CFA-44 Nosferatu

The **CFA-44 Nosferatu** is a carrier-based fighter aircraft based on the X-PF Daedalus II.

## CFA-44

### Type

Fighter (Carrier-based)/UCAV (Carrier-based)

## Development

The ECNF (Cascadia's navy) was severly lacking in power. Despite Project Weatherstorm, it was useless. Therefore, Cascadia decided to build upon its X-PF design and create the CFA-44. It was designed to be CATOBAR and ski-jump. It also had a drone version, the CFA-44B.

It entered service on the Weatherstorm CSGs (first with the CNV Accipitradae), and later the Alicorn-class submarines.

## Design

### Body

The CFA-44 is a twin-engine carrier fighter aircraft using a delta wing configuration, which gives it a distinctive "kite" shape, with outer-canted twin tails. The twin engines are made of highly-durable single-crystal blades, which achieve thrust vectoring through special two-dimensional rudders, similar to those seen on the Rockwell-MBB X-31 demonstrator. The CFA-44's canards enhance its mobility, providing it with an aggressive front profile. The wingtips use protruding leading edge extensions, while the wings themselves use wide slats and can be folded for aircraft carrier use. It also features arresting landing gear for carrier operations. In total, built out of light alloy and carbon materials, this angular design allows for high degrees of mobility and increased cruising speeds but severely reduces the aircraft's stability. The Nosferatu also uses slightly different engines to its base design, using engines created by Marte-type.

The cockpit uses a panoramic display system, similar to the one in the F-35 Lightning II, including a digital interface that monitors the physical condition and weapons of the aircraft.

The CFA-44 features porous ceramics and electromagnetic wave-absorbing meta-materials in its body, which are more light and durable than conventional stealth coatings. The aircraft's configuration can be modified in relation to special characteristics of enemy radar systems, further enhancing the CFA-44's stealth capabilities. However, the gap between the main body and the canards and the angle they form does not allow for complete stealth. Additionally, if the ECM pods are activated, the CFA-44 loses all of its stealth in favor of radar jamming.

The CFA-44 variants differ slightly: the CFA-44A, the manned version, has all the things listed above, and the CFA-44B, the drone version, has its wings and canards are placed higher on the airframe, with the wings featuring a greater leading edge extension, along with an exposed right-hand gun compartment.

### Weapons

The CFA-44's standard weaponry consists of dual anti-air autocannons and external pylons on the wings for carrying missiles. The aircraft's experimental weapons are housed in internal bays: two above the intakes, designed after the British English Electric Lightning and Jaguar, and one on the underside between the intakes. These bays can store four different weapons:

* All Direction Multi-Purpose Missiles, codenamed "Inferno", are stored in all three bays and can lock on to up to 12 targets simultaneously.
* Electromagnetic Launchers, codenamed "Purgatorio", are stored in the two upper bays while a battery unit is housed in the lower bay, allowing the two railguns to rapidly fire.
* Electronic Countermeasure pods, codenamed "Cocytus", serve as conventional jammers but can also emit powerful beams that can burn enemy missile sensors and blind enemy pilots.

The CFA-44's design maximizes firepower and maneuverability while allowing for a combat radius over 1.2 times greater than the F-35C Lightning II at the expense of decreased stability. The unique weapons bays, in conjunction with the aircraft's engines and landing gear, require the CFA-44 to use complex air intakes described as "crude" and "poor" by Northern Trade Alliance officers. The increased weight from the weapons bays worsens the CFA-44's already-poor stability, and its body design makes the use of conformal fuel tanks impossible. This all results in a small operational radius in exchange for maximum weapons performance.

## Variants

* CFA-44A: manned version
* CFA-44B: unmanned version, with slightly different designs

## Operators

### Possible Future Operators

* Republic of Blackwood
* United Kingdom

## Specifications (CFA-44A)

### General Charicteristics

* Crew: 1
* Length: 78.87ft
* Wingspan: 47.83ft
* Height: 16.5ft
* Empty Weight: 40,800lb
* Gross Weight: 62500lb
* MTOW: 75000lb
* Fuel capacity: 24,000lb
* Powerplant: 2x Marte-type 11 afterburning turbofans, 24000lb of thrust dry, 42500lb of thrust full afterburner

### Performance

* Max. Speed: Mach 2.2 at altitude
* Range: 1360km
* Service ceiling: 42500ft
* G-limits: +10g/-5g

### Armament

#### Guns

* 2x 20mm autocannons, 250 rounds per gun

#### Missiles

* 4x AIM-9X Block IIIs (6x with hardpoints)
* 4x AGM-176 Griffins (6x with hardpoints)

##### Multi-Purpose Loadout

* 1-3x Inferno ADMM launchers (100 rounds per launcher)
* 1-3x Purgatario EMRGs (15 rounds per launcher)
* 1x Cocytus EW system

### Avionics

* AN/APG-81 AESA radar
* AN/AAQ-40 E/O Targeting System (EOTS)
* AN/AAQ-37 Distributed Aperture System (DAS) missile warning system

## Trivia

* The CFA-44A is based on the CFA-44 Nosferatu from the Ace Combat franchise
* The CFA-44B is based on the QFA-44 Carmilla from Ace Combat: Infinity.