<<It's kinda strange... making an aircraft that is a big middle finger to one we just made.>>
-CEO of Phoenix Industries, Jason Phoenix, in an interview

The AF-13 was built as a direct counter to the AF-12, and as such has similarly powerful characteristics. Featuring an updated cockpit module and augmented reality technology, as well as electronic counter-countermeasures, the AF-13 is technologically a step above it's predecessor.

This is an aircraft of the 52nd "Warhawks" Advanced Fighter Squadron, based at the New Accilia Airbase

History

As the TCMC Crisis raged on across the civilized world, Accilian commanders were experiencing a large amount of trouble with Griffon 1 and his AF-12 Werewolf. Eventually, after a couple months, it got so bad that they filed a formal complaint to the Air Defense Council, which in turn contracted Phoenix Industries to develop a counter the the AF-12. Phoenix industries, although initially fearful that this new aircraft would overshadow a proposal for the AF-12 itself, reluctantly accepted the contract.
The aircraft, after the incident where the AF-12 prototype was stolen, was placed under very heavy guard at the test facility as to not have a repeat situation and give the terrorist organization two trump cards to work with.
The development cycle, while very rushed, was quite uneventful, with the design phase and testing phase going very smoothly.
Although by the time the prototype of the production model was performing it's first flights, the TCMC Crisis was already winding down. This led the aircraft to be rushed even further, with a side goal of the Accilian Air Force to turn this new aircraft into a propaganda icon.
The prototype was greenlit for production, but only days before the final assault on New Accilia. Thus, the AF-13 never saw it's true enemy in combat, as only a few airframes were complete before the crisis's end.
After the TCMC Crisis, though, the AF-13 still went into the Accilian Air Force as a complement to the AF-12, which was also pressed into service afterwards due to its success in the incident (even though it was in the enemy's hands).
To this day, AF-12 and 13 pilots have a rivalry with one another as to who can accumulate the best record for these brand new, state of the art aircraft, and which one will be written in the books as the superior airplane.

As a testament to the rushed schedule of the AF-13's development, it reuses the same ATFE-016 engines as those found on the AF-12. the engines' performance is almost identical, although there is a significant thermal problem due to a lack of a pre-cooler in the Intakes of the aircraft.

Still, it boasts good thrust figures and reaches very fast speeds.

The AF-13, similar to the AF-12, uses a canard delta layout, with complementary thrust verctoring for low speed maneuverability.

In the planning stages of the aircraft, the AF-13 was planned to use all-moving tail surfaces (similar to those on the Su-57) in addition to the canards and TVNs. However, as the development deadline crept closer, the technicians at PI never developed proper control software for those surfaces, so they remain locked in their neutral positions. Those tail fins still have all the necessary servomechanisms, but the central computer does not know how to use them as the proper drivers were never developed or installed.

The AF-13's weapons system is compatible with a majority of Accilian weapons systems, such as the MRAM air-to-air missile, the MRGM air to ground missile, and the LRSM air-to-ship missile.

This specific aircraft is armed with 8 MRAM missiles, 4 MRGM missiles, and 4 MPSM missiles.

The cannon count, in order to save weight, was cut to only a single Model 014B Revolver Cannon, mounted in the starboard wingroot and with 800 rounds of ammunition.

This aircraft was planned to carry the specially designed HVLM missile, which would be designed for use against very high speed targets like the AF-12 this plane was intended to slay.

The AF-13, overall, is quite mechanically reliable, save for one thing.

The engines on this aircraft suffer greatly from a temperature issue, and prolonged durations at high power and/or afterburner heat up the engine to potentially dangerous levels. Thus, a safeguard was programmed into the AF-13's onboard computer which would cut the afterburner if the engine's temperature got above a certain threshold. The pilot can lower the temperature by lowering the throttle and cooling the engines.

The AF-13 goes for a similar price as it's rival, bringing the AF-13's cost to around 146 million Accilian Dollars (approximating to around 188 million USD)

- As with the AF-12, I am not gonna try and pass this off as realistic. it's a superplane built to be "a big middle finger" to another superplane so don't expect realistic performance.
- So now that the AF-12 and 013 are out I am now relegated to building superplanes again.
- It is said in the description that the tail surfaces are immovable. This is true normally, but there is a switch in the cockpit to toggle the tail motors on or off if you are so inclined.
- Similar situation with the engine temperature, which has a bar mounted in the cockpit for monitoring, or an engine override to just completely disable that mechanic if it gets too annoying.
- Everything in the cockpit should be labeled.
- The cockpit even has a diagnostic panel in the bottom left, which responds in real time to certain flight parameters and is functional. Don't worry about the high g warning. it goes off all the time.
- Although originally designed to be more air to air specific, it ended up having a more well-rounded loadout than an full blown multirole. strange how that works.
- As per usual, the cockpit measurements are in Freedom Units (or at least they should be)