Zerstörer I - Nachtfalke

The Ztr-1 is a 5th generation combat aircraft designed and built at Elbe Flugzeugwerke for the aerial branch of the East German armed forces. It is a specialist aircraft with a multirole mission in high-speed high-risk Interceptor and Intruder roles.

Development
Serious development on the Nachtfalke began early in 1992 with the pet project of Viktor Porsche, now Commissar of the Research bureau, under the name of Project Poltergeist. Working off the equations and foundations laid in groundbreaking Soviet physicist Pyotr Ufimtsev's 'Method of Edge Waves in the Physical Theory of Diffraction ', Porsche proposed designs and concepts that baffled the EFW design bureaus at the time.

Significant opposition emerged from senior engineers in the Design Bureaus, considering Porsche's ideas too drastic or outright insane to be feasible and believing limited resources best allocated to the various projects of modernization already widespread among the NVA's three branches.

Though Porsche had final say as Commissar, he nonetheless reached a compromise for the sake of stability among the Bureaus, and work on Project Poltergeist was relatively slow and mostly theoretical until 1999, where the Sakerfalke's first flight marked a turn in East German aeronautics history and much resources had been freed up.

Over the next 5 years, work on Poltergeist greatly hastened with the construction in 2000 of a wind tunnel testing unit and static models for fatigue resistance and powerplant testing. Early 2004 saw the completion of two flight testing prototypes, dubbed Hexe-1 and Hexe-2. Testing on the Nachtfalke continues to this day, but a designation has been prepared in advance of eventual production runs, estimated to begin in 2-3 years at most.

Frame
The Nachtfalke's frame is primarily composed of OM-A814 Aluminum-Lithium alloy, a military aerospace alloy optimized for maximum heat resistance, and rests upon a structural skeleton of OM-T101 general purpose titanium alloy. This choice was made due to the extreme heat levels predicted to be afflicting the airframe at all time during supercruising flight, which would have damaged standard aerospace alloys. The shape of the airframe itself is radically different from standard NVA fighters, featuring a pseudo blended-wing-body similar to a tailless delta. It is very easily identifiable due to its distinctive arrowhead shape, high wingspan-to-length ratio and inward-inclined tails, This shape was selected for its good mixture of low observability, speed and consequent internal volume. Controls are provided by fly-by-wire technology.

The cockpit features a frameless canopy, tinted with a layer of Indium-tin oxide. Previously tested on the Sakerfalke, the thin layer is shown to be effective both at reducing glare and preventing radar waves from entering the cockpit and reflecting off its internal components. Like the StJ-1, it also features a center-stick, left hand throttle and Hands-on-Throttle-and-Stick capabilities. Due to the requirements of its mission profile however, there is no direct visibility to the back of the airframe.

The Nachtfalke is powered by two thrust-vectoring-capable, supercruise-enabled EFW-L-300 engines developing 110 kilonewtons of dry thrust, and 150 kilonewtons on afterburners. They are capable of operating both standard jet fuel or high-density boranes-enriched fuel, or Zip fuels, depending on mission requirements. The highly-efficient combustion of the L-300 allows for reduced buildup of solids and particulate, but the use of Z-fuels still causes increased wear and exhaust visibility. It is capable of inflight refueling.

Electronics
The Nachtfalke's avionics suite is centered on the Soviet Zhuk-MA Active Electronically Scanned Array multimode all-weather airborne radar which has been used operationally by the NVA in all modern aircraft. It features a range of 200 kilometers and can track up to 30 targets while engaging up to 8. It is supplemented by an S-31E laser rangefinder and Infrared Search And Track system, but it is more a last resort option than anything else as Ztr-1 pilots are instructed not to engage in dogfights.

The cockpit features multiple LCD multifunction displays, but physical back-up dials for essential systems are also present in case of an unforeseen failure of the LCD displays. A central HUD is present with a helmet-mounted display for critical information. All Ztr-1 are equipped with the Custodian system, an automated safety system that monitors the vitals and posture of the pilot and immediately engages an auto-pilot takeover that proceeds to return to the last takeoff coordinates in the event of a pilot falling unconscious or wounded.

Armaments
The primary armament of Nachtfalke consists of a central, ventral heavy weapons bay which can, depending on the mission profile, contain two Anti-Radiation or Anti-ship missiles, two bombs of 750kg or lower, with a variety of payloads, or six medium-range anti-air missiles such as the R-77 or equivalents such as the FR-200.

Secondary armament consists of a 30mm BK6 autocannon behind a hatch and two smaller internal weapon bays located at the wing root, which can contain up to two R-73M short-range anti-air missiles or equivalent each. These are intended for self-defense or combat at extremely short range, but due to the lesser maneuvrability of the Ztr-1, it is not recommended to engage offensively unless the target is fully unaware.

Tertiary, optional armament may consist of up to 4 pylons mounted on the wings, after the root bays. These pylons are compatible to use multi-rail technology, but significantly reduce the speed of the craft and increase observability.

Countermeasures
The primary ECM vector of the Nachtfalke is its AESA radar in the nose, which is complemented by four ECM pods. Two small ones are present at the wingtips, while two slightly larger ones run along the dorsal flare, all integrated into the airframe to avoid protrusions. Mountings for 1.5 inch Triethylaluminium defensive flares in 3x3 launchers come standard in all NVA aircraft.

The shape of the aircraft allows for low inherent radar observability, which is complemented by the use of Indium-tin coating on the cockpit and silicon-carbide coating mixed with heat-resistant paint on the overall airframe. The offset engines feature serpentine inlets and rectangular, flat nozzles, while pre-combustion fuel is ran along the LERX and exhaust to reduce heat buildup.

Service History
Though the Nachtfalkes are not in service with any unit in the NVA, Hexe-2 has been transferred to the Schirmacher base in Antarctica for flight testing in extreme and isolated environment, while Hexe-1 remains in Dresden at EFW's main installations.