Antares Fighter

The **Carsline** **Type-07 Antares** is the premier fighter plane of the Gra Valkas Empire. It is developed and manufactured by Carsline, Inc., Gra Valkas Empire’s municipal aviation munitions company. In the New World, it is superior to all other aircraft of the Second and Central Civilizations, but is considered obsolete by Japan's standards.

## Description

The Antares bears a strong resemblance to the Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" carrier borne fighter famously used by Imperial Japan during the Second World War, but unlike the Zero, the Antares serves as the main fighter for both the Gra Valkan Navy and Army Air Corps.

The Antares is a low-wing, enclosed cockpit monoplane of all-metal construction. The Antares is powered by a two-row air-cooled radial engine producing 1,100 horsepower and connected to a 3 blade constant-speed propeller, allowing the Antares to reach a top speed of 550 km/h (342 mph). This makes it overall faster and more powerful than the A6M2 Model 21 whose Nakajima Sakae produces 50 fewer horsepower and permits a top speed of 533 km/h (331 mph), but not as fast as later models such as the A6M5 Model 52.

Compared to the A6M2, the Antares has a slightly larger wing area. It also possesses better bulletproof protection, as well as self-sealing fuel tanks which are commonly not included on early WWII Japanese fighters. Despite the increase in weight and drag, the Antares still possesses comparable maneuverability and speed compared to the A6M2.

The primary armament of the Antares is the same as the Zero's, featuring two nose-mounted 7.7mm machine guns and two wing-mounted 20mm cannons. The cannons are likely the Antares' primary weapons for air-to-air engagement, as the 7.7mm machine guns are relatively lacking in stopping power even for its time period and have a limited rate of fire due to needing to be synchronized with the propeller. Much like the Zero, the Antares can also carry bombs underneath its fuselage and wings to perform ground attack missions as a fighter-bomber at the cost of speed and maneuverability.

The Antares is designed to operate during daytime, and thus is not installed with any radar. Unlike Imperial Japanese pilots, the Gra Valkan pilots are not well versed with night-time operations. Antares pilots must return to their carriers or airbases before nightfall, or risk crashing in the dark. Carriers and airfields can use radar and open their searchlights to guide in in late flyers but the latter runs the risk of being exposing their position the enemy.

The paint scheme used on the Antares is rather varied, in Volume 4, they are depicted in dark green; while on the cover of Volume 5, a white Antares is shown; and finally on the cover of Volume 6, a dark grey Antares is downed by a F-15J. It's possible that all 3 liveries are used by the Gra Valkan military depending on service theaters. In addition, the center of the propeller hub is painted in a spiral pattern, which was a method of the former Luftwaffe to identify friend or foe.

While on Earth, the A6M Zero gradually lost its competitive edge due to lack of innovations, the Antares did not see any notable upgrades during a 4 year period, from first seeing action in the New World to the battle of Valkyries Base. This is rather unusual for an aircraft of this epoch, as Jiro Horikoshi, the Zero's chief engineer, stated "Any high-performance aircraft can only maintain its superiority in performance for three years after its introduction". However, the lack of innovation for such a long period of time may be explained by the lack of competition presented by the New World.

The Antares possesses mobility far superior to that of the average wyvern, and the low projectile velocity of the latter's fireball makes them ill-suited in dealing with the aircraft. It also easily outperforms Mu's Marin biplane fighter, and even the pseudo jet fighter of the Holy Milishial Empire due to the latter's underpowered engine and weak low speed performance. The only aerial combatant that can battle an Antares fighter on equal grounds is the Emor Kingdom's Wind Dragon. However, much like all of the aforementioned fast movers, it still cannot put up even a semblance of a fight against modern day fighter jets.

Despite being of the same caliber as the Antares' wing mounted cannons, the M61 Vulcan mounted on the F-15J and the F-2A packs far more punch thanks to the usage of explosive shells, and thanks to the latter two's superior speed and climb rate, they can simply avoid dogfighting the Antares by performing boom and zoom attacks, leaving it with a nearly non-existent window of attack. However, what truly makes Japanese fighter jets lethal to the Antares is their ability to attack from beyond visual range, which allows them to shoot down the Antares before the pilot can realize he is being attacked. While the Antares pilot, having no radar, requires tallying on the bandits in order to engage. The JASDF pilots also have the advantage of fire and forget weapons while the Gra Valkan pilots can only manually aim their weapons using their onboard gunsight. Lastly, Japanese pilots are trained in various types of aerial combat and will adapt their tactics against slower-moving opponents. They will use every advantage while avoiding slow-turning fights with their Gra Valkan counterparts.

While the Antares' radial piston engine is less demanding compared to a modern day turbofan when it comes to maintenance, constant operation without proper maintenance can also serve as a problem. When the Antares Fighter sorted from Valkyries Base prior to Japan's Airstrike during the Naval Invasion of Japan, one fighter lost the engine power as the engine explodes due to being overused. Another pilot suffered engine trouble and had to turn back during an interception mission against a missile saturation force.

The threat from Japan prompted the Gra Valkas to put into service an upgraded version of this fighter. During the Liberation of Leifor, at least one squadron was fitted with an **Antares Kai** version, with many improvements in engine and armament, allowing it to achieve greater speed and firepower but these upgrades are still inadequate to make up for the Japan's overwhelming technological superiority.

## Variants

* Antares Kai - a new and improved version of the Antares with many improvements in engine and armament, allowing it to achieve greater speeds and firepower. Despite the name and appearance, it's technically a completely different plane since it shares no components.

## Specifications

* **Crew:** 1 person
* **Powerplant:** Air-cooled two-row 14-cylinder radial reciprocating engine
* **Output:** 1,100 hP
* **Maximum Speed:**
	+ 550 kph
	+ 660 kph (Antares Kai)

* **Cruising Distance:** About 3300 km
* **Armaments:**
	+ 2x 7.7mm machine gun
	+ 4x 12.7mm machine gun (Antares Kai)
	+ 2x 20mm cannon
	+ Unguided bombs

## Operational History

The Antares fighters were first used during the Naval Battle of Magdola, where they easily out-fought the jet-propelled fighters and bombers of the Holy Milishial Empire. They would later take part in the Battle of the Folk Strait, where several units were shot down by the Japan Coast Guard ship. Their first major losses occurred during the Invasion of Mu, when several squadrons were unable to stop F-15J and F-2 fighters from conducting an airstrike on the Valkyries Base. The Antares would also fail to support the 4th Armored Division, leading to more pilots being shot down and the 4th being wiped out.

During the invasion of Japan by the Great Fleet, Ninety-two (92) Antares fighters were scrambled to intercept a flight of jets and bombers on their way to perform a saturation missile strike on the 1st Advance Fleet. Except for a single survivor, all would be shot down by the escorting F-15J jets.

### Operation Barbecue

The 3rd Air Corps were ordered to do a low-level bombing attack on the city of Awara. In addition to attacking the Japanese mainland, the planes were to be used as decoys to draw Japanese air defenses away from the high-altitude, 200 Guti Maun bomber mission against Nagoya. The mission would end in failure as both bomber formations were detected by Japanese radar and intercepted by F-15J and F-2 fighters. All three hundred and forty-eight fighters were shot down first before the Guti Maun formation was obliterated. The total loss was 548 aircraft.

### Liberation of Leifor

Antares continued to be used as the main frontline fighter for Gra Valkas Empire in Leifor, where was prioritized to receive its upgraded version, the Antares Kai, as a response to the threat from Japan. However, the gap of technology is still far too great for the upgraded version to do any difference against the JSDF as shown when 8 upgraded Antares unable to chase after the Harpoon Missiles.

## Trivia

* The name is probably derived from Antares, the alpha Scorpio, one of the brightest stars in Scorpio, 520 light-years from Earth and one of the 21st magnitude stars.
* The roundel painted on the Antares was similar to Germany Wehrmacht emblem, *Balkenkreuz* on World War II.