Fury Interceptor

An unknown pattern of the Fury Interceptor in flight

The Fury-class Interceptor, also known simply as the Fury Interceptor, is the most common type of starfighter used by the Imperial Navy, the Adeptus Astartes, and the Imperium as a whole for void combat. The Fury is designated an attack craft by Imperial Navy standards. The Fury Interceptor is carried in their thousands by several different types of Imperial Navy Battleships and Grand Cruisers and other carriers. Each fighter wing is comprised of roughly fifteen to twenty Fury Interceptors each, with each squadron varying in size from three fighters to five fighters.

History

A squadron of Fury Interceptors on an attack run

The Fury Interceptor was first developed by the Mechanicum during the last years of the Emperor's Great Crusade, just before the breakout of the Horus Heresy. The craft was designed to replace the aging Wrath-class Starfighter that was the most widely used starfighter by the Imperium at that time. The Fury was easier to produce, handled more smoothly, and suffered from less technical malfunctions. However, the more veteran pilots in the Imperial Army Fleet still preferred the Wrath Starfighter, seeing it as a finer instrument of void war over the much more "sterile" Fury. By the time of the Horus Heresy the Fury had become the more common starfighter and over the course of the next ten-thousand years the Fury would become the most common attack craft used by the entire Imperium. The Fury is still used in small numbers by the Forces of Chaos in the 41st Millennium, usually located on starships that have been captured, or stolen, by the Chaos Fleets, or by defectors that have brought their ships with them. The Fury has been mostly replaced in Chaos Fleets by the Swiftdeath Fighter, and for a large number of centuries the Swiftdeath was the nemesis of the Fury in void combat, the Swiftdeath being faster and more maneuverable and the Fury being more resilient and better armed.

Combat Role

The Fury Interceptor is the workhorse of the Imperial Navy, and can be used in multiple roles throughout a single fleet. The Fury is most commonly used as either a void superiority fighter or an interdiction craft that shoots down enemy torpedoes and bombers that threaten the larger starships. The Fury is also used to engage enemy fighters to protect their own bombers trying to attack the enemy's larger ships. Furies can return to their mothership, or another ship if need be, to be rearmed and repaired, although if a ship is too heavily damaged another one can be issued if the pilot and crew are needed in the battle. When not in combat Furies are used for scouting and reconnaissance, and simple patrol missions around a fleet. The Fury Interceptor, along with the Starhawk Bomber are fully capable of attacking planetary targets, although, due to their sheer size and obvious void design their effectiveness varies depending on their target and how well it is protected.

Construction

A Fury Interceptor undergoing rearmament within a flight deck on an Imperial Starship

Like most Imperial vehicles and void craft there exist several different patterns, marks, and variants of the of the Fury Interceptor, with the largest of them reaching up to sixty or seventy metres in length with the smallest being close to forty metres. The Furies size is such that a wing of twenty Furies takes up the same amount of space aboard a starship as a wing of forty Thunderhawk Gunships. Due to lack of an atmosphere and a myriad of other problems that plague planetary flight the Fury is far more maneuverable despite its size when compared to planetary craft. The Fury-class is identifiable by its aerodynamic fighter hull and swept-forwards wings. The outer hull features an armoured, see-through canopy for the pilot and another for the gunner. The craