Long before the confirmation of the existence of this fighter, there were rumors of its existence and several fighter pilots reported the existence but no camera footage existed to confirm the existence of the stealth fighter. The leaders of the Confederation Navy continued to deny the existence of the Stealth fighter. Chief among those reporting the fighter was Colonel Christopher Blair who reported their existence and reported that the stealth fighter was the cause of the destruction of the fleet carrier TCS Tiger's Claw with virtually all hands. The Colonel was blamed for the destruction of the carrier and was put in a position within a backwater system for many years.

It was not until 2667 that the existence of the stealth fighter was confirmed when Colonel Blair and his wingman encountered them during the destruction of the K'tithrak Mang Headquarters in the Enigma Sector. The fighters brought back data records of their encounter and Colonel Blair was finally cleared of wrongdoing in the destruction of the TCS Tiger's Claw.

As reported by the Confederation pilots which went up against them, these stealth fighters are able to disappear from visual and electronic sensors for short periods of time. When not firing, the fighters are limited to staying under stealth for fifteen minutes at a time and cannot fire weapons while cloaked although the fighter can continue to operate shields. Besides Stealth, these prototype stealth fighters are notoriously under-powered, under-armed, and under-protected. It is only the stealth device and the ability to carry torpedoes that has made the first Strakhas dangerous. A common tactic is to fire missiles just as the fighter comes out of cloaking mode and hit the enemy by surprise.

The fighter carries lighter armor and shields than most Confederation light fighters and the shields are actually only a little better than those on the old Kilrathi Salthi light fighter. For weaponry, the fighter is armed with two laser cannons. While longer ranged than most other fighter weapons, lasers are underpowered compared to other weapons such as neutron cannons. It is believed that laser cannons were chosen due to their low power draw. In addition to the laser cannons, the fighter has four missile hard points. Two of the hard points are designed to carry heavy missiles such as anti-ship torpedoes while the other to hard points are designed for lighter missiles. These fighters are normally fitted for anti-capital ship missiles and usually carry the largest torpedoes when on anti-capital ship strike missions. While reasonably maneuverable, the fighter is not as maneuverable as the Sartha light fighter or Drakhri medium fighter.

The prototype version of the stealth fighter has been replaced by a far more powerful mass-production model. The mass production version of the Strakha is superior to the prototypes in every way although is quite expensive..

Notes of game conversion:

Because of the nature of the Video Game series "Wing Commander" and the needs to put the fighter into game mechanics, the fighter has several modification compared to the Video Game. The most important change it to change top speed to acceleration. Like fighters in Star Wars and original Battlestar Galactica, the fighters appear to act as if they are in the atmosphere even when they operating in space. This is incorrect. The Television series Babylon 5 and the new Battlestar Galactic are good series to watch to get a clearer idea on how space vehicles would probably maneuver although still not a perfect perspective. The fighter has been modified to uses my revised phase world starship rules and can hold their own against most C.A.F and Kreeghor fighters. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World for more details.

Model Type: Strakha Stealth Starfighter (Prototype)
Vehicle Type: Medium Starfighter
Crew: One

M.D.C. By Location:

	Laser Cannons (2):	40 each
	Missile Hard Points (4):	10
	[1] Engines (2):	100 each
	Landing Struts (3):	10 each
	[2] Main Body:	210
	Reinforced Pilots Cockpit:	80
	[3] Variable Force Field:	40 per side (240 total)

Notes:
[1] Loss of an engine will reduce performance of fighter by one half and loss of two engines will prevent fighter from performing beyond 5% of normal (This is using maneuvering thrusters and gravitic propulsion). Due to gravitic propulsion systems, fighter will not crash in an atmosphere even if both engines are destroyed.
[2] Depleting the MDC of the main body will put the fighter out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck. In an atmosphere, the fighter will crash
[3] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (12 MDC) per melee.

Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Sublight: Has a special sublight engine that allows the ship to travel up to 40 percent of the speed of light. Fighter can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.72 percent of light per melee maximum. Fighter has auxiliary thrusters which can be used a maximum of 15 minutes before fuel is exhausted. On auxiliary thrusters, the fighter has a maximum acceleration of 1.25 percent of light per melee maximum.
Atmospheric Propulsion: The fighter is fairly aerodynamic and is quite capable in an atmosphere. As a result, the fighter can achieve escape velocity (Mach 32.6 / 25,053 mph / 40,320 kph) but normally operates at Mach 3.85 (2,858.31 mph / 4,600 kph) or less. The fighter also has Gravitic propulsion systems enabling it to leave an atmosphere even at low velocities.
Maximum Range: Effectively unlimited by internal fuel (10 year duration) although auxiliary thruster range is limited to approximately 15 minutes. Fighter uses a very small fusion cell system for power systems. The fighter carries one week of consumables for fighter's crew.

Statistical Data:
Length: 55.77 feet (17.0 meters)
Height: 47.57 feet (14.5 meters)
Width: 72.18 feet (22.0 meters)
Weight: 16.53 tons (15 metric tons) unloaded
Power System: Fusion power supply with a 10 year duration.
Cargo: Small Storage Space, 1.5 ft x 1.5 ft x 2 ft. Used for emergency equipment and weapons.
Market Cost: 35.2 million credits

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

1. Dual Laser Cannons: These cannons are mounted on the wings of the starfighter. While extremely long ranged, the damage of the weapons is less than most other Confederation and Kilrathi weapons. When compared to Phase World weaponry, the lasers inflict less damage than those on most C.A.F. Starfighters but have a much longer range. The cannons can be fire individually or in pairs.
   Maximum Effective Range: 3,106.8 miles (5,000 km) in space and 15.5 miles (25 km) in an atmosphere.
   Mega Damage: 1D6x10 per cannon and 2D6x10 for both cannons
   Rate of Fire: Equal to pilots hand to hand (Usually 4 or 5).
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
2. Missile Pylons (4): On the fighter are four missiles that allows the fighter to carry missiles. Individual pylons must carry all the same type ordnance but each pylon may carry different types of ordnance. Cruise missile are normally carried when on an anti-capital ship role and long and medium range missiles when fighting other starfighters. Cruise Missiles has a top speed of Mach 25 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 10% of light per turn (far faster than any starship). Long Range Missiles has a top speed of Mach 20 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 8% of light per turn (faster than any starship). Medium Range Missiles has a top speed of Mach 15 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 6% of light per turn. Since starships will no longer engage at rock throwing distances, whether weapons can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launcher, and missile. When drive goes dead, missile will still cruise unless set to self destruct but has very low odds of hitting starships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and missile when dead at -25% to detect.) Cruise missiles have minuses to hit small targets but are all missiles are normally considered to be smart missiles. Missiles can be launched on multiple targets simultaneously.
   Heavy Fuselage Hard Points (2): One Cruise Missile, two Long Range Missile, or four Medium Range Missile each.
   Wing Hard Points (2): One Medium Range Missile each
   Maximum Effective Range: Cruise Missiles range is 8,000 miles (12,875 km) in an atmosphere and 4,000,000 miles (6,437,376 km/ 21.5 light seconds), Long Range Missiles range is 3,400 miles (5470 km) in an atmosphere and 1,800,000 miles (2,897,000 km/9.7 light seconds) in space, and Medium Range Missiles range is 160 miles (257.5 km) in an atmosphere and 80,000 miles (128,750 km/0.43 light seconds).
   Mega-Damage & Properties: See Revised Phase World Missile tables (Cruise Anti-Matter does 4D6x100 MDC and Long Range Fusion does 2D4x100 MDC).
   Rate of Fire: One at a time or in volleys of two missiles.
   Payload: Varies by hard point
3. Cloaking Device: The Strakha Stealth Starfighter has a cloaking device that allows the stealth fighter to be undetectable by most sensors. In phase world this system has the problem that it does not hide the ships signature on gravitic sensors. The fighter cannot fire any weapons while cloaked, for one attack previous to cloaking, or just after decloaking although shields still operate while cloaked. Cloaking is limited to a fifteen minute period before needing to be shut down for thirty minutes.
   When attacking and if fighter is not detected, the fighter has +8 initiative bonus against a target that is not alerted and +4 initiative bonus against targets that are alerted (at general quarters). If the cloaked fighter get a higher initiative, the fighter can fire its weapons previous to any opponents attacks.
   Each time the fighter's main body gets damaged, there is a percentage chance the cloaking device will be damaged. This is done by determining the total damage the ship has sustained and dividing that by the amount of damage the ship can take (210 in the Strakha's case) and getting a percentage of the hull that the ship has taken for damage. A percentile roll is then made. If the percentile roll is less than the percentage of damage the cloaking device is damaged and will be non operational.

[ Phase World TM, Kreeghor TM, and CAF TM are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]
[ Rifts® is a registered trademark owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.]
[ Wing Commander copyright © Origin Productions]

By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

Rifts Conversion Copyright © 2004, Kitsune. All rights reserved.