Morgenstern

The Morgenstern is a Lyran Commonwealth OmniFighter intended to replace the aging Lucifer, Hellcat and Lightning Aerospace Fighters.

Much like the Eisensturm was intended to take the place of the Chippewa, immediately prior to the Jihad Lockheed-CBM Corporation looked to develop an advanced-tech replacement for the Lucifer, which was only ever intended as a Succession Wars era stop-gap design. After the Word of Blake assault on Tharkad heavily damaged the company's production lines for the Hellcat and Lightning, the design team noted that all three fighters had similar weights and components, expanding the project to develop an OmniFighter that could replace all three fighters.

Attempting to reduce costs to make it more palatable to the LCAF to replace such a large segment of its fighter wings, the Morgenstern mounts a standard WAS 280 Fusion Engine, matching but not surpassing the thrust of its three progentior designs. As well as ensuring better atmospheric perfomance than the Lucifers standard plate, sixteen tons of Donegal Omni-Sheath Ferro-Aluminum gave the fighter respectable protection for its weight while freeing up 31 tons of pod space for a devastating volume of weaponry. However this pod-space came at the cost of internal fuel capacity and hard mounted heat sinks, carrying only four tons of fuel and ten Double Heat Sinks on its base chassis.

Weapons and Equipment
A refined version of the Lucifers weapons array, the Morgenstern's primary configuration mounted twin ER Large Lasers beside a pair of Artemis IV FCS-enhanced MML-7 launchers in its nose. Carrying a ER Medium Laser to discourage pursuit from the rear, seven additional heat sinks attempted to keep the two tons of reloads for the Multi-Missile Launchers from exploding.

Alternate Configurations

 * Alt. Config. A : Intended to be equally effective as an aerospace superiority and ground attack fighter, the A configuration carried a ER PPC supported by two Plasma Rifles in its nose. Three tons of reloads allow the Morgenstern A to maul even the heaviest opponents, while a single rear mounted ER Medium Laser fends off attacks from behind. Eight extra heat sinks strive to keep the heavy waste heat of is weapons in check. BV (2.0) = 2,012


 * Alt. Config. B : The Lightning clone, the B config mounted a massive Improved Heavy Gauss Rifle and a MML-5 in its nose, supported by six ER Medium Lasers, two carried in each wing and its tail. Three tons of Gauss Rifle reloads and a two-ton ammo bay for the MML-5 give the Morgenstern B reasonable endurance. BV (2.0) = 1,949


 * Alt. Config. C : The Hellcat configuration, the Morgenstern C mounted two paired ER Large and ER Medium Lasers in its nose, supported by a single Large Pulse Laser. The remaining weaponry consists of two ER Medium Lasers in wing, with two more mounted aft supported by a Medium Pulse Laser. Even seven extra heat sinks still forced pilots to rely on Volley fire to avoid overheating. BV (2.0) = 1,816


 * Alt. Config. D : A missile-heavy support config, the D weapons package featured three Artemis enhanced MML-7's, one in the nose and each wing, supported by ER Large and Medium Laser also carried in the nose. With a ER Medium and standard Small Laser mounted aft, the Morgenstern D carried four tons of missile reloads, a Targeting Computer and one additional heat sink. BV (2.0) = 1,704


 * Alt. Config. E : This in Introduction Year::3134 developed configuration carries a nose-mounted LRM-15 with Artemis IV FCS. A Large Re-engineered Laser is carried in each wing, and a single ER Medium Laser covers the rear of the craft. All the energy weapons are tied into a Targeting Computer. BV (2.0) = 1,757