Earth Alliance FS-56 Spectre Atmospheric Defense Fighter

FS-56 Spectre History

Prior to the introduction of the Starfury series of Space figthers, the Delta series of craft were used for space as well as atmospheric combat. However, once the Starfuries were designed and built, the Delta's fell into disuse. As the Earth Alliance moved toward becoming a power in the galaxy, they realized that they may have had the premier space superiority fighter designs of the younger space faring races, they had no atmospheric fighters capable of taking on an enemy that, if they made it past the space defenses, nothing but ground based defenses stood in their way, and these could easily be destroyed from orbit.

The Spectre was the first atmospheric centric fighter designed by the Alliance in over a century. It was little more than a standard medium fighter, except that its maneuverability was optimized for atmospheric, rather than orbital, performance. It could operate in low orbit, but it was not designed for non-atmospheric dog-fighting. The low orbit ability was built in so that it could intercept landing ships in orbit, before they made their atmospheric approach.

The Spectre was armed with the standard EA uni-pulse cannon. It could also carry four missiles on underwing pylons. Because they were built with little ability to fight in space, the game stats do not match the normal medium fighter characteristics in B5W.

Spectre Atmospheric Interceptor SCS