Thunderbolt Fighter
- – A thunderbolt pilot during the battle of Borneza Gulf
The Thunderbolt Fighter is the Imperial Navy's primary heavy atmospheric fighter. Its nose armament will make a mess of anything in front of it, and its airframe is easily loaded with whatever payload a particular mission requires, like missiles (air-to-air and air-to-ground) or bombs, or even reconnaissance equipment. Its primary armament consists of two sets of twin-linked autocannons and a set of twin lascannons on it's forward dorsal area.
The autocannons are used for general dog-fighting and for strafing infantry formations while the lascannons are used for destroying heavily armored vehicles. It can also carry a variety of ordnance, such as tactical Heavy Bombs, Hellstrike Missiles or anti-air Skystrike Missiles without sacrificing any of it's original firepower. Though it looks about as aerodynamic and maneuverable as a flying brick (seriously, its wings are like slabs of metal), it apparently is capable of serving as an air superiority fighter, and its bulk brings survivability and ease of repair -- its pilot is actually capable of repairing damaged drive systems mid-flight! Although, it doesn't actually seem to win against anything in the lore except orks and even then not always. Rather, the lore describes it as basically being suicidal to fly and you're pretty much doomed on your first mission.
It is equipped with a rocket in its tail in addition to its two jet engines; the rocket is not suitable for space combat, but rather used to launch from an orbiting mother-ship into the upper atmosphere (and vice versa), as well as take-offs from hydraulic "fast-launch" ramps (essentially aircraft-carrier catapults, but on the ground). The lore also says they are meant for fighters to go to the surface from a ship or from the surface to a ship, though are almost useless in void combat. This doesn't really make sense if taken at face value, though, as this would mean the normal engines are enough for space combat because it and the Lightning and Marauder are used in space battle sometimes when the need arises, implying its atmospheric engines can work in space. And there's no reason for it to need a rocket when almost every other craft, including small ones, don't need a rocket to go out of an atmosphere. This, however, can be cleared up by the fact that there's a void-capable variant of the Thunderbolt known as the Kestrel-class interceptor that ditches the turbofans for a powerplant fueled by power cells (why that one hasn't received a model yet is baffling). Except that the Guard's air support before air bases are built comes from carriers in orbit, meaning they already are void-capable. This also doesn't explain the Marauder, which doesn't have any rockets and used to be the primary bomber for space combat. It could be different engines, except it's still presumably launched from orbit like all the other aircraft.
Ultimately the fact remains that the tail rocket is at the very least extreme overkill for launching from the ground as very small rocket boosters can do the same for many times larger real life aircraft that need it. Traveling to and from a ship in orbit quickly becomes useless for designs intended for planetary combat after sufficient ground facilities are created, so the rocket should be removable so losing its weight drastically enhances performance. It could also be replaced with, for example, a rotary missile launcher like the Xiphon has once no longer needed on the surface. Or do like Chaos does (while vehemently denying being inspired by it) and replace the turbofan engines with missiles and more fuel for the rocket, add thrust-vectoring to the rocket, and rely on that entirely.
Hilariously, though, these (void) variants still retain many of the atmospheric designs of the mainline variant (such as having ejector seats with parachutes), apparently to not disrespect the vehicles machine-spirit (in essence typical Mechanicum BS). And because the wings have missile hardpoints, kind of important. Also thrust points for maneuvering, for which putting them far from the body increases agility. The thunderbolt is like a spitfire, a harrier and a brick mixed in one. Or a P-47 Thunderbolt, an American fighter-bomber with 8(!) .50 caliber machine guns and over 1,000 kilograms of bombs.
Thunderbolt Fury[edit]
Introduced in the revamped Aeronautica Imperialis game, the Thunderbolt Fury replaces the quad autocannons in the nose with a pair of Avenger Bolt Cannons, the lethal minigun usually mounted on the Avenger attack craft. The combination of mass-reactive Bolt shells and the high rate of fire makes for a dogfighting aircraft of punishing repute. This allows it to shred enemy fighters like there is no tomorrow.
Although many squadrons see a Fury or two amongst their ranks, though few consist of Furies alone as they are known to eat through ammunition like a fa/tg/uy eats through Meatbread at an astonishing rate; limiting its ammunition supply and therefore, reducing its effectiveness in prolonged engagements.
It should be asked how the fuck this makes sense, as the dedicated ground attack craft of the Navy, the Avenger itself, only carries one cannon and sacrifices a lot of space to do so. This little shit managed to get two. They probably went back in time and asked the United States Marines to do whatever they want to it. Look at history, the USMC given free reign to toy with something always ends up like this.
Model[edit]
The model was produced by Forge World, with rules first published in Imperial Armour Volume One - Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy, and periodically updated since (most recent one in Imperial Armour Aeronautica). Games workshop makes teeny versions of them for Aeronautica Imperialis and they look very nice.
