CF-105 Scimitar

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CF-105 Scimitar
WC1-Scimitar.png
Type Medium Fighter
Manufacturer Origin Aerospace
Primary User Terran Confederation
Additional Users Free Republic of the Landreich,
Union of Border Worlds
Introduction pre-2536
Retirement 2670s
Nicknames Space Slug
General Characteristics
Length 25 meters
Mass 16 tonnes
Crew 1 (pilot)
Performance
Maximum Yaw 6 dps
Maximum Pitch 6 dps
Maximum Roll 7 dps
Acceleration Good
Velocity
Cruise 150 kps
Maximum 360 kps
Afterburner
Maximum Afterburner 1120 kps
Armament
Guns
Mk. 30A mass driver cannons (2)
Default Missile Loadout
Dart DF (2)

Javelin HS (3)

Components
Cloaking Device No
Jump Drive No
Defense
Shields
Fore 6.0 cm equivalent
Aft 5.0 cm equivalent
Default Recharge 6.0 cm/second
Armor
Front 8.5 cm
Rear 8.0 cm
Right 6.5 cm
Left 6.5 cm
Wc1scimitar4.gif
CF-105 Target Identification circa 2654
Source Wing Commander


Work-in-progress, expect frequent changes. Help and feedback is welcome. See discussion page.


The CF-105 Scimitar medium fighter, manufactured by Origin Aerospace, served for more than 140 years with various human factions. It was an extremely long serving fighter having joined the Fleet even before the addition of the CF-117 Rapier in 2536. Armed with mass drivers and five missiles, the Scimitar was a rugged and powerful ship in the hands of a skilled pilot. Though it earned the scorn of both space superiority and strike craft pilots alike, earning the derisive nickname "Space Slug", the Scimitar was fully capable of routine interdiction and light strike duties.

History

Scimitars served with distinction on-board Bengal-class strike carrier ships like the Tiger’s Claw, the TCS Trafalgar and the TCS Eagle’s Talon through the final days of the Vega Sector Campaign. The famous Blue Devil Squadron even managed to destroy a heavily armed Kilrathi depot using only a pair of Scimitars during Operation Thor’s Hammer.

The Scimitar appeared in Joan’s Fighting Spacecraft Vega Sector Supplement for 2654.092.

In March 2654, a pair of Scimitars dispatched by the TCS Tiger’s Claw as part of an assault on the KIS Rathtak were ambushed and destroyed by a wing of Jalthi. The Scimitars encountered two crippled Jalthi en route to their target. One thrusted away intermittently as though it had suffered engine damage while the other spun powerlessly. Against orders from his wingleader, Captain R.A. Skinner, Lt. Larry Dibbles broke and attacked the active Jalthi. Neither Jalthi was damaged. The disabled ship powered up and destroyed Skinner's fighter, then joined the other to shoot down Dibbles. The incident became the impetus for Taggart’s Tactics.

The space force’s flight school used a lightly-armed trainer variant of the Scimitar for live fire practice. Two-seat Scimitar trainers often found themselves on the front lines during command school exercises.

By the time of its official retirement in in 2655, the Scimitar was well over one hundred years old and had outlived its nominal replacement, the CF-117 Rapier, which had begun its development cycle in 2527 and had been retired the year before, in 2654. Surplus Scimitars continued to see service with the Free Republic of the Landreich through 2668, and they continued in the service of the Union of Border Worlds during the Border Worlds Conflict in 2673 .

