (Plane) 11. This would be the first new military aircraft in a planned series of three new designs which will be going into prototyping and testing over the course of the next ten years.

Kalistan has relied on ancient joint- Indralan designed aircraft, the F/A-10 "Northern Dragons" or not more commonly "Dragon" which have been produced in Sulari since 5100 as its main multi-role fighter. "These designs will continue to serve as a utility fighter," said KalMilInCo project chief Nicole Hallek. "But other nations pride themselves on having up to date technology, and in one on one combat, our older fighters suffer some significant disadvantages. Plus, the multirole aspect of these fighters allows them to do a lot of things ok, but we would like to have a plane that does one thing really well, and this was the thinking that went into the design of the KDC-152."

The Empire has also tried to purchase planes from other nations multiple times, each with little success. "The last ones we purchased were more than 200 years ago," said Hallek. "Those planes have long outlived their life expectancy and are now nothing but memories, with no additional armaments coming from our former suppliers. So, we are forced to design our own, so we don't need to rely on the almost non-existent or uncertain good will of other nations."

The KDC-152, which is designated as an attack fighter, is designed for close air support for both artillery and infantry movement. "We are designing a plane that can take out tanks," said Hallek. "Since its main role will be attacking ground targets, both troops on the ground and armored cavalry, it will be slow, heavily armored and quiet. It will need to move fast enough to avoid ground fire, but also armored enough to be able to suffer some hits while protecting both pilot and important aircraft systems to keep the plane flying and allow it to return home."

Hallek said the main gun on the plane is a rotating 30mmX7 Gatling Autogun. "A gun this size is enough to put enough rounds through any heavy armor to either disable or destroy it, especially slow moving targets like tanks and APCs." She said the designs of the cannon for the KDC-152, can theoretically fire between between 60 and 70 rounds a second and can go through a 3200 round magazine in less than a minute. Obviously we will need to train our pilots to lay off the trigger for most of any battle." The gun is driven by hydraulic motors and itself will weigh about 3200 pounds with a full magazine, and in total will be about 20 feet long, larger and heavier than an automobile. Each round is 30mm in diameter and 173 mm in length.

Hallek also said the conceptual model has 11 hardpoints, five under each wing and one under the fuselage that can carry a mix of weapons systems including air to air or air to ground missiles, rocket dispensers for air defense, or gravity, incendiary or GPS guided bombs. "This thing will be able to climb at about 30-40 degrees, and will be able to effectively attack at a relatively steep dive at we are aiming for about 20 degrees, making it something between a fighter and a dive bomber."

The fifty seven foot wingspan nearly perpendicular wingspan will increase stability in attack, while the dual vertical stabilizers will give the plane additional stability and handling at low speeds. "The engines are AeroKal Turbofan engines rather than a turbojet engines," said Hallek. "The design has to turbofans because the plane itself is quite heavy, but not only did we want to use turbofans for their quietness, but also because they are far more fuel efficient than jet engines. Ideally you wouldn't hear the plane coming until it was past you, and then if you were a target, it would already be too late. But these concerns about fuel efficiency seem to drive a lot of decisions we make, and so we also needed a design that could accommodate the slower speeds provided by the slower engines."

The plane is designed to cruise at around 300 miles an hour, well under Mach 1, and so it is slower than most supersonic jets, it is also much more accurate at point target ground attack than smaller, faster and vastly more expensive jet fighters.

The result is a plane designed almost exclusively to destroy ground assets. "We will not be using these in air combat over the water," said Hallek. These are destined to act like armored units of the skies and specifically to kill invading heavy armor. They will fly low, they will fly slow, and they will destroy everything in front of them. It is designed to enhance stability, durability and high pilot survivability. It will be a fantastic enhancement to the Regular Air Force when it is built." The plane will go into design and testing early next year and a prototype is expected by early 5702.

@TheRepublic