Apollo fighter

The F-11X Apollo Fighter is the Allies best (and only) air-to-air aircraft in the Allied Arsenal.

History
In spite of the combined treasuries of Allied nations, ongoing struggles against the Soviet war machine have proven undeniably costly. As a result, the Allies have increasingly sought to fill their military with highly specialized and efficient machines that perform exceedingly well in a given role yet work best as part of a combined-arms strategy. One of the finest results of this philosophy is the F-11X Apollo Fighter, born from Stockholm-based Angstrom Defense and now seeing active duty throughout at least a dozen nations. This is one of the world's best, fastest, most dangerous air superiority fighters. The F-11X Apollo Fighter is the fastest, most dangerous, and (frankly) the only air superiority fighter currently in use by Allied coalition forces worldwide.

It is also arguably the most powerful air superiority fighter available in all since a newly trained Apollo will almost certainly destroy a Jet Tengu or MiG Fighter in a one-on-one fight. Defeating a Jet Tengu will be easy for the Apollo, a MIG, however, is slightly a closer call. When fighting each other, the Apollo tends to emerge victorious as its firing rate is constant while the MiG's weapons are more damaging, has intervals between salvos. The MiG, however, because of its splash damage, is better than the Apollo in taking down larger enemy aircraft that do not fire back, especially Kirovs, since these large units take all the damage applied by the Matryoshka missiles' area of effect. Like other Allied aircraft, the Apollo features a VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) engine configuration, which provides maximum stability and manoeuvrability. This also lets the Apollo operate effectively in urban environments as well as out in the open.

The sight of this delta-wing jet hovering in place is almost uncanny at first, yet its triple thrust vectors somehow hold it aloft with near-perfect stability—all the better to let the Apollo bring its 20 mm "Sol" autocannon to bear on any enemy bogies. The Sol is a single-barrel weapon yet can spit out 500 rounds of armor-piercing ammunition per minute easily. Moreover, it is extremely accurate for such a weapon, partly due to the Apollo's own targeting systems and manoeuvrability. Once an Apollo has marked an enemy target, there is little the enemy can do to escape the Apollo's withering fire, especially because the Apollo can outpace virtually any other aircraft. The Apollo Fighter is very direct in its design. For better or worse, it is armed with a more-conventional weapons system than some of the latest, more-experimental Allied vehicles (not the least of which are Angstrom Defense's own Cryocopter and Athena Cannon).

However, a little-known fact is that the Apollo underwent several bids and design iterations before the Allies finally accepted the model currently in use. Predecessors of the F-11X lacked the VTOL engine configuration, which made them far more nimble in the skies but also far less reliable and, in the end, less survivable or dependable. The Allies also experimented with fitting a modified version of France's spectrum-dispersion cannon design onto the aircraft, to make it score enemy kills even faster while potentially taking down multiple hostiles in a single brilliant attack. However, the spectrum cannons tended to temporarily blind Apollo test pilots, even through their goggles, which was an unexpected safety concern that Angstrom continues to lament to this day.

General Usage/History
"No shakin' me now."

- Apollo

All 3 Allied Commanders, including Warren and Lissette, use the fighter to support their forces, but former fighter pilot Giles uses it most readily. They were only employed against aircraft and should they get attacked by AA they might use their Return to Base Special Ability. President Ackerman had three of these guarding his Limo to prevent aircraft, in particular the cryocopter, from attacking. A Squadron of these Fighters along with several Cryocopters flew over Leningrad but several were shot down in Operation: The Moon Shall Never Have Them. The Apollo, like all WWIII-era aircraft, lacks any ejection seats - expect an increase in casualties and the following transmissions:


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

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.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert (iPhone)
In the iPhone Game this unit does not need to reload at an Airfield and is the standard anti-air jet of the Allies.

Trivia

 * It's "Kick the Tires and Light the Fires" quote is also used in real life military for drastically shortening the pre-flight checks, basically meaning "check the landing gear and light the afterburners!"
 * The Apollo fighter resembles the SAAB-35 Draken fighter.
 * Due to their design and pilot-training capabilities, sometimes enemy generals doesn't use aircraft until they destroy the Allied Air Bases that supports them.