Gryphon

" An Armtrack Platoon! An Armtrack Battalion! Ooh, do tell. Really? Drat, that's out of our flight range! Tell you what, call me back when they're about to start running themselves over your line, and I'll make sure those idiots rue the day they forgot to bring any air defense!"- _{A quote attributed to the supposed commander of a gunship platoon, upon hearing of an approaching enemy armoured column.}

The CAG-5XX "Gryphon" Aero-gunship is a tactical assault aeroship, in use service with the United Commonwealth Army, Marine Corp, and, in modified versions, Navy.

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Based of the older -6XX "Python" class, the Gryphon is a marked improvement, owing to wartime advancements in materials, Aerium manipulation and aerial propulsion, leading to the new aeroship having double the lifting capacity and half again as much speed.

Ground Forces Use

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The primary use of the Gryphon is as a highly mobile attack vehicle, especially in the field of taking down heavily armoured enemy vehicles, such as Armtracks. Common doctrine shared by both the Army and the Marines involves using the Gryphons in pairs, and in tandem with reconnaissance assets, allowing the Gryphon's to lay out of sight of enemy units, and to take full advantage of the long range of modern guided missiles.

Naval Use

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The Navy's primary use for this aircraft is in its modified variant, the Sea Gryphon, and it is mainly directed towards the purposes of anti-submersible warfare, due to the variants considerable flight time and ability to hold sonic detection equipment, alongside a load of torpedoes.

Weapons & Armament

The Army and Marine Corp use it as a tactical assault aero-gunship, taking advantage of its lift capacity and internal storage bays by installing a missile launch system capable of holding up to 12 missiles, of either the "Gungnir" Armour Penetration Missiles or the "Gravel" High Explosive Rocket.

Armor and defense

Due to advancements in armour technology, modern legionium alloys are significantly lighter than they used to be, while being even stronger. The Gryphon has a 6 cm thick layer of the metal located below the weapons bay, and around important spaces such as the Aerium chamber, with the rest of the aircraft getting around 2 cm of metal, as well as a layer of polymer mesh for shock protection.

Communication Tools & Systems

Newer models, in addition to the original Gunship Coordinator Relay system, come equipped with the Tactical Combat Communication Integrator Network (TACCIN) system, which allows for the real time transfer of information between any asset that has the system in place, allowing, for example, a single Gryphon to take part in a coordinated operation, alongside infantry, armour, artillery and airborne forces, all linked using TACCIN.

Sensors

To guide the missiles, the Gryphon has a state of the art Advanced Target Detection and Tracking (ATDT) system, which has the ability to pinpoint up to 250 individual targets at once using the onboard sensors, in addition to being able to combine information shared by friendly assets in the area, ranging from ground based detection equipment to scouting aeroships, and convert it all into a single interface for the crew.

Military Formation Usage

• The 18th Corps

Complement / Crew

2, 3 in Naval variant