Thunderbird (Aerospace Fighter class)

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Thunderbird
Production information
Manufacturer	Lockheed-CBM Corporation
Model	THB-D36
Class	Heavy
Tech Base	Inner Sphere
Technical specifications
Mass	100 tons
Structural Integrity
Frame	Lockheed/CBM 300-TRB
Power Plant	Vlar 300
Fuel
Armament	3 x Large Lasers 5 x Medium Lasers 2 x LRM-20s
Communications System	Neil 6000-a
Tracking & Targeting System	N&D Longreach
Heat Sinks	25 (single)
BV (1.0)	1,876

Description

While sporting a large and rather unconventional look, the Thunderbird is an old standby design, one of the most common if dated heavy AeroSpace Fighters in use across the Inner Sphere.

Created in 2487 as part of an alliance between the Lockheed Corporation of Gibbs and CBM Aerospace of Donegal, the original Thunderbird was built for the LCAF as an assault fighter, well suited to air-to-ground attack and DropShip escort missions in the so-called Age of War. Despite its less than sleek look, the sturdy and dependable Thunderbird spread across the Star League as a number of other manufacturers were able to precisely duplicate the fighter, ensuring the design survived the centuries.

Armament

Mounting a laser-intensive weapons load, the Thunderbird is well suited to both dogfighting and strafing runs. A FarFire Maxi-Rack LRM-20s in each wing is supplemented by a RAMTech 1200 Large and Maxwell Medium Laser, with further large and medium laser mounted in fighter's awkward nose. Four tons of missile reloads give the LRM launchers reasonable combat endurance, while two aft mounted medium lasers discourage pursuit.

Variants

• TRB-D46 - Originally introduced toward the end of the Star League era for the LCAF and SLDF before finally being reintroduced in 3055, the D46 replaces the large lasers with extended range models and swaps the LRM-20s for Artemis IV FCS enhanced LRM-15s. Double Heat Sinks allows the D46 to fire more frequently, while an extra ton of fuel and five more tons of armor allows the D46 to stay in the fight longer.
• TRB-D50 - A variant developed by Pinard Protectorates Limited, the D50 switches the standard armor to Ferro-Aluminum and drops the LRMs in favor of a second medium laser on each wing, while the nose medium is traded for AC/10 and two tons of ammunition, the addional weight save devoted to nine more standard heat sinks and an extra ton and half of armor.
• TRB-D56 - Developed by Lockheed/CBM in 3074 from the D46, the D56 is a heavy fighter/DropShip hunter which uses an XL Engine, seventeen tons of Ferro-Aluminum armor and twenty double heat sinks. The D56 is armed with a Heavy PPC and Ultra AC/10 in the nose and twin tail-mounted ER Small Lasers in its tail, backed up by Artemis enhanced LRM-20s and wing mounted ER Medium Lasers.

Notes

1 - The Thunderbird was introduced in the AeroTech as one of the six original designs, with no model number, release date, or 'fluff.' Randall Bills, the FanPro BattleTech Line Developer, provided a few more details (era, model number) in the official file released with HeavyMetal Aero. The Thunderbird was finally detailed at length in Technical Readout 3075, pg. 286-287.

References

• Technical Readout: 3057 - pg 189
• Technical Readout: 3075 - pg 286-287
• AeroTech
• AeroTech 2
• HeavyMetal Aero: file provided by Randall Bills, FanPro BattleTech Line Developer