Lyran Alliance

     Mercenary General

     Star League Defense Force

After having started the development of the Vernichter Omnifighter, the designers of Defiance Industries came into a harsh realization: The Lyran Alliance does not possess a home-produced Aerospace fighter designed for dogfighting, thus clearing the skies for their heavier fighters. Having seen the AFFS‘ Dagger and CCAF‘s Defiance Omnifighters coming into production, the designers came up with a bold plan: To create an Aerospace Omnifighter that is capable of outperforming its rivals in most aspects, and even face clan-made Omnifighters head-on with a good chance of winning, all while still being affordable.

The results of this research was shown when the first two JGV-1O Jagdvogel (German for Bird of the Hunt) Omnifighters took their virgin flight on early 3076. In a clever move to reduce development costs, Defiance Industries used only weapon systems they produced themselves on the Omnifighter, and used a modified frame from the Vernichter Omnifighter as a base to work with. The end result was an Aerospace Fighter that shares the Vernichter‘s unique double-winged construction with massive canards, providing the new fighter with unprecedented atmospheric maneuverability, even if it becomes a larger target.

The main selling point of the Jagdvogel however, is the fact that the Omnifighter costs less than most fighters in current use, actually being cheaper than the 15-ton lighter Dagger and barely over half the price of the similarly weighing Troika. This feature in particular seems to continue Defiance Industries‘ trend of producing highly affordable Omnifighters with significant combat capabilities.

Weighing in at sixty tons, the Jagdvogel is somewhat heavier than its contemporaries, the AFFS Dagger (45 tons) and the CCAF Defiance (55 tons), yet it has enough speed and maneuverability to match the much lighter Dagger, while carrying twenty-two and a half tons of pod space, placing it in between its commercial rivals for combat ability. Maintenance is made easy by the fact that the Jagdvogel shares many components, including engine as well as communications and targeting system with its larger cousin, the Vernichter, with various other minor components also shared between the two fighters, relieving one headache for the logistics requirements of the users of both Omnifighters.

Five tons of fuel was deemed sufficient to provide the new Omnifighter with an acceptable operational range, and ten and a half of Ferro-Aluminum armor was similarly deemed sufficient to protect the Omnifighter from weapon fire, which although thinner than its contemporaries, is still very respectable. While many critiques have complained regarding the relatively thin armor compared to most other new-generation fighters, the executives from Defiance Industries were quick to point out that the fighter still carries comparable armor with most succession war era aerospace fighters around its weight, while at the same time being more maneuverable by far, with better acceleration to boot. Ten double heat sinks keep the plane’s heat dissipation under control.

Sticking mostly with self-produced weaponry to outfit their fighter, the designers in Defiance Industries decided to just outfit the lighter Omnifighter with the same kind of weapon mix used in the Vernichter.

Due to its very recent introduction and soaring popularity, no unit in the LAAF currently field more than a lance of the Jagdvogel Omnifighter, including the 14th Donegal Guards RCT, which still fields the first two Jagdvogels to roll off from the production lines. Demand from outside the Lyran Alliance has been high (Although it is next to zero from the Federated Suns and the Capellan Confederation), and as such, at least a wing of Jagdvogels have been sold either to the SLDF or to various mercenary outfits eager to possess some of the new Omnifighters.

The Prime variant of the Jagdvogel features a nose-mounted Poland Main Model A Gauss Rifle with two tons of ammunition as its main weapon, supported by an array of lasers, consisting of four Defiance B3M Medium Lasers and one each of Defiance Model XII Extended-Range Medium Laser and Model XIV Small Laser. This variant also quickly gains renown due to its excellent heat-dissipation capabilities, allowing it to make full use of its weapon complement without overheating.

Alpha Variant of the Jagdvogel was originally slated to carry a Defiance Hammerfist Heavy Gauss Rifle, but the designers found that to mount one of the massive weapons, plus ammunition on the Omnifighter would leave no room for other weaponry. Instead, they re-designed the alpha variant to act as a DropShip-hunter and fighter-killer, switching its primary armament with a quartet of wing-mounted Tharhes Guided 4-Pack Streak SRM racks, supported by a quartet of ER Medium Lasers. Two tons of ammunition were considered sufficient with the ammunition-efficient Streak SRM systems, and four extra heat sinks were installed to help the fighter deal with waste heat.

Designed with the Inner Sphere pilot‘s preference for close-range high-speed dogfights in mind, the Beta variant of the Jagdvogel utilizes a bevy of short-ranged weaponry to do its work. Mounted along the spine of the Omnifighter is a lethal 185mm Defiance Disintegrator Large-Bore Extended Autocannon/20, supplied with three tons of ammunition . A Defiance Model XII Extended-Range Medium Laser provides support up to medium range, while a pair of Defiance B3M Medium and four Defiance B3S Small Lasers provides additional close-in firepower. This variant of the fighter does have slight heat issues, but nothing that is considered a cause of concern.

For times when ammunition is in short supply, or commanders wish to get the most air-time out of their fighters, the Charlie Variant of the Jagdvogel Omnifighter is configured exclusively with energy weapons. Having reviewed the all-energy variants of the Dagger and the Defiance, the designers of the Jagdvogel decided to not opt for the extra accuracy afforded by pulse technology or Targeting Computers. They opted for a very Lyran approach instead: More firepower. A Defiance 1001 Extended-Range Particle Projector Cannon provides the fighter‘s long-range punch. Once it enters medium range, the pair of Defiance Model XII Extended-Range Medium Lasers would prove to be an unpleasant surprise for its foes. Up close and personal, the pilot can then tie in another four Defiance B3M Medium Lasers and the single Defiance B3S Small Laser, allowing them to rip apart most other fighters in a salvo or two. Nine extra Double Heat Sinks allows this fighter to make use of its entire weapons array without too much excess heat, a remarkable feat for such an energy-reliant fighter.

A pair of Coventry Star Fire LRM-15 launchers with Artemis IV FCS, supplied with four tons of ammunition, provides the main long-range punch of the Jagdvogel D. Its backup weapons are a pair of Defiance Model XII ER Medium Lasers and a single B3S Small Laser. While not exactly a revolutionary design, the D variant of the Jagdvogel does its job well, if without much fanfare.

When Operation Lorelei took place in June 3076, only the first two Jagdvogel Omnifighters have entered LAAF service, both being attached to the Aerospace division of the 14th Donegal Guards RCT. The commanding officer of the 14th was not too enthusiastic with the new, unproven fighters, and assigned a pair of pilots that only recently graduated (if with flying colors) from the elite Nagelring military academy, not wishing to risk his veteran pilots on unproven machines.

Neither the commanding officer of the 14th nor the designers of Defiance Industries ever expected the performance the two green (it was their first real combat assignment) pilots would show in the unproven machines (similarly, that was first time the Jagdvogels were ever deployed into real combat)

By the end of Operation Lorelei one and a half years later, the two Jagdvogel pilots have been credited for the destruction of fourteen Omnifighters, two DropShips, and nine OmniMechs between them, outshooting even the veterans of the 14th Donegal by far, and once and for all proving the capabilities of their fresh-off-the-factory Omnifighters. Needless to say, demand outweighs production soon after the combat reports were known, and the situation became even more so when the public relation department of Defiance Industries released a commercial showcasing their new Omnifighters, complete with combat footage from Operation Lorelei.

Leutnant Erica "Schwarzteufel" Hartmann. Pilot of one of the original two Jagdvogels, Erica Hartmann graduated from the Nagelring with flying colors less than six months before the start of operation Lorelei, which she participated in. Her recorded kills during the Operation consisted of an Avar, three Batus, four Visigoths, one Jagatai, one Scytha, a Broadsword-class dropship, a Union-C-class Dropship, a Turkina, two Night Gyrs, a Summoner, a Hellbringer, a Mad Dog, and two Fire Falcons. Despite the nearly unprecedented performance on the battlefield, Leutnant Hartmann has been noted to have disciplinary issues that have hindered her career‘s advancement. 3079 update: It has been rumored that Leutnant Erica Hartmann has been discharged from the LAAF due to unknown causes. Those same rumors hinted that she might have been discharged due to taking her Omnifighter out on a joyride (Read: Flying inside a narrow valley. At near-maximum thrust.). Further rumors state that she had the Archon-designate, Melissa Steiner-Davion as a terrified (Read: Very happy and willing.) passenger with her. Whether these rumors speak the truth or not is up for debate.

Leutnant Theresa "Weissritter" Weissenberger. Wingman to Erica Hartmann, and pilot of the second Jagdvogel that saw action during Operation Lorelei. More inclined to supporting her flight leader, she only tallied two Vandals, an Avar, and a Visigoth, as well as a Warhawk OmniMech during the conflict, but has been credited for saving the lives of other pilots flying with her (though oddly, never that of her partner) on multiple occasions. It is to be noted that Leutnant Weissenberger often acted as a bait for the opposition to target, thus allowing her partner to score an easy kill, which leads to her partner being credited for the lion‘s share of the kills tallied throughout the one and a half years of combat.