The Sagittarius project started out as the LFR (Light Fighter Replacement) project. This project was meant to replace the F-20B Hammerhead as main light fighter of the FAF and UFN. When the size of the war increased, the fact rose that there would not be enough pilots to pilot these new fighters. At the same time, the technology advanced that made extreme maneuverability possible. When the cost of the aircraft kept on rising, at some moment it was decided just to cut out the pilot. The new UCAV was born.
At the same time, development for the MMM (Micro Multirole Missile) was done. This new missile would take out targets in groups for more chance against CIWS, decoys and evasive maneuvers. There were 2 problems though: the range of these small missiles was very short and they required active guidance. Because of this, they needed a platform that could bring them into enemy airspace or even in a dogfight. A fast, maneuverable and relatively light aircraft was needed, but it still should be able to carry the relatively large missile containers of the MMM. The ULFR (Unmanned LFR) was found so appropriate, that both projects were joined under a single name. Due to the similarities of the fighter and the missile to an archer and its arrows, it was decided to call the project ‘Sagittarius’ (Latin for archer)
(Note, the MMM was also used in the Mjolnir AA cruise missile)
Some short specifications:
Max speed: mach 1.8
Cruising speed: mach 1.2 (supercruise)
Max G forces: 16G (without wing load) 12G (empty or only centerline load)
Combat radius: 300 km
Important to notice is the Sagittarius’s wing. The outer wing is a variable incidence, variable camber wing, which makes the aircraft relatively stealthy under all control positions and very controllable under every angle of attack.
These aircraft were successfully used during the ‘final counterattack’ operations in 2020 and 2022, but received a bad name after the war when they were used by the utopian federation to suppress all resistance.
The aircrafts limited range was corrected by the use of the first airborne aircraft carriers, about which I will tell more later on.
