INTREPID CONDOR fictional arsenal plane

[Wahubna]

For my model club's contest in May next year (theme of Go Big or Go Home) I was going to do a giant flying aircraft carrier.

AceCombat's "Arsenal Bird" providing the inspiration, I struck out on creating my own concept. I knew I wanted it to be BIG. So 1/72 scale was going to be the ticket and I had a space in my house picked out. Available dimensions being ~10ft span x 3ft long x 1.5ft tall. At first, I was going to do something more like a modernized Boeing AAC. But that real study still seemed no more realistic than if I were to do my own fictional concept. I also knew that while I was going to run with a semi-fictionalized compact reactor for on-board power, I wanted it to be a little less nutty than Lockheed infamous CL-1201 insanely gigantic VTOL flying carrier.

As I started down that path with classic modern stealthy shapes for parasites and carrier I discovered I needed to get the parasites much much more compact. That lead me to trying more bird-inspired wing folding arrangements which ultimately lead to me craft a variety of bird-looking UAV concepts.

I also took note of how current conflicts are being dominated not by aircraft launching ordnance but by "suicide drones". So with that, I shifted the flying aircraft carrier concept into that of a GIANT arsenal ship.

And so, I give you where I left it off. I dubbed it "INTREPID CONDOR". Aimed for ~1.5mil TOGW. Roughly 3x the span of a 747-400 but slightly shorter in length. 6x electric equivalents of Kuznetsov NK-12 turboprops supplied with electrical power from 4 x 'fail safe' microreactors based on designs currently for real in development. Condor carrying 4 large AESA radars plus 8x large scanning IRSTs for sensors plus 120 ~IRON DOME like missiles in vertical launch tubes for self defense.
Offensive is where it gets interesting...
I crafted a variety of fictional but real-inspired munitions to go with this so I'll provide the analogs...
All weapons on rotary drums across numerous large bays. 4 of which feature recovery capability to enable loitering munitions and off-board sensing options.
24x "TALON" high speed weapons : roughly Moskit size
48x "Peregrin" cruise missiles : roughly JASSM-ER equivalent
144x "Sparrow" suicide drones : roughly SLAM-ER quivalent
32x "HAAM-240" long range AAMs : roughly SM-6 equivalent

*Yes I did check its ground foot print and surprisingly, not that bad! Wheel track still narrower than StratoLaunch!

Anyways I was about to hit "print" on this monstrosity last month, but I could not figure out how I was going to keep the whole display free of spider webs for longer than a few months.

Oh well. Maybe in the future CONDOR will be built! Fun creative project nonetheless and got me thinking more about fictional designs.

For the munitions carried in it see the additional pictures of smaller craft
When looking at the front and side views the concepts are as follows from top down
>>Kestrel - (original roughly A-4 Skyhawk sized fighter with 4 internal missiles); too large to continue so dropped
>>Swift v1 - 1st attempt at downsizing Kestrel; munitions external under inner wing; still not small enough so dropped
>>Swift v3 - internal recoilless rifle like tube launched missiles; roughly HAAM-80s seen further down; STILL not small enough due to folded span and length so once again, dropped
>>Swift v4 - multiple ~40mm essentially boosted recoilless rifle revolvers (up to 4 weapons); semi-tailless with a shaped upper nozzle deck to act as aft stabilizing surface....FINALLY small enough, but was not happy with how many would fit in CONDOR so, you guessed it, dropped again!
>> Talon - High speed long range strike missile (aka a suicide drone), now things got good for Condor!
>> Peregrine - Large expendable drone; recoverable; can function as kinetic strike or loitering sensor platform; potential for loitering at high altitude and diving down at high speed onto hostile aircraft
>> Sparrow - Small expendable drone; again recoverable and again can function as kinetic strike or loitering sensor platform; potential for loitering at high altitude and diving down at high speed onto hostile aircraft
>> HAAM-240 - 240" long ultra long range high speed dual purpose missile; sort of like the SM-6/AIM-174/AARGM-ER all in one
>> HAAM-80 - 80" tube launched 2 stage AAM used for short-mid range; primary self defense missile of Condor in VLS tubes
>> 40mm 2 stage recoilless rifle missile round; short range multi purpose high compact high velocity weapon explored for smaller parasite fighters
>> AIM-120C for reference
>> General Dynamics AIM-152 for reference
>> SM-2/StARM for reference (as used on Thunderstoat kit bash)

 

[Scott Kenny]

VERY cool, but there may be an issue with the vertical launch self defense missiles. Remember that the missiles are suddenly getting hit with 500kph or more of crosswind as soon as they clear the muzzle hatch, so they might bend pretty hard or even break, with catastrophic results.

You are probably better off with Pye Wacket saucer-shaped missiles in a stack. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pye_Wacket

 

[Wahubna]

VERY cool, but there may be an issue with the vertical launch self defense missiles. Remember that the missiles are suddenly getting hit with 500kph or more of crosswind as soon as they clear the muzzle hatch, so they might bend pretty hard or even break, with catastrophic results.

You are probably better off with Pye Wacket saucer-shaped missiles in a stack. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pye_Wacket

Sounds like I might need to cook up a competing design!

 

[yasotay]

Perhaps launch tubes at 45 degrees forward tilt, or whatever the optimum angle would be. Although one would have to be careful that the missiles do not weathervane into the prevailing 500 knot wind. It could be ... suboptimal.