VX-23

* 01
* 02
* 03
* 04
* 05
* 06
* 07

 Mercenaries

* Coal

## Cockpit

The **VX-23** is a prototype aircraft. It is rarely seen in combat outside of elite units such as Federation Peacekeepers.

## Skins

1. Black body with grey blue patches on the dorsal surface, mercenary and Monarch markings.
2. Dark blue/black version of Skin 01, Federation Air Force markings. Seen throughout the campaign.
3. White/ice blue version of Skin 01, Federation Air Force markings.
4. Crimson Team parade colors. Light grey body with crimson canards, wings, vertical stabilizers and rear section. Crimson stars with white outlines on top of the engines and between the wings, Federation Peacekeeper and Crimson Team markings. Seen in Machine of the Mantle.
5. Skin 04 without the star patterns. Seen in Cold War.
6. Three-tone gray splinter camouflage, Federation Peacekeeper and Crimson Team markings. Seen in Return.
7. Skin 06 with mercenary markings.

## Gameplay

While slightly weaker in some maneuverability stats than most other prototype fighters, the VX-23 remains a capable air-to-air combatant.

It can achieve a very heavy MLAA alpha strike despite its low number of hardpoints at the cost of awkwardness in special weapon control. The largest MLAA volley is achieved by mounting the MLAA, MLAA-2 and MLAA-3 in three different slots; each slot must be selected separately in combat, allowing a total of 12 MLAAs to be launched in quick succession. A multirole include MGPs for the first slot, SAAs for the first two slots, and UGBLs or MLAG-2s for the third slot.

## Notable Units

* **Crimson** - Four members. Fought in the second phases of Machine of the Mantle, Cold War, and Return. They feature increased hull strength and the AOA Limiter.
* **Coal** - Two members. Seen in Cold War only on Mercenary difficulty.
* **Showtime** - Conquest mode only. Normal elite enemy squadron, four aircraft.
* **UG-3841** - Conquest mode only. Normal elite enemy squadron, four aircraft.
* **Warhawk** - Conquest mode only. Kickstarter boss squadron, four aircraft.
* **Shinden** - Conquest mode only. Kickstarter boss squadron, five aircraft.
* **Sigma-7** - Conquest mode only. Kickstarter boss squadron members, two aircraft (**Rook** and **Artemis**).
* **Beta Flight** - Conquest mode only. Kickstarter boss squadron member.
* **404th** - Conquest mode only. Kickstarter boss squadron member (**Anon**).
* **Ghost** - Conquest mode only. Kickstarter boss squadron, seven aircraft.

## History

The Federation Peacekeeper Crimson Team utilized VX-23s to make up half of its members. They flew them throughout the Cascadian Conflict, some of them being shot down in Operation Guillotine and eventually losing them all in Operation Recall.

Some mercenaries were able to acquire VX-23s, one example being the two-plane Coal flight. During Operation Welder, the Federation Air Force sent a dozen VX-23s to support the 1st Naval Battlegroup in the oceanic battle. All of them were shot down by Cascadian Independence Force-aligned units.

## Behind the scenes

Matthew Nguyen has stated that the aircraft's naming was entirely at random. He also claimed players are "not ready" for the VX-23's actual name, which would be revealed in the *Project Wingman Artbook*.

## Trivia

* The VX-23 is based on the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor combined with the design and name of the Northrop YF-23. The resulting layout is also similar to the Chengdu J-20 and early KAI KF-X designs.
* Oddly, the VX-23's cannon port cannot be seen opening up when firing the internal gun.
* The VX-23's internal weapon bays open up when the respective hardpoint is switched to rather than when it is fired, as they normally would on aircraft with internal bays. However, the missiles are not arranged properly internally.

## Gallery

Comparison of the dummied-out UF-22 (seen in the demo) with the final version's VX-23
## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sector D2. (2020). *Project Wingman* [Video game]. San Francisco, CA: Humble Games. Mission 11: "Cold War."
2. ↑ Sector D2. (2020). *Project Wingman* [Video game]. San Francisco, CA: Humble Games. Mission 18: "Return."
3. ↑ Sector D2. (2020). *Project Wingman* [Video game]. San Francisco, CA: Humble Games. Mission 19: "Red Sea."
4. ↑ the vx-23's naming was completely at random -Discord statement by Matthew Nguyen, May 18, 2021, 4:05AM
5. ↑ I don't think the world is ready to know the V/X-23's reporting name because that's the page spread after this -Discord statement by Matthew Nguyen, March 9, 2021, 7:51AM