Lightning

The Lightning is an air superiority fighter aircraft used by the Imperial Navy for the purpose of quickly assaulting and defeating the enemy in aerial dogfights in order to establish air superiority over the battlefield. The Lightning is smaller and much more maneuverable than the heavier Imperial Thunderbolt fighter, and can be quickly scrambled during an enemy attack. The craft is capable of short take-off and landing (STOL) and vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), and when stationed on the ground, either at a permanent airbase or a forward operating base during a mission, the Lightning can use hydraulic ramps to get into the sky and into combat almost instantaneously. The Lightning is also capable of limited spaceflight in a vacuum and atmospheric reentry so that it can be launched from Imperial starships in orbit so that it can be unleashed anywhere air support is needed by Imperial forces during a planetary assault.

History
The Standard Template Construct (STC) design for the Lightning were found by Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator teams on the world of karnak II after the Saint-Saen Crusade, which liberated twelve worlds in the Segmentum Obscurus. The database's design was transferred to the Forge World of Cypra Mundi, where the Lords of the Mechanicus consulted with the Emperor's Tarot and followed the advice of their oldest and wisest Tech-priests. The design was cross-referenced with the Mechanicus' vast archive on Mars before its rediscovery was determined to meet with the favour of the Machine God, and the manufacture of the Lightning began in earnest. After nearly half a millennium of trial and error, the Lightning saw its first service with the Imperial Navy's Battlefleet Obscurus, and after all the engineering difficulties with reproducing the Lightning's advanced swept wing design were worked out the aircraft went into full production and was soon being supplied to all of the Imperial Navy's Carriers and Cruisers. The Lightning's STC data was eventually shared with the major Imperial naval centers of Bakka and Hydraphur, and now the Lightning is in service with the battlefleets of the Segmentum Tempestus and Segmentum Pacificus as well as the Segmentum Obscurus.

Armament
The basic armament for the Lightning is 2 wing-mounted Lascannons, a single ventral-mounted long-barrelled Autocannon, and 4 wing-mounted Hellstrike Missiles. The "Strike" variant of the Lightning, which is the same as the standard Lightning save with a different weapons load-out, removes the Autocannon to save weight and adds additional Hellstrike Missiles. The "Strike" variant of the fighter is primarily used to attack enemy armour on the ground and as a heavy air support unit for ground forces such as Imperial Guard or Space Marine infantry. The Lightning can replace its Hellstrike Missiles with Hellfury Missiles or the air-to-air Skystrike Missiles and it can also be adapted to carry bombs. The Lightning can be outfitted with an ejector seat, flare or chaff launchers, a more heavily armoured cockpit (at the cost of weapons and ammunition space), infrared targeting systems, and illumination flares.

Known Imperial Navy Lightning Squadrons

 * 2774th Imperial Navy Fighter Wing, Wyrm Squadron
 * 3035th Imperial Navy Fighter Wing, Firedrake Squadron
 * 717th Imperial Navy Fighter Wing, Warhawk Squadron
 * 2872nd Imperial Navy Fighter Wing, Thunderbird Squadron
 * 484th Imperial Navy Fighter Wing, Talon Squadron
 * 1002nd Imperial Navy Fighter Wing, Red-hammer Squadron

Gallery
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