Introduction

Designed in the early 1970s by RamboJutter Ltd. the Weasel was intended for a British ground attack role in a similar manner to which the Fairchild A10 Warthog fulfills for the USAF. It entered service in 1981 with the RAF and saw combat in a number of conflicts such as Gulf war 1 and 2. The aircraft incorporates a system to avoid exceeding 8G (code supplied with this challenge)

Designed to be rugged, sub-sonic and capable of carrying a variety of armament it full filled the design philosophy. As with most ground attack aircraft it was expected that this aircraft would suffer damage during its combat operations and thus layouts fundamental different to standard aircraft where considered and implemented.

One such difference is its ability to land with the wheels in a retracted position, this is of use if there is any battle damage to the hydraulic system and is designed into the airframe by mountin the main undercarriage external to the main airframe and mounting a fibreglass disposable fairing around them which can be easily replaced, a sacrificial nose support is also fitted to avoid damage to the aircrafts nose or weaponry.

In addition the tailplane incorporates both an all flying tail and elevators for redundancy, in this model the all flying tail has been given over to trim and the elevator to pitch.

Armament

In this version the aircraft is armed with 2 custom AGM 65 Maverick missiles, 2 custom AGM 88 Harm missiles and 6 fictional AGM 67 Hades missiles, 2 custom AIM 9 Sidewinders, along with a fictional GAU-8/C Avenger (a 20mm version of the 30mm A10 cannon). In addition there are 2 optical/laser designation / range finding systems installed, again this allows for a level of redundency.

Controls

AG1 - detaches the AIM 9 sidewinders and the AGM 65 Maverick missiles to reduce weight if battle damaged prior to launching weapons. AGM 88 and AGM 67 are retained to allow for continuation of combat.

AG3 - Braking parachute deployment. This 'chute is intentionally designed to be on the large side to allow for fast braking which allows the aircraft to land on smaller strips than most aircraft operate from

AG4 - Detach belly fuel tank (a necessity if landing without lowering undercarriage)

AG5 - Airbrake deployment. Full custom airbrake, design based on the Handley Page Victor system

AG7 - Navigation lights

VTOL dn - custom flaps, use 3/4 on takeoff, full on landing.

Colour Scheme

The colour scheme is based loosely around the Gulf war aircraft such as the SEPECAT Jaguar and the Blackburn Buccaneer, I have not incorporated as much pink in the scheme as i felt the sandy scheme fits better with the Maywar area of SP which im assuming is similar to the Ankoristan area. The light grey underside would assist to camo the aircraft from ground observation at medium to high altitudes. The stripe lead to the aircrafts name after the Weasel (pic from Wiki)