Ke-V8 "Kawarime" Fighter

The Kawarime Transition fighter is an Endo/Exo-Atmospheric fighter that became available in YE 32. In YE 34 this class of fighter was upgraded to the Ke-V8-2x. Both kinds are now available.

The Kawarime is compact atmospheric/sub-light fighter. The 1a version is a single pilot, the 1b is a dual-occupant variant. With the development of the Heitan-class Carrier the need for fighters to possess FTL capabilities was reduced. This makes the Kawarime an ideal craft for use in planetary defense and as part of a battle group with a carrier presence. The Kawarime is a short runway craft, and through the use of the Combined Field System can actually perform VTOL maneuvers.

Some see the Kawarime as a rival to the Hayabusa V6 Series Starfighter. The Kawarime was never meant to fill the same roles as the V6. Intended as an endo/exo-atmospheric craft, the Kawarime is ideal for the needs of the 2XF where it is deployed to protect vital assets and does not require the range of the V6. The Hayabusa is a “pocket starship”, the 2XF developed the Kawarime so they could develop numbers to fight against the strategy of the NMX overwhelming SAoY forces with their battlepods. Which is why they deploy them on their carriers bases, and ground installations.

The Kawarime was requested by Taisho Mikasa Sorano for use by the Second Expeditionary Fleet as a component for their defense forces. The purpose was to produce a versatile inexpensive fighter, capable of fulfilling multiple roles. Development costs were defrayed by the use of many components from the Ke-T8 "Kuma" Multi-role Shuttle.

The Kawarime is a delta wing design with an intentional low profile to reduce it radar signature. It features a pair of Turbo Aether Plasma Drive drives for propulsion. Its four primary guns can be clearly seen and from underneath one can see the weapon mounts on the wings. They typically have the Star Army Hinomaru on each vertical stabilizer, the owning fleet's symbol on the starboard wing, and the base or ship logo on the port.

• Durandium Alloy body with Yamataium armor plates.
• Running lights
• Retractable landing gear
• Wings, stabilizers and flaps for atmospheric use
• Eject-able cockpit
  • 1 Type 31A and 31C Survival Kit located under seats

• Class: Kawarime-class
• Type: Sub-light fighter
• Designers: Ketsurui Fleet Yards, Takumi
• Manufacturer: Ketsurui Fleet Yards
• Organizations using this ship: Star Army of Yamatai, Second Expeditionary Fleet

• Nomenclature: Ke-V8-1a - Single Seat
• Nomenclature: Ke-V8-1b - Dual seat

• Nomenclature: Ke-V8-2a - Single Seat
• Nomenclature: Ke-V8-2b - Dual seat

• Length: 13.95 meters (44.28 feet)
• Wingspan: 8.25 meters (27.06 feet)
• Height: 1.95 meters (6.396 feet)

The Kawarime is very responsive fighter craft.

• Atmospheric:
  • Cruise 3,581 kph (2,225 mph) Mach 3
  • Max 7,163 kph (4,450 mph), Mach 6
• Sublight Engines: .4c (~119,916 kilometers per second) (~74,512 miles per second)

See Damage Rating (Version 3) for an explanation of the damage system.

• Shields: Tier 8 - Medium Mecha
• Structure: Tier 8 - Medium Mecha

The Cockpit of the V8 Kawarime has these features:

• 1 or 2 pilot couches with SPINE interface depending on configuration with five point restraint harness.
• Physical controls for all systems
• 2 Ejection rockets with a 30 second burn.
  • In atmosphere pilot couches will eject if cockpit is damaged.
• 1 Type 31A and 31C Survival Kit located under each seat.
• Emergency subspace locator beacon with manual kill switch
• Emergency oxygen supply capably of recharging the occupants Star Army Aerospace Flight Suit, Type 32 doubling its operating time to 104 hours
• Star Army First Aid Kit, Type 32 attached to cockpit interior 1 per crew member

• Ke-T8-E3104 Communications Array

• Ke-T8-E3103 Computer Array

The Kawarime has environmental controls for the safety and comfort of the occupants.

The Kawarime uses standard KFY artificial gravity systems. They serve two purposes: first is to provide standard 1G gravity for occupant comfort, secondly they provide inertial compensation to reduce the effects of extreme acceleration on the occupants.

The Kawarime atmosphere processing subsystem uses a combination of scrubbers. The occupants can connect their Star Army Aerospace Flight Suit, Type 32 into the system for prolonged missions. The system has an emergency reserve for twelve hours should all power fail.

• Ke-T8-E3100 Basic Sensors Package
• Ke-T8-E3102 Tactical Sensors Package

• Ke-T8-S3100 Combined Field System

• 2 Integrated Ke-T8-P3100 Aether Plasma Drives
• Ke-T8-P3101 Maneuvering Thruster clusters, to provide yaw, pitch and roll control in space. They are located in the nose, the wings and fuselage.
• Ke-T8-P3103 Combined Field System used to allow inertia-less maneuvers. It can also be used to perform VTOL maneuvers in the atmosphere.

The V8 Kawarime has three retractable landing gears for landing and taxiing. The forward landing gear swings to the rear and the two rear gear swing forward when retracting.

• 4 Ke-V8-W3100 Turbo Aether Cannon Tier 9, Heavy Anti-Mecha per cannon
• 2 Wing mounts similar to Ke-T8-W3104 Weapon Pod Mounts capable of handing the following. (1 per wing)

One of these can be installed on each of the wing mounts.

• Ke-Z1 Series Anti-Starship Torpedoes Tier 11, Medium Anti-Starship-5 varies by torpedo
• Ke-Z2 Series Bomb Tier 12, Heavy Anti-Starship
• Ke-T8-W3101 Mini-Missile Launcher Pod Tier 4, Light Anti-Armor per missile
• Ke-T8-W3103 Countermeasure Module ADR 0 - 1 varies by system

The Kawarime can also use these Teisatsu options.

• Ke-V8-W3200 Targeting Module DR 0
• Ke-V8-W3201 Decoy Launcher DR 0
• Ke-V8-E3200 Wavefront Module DR 0

Authored by Nashoba and approved by Wes on Dec 12, 2009 ¹⁾ Artwork created by Nashoba using DOGA and Fireworks.