CF-105 Scimitar
| CF-105 Scimitar | |
|---|---|
| |
| Type | Medium Fighter |
| Manufacturer | Origin Aerospace |
| Primary User | Terran Confederation |
| Additional Users | Free Republic of the Landreich, Union of Border Worlds |
| Introduction | 2550 |
| Length | 25 meters |
| Mass | 16 metric tonnes |
| Max Velocity | 360 KPS |
| Cruise Velocity | 150 KPS |
| Acceleration | Good |
| Max Y/P/R | 6/6/7 DEG/S |
| Guns | 2 MK. 30A Gatling Mass Driver Cannons |
| Missiles | 3 Dart DFs, 2 Javelin HSs |
| Armor | 5/6/6/5 cm |
| Shields | 4 cm |
| Cloak | None |
| Jump Drive | None |
| Crew | 1 |
| Devices | None |
The CF-105 Scimitar was a Terran Confederation medium fighter. It was included in Joan's Fighting Spacecraft Vega Sector Supplement for 2654.092.
The Scimitar is one of the longest-serving fighters in Confederation history, having been first introduced in 2550, over eighty years prior to the Terran-Kilrathi War.
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.
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. 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 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 would continue to see service with the Free Republic of the Landreich through 2668, and they would again show up in the service of the Union of Border Worlds Outer Worlds Fleet during the 2673 Border Worlds Conflict.
Scimitar-class line-drawing from Joan's Fighting Spacecraft.
Origin Aerospace blueprint.
Origin Aerospace blueprint.
Origin Aerospace blueprint.