Specifications

CF-105 Scimitar Wcatv-scimitar.jpg CF-105 Scimitar Bp-scimitarside.png CF-105 Scimitar WC1-Scimitar.png CF-105 Scimitar SWCscim.jpg
Source: Academy TV Claw Marks Wing Commander Super Wing Commander
Class: Trainer Medium fighter Medium fighter Medium fighter
Length: n/a 25 meters 33 meters 25 meters
Mass: n/a 16 tonnes 16 tonnes 16 tonnes
Max velocity: n/a 360 KPS 360 KPS 360 KPS
Cruising velocity: n/a 150 KPS 150 KPS 150 KPS
Afterburner velocity: n/a Not listed 1120 KPS 1120 KPS
Acceleration: n/a Good 2 (relative)
Max. YPR: n/a 6/6/7 DPS 6/6/7 DPS 6/6/7 DPS
Guns: Mk. 25 laser cannons (2) Mk. 30A mass driver cannons (2) Mk. 30A mass driver cannons (2) Mk. 30A mass driver cannons (2)
Missiles: Javelin heatseekers (5) Javelin heatseekers (3) Javelin heatseekers (3) Javelin heatseekers (6)
Weapons: Single mount laser turret Dart dumbfires (2) Dart dumbfires (2) Dart dumbfires (4)
Tractor beam Yes No No No
Armor Fore: n/a 6.0cm 8.5cm 8.5cm
Aft: 6.0cm 8.0cm 8.0cm
Sides: 5.0cm 6.5cm 6.5cm
Shields Fore: n/a 4.0cm 6.0cm 6.0cm
Aft: 4.0cm 5.0cm 5.0cm
Shield recharge: n/a Not listed 6 seconds 6 seconds
Missile decoys: 9 None None None
Jump capable: No No No
Crew: 2 (pilot, instructor) 1 (pilot) 1 (pilot) 1 (pilot)

Sources

Joan's Ships of Known Space – 2654

  • CF-117 Rapier
    • "The Rapier has now largely supplanted the earlier CF-105 Scimitar, particularly in frontline operations. The Rapier combines acceleration, maneuverability and firepower to make it the premier one-on-one dog fighter in space today. Its handling superiority is necessary, since its short-range neutron guns require close approach to the enemy in combat."

Wing Commander: Academy TV

Claw Marks Vol. 1 No. 4 – #Issue 4/2654

  • Taggart's Tactics
    • Hypothetical Situation:
      • "You and your wingleader, flying Scimitars, are on a Strike mission against a Ralari class destoryer. En route, you see two damaged Jalthi-class heavy fighters, the survivors of an engagement which must have just ended.
        • Ordinarily, you would not wish to engage the larger fighter-craft. However, both of these craft are in dire straits. One is tumbling helplessly, all stabilization hardware destroyed; the other is limping away, his thrusters blasting intermittently, his maneuvering obviously impared. One target lies a few seconds to port of your flight path, the other a few seconds to starboard.
        • Your wingleader is not inclined to go after either of these marks; he persses on, plodding toward the strike objective.
        • Question: Do you (a) keep with your wingleader, ignoring these easy marks; (b) roll out for a couple of seconds to destroy the completely helpless fighter; (c) roll out for a very brief engagement with the seriously damaged fighter; (d) go after both damaged enemies; or (e) none of the above?
    • Truth from the Black Box
      • "A month ago at the time of this writing, Captain Skinner and Lt. Dibbles went out as part of a strike team assigned to destroy the Ralari class destroyer Rathtak. They launched from Tiger's Claw at ship's 2300 hours. At 2321 hours, the carrier bridge received transmissions from Skinner to Dibbles, ordering him back into position. This was the last transmission from either man. Ever. Follow-up crews were eventually able to find the remains of Skinner's Scimitar and its "black box" flight recorder, and were able to reconstruct what happened from its record of radar images.
        • The real scenario unfolded exactly like above. Mule-Skinner and Tooner ran across the scene described. Tooner decided for a quick kill, and spun out to engage the damaged, but still active, Jalthi-Class fighter. Mule-Skinner ordered him back into position and, either presuming that Tooner would immediately turn back, or just unwilling to abandon or delay his mission because of a somewhat flaky wingman, pressed on towards the objective. Tooner did not immediately turn back, probably plannig to make just one strafing run before turning back to rejoin his wingleader.
        • Unfortunately, the painful truth was that neither Jalthi-class fighter was damaged.
        • When Lt. Dibbles came within a reasonable assault distance of his target, that target abruptly rolled out in controlled flight and engaged him. Simultaneously, the "dead" Kilrathi fighter powered up, stopped spinning, and moved into position behind Captain Skinner.
        • To Lt. Dibbles' credit, he was able to hold off his opponent for quite a while. But while he was in a dogfight with one Kilrathi, the other was destroying his wingleader. Skinner's flight recorder blacks out - owing to the destruction of his fighter-craft - with the radar showing Dibbles still in desperate combat with his opponent.
        • Even without the benefit of Dibbles' unrecovered flight recorder, it doesn't take too much creativity to reconstruct what happened next. The second Jalthi moved to engage Dibbles. Between the two of them, they blew Dibbles out of space.

