Apollo fighter

The F-11X Apollo Fighter was the Allies' primary air superiority fighter during the Third World War and The Uprising.

Background
Manufactured by the Stockholm-based Angstrom Defense, the F-11X Apollo was considered one of the world's best air superiority fighters. It features a VTOL engine configuration, allowing it to hover in place and letting it operate effectively in urban environments as well as out in the open.

Its 20 mm "Sol" autocannons can fire 500 rounds of armor-piercing ammunition per minute, and is extremely accurate for such a weapon, partly due to the Apollo's own targeting systems and maneuverability. In addition, the Apollo features an autopilot mechanism that allows it to return to base immediately using an emergency afterburner. This lets the Apollo deftly retreat from dangerous situations or rearm its weapon as quickly as possible.

Today, Apollo Fighters are a common sight in Allied military bases, and frequently take point alongside close-support or bomber aircraft such as Cryocopters or Century bombers. They have proven to be absolutely vital to this role, for their unparalleled ability to defend these mission-critical assets. At the same time, Apollos excel at hunting down Soviet aircraft reckless enough to trespass into Allied airspace.

Tactics
One unique strategy with the Apollo Fighter uses the Return to Base ability to catch up with fast-flying enemy aircraft. If an enemy aircraft is heading in the vague direction of the Apollo Fighter's home Airbase, and the Apollo Fighter cannot quite catch up with the enemy (say, an enemy MiG), then the Apollo Fighter can engage its Return to Base afterburners, and thanks to the vastly increased speeds with the afterburners on, the Apollo Fighter can catch up to the enemy, turn off the afterburners once it catches up, and shoot the enemy aircraft out of the sky.

Changelog

 * Red Alert 3 patch 1.08:
 * speed reduced to 225 from 250
 * doubled vulnerability to attack from units other than the MiG fighter, Jet Tengu, and other Apollos
 * ammo reduced by 25%
 * Red Alert 3 patch 1.11: health increased to 300 from 250

Upon being built at an Airbase

 * Kick the tires and light the fires!

Select

 * I'm ready!
 * Apollo here!
 * Command?
 * Skies are looking good!
 * Give me the word!
 * In the clear!
 * Apollo Fighter, looking good!

Moving

 * Sure as day!
 * WILCO!
 * In the shoot!
 * Got it!
 * Up to speed!
 * Altering course!
 * Acknowledge!
 * Here we go!
 * Skies are all ours

Attacking

 * Shred 'em!
 * Show 'em the ground!!
 * Got 'em locked!
 * Cut 'em up!
 * Give 'em the heat!
 * Bounce 'em!

Move to Attack

 * Let's see what they got!
 * Bogey's on the HUD!
 * Count me in!
 * Let's play!
 * Copy that, we got 'em!
 * He's in my airspace?

In combat

 * Sky's bright tonight!
 * I got this one!
 * Focused in!
 * Right on 'em!
 * No shakin' me now
 * A little tangled up here!

Return to Base

 * Punchin' out!
 * Outta here!
 * Aww, so soon?
 * Burners up!
 * Coming home!

Retreating

 * Leave 'em behind!
 * Gettin' out!
 * Don't mind a little break!
 * RTB sounds good to me!

Under fire

 * They're locked on me!
 * Hey how 'bout some cover?
 * Apollo taking hit!
 * Taking a beating up here!
 * So much for the friendly skies!

Shot Down

 * It's the end!
 * Burning up!
 * Going down!!!
 * Where's the eject?!!
 * Aahh aahh aaaahhhh!!!

Trivia

 * In real life military, "Kick the tires and light the fires" means to drastically shorten the pre-flight checks, basically meaning "check the landing gear and light the afterburners!" It may also be a reference to a quote from the movie Independence Day.
 * The Apollo fighter resembles the SAAB-35 Draken fighter, a cold war era Swedish fighter jet.
 * The Red Alert 3 instructions manual erroneously states that the Apollo fighter was armed with "beam weaponry". Its unit profile also mentions that a previous version of the Apollo used a spectrum-dispersion cannon similar to the Mirage tank. This implies the Apollo was armed with a spectrum cannon during development.
 * The instructions manual also mentions that the Apollo has Mach-3 capabilities.