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North American XF-108 Rapier

255 Runefox  9.0 years ago

The North American XF-108 Rapier was a proposed high-speed, high-altitude interceptor conceived as a companion project to the XB-70 Valkyrie. Capable of Mach 3+ speeds and painted in the Valkyrie's anti-flash white, the Rapier showed tremendous promise on paper. However, with the cancellation of the XB-70 Valkyrie and the looming threat of the ICBM, the need for an interceptor to shoot down Soviet supersonic bombers diminished, and the project was cancelled alongside the Valkyrie.

Had the Rapier seen service, it would have been armed with 4 20mm cannons, and 3 GAR-9 (AIM-47) Falcon long-range missiles on an internal rotary launcher.

Due to the complexity of modeling the launcher in SimplePlanes and the steps that would be required to operate it, a fictionalized external loadout has been added to make it more viable in combat. Thanks to its cranked delta wing, the Rapier is supremely stable during flight, but has a high takeoff speed of roughly 250MPH. The engines have been tuned so that 20% throttle is 100% standard military thrust, while the 100% setting allows it to reach Mach 3. Action group 4 jettisons external stores.

General Characteristics

  • Created On Windows
  • Wingspan 20.5ft (6.2m)
  • Length 32.6ft (9.9m)
  • Height 11.6ft (3.6m)
  • Empty Weight 7,165lbs (3,250kg)
  • Loaded Weight 12,563lbs (5,698kg)

Performance

  • Power/Weight Ratio 1.788
  • Wing Loading 55.8lbs/ft2 (272.3kg/m2)
  • Wing Area 225.3ft2 (20.9m2)
  • Drag Points 1763

Parts

  • Number of Parts 47
  • Control Surfaces 7
  • Performance Cost 252