Wing Commander / Super Wing Commander

Wing Commander Conversations

  • Beta Wing (McAuliffe System)
    • Michael Casey: "Maverick. They call me Iceman. Don't let Knight here fool you about the Scimitar. It's a gun-heavy slug. Forget finesse in a Scimitar. Just head straight in, guns blaring. Give me a ship that lets me use my skill... A Raptor, even a Hornet... ...or one of those new Rapiers! If half of what they say is true, the Rapier's a true artist's ship!"
    • Joseph Khumalo: "Maverick, right? I’m Knight. Welcome to the Blue Devils. Ever flown Scimitars before? I think you’re going to like them. A Scimitar isn’t quite as fast or nimble as a Hornet, but she’s got twice the armour, as well as heavier guns."
      • Michael Casey: "And she handles like a Centaurian mud pig."
      • Joseph Khumalo: "Iceman here’ll try to tell you speed and handling’ll save your butt, but I’ll take an extra three centimetres of durasteel plating any day!"
  • Delta Wing (Gateway System)
    • Michael Casey: "Maverick. They call me Iceman. Don't let Knight here fool you about the Scimitar. It's a gun-heavy slug. Forget finesse in a Scimitar.Just head straight in, guns blaring. Give me a ship that lets me use my skill... A Raptor, even a Hornet... ...or one of those new Rapiers! If half of what they say is true, the Rapier's a true artist's ship!"
    • Joseph Khumalo: "Maverick, right? I’m Knight. Welcome to the Killer Bees. You’re flying a Hornet right now, right? Ever flown Scimitars before? I think you’re going to like them. A Scimitar isn’t quite as fast or nimble as a Hornet, but she’s got twice the armour, as well as heavier guns."
      • Michael Casey: "And she handles like a Centaurian mud pig."
      • Joseph Khumalo: "Iceman here’ll try to tell you speed and handling’ll save your butt, but I’ll take an extra three centimetres of durasteel plating any day!"
  • Omicron Wing (Cheng-Du System)
    • Shotglass: "Knight tells me the colonel's movin' you to Blue Devil Squadron. That'll put you on a Scimitar, like I flew when I was your age. Darn fine ship in her day, though she looks a little outdated now... The Scimitar mounts a pair of mass driver cannons... ...instead of the Hornet's lasers. They fire a lot farther than laser bolts, and hit with more punch... ...but the projectiles move a lot slower. That makes you use 'em closer up, in spite of the extra range. Still, those extra klicks are good against big, slow ships, like tankers."
    • Michael Casey: "Maverick. They call me Iceman. Don't let Knight here fool you about the Scimitar. It's a gun-heavy slug. Forget finesse in a Scimitar.Just head straight in, guns blaring. Give me a ship that lets me use my skill... A Raptor, even a Hornet... ...or one of those new Rapiers! If half of what they say is true, the Rapier's a true artist's ship!"
    • Joseph Khumalo: "Hey, Maverick, you hear about the new assignments? The colonel said he's moving you to a Scimitar in Blue Devil Squadron. Ever flown Scimitars before? I think you’re going to like them. A Scimitar isn’t quite as fast or nimble as a Hornet, but she’s got twice the armour, as well as heavier guns."
      • Michael Casey: "And she handles like a Centaurian mud pig."
      • Joseph Khumalo: "Iceman here’ll try to tell you speed and handling’ll save your butt, but I’ll take an extra three centimetres of durasteel plating any day!"
  • Omicron Wing (Gimle System)
    • Shotglass: "Hey, Maverick. How’s it goin’? You heard about those new Rapiers? Ever'body's talkin' about 'em. I'm not so sure about 'em, though. I flew jus' about my whole career in Scimitars an' Raptors. Liked the Raptor best, even though she didn't handle too good. She sure was fast once you got her goin', though!"
    • Ian St. John: "Maverick, mate, Have you 'eard the news? The Claw's gettin' a prototype Rapier to test fly! I've been lookin' over the specs on 'er. She's tagged a light fighter, but she's better armed than a Scimitar. There's a pair of laser cannons, for distance work... ...an' a set of neutron guns, for the dirty infightin'!
  • Beta Wing (Hell's Kitchen System)
    • Joseph Khumalo: "Back in a Scimitar again, eh, Maverick? Just be sure and remember her limitations, and you'll be all right. She's slower than anything in the Confederate fighter fleet... ...but she's still a match for most of the Kilrathi fighters. Try to get in close, where your mass driver guns are most effective... ...and don't forget that two of those missiles are dumbfire. They just fly straight out ahead of you, with no guidance system.

Wing Commander (De)Briefings

Wing Commander Missions

The Secret Missions Missions

The Memoirs of Lieutenant Colonel Carl T. LaFong: The Kilrathi War's Greatest Ace (TCSN, Retired)

  • The Academy Years
    • For Tighter Up or Down Movements, Roll and Turn
      • "The arrangement of thrusters on Hornets, Scimitars, and Raptors produces an unusual flight characteristic: up and down movements cannot be completed in as tight a radius as a turn to the left or right. Aerospace engineers are trying to correct the flaw in the new Rapier class, but it is still unknown whether their efforts have been successful."
    • Simulated Dogfights
      • "Our first dogfights featured computer Kilrathi opponents. We spent almost a month fighting these electronic enemies. Flying Hornets, we first encountered small wings of two or three [Dralthi]] or Salthi. The sim operators gradually increased the skill level of the Kilrathi and the number of enemy ships. Then they would throw in new types of ships until we had battled pilots in Krant, Gratha and Jalthi. During the progression of opponents, our own ships were upgraded to Scimitars and Raptors."
    • Earning Nicknames
      • "I must have really ticked him off, because Marshall was like a wild man when our dogfight started. On his first pass, he didn't even fire a shot, instead just hitting the afterburners and trying to ram me. I couldn't believe it. This was only simulated, but the first thing a pilot must think about is his own survival. That apparently didn't matter to Marshall.
        • I was sweating bullets. I didn't like Marshall, but he sure could handle a joystick. It seemed like he'd been born in the cockpit seat, the way he made the Scimitar dance around in space. I thought his anger at my prank would be to my advantage. It wasn't. I was spending so much time dodging his attempts to ram me that I couldn't concentrate on my own strategy.
        • "This maniac is going to destroy both of us," I screamed. He didn't, but he took out my ship with the most precise flying and shooting I had ever encountered. Even the computerized Kilrathi opponents at Ace skill level couldn't have touched him."
    • TCS Formidable
      • "Weapons training began in the final month before we would jump out of the practice area and into the Vega Sector. We hit stationary and moving targets with our lasers, dumb fire missiles and heat-seekers. We learned to lead targets moving at different speeds with the guns, and how to gain a lock with the Javelin. We wouldn't actually use Pilums, Porcupines, IR's, mass drivers or neutrons until we flew in Scimitars and Raptors, but our training ensured that we were prepared to employ them when we reached our next destination."
    • Using Your Ship's Guns
      • "Mass Driver - he Scimitars and Raptors were equipped with the mass driver cannon, the only weapon in the Terran arsenal where explosive power is not affected by the distance from the target. While you must be within 3,000 mrrs to hit a target, the effect of a hit with this gun is the same at 500 mrrs as it is at 2000 mrrs. The effectiveness of the lasers and neutrons decreases the farther away you get from your target. The mass driver packs more of a punch than the laser cannon and takes more blaster power for each shot."
  • Between Missions (Jotunheim System)
    • ""I've got to admit that the lieutenant [Maniac] hasn't lost a second in reflex time and he can still put a Hornet, Raptor, Scimitar, or Rapier through its paces better than anyone," he [Paladin] explained. "The problem is that he's taking every mission personally, and trying single-handedly to take out every enemy fighter. He's not only a danger to himself, but to his wingleader as well. You never know what he's going to do next.""

Wing Commander: Fleet Action

  • "Doomsday punched in an aft visual and saw an expanding fireball of light erupting from the carrier's main engine bank. A second ball of light snapped as one of Doomsday's torpedoes slammed into the explosion. Four of the Landreich's old obsolete scimitars darted in towards the carrier's tail, disappearing into the inferno, two of them reemerging from the fireball seconds later and as they pulled out, a solid ripple of explosions shuddered across the carrier's stern from the missile spread they had launched, now that the aft shielding was overloaded and down. The entire aft end of the carrier suddenly disappeared in a white hot light.
    • Doomsday watched the Scimitars, amazed yet again at the suicidal tactics of the Landreich pilots, flying fighters that should have been on the scrap heap years ago.
    • "Fuel igniting, she's going!"
    • The explosion burst out, the blast wave washing over Doomsday's Sabre, shuddering it as if from a direct hit. He lost sight of the two surviving Scimitars, who were simply consumed in the ball of light, the enemy fighters pursuing them disappearing as well."

Wing Commander: False Colors

  • Chapter 8
    • "Medium fighters, Dralthi Four-class, probably two full squadrons, most craft in good condition. The bat-wing shape of the Dralthi Four was fearsome to behold in combat. Tolwyn could still remember watching in frustration as squadron after squadron of the evil-looking birds had swooped low over the Behemoth during the battle that had destroyed the huge weapons platform. They were slightly weaker than their modem Confederation equivalents, but compared to the Scimitars and Raptors of the Landreich's arsenal they were a deadly match."
  • Chapter 16
    • "Heavily engaged, sir. The pirate carrier reports they are working together on a maneuver to tie up the Cats now. It's steering a course toward the Kilrathi task force, and is coming under increasingly heavy attack. Commander Tolwyn reports that he's lost five Raptors, four Scimitars, and a pair of Hornets so far. Also two of the pirate Broadswords that sortied to support the Wing."

Wing Commander: The Price of Freedom

  • "We're down to thirty-one front line strike craft, with seventeen obsolete models—Sabers, Scimitars, and Ferrets—still in storage belowdecks. The flight deck is operational and we've got nine fighters, mostly obsolete, that we can fix, more or less. They're mostly older jobs," he looked at Blair, "with some notable exceptions."
  • The Scimitar in front of Blair's Thunderbolt vanished in a cloud of smoke and a circular blue compression ring. Blair saw only the groundcrews scrambling for the safety of the dock edges.
  • He saw Maniac run from his Hellcat to a Rapier and climb in. Obsolete Sabers and Scimitars, early model Rapiers, and even scratch-built bastards were being sent to face the Confederations very best machines and pilots. They were scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Gallery

  • Scimitar-class line-drawing from Joan’s Fighting Spacecraft.

    Scimitar-class line-drawing from Joan’s Fighting Spacecraft.

  • Origin Aerospace blueprint.

    Origin Aerospace blueprint.

  • Origin Aerospace blueprint.

    Origin Aerospace blueprint.

  • Origin Aerospace blueprint.

    Origin Aerospace blueprint.

  • Scimitar Trainer circa 2654.

    Scimitar Trainer circa 2654.

  • Scimitar Target Identification circa 2654.

    Scimitar Target Identification circa 2654.

  • Origin Aerospace blueprint.

    Origin Aerospace blueprint.

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