XENOPEDIA: Icarus Upgrade Package
The idea of using the Mass Effect to enhance our aircraft has been on the chalkboard almost since we first discovered Element Zero. At first glance it might seem almost idiotically simple: lower the aircrafts mass, and its acceleration will produce more thrust. The hard part isn't getting the aircraft to go faster, it's getting it to go faster without exploding, having its wings fly off, or turning the pilot into paste. Any aircraft we built to go that fast would have to be designed from the ground up for it, which would take far more time than we currently have. With our newfound ability to manipulate alien materials, we have found a way around this problem.
The Icarus Upgrade Package (the name is a contribution from our pilots, as they're still fully convinced it will blow their planes out from under them, the ungrateful sods). is a set of modifications that can be applied to an existing human aircraft to give it a performance far in excess of even the most optimistic of pre-invasion speculative aviation designs. The actual modifications are almost comically simple: the crafts airframe as given structural reinforcement from alien materials, and then a human-designed mass effect field generator provides a mass-decreasing field at a fixed setting. The fixed setting is necessary because our planes simply weren't designed to go from being two tons to two hundred kilograms and then back again at supersonic speeds the way alien craft seem to be able to.
The main advantages the upgrade provides are strategic rather than tactical: Like I've said before, we have rather a lot of planet to cover, and now our planes can go further and get their faster when attempting to intercept UFOs. In more practical terms, the craft is still very much an airplane, and still has to fly and maneuver like one, meaning the combat advantages are not quite as enormous as one might hope.
Or, to put it more poetically: Make sure our pilots don't fly too close to the sun.
With this technology, we now have several upgraded models of our existing aircraft (indicated by the "-I" suffix). In addition, I have a proposal for a new dedicated attack helicopter design. I have placed all of these files on your desk for review.
XENOPEDIA: CH-48-I "CHARLIE"
While not quite as glamorous as our other upgrades, I'd argue that the improvements to our primary transport helicopter are the most important by far. No longer will our troops and pilots have to spend hours waiting while our pilots beg the local authorities for a refueling bird, and no longer will our troops be expected to win a battle against a ship full of aliens with only eight men.
The upgrade is substantial, to say the least. In terms of fuel range, the question is no longer "which country?" but rather "which hemisphere?" In terms of capacity, we have effectively restored our helicopter to the standard Chinook's carrying capacity of 30 men, give or take. A full platoon against the aliens, instead of one understrength squad. I don't have to tell you how substantial of a difference that will make.
The most unforeseen but welcome change is the restoration of the helicopter's ability to mount crew served weapons, a feature that was removed in the initial modification, to avoid unnecessary weight effecting our extremely tight fuel budget. With fuel barely being an issue anymore, our transport craft could potentially loiter on the ground or in low altitude on standby for close air support. Combine this with the vastly improved survivability that the alien material reinforcement gives, and we having the makings for a serious heavy assault transport.
XENOPEDIA: F-17-I "CONDOR" INTERCEPTOR
In terms of raw combat power, the F-17 has probably benefited the most from Icarus. The radical shift in fuel economy means that it has gone from carrying a single pair of sidewinder missiles to being able to carry the fully weapons loadout of a base-model F-16, plus any extra toys we might cook up in the future. Strategically, the impact of this is huge. We can now take full advantage of the multirole design of the stock F-16, rather than being limited to the interceptor role. Anything from light bombing runs to close air support to air superiority is now in the cards.
With a top speed well in excess of an unmodified Foxtrot, a vastly superior munitions loadout, and a roughly equal flight range, the Condor has comfortably supplanted the MiG-32 as our primary high-speed interceptor plane.
XENOPEDIA: MiG-32-I "FOXTROT" GLOBAL DEFENSE PLANE
Of all of our aircraft, the Foxtrot has seen the most dramatic change from Icarus. What was once the fastest interceptor on the planet has now become the fastest airplane ever built by humans. Its already very generous range has been increased to the point where it effectively doesn't have one, it's only limitation is time to target.
It is uniquely qualified to engage foes attacking from orbit, being able to rapidly deploy anywhere in the globe in less than ten hours, engage a target, and then return. No longer are we merely reacting in the air, with planes this fast we actively pursue and hunt down UFOs. No other airplane designed by humans has ever fit this job description. To this end, we've decided that this is no longer an interceptor, it is an entirely new form of war plane, which we have christened as the "Global Defense Plane".
While its impact is substantial, its performance comes at a cost: there are no improvements to its armament. While it can reach any target on the planet in a matter of hours, it still relies on the same tactics it did before: launch its missiles, and either get a kill or beat a hasty retreat. Fortunately, given its vastly increased speed, retreat will be decidedly more hasty.
XENOPEDIA: AH-2 "WYRM" ATTACK HELICOPTER
While utilizing humanity's vast (before the majority of it got K-bombed into slag) arsenal of military aircraft against our foes might seem like a tempting prospect, the reality was that our planes were built to fight other humans, not aliens. While bombers had some limited utility in the form of neutralizing crash sites we lacked the time or resources to secure, most other conventional aircraft fell short in the face of our enemy. This was more true for attack helicopters than any other form of aircraft. When every enemy has a small arm that hits like a heavy machine gun, helicopters don't seem quite as invincible. And that's leaving aside the fact that their range and speed are so low they couldn't hope to even get to the battlefield in time to be shot down.
With the mass effect and alien materials in our toolbelt, things have changed.
The AH-2 "Wyrm" Attack Helicopter is a Xenonauts upgrade of the Bell AH-1 SuperCobra. With a mass effect field generator, the Wyrm is more than capable of escorting one of our Charlies to battle, and with it's heavy armor of alien materials, it is also capable of living long enough to be useful once it gets there. It's more heavily armored than any of our aircraft, which decreases its range substantially. It may be advisable to spread them strategically around our bases, so that they can rapidly provide air support to a ground operation. Of course, given how politically expensive I know it must be to get our hands on the precious few military aircraft that survived the bombing, that may just not be possible.
Regardless of how many we can manage to get our hands on, even a single Wyrm can change the tide of an entire battle.