Edited draft by SVC

Mike Powers wanted to fill in the missing early numbers for Fed Fighters with the F1 Fury and the A2 Starshark. His problem was threading the needle between Y162 when the Feds first saw a stolen Kzinti fighter and the F4 which appeared in Y167 along with medium speed drones. His original proposals were not really workable but after some discussions workable proposals appeared.

The F1A Starfury was a very early attempt to just get a feel for what fighters might become. Speed 8, phaser-3 FA, one drone (I or VI), six damage. A small run of 32 was produced, enough to form a couple of squadrons with attrition spares and maintenance float. Cannot control its own drones. First flew in Y164, two squadrons conducted tests in Y165. Eighteen survivors were Converted to F1B in Y167 which could control their own drones.

A2 Starshark early assault (anti-ship) fighter. (Mike's various attempts to include a photon torpedo were rejected.) Intended to carry a photon torpedo, the design never worked and no work was ever done to produce any. No performance data was ever developed.

A3A Stardemon: a backup design in case the A2 failed which was considered likely. Spd 6, ph-3-FA, Drones 2xI, Damage 8. Cannot control its own drones. Perhaps one or two dozen built. First flew in Y164 with two squadrons conducting tests in Y165. Production run of 32.

A3B, same as A3 but CAN control its own drones. About 20 A3As were converted to this design in Y167.

These fighters were never intended to enter service and could not be operated from ships.

Only 64 total were built and used for fighter training on Mars until Y170 when the remaining 30 (not including one of each kept in a museum) were foisted off on the Alpha Centaur National Guard which kept them for a few years before scrapping them as obsolete. Rumors continued to circulate for many years that a few of them, refitted with modern systems, were hidden in an underground base on a moon in the Alpha Centauri system. Olivette Roche concocted a trivideo drama about the phantom squadron which were so obsolete that Klingon fire controls ignored them as no threat, resulting in the destruction of three cruisers.

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