Similar in general concept to the Triax XM-180 Dragonfly Transport, the Wyvern is designed in the later part of the Twenty-First Century to transport Glitter Boys quickly into a hot spot. It might be considered to be halfway between that of an assault transport helicopter and heavy transport aircraft. The aircraft was developed when regular transport aircraft were either to small or too large for the role of transporting Glitter Boys into the combat zone. The official requirements were for an aircraft which could quickly drop eight Glitter Boys in the field and be able to protect itself during the attack. It was also required to have a top speed of just under Mach One and be able to hover. Various designers began work on a prototype with the aircraft which became the Wyvern eventually being selected. The Wyvern was used fairly frequently transporting Glitter Boys into the various "Brush Fire" wars. Like most of the United States Military, most of the Wyverns were destroyed with the coming of the Rifts. Still, the remaining Wyverns are popular with mercenary companies which operate a large number of Glitter Boys. As well, Free Quebec operates a number of these transports and has plans to purchase a large number of Dragonfly transports from Triax to supplement their pre-rifts Glitter Boy transports.

While the general role of the Wyvern is similar to that of the Triax Dragonfly, the design is quite different. Instead of carrying the heavy power armors externally, they are carried in special compartments which provides some protection. The glitter boys are locked in using a special harness which automatically locks around the power armor. Each Glitter Boy hookup / harness has a winch and cable designed for rapid descent. Power armors can be dropped from up to three hundred feet in this manner while the aircraft is hovering. The Glitter Boys can be dropped from higher altitudes using parachutes but is rarely done. One advantage of parachute drops is that the aircraft does not need to hover to make them. The Wyvern can also make recoveries but is limited to altitudes of around 80 feet for recoveries. It cannot be held steady enough at distances greater than that to lock in the special harness and the aircraft must be in hover to make recoveries. Other power armors of a similar size could be theoretically be fitted but the carry harness would need to be modified.

The body of the Wyvern is also wider than the Dragonfly with a wider wingspan as well. The aircraft is well armored and is designed to withstand a huge amount of abuse before crashing. The top speed of the Wyvern is just a little under Mach One with thrusters in the wings engaging so it can hover to drop power armors. Power is provided by a powerful fusion reactor. Because the United States army wanted the ability to drop Glitter Boy power armors covertly, the Wyvern is designed using stealth materials. That is one of the reasons for the shielded compartment for the Glitter boys. They allow the radar signatures of the glitter boys to be hidden. As well, the engines are designed to be relatively quiet. Electronics are similar to those carried on the Steel Tiger Attack VTOL. While the aircraft carries a long range radar, it is rarely used because it is a dead giveaway of the aircrafts position. The aircraft is piloted by a crew of four including a pilot, co-pilot / communication officer, and two side gunners.

Weaponry is similar to that carried on the Steel Tiger Attack VTOL but since the Wyvern was designed much later than the attack VTOL, none of the older systems are carried. As well, an ion cannon is mounted in the nose instead of rail guns. The ball turrets carrying pulse lasers are mounted just aft of the wings and are each controlled by a separate gunner. Another modification compared to the Steel Tiger is that the ordnance hard points are partially recessed into the wings which reduces the effect they have against stealth.

Model Type: V-42
Class: Military VTOL Transport
Crew: four: One pilot, one co-pilot / communications/sensor officer, and two gunners.
Troop Payload: Eight Glitter Boy power armors.

M.D.C. by Location:

	Heavy Ion Pulse Cannon (Nose):	100
	[1] Side Ball Pulse Laser Turrets (2, Sides of main Body):	50 each
	[2] Wings (2):	250 each
	[3] Elevators (2):	75 each
	[3] Rudders (2):	75 each
	Glitter Boy Drop Hatches (8)	100 each
	[3] Engines (2):	200 each
	Reinforced Pilot's Compartment / Cockpit:	150
	[4] Main Body:	600
	Landing Gear (3):	40 each

Notes:
[1] All indicated hit locations are small and/or difficult targets to hit. An attacker must make a called shot and has a -3 penalty as well.
[2] Destroying a Wing will cause the plane to crash.
[3] Destruction of rudders or one elevator will still allow the aircraft to be controlled by the varying of power levels of the engines but aircraft has a penalty of -10 to dodge, and a -30% penalty to all piloting rolls. Destruction of both of the elevators will leave the plane uncontrollable and pilot must eject to survive. The destruction of one of the engine will cause the aircraft to crash.
[4] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will shut the Aircraft down completely, rendering it useless and causing it to crash if in flight. Damage to the main body will also reduce the aircraft's stealth, for every 10% of damage to the main body, reduce the aircraft's stealth by 10% of its total.

Speed:
Driving on Ground (Taxiing): Only possible for take offs and landings as well as for parking and storage. Speed is 40 mph (64 kph) when traveling and not on take off or landing.
Flying: The maximum speed of the aircraft is 680 mph (1,094.4 kph) which is just slightly under mach one and has a maximum altitude of 50,000 feet (15,240 m). The aircraft is Vertical Take Off and Landing which allows it to take off virtually anywhere and can hover.
Maximum Effective Range: The cooling system is much better than those on many post rifts aircraft but does have its limitations. The Aircraft can fly up to 36 hours if flying at less than 500 mph (804.6 kph) and can fly for 10 hours at 500 mph (804.6 kph) or greater.

Statistical Data:
Height: 23.5 feet (7.2 meters)
Width: 52 feet (15.8 meters)
Length: 84 feet (25.6 meters)
Weight: 35 tons (31.75 metric tons) fully loaded.
Cargo: Designed to carry Glitter boys, compartment would have to be specially modified for other cargos. Pilot's Compartment has a small storage area for emergency supplies.
In place of troops, it can carry 8 tons in cargo hold or 4 tons slung underneath.
Power Source: Nuclear, Should have an average life span of 20 years.
Black Market Cost: 40 million credits for a new or fully operational V-42 Wyvern Glitter Boy Airborne Transport

Weapon Systems:

1. Ion Pulse Cannon: A powerful weapon mounted in the nose of the aircraft. The weapon was designed as secondary weapon for armored vehicles and is very powerful for an aircraft mounted weapon. Weapon is normally controlled by either the pilot or the co-pilot and is fixed forward.
   Maximum Effective Range: 6,000 feet (1,830 m)
   Mega Damage: 3D4x10 per blast
   Rate of Fire: Four times per melee round.
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited
2. Side Ball Turret Pulse Laser Mounts (2): The Wyvern has two ball turrets with one on either side of the main body. Unlike door guns, the weapons can be used at any speed. Each mount is controlled by separate gunner and has 360 rotation and 90 degree arc of fire. The weapons' primary purpose is use against infantry but is effective against missiles and to a lesser extent both aircraft and other armored vehicles.
   Maximum Effective Range: 4,000 feet (1,200 meters)
   Mega-Damage: 1D6x10 per pulse.
   Rate of Fire: Equal to combined hand to hand attacks of pilot or commander.
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
3. Ordnance Hard Points (6): The aircraft has six hard points with three hard points on each wing. The hard points are partially recessed. Missiles, rocket packs, and bombs can be mixed or matched but all ordnance on a hard point must be the same type. Most often at least two mini-missile pods are carried. Missiles and bombs only reduce the fighter's stealth from the bottom and reduce stealth by 5% per hard point carry ordnance. Missile pods reduce stealth from the sides as well and reduce stealth by 10% per hard point.
   1. Bombs and Missiles: The only restriction is that a hard point must carry all the same type of missiles or bombs. Both unguided and guided bombs can be carried. Each hard point may carry one long range missile or heavy bomb, two medium range missiles or medium bombs, or four short range missiles or light bombs.
      Maximum Effective Range: Varies by missile type for missile and varies by altitude bombs are dropped at (Go to Revised bomb and missile table).
      Mega Damage: Varies by missile or bomb type (Go to Revised bomb and missile table).
      Rate of Fire: Missiles can be fired and bombs can be dropped one at a time per hard point. Multiple hard points can be linked as one attack but must be the same size (light, medium, or heavy) and style of ordnance (all missiles or bombs in a volley)
      Payload: One Long Range Missile or Heavy Bomb per Hard Point. Two Medium range missiles /Medium Bombs or four Short Range missiles / Light bombs can be substituted for One Long Range Missile/Heavy Bomb.
   2. Mini-Missile Pod: Large capacity mini-missile pod. Each pod requires one Hard Point. The Aircraft normally carries missile pods for ground strafing, anti-troop, and anti-emplacement attacks. Normal missile used are armor piercing, plasma, or fragmentation mini-missiles.
      Maximum Effective Range: Varies with missile types, mini-missiles only (Go to Revised bomb and missile table).
      Mega Damage: Varies with mini-missile types (Go to Revised bomb and missile table).
      Rate of Fire: Each pod can fire one at a time or in volleys of 2, 4, 8, or 16 and can be linked with other mini missile pods for greater number of missiles (Counts as one attack no matter how many missiles in volley)
      Payload: each pod carries 16 mini-missile.
4. Anti-Missile Chaff Dispenser: Located at the very tail of the aircraft are two chaff dispensers. When tailed by a missile, a cloud of chaff and other obtrusive particles can be released to confuse or detonate the enemy's attack. Rifts Earth decoys systems are assumed to not operate against Phase World missiles due to technological difference. Reduce effects by 20% against smart missiles (Add +20% to rolls for smart missiles.)
   Effect:
   01-50 Enemy missile or missile volley detonates in chaff cloud - Missile are all destroyed
   51-75 Enemy missile or missile volley loses track of real target and veers away in wrong direction (May lock onto another target)
   76-00 No effect, missile is still on target
   Also note that the chaff cloud will also blind flying monsters that fly through cloud. They will suffer the following penalties: reduce melee attacks/actions, combat bonuses, and speed by half. Duration: 1D4 melee rounds.
   Payload: Eight (8)

Special Equipment:
The aircraft has all the standard features of a standard fighter (same as standard robot including loudspeaker and microphone on this aircraft) plus these special features listed.

• Radar: Range 500 miles (805 km). Can identify and track up to 48 targets simultaneously. With Combat & Targeting Computer, the aircraft can fire missiles at up to twelve targets at the same time. It is also capable of Terrain Following for low altitude flight.
• Stealth Feature: The V-42 Wyvern was constructed using RAM materials and has a low radar cross signature and has a -50% penalty to be detected because of its stealth. In addition, while the V-42 remains hard to detect on radar, the attack crafts external ordnance, if carried, is easy to detect (and the Steel Tiger as a result) unless the ordnance is designed from radar absorbing materials as well. The fighter does not have an ordnance rack but has recessed hard points so missiles or other ordnance do not reduce stealth by as much as might be expected. Stealth is not reduced from the top and sides but each hard point with ordnance reduces stealth by 5% from the bottom for missiles and bombs. The aircraft's stealth is reduced by 10% for mini-missile pods. For example, if two of the hard points are carrying ordinance the aircrafts would give a -40% penalty to be detected (50%-10%=40%). Go to General Detection Penalties for more information on penalties and bonuses to use with stealth.
• Internal Active Jamming Gear: Causes -25% to detection but when it is active, other vehicles/ bases can detect that it is jamming, and some missiles will home in on jamming signals. Jamming also causes a -4 penalty to all radar guided weapons.
• E.S.M.: Radar Detector, Passively detects other radars being operated.
• FLIR: Forward Looking Infrared. Allows pilot and weapons officer to get visuals on targets at night.
• Laser Navigational System: Allow flight at low altitude without use of Radar. Gives a map of the Terrain.

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[ Rifts® is a registered trademark owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.]

By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

Copyright © 2003, Kitsune. All rights reserved.