SPECIFICATIONS

GOVERNMENT:UN Socialist Solar Empire
TYPE: Light Aerospace Fighter/Torpedo-bomber
MODEL: Hygiea Factory #23 SF-03
DATE INTRODUCED: 2073 AD
LENGTH: 22 feet
WIDTH: 55 feet
HEIGHT: 11.92 feet
MATERIAL: Crystal Composite
POWER PLANT: Hensai Energy HENR-85 nuclear reactor
OUTPUT: 85 megawatts
ARMOR TYPE: Crystal Composite
ARMOR THICKNESS: 2 inches of energy resistant armor
DISPLACEMENT: 15 tons
CREW: 1Pilot

PROPULSION

             Combat Speed Engines:
             2x Hygiea Factory #18 IE-3 high yield ion engines
             SPEED: 15,200 mph each (390,400 mph total)

             Main Engine/Cruising Speed Engine:
             1x Senchai-Cydonia SCIE-6 high yield ion engine
             SPEED: 30,400 mph

WEAPONS:

             PRIMARY (OFFENSIVE):
             3x Lithgear LGRC-20 20-millimeter rail cannon; Effective Range: 460.8 yards; Payload: 3000 rounds on a belt-fed autoloading feed each cannon; ROF: fires a 10, 20, or 30 round burst each cannon with a cyclic rate of up to 1800 rounds per minute.

             PRIMARY (ASSAULT):
             2x UN-SRT-800A short-range 800-pound computer-guided space torpedo with fusion bolt (HEAP) or heavy fusion (nuclear) tipped warhead; Effective Range: 38.2 miles; Payload: 2 torpedoes; ROF: 1 or both.

ELECTRONICS:
              1x Microwave Radio Communications array with a 40,000-mile range.
              1x LADAR array with a range of 20,000 miles.
              1x Multispectral Video/Optical array with a range of 1000 miles.
              1x Gravitational/Antigravity Control Unit; Effect: Provides artificial lift, g-force compensation, and enhanced maneuverability.

Description/Overview:
             The last ditch effort of the UN Solar Empire’s UNSC forces was placed into a small attack craft design developed at the Hygiea Factory #23.  This small light attack craft was the SF-03 spacefighter/torpedo-bomber.  This fighter was designed to be a light, inexpensive spacefighter capable of replacing the SF-01A. Unfortunately for the UN Solar Empire, the SF-03 was anything but inexpensive to construct.  Its energy-resistant armor coating was where the bulk of the cost of the spacefighter originated.  However, despite the cost of the armor, it gave the SF-03 considerable protection from the laser cannon weaponry of the main spacefighter of the EFR: the HSF-01.  It was for this reason that the SF-03 was put into limited mass production at the UN factories on Jupiter, Hygiea, and Vesta.
             The most remarkable aspect of the SF-03 was not any of its systems or even its unique use (for a craft of the 1st Interplanetary War era) of energy-resistant armor.  It was the sheer number of fighters built after the war that made this spacefighter worthy of note.  Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and the USR governments all built this fighter in huge numbers during the 2080s and 2090s.