ROBOTECH: UNDF Aircraft Designs


Designation: McDonnell-Douglas F-203 Dragon II Jet Fighter

I. Dimensions:

Total Length:	17.3 m
Total Height:	5.5 m
Total Wingspan:	13.6 m
Total Dry Weight:	18.8 metric tons

II. Service History:

F-203A: Served with the United States Air Force in the Third World War.
F-203B: Served with the United States Navy (and with the Air Force as a trainer) in the Third World War.
F-203C: Served with the UNDF Air Force from 2002 until replaced by the -E.
F-203D: Served with the UNDF Navy from 2003 until replaced by the -E, and with the RDF Air Force and Navy as a trainer until 2019.
F-203E: Served with the RDF Air Force and Navy from 2008 until 2019.

III. Type:

(A,C,E) One man jet fighter aircraft.
(B,D) Two man fighter/trainer.

IV. Propulsion:

(A, B): 2 x P&W F-119-200 variable cycle chemical turbofans/turbojets, 196 kN of afterburning thrust total. The engines have vectoring nozzles.
(C, D): 2 x P&W F-119-300 variable cycle chemical turbofans/turbojets, 204 kN of afterburning thrust total. The engines have vectoring nozzles.
(E): 2 x P&W F-119-V-500 variable cycle chemical turbofans/turbojets, 220 kN of afterburning thrust total. The engines have vectoring nozzles and provide STOVL capability.

V. Performance (E model):

Maximum speed @ 14,500 meter : 2960 kph (Mach 2.8)
Maximum speed @ sea level : 1200 kph (Mach 1)
Maximum climb rate : >25,000 meter/minute.
Range (typical) : 1300 km.
Stall speed : 120 kph.
Maximum altitude : >15,240 meter (24 km is suspected).
Max load runway length : 538 meters.
Design-g limits : 9.5 g.

VI. Electronics:

Typical set for F-203E variant:

Radar System:

Hughes AWG-20 X-band pulse-Doppler radar, providing long-range detection and tracking of targets at all altitudes, as well as extensive surface search, attack, navigation, and mapping modes.

Optical tracking:

Thomson LT-3 multi-frequency laser ranger/designator
Zeiss FOI-8 infra-red imaging sensor and low-light level camera system in retractable optic ball-turret in front of the cockpit canopy.

Tactical Electronic Warfare System (TEWS):

Elettronica Radar Warning Receiver (RWR)
OlDelft Infra-red Warning Receiver (IRWR)
Westinghouse ALQ-200 active radar jammer
Chaff dispenser
Flares
Active missile jammers.

VII. Armament:

(A, B): 2 x General Electric GE-316 triple barrelled 16mm hypervelocity flechette cannon in the wing roots. These cannons fired 16mm hypervelocity tungsten AP flechettes at a firing rate of 4000 rounds/minute per cannon. Ammunition supply was 500 rounds per cannon.
These cannons were failures and replaced on all Dragons in 1999 by:
(All): 2 x Oerlikon KCN 25mm autocannon, firing APHE (Armor Piercing High Explosive) or HEI-T (High Explosive Incendiary - Tracer) rounds at a maximum rate of fire of 2000 rounds/minute. The ammunition supply is 275 rounds/gun.
12 conformal hardpoints for ordnance, 5 under each wing and 2 on the centerline. Typical air-superiority load (for E variant) is 8 medium range (65 km) Mach 3.0 combined active radar and thermal imager guided AMM-1 Stiletto missiles, four under each wing, and a large conformal fuel tanks occupying the two centerline hardpoints.

VIII. Armor:

The skin of the Dragon is composed of treated steel plate. The skin provides excellent protection against small grenade and shell fragments, good protection against small arms fire, and poor resistance to heavier infantry weapons, such as the 12.7mm machinegun round, as well as from fragments and near misses from higher caliber weapons. The Dragon provides full protection from nuclear, biological, and chemical hazards, using an overpressure cockpit environment activated by radiation and hazardous chemical sensors, or manually when biological warfare conditions are anticipated. The internal consumables supplies can provide atmospherefor eight hours maximum.

IX. Development:

The F-203 Dragon II was designed soon before the Third World War by McDonnell-Douglas, the manufacturer of the F-15 Eagle fighter-bomber. Because the Eagle was getting rather old for combat in the GCW, and its successor, the F-22 Talon, was costly to produce in both money and time, McDonnell- Douglas designed the Dragon to complement the Talon and to replace the venerable F-14 Tomcat Naval fighters. Since the Dragon was intended for fast production, as many of-the-shelf components and technologies were used as possible. The front of the Dragon is therefore a marginally smaller version of the F-15 cockpit, and the engines are modified versions of those on the Talon. The exhausts are vectored-thrust nozzles. In addition, the Dragon possesses secondary exhaust vents, giving it STOL capability. The original electronics suite also utilized standard components. However, the wings were unique to the Dragon, and incorporated the newest in aerodynamical science when first designed. The armament fit was a new type of hypervelocity flechette cannon in each wing root, and a large number of small conformal pylons as pioneered on the F-16XL projects for external loads. However, it soon turned out that the new low-caliber flechette cannons were less effective than was hoped, in addition to being mechanically unreliable. The manufacturers' solution of mounting a redundant pair was less than ideal, and the guns were soon replaced by Swiss KCN single barrel 25mm cannons.

The F-203 A and B versions were mass produced by the United States, and saw much use in combat. However, the major disadvantage of the A and B versions was that the plane was not in the least 'stealthy', given that part of the fuselage was designed in the early '70s. This was improved in the C/D versions, however, with the application of a skin covering that absorbed, to an extent, EM radiation. This covering would later be developed into a major part of the Shadow Fighter's stealth systems. Even so, the covering only decreased the typical detection ranges of the craft, but especially when countered by UWB radars, it was less than perfect. After the Global Civil War, the Dragon was updated with Tirolian technologies. This updated version was known as the F-203E. The improvements involved the installation of a far more powerful radar/EW suite, with new radar systems, active missile jammers, and so forth. This suite became standard equipment throughout the UNDF, being used on craft ranging from the Commanchero to the VF-1. In addition, bypass air from the engines could be ejected through exhausts under the fuselage, giving the Dragon full VTOL capabilities.

The Dragon saw some service in the Zentraedi Uprisings, but being a chemically propelled fighter, it could not sustain high Mach speeds the way the Fighter Pods could, and it was far inferior to the Quaedluun-Rau Power Armor at the sub-Mach speeds which the Zentraedi mecha could reach. It was therefore quickly replaced in the front lines by VF-1 Valkyrie Veritechs, but a small number saw service until 2019.

Dragon Cockpit View: