Boxer Blazer

Wavetop Walkers

Tell me, what's our speed and altitude, Dovey?"
Lieutenant Commander Evren "Quickshot" Bayrak could have checked their own instruments, but they asked anyways, a smirk creeping its way across their face, obscured under their flight helmet.
"400 knots, 30 metres, on the dot, Commander. We're skimming the wavetops, boss, so try not to bring us under 'em."
The crisp voice of Lieutenant Avery "Dovey" Piers managed to carry the Air Technical Officer's faux concern and real exhilaration to their ears even with the crackling distortions of the aircraft's comms.

The SF.2 Boxer Blazer was a supersonic, carrier capable, two seat fighter jet that saw service in the United Commonwealth Navy's Fleet Air Arm from 142 A.S. to 173 A.S. Renowned for its exceptionally high speeds and manoeuvreability, especially at low altitudes, the aircraft would see the Fleet through numerous conflicts, serving with distinction for over a decade wherever the ships, sailors, and aviators of the UC were needed.

Origin Of Concept

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The Blazer would enter the 12 Worlds under the rather less poetic name of "Fleet Air Arm Operational Specification 24/36". This collection of required specifications and characteristics, part of the "Future Fleet Aviation Programme" alongside the Auxin Arrow, was a small yet significant part of strategic and foreign policy reforms under the United Commonwealth's Atanda-Yasmin administration. These led to a reorientation of the vast military apparatus of the United Commonwealth away from its more recently acquired duties of peacekeeping and countering insurgents, and back towards fighting large scale wars against other conventional states in the 12 Worlds.
A key factor of this new policy was ensuring control of the seas. While the UC had been the traditional naval power of the 12 Worlds ever since its victory in the Chainbreaker War, the rise in developed and militarily expansionist powers across the 12 Worlds left its fleet stretched to the breaking point. Many reforms were introduced to address this shortfall, one of which was the creation of Stand Off Maritime Interdictiction.
This doctrine was centered on four key cornerstones: A long ranged, high speed, precision guided weapon to sink hostile shipping; An aircraft that would carry such weapons, operating off the decks of carriers or small and undeveloped runways; a collection of sensor platforms of every kind gathering up to date and accurate information across the battlefield; and an integrated network of information management systems that would allow the rapid and secure distribution of information to all other assets to enable them to fulfill their roles in the kill chain.
FAA 24/36 would fill that second requirement. To do so, special considerations were imposed on its list of specifications. High speed, long endurance, and of course carrier capability were requested, but a requirement was made for the aircraft's compatibility with the then-untested Operational Relay Network system. Designed to form the last cornerstone, ORN faced significant early hurdles due to limitations in both hardware capabilities and software architecture. These would prove sufficiently serious that the concept as a whole was once at risk of being struck from the books altogether, and initial production runs of the Blazer were "for but not with" the cumbersome packages.

Development, Production, And Procurement

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Once the final specifications had been drawn up in 136, the Directorate of the Navy put out a request to industry for design proposals. After six months, Boxer Aerowork's "Blazer" was accepted, with the first prototype taking off a mere year after it had been drawn up due to the project's expedited development cycle. The added funding that sped up the design and testing phase also helped with its serial production, and the first Blazers left the halls of Aerowork 261 and entered squadron service in late 142.
The sheer demand for the aircraft, as well as the competing needs for different Boxer aircraft, led to the decision to allow rival companies to produce licensed build aircraft themselves, primarily Auxin Aircraft Inc. While then controversial, this method of increasing production rates would eventually become the norm in UC aircraft procurement going forwards.
In a production run lasting from 142 to 166, ten thousand aircraft would be produced in total, spread across four blocks, with minor technical alterations between them. They would serve entirely within the United Commonwealth Navy as its primary carrier based strike aircraft, fighting in every major conflict during its service life until its replacement by the Auxin Avenger in 173. In more modern times, the aircraft retains its previous mission in a far more limited role, counting down the time until the Avenger fleet can be brought to full strength, and replace it.

Operations

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Blazer pilots would join their Arrow colleagues as they gained their first taste of combat in 145, flying missions on the first day of the war against the Kingdom of Saxe-Mecklitz and every day after. These first strikes wiped out the Kingdom's fleet in mere hours, before converting to ground attack missions in support of the amphibious invasion. These early aircraft models suffered from various technical and reliability concerns, but the Fleet learned much from these operations, and future aircraft were largely devoid of such defects.
The aircraft would see relatively little action from then on, barring exercises and a few minor peacekeeping or counter-insurrection actions. It was not until the Islander War that the aircraft would gain another chance prove themselves, and it was in this conflict that the Boxer Blazers would face their first strue challenge, and come out the other side as a truly fearsome war machine.

Propulsion

Two Pragati SeaSail turbofans

Weapons & Armament

For self defence and against light targets, a pair of twenty millimetre autocannons.
Ordnance was carried between four wing mounted pylons and within a single rotating bay within the aircraft's belly for maximum loadout, or with pylons removed entirely for maximum speed and range.

• OGV Mk. 6 "Typhoon" (Ordance, Guided, Vessels): In many ways, the aircraft was built around this very missile. With a top speed of twice the speed of sound, a range in excess of a hundred kilometres, and a warhead that ranged from half a ton of high explosives to a moderately sized thermonuclear device, though that last loadout was only ever used once. Combined with a highly advanced sensor and guidance package, this would leave the Typhoon a premier ship killer for decades, and still see service in a much upgraded form after the retirement of the Blazer itself

• ASPM RED OVEN (Airborne Special Purpose Munition): While not a weapon in the truest sense, RED OVEN was nonetheless invaluable for the Blazer's job. Designed and produced under the strictest secrecy, this platform was a highly advanced jammer and decoy system that carried the most intensive Electronic Warfare suite yet devised. So advanced that it could mimic the exact signatures of almost a dozen types of aircraft, or provide an impenetrable smog of noise, when sprinkled in amidst a hail of more destructive ordance it proved a lethal, nearly unstoppable combination

• OGA Mk.3 "Shooter" (Ordnance, Guided, Air-to-Air): Heat seeking air to air missiles, a pair of these could be carried on either wingtip for self defence. Highly unpopular with service crews due to the tendency for their railings to break off or be rendered unusable during high performance manouevers, they were rarely equipped on combat missions.

Armor and defense

As a defensive measure, the Blazer was outfitted with the YELLOW SKY Technical Effects Suite. While essentially identical to the RED OVEN's system, its lack of need for miniaturisation and its access to the aircraft's powerplant afforded it much improved range and effectiveness in all weather conditions.
The final layer of defensive equipment on the aircraft took the form of its chaff and flare dispensers. Shedding showers of white hot magnesium and reflective aluminum respectively, they work to deter hostile sensors from achieving locks on the aircraft.