Phoenix

**Key Features** | »» Automatic target acquisition System»» Gyrojet launcher (x2)»» Red Line Nitro injection system»» Flechette cannon (x2)»» Emergency "Ejection" System

## Tactical Analysis

* **The Phoenix Soars**: This anti-aircraft helicopter relies on the huge range of its twin gyrojets to quickly knock down enemy copters and gunships from the air, though it is unable to move and fire at the same time

* **Icarus Rises**: By activating its boosters and extending its wings, the Phoenix gains an immense speed boost and is now able to dogfight with other fighters with its dual flechette cannons. However, it can only fly so long before it starts loosing altitude, forcing it to switch back to its rotor.

* **Flew to close to the sun**: Do be aware that Phoenix is quite fragile. If destroyed, its remains will crash down in a fiery ball of wreckage damaging anything it hits

* **Reborn from the ashes**: The newest model of the Phoenix sports improved boosters and greater wing surfaces, allowing it to stay in dogfight mode longer.

## Background

The **Phoenix** was developed as a near autonomous piece of hardware, requiring the pilot to only be capable of the most trivial of tasks. All combat functions were handled by the Automatic Combat Engagement System. So, in order to cut costs, the Syndicate uses inexperienced pilots that are paid by the hour.

The pilots themselves only have a minimum requirement of watching the mail order video instructions for "I want to fly the Phoenix", after which the pilot will work in shifts, patrolling the Sprawl's airspace when it is his turn. If there comes a time when more pilots are needed then the supervisor will simply call a few extra employees in to fill in the gaps. For the most part, flying a Phoenix can actually be a part time job. There is overtime, stupid shift leaders, poor working conditions, and terrible hours. But it is a very common career for the Sprawl's youth; many have friends or family that have flown a Phoenix, and have shared the experience of flight.

To first glance, the Phoenix looks as though it might be a high-performance private helicopter. Though the twin turbofan design is unorthodox, heaven knows there have been stranger things fielded. Like all Syndicate designs, the Phoenix forgoes traditional windows for a sealed titanium cockpit and six freely rotating sensor pods.

Like the Hawker, United Aviation's previous project before their design team was bought out, the Phoenix's beaklike nose and swept wings imply a predatory bird, through the holographic fire that plays around the wing struts and the uncomfortably blank "eyes" where the cockpit should be play up the avian nature of the design to a much greater degree.

Mounted on the wingtips are two gyrojet launchers, which come in handy both for strafing infantry formations and downing helicopters. Easy to fire thanks to AI controlled seeking technology, these weapons have significant ammunition reserves that should last them the length of any battle. However, nobody would try to pit a helicopter, even one so sophisticated as the Phoenix, against a fighter aircraft, hence the remarkable variable wing design.

When called to dogfight with enemy fighters, the wings sweep down and back, exposing the twin turbojets that send the Phoenix hurtling like a raptor diving into its prey. The gyrojets are unfortunately displaced by this action, so instead flechette cannons mounted in the nose are exposed by the streamlining of the form, firing rains of monomolecular needles that tear aircraft (or, more accurately, pilots) to tattered pieces and send them hurtling towards the ground. Unfortunately, without full-sized wings the Phoenix cannot maintain lift indefinitely, and will be forced to return to helicopter mode before its altitude falls too low.

However what many people fail to know, is that the Phoenix is one of the most advanced pieces of military aviation hardware on the planet. To keep this technology from spreading, the Syndicate employs a rather cynical method of approach involving the big red button that the pilot is never supposed to touch, unless in an emergency. Every reference to this button explains that it is actually a emergency ejection system.

So whenever the pilot feels that his life is in danger, he is mentally trained to push it. Of course, this results in the activation of a self-destruct mechanism meant to prevent the Phoenix from falling into enemy hands, through the use of the multiple gelled gasoline packets hidden in the cabin. The Phoenix turns into a giant ball of fire, destroying itself when it crashes onto the ground.