X-11 Black Cat Thunderbird

The **X-11 Black Cat Thunderbird** is an X-Class *ultra-high hypersonic* spaceplane and spacecraft developed and constructed by Boeing-Lockheed-Martin for the Consortium in secret prior to the Solar War and saw deployment in both Earth atmosphere and orbit as well as limited use in the Main Belt.

Due to the prohibitively high cost of the craft, only one hundred twenty eight were ever constructed. The first six were prototypes. Eight of them never flew and remained in LEO to be used for parts exchange for quick battlefield repair. Sixty four of them were fully functional and served during the Solar War. The remaining fifty were rotated in and out of combat to keep the eight squads fully functional and ready to fight at any given moment.

## History

The X-Class series of craft began to be designed and prototyped circa **SY 100** after the Freitaika Rebellion under the most top secretive of conditions. Very few Consortium officials knew of the program. Six of the craft were constructed as prototypes and were unmanned, utilizing the SR-7x series, NASA X-43, and Chinese DF-17 crafts as inspiration. The seventh craft built was the first to be test piloted and around SY 103 the series began to be mass produced.

Initially simply called the X-11 for being the eleventh craft designed in the X-Class, the first Consortium test pilots gave it the designation Thunderbird for it's ultra-high hypersonic (>25 Mach) velocity capabilities, and the Blackcat nickname as a nod to the then centuries old B-24 Liberator aircraft that served the United States during the Second World War.

The existence of the craft was almost leaked to the world when two of the first test pilots - Bob "Lucky" LeVier and Mikhail "Bad Dragon" Anokhin - decided to challenge each other to a race around the Earth in SY 107. Until then, the craft had only been pushed to Mach 19; each of them nearly achieved Earth's escape velocity and kept neck and neck with each other for the majority of the four hour race. Anokhin beat LeVier back to their starting point by a very narrow margin of only a few seconds. Despite being threatened of being stripped of both their security clearance and Aerowings, their fellow test pilots were able to convince the Consortium program director that they were each too vital to be fired, and that their race actually represented the greatest achievements of the program yet. Both LeVier and Anokhin would pilot the crafts during the Solar War and participate in the Battle of Earth.

By the time of the Solar War, the original test pilots of the X-11 had been training with the craft for almost three decades, while the youngest pilots had just under ten years of experience flying the craft.

## Stats

The Black Cat was the fastest vehicle produced by the Consortium to ever fly in Earth atmosphere. It could sustainably cruise at Mach 9 (about 3,100 m/s), circumnavigate the Earth in just over three and a half fours, and can impulse up to Mach 31 ( just below Earth's escape velocity).

It is completely invisible to conventional radar. It is armed with primitive energy shield that can absorb some energetic but not kinetic damage (making the Blackcat impervious to localized electromagnetic weapons).

Pilots are required to wear a Type II Vacsuit while flying as well as a sophisticated HUD helmet that allows them a 360 degree view around them, allowing them to pilot the craft without windows.

The vehicle can be refueled indefinitely in air with the X-13 Stratotanker, another X-Class craft.

## Pilot Training

Black Cat pilots were highly envied by Consortium spacers and were considered to be the most elite of elite pilots.

Each pilot had no less than fifteen years of schooling through the Consortium's Academy system and possessed both licensed spacer, courier, and aerowing designations.

Only sixty four pilots were ever trained for the role, ten of them being the program's original test pilots and serving on into the Solar War.

Due to the extreme forces involved with aircraft operating at ultra-high hypersonic speeds, the planes were remotely piloted when operating a mission involving speeds above Mach 9.

## Combat Role

During the Solar War, eight squadrons of eight Blackcats each flew. They were matched only by the Protectorate's Defiant spacecraft.

The largest deployment of the craft was during the Battle of Earth, when all sixty four pilots were scrambled with their X-11s to engage the Protectorate fleet in LEO and intercept any attempted landings of Protectorate forces; despite this, Jaymeson and Cera Nicks were able to slip past them and land near New Athens, Greece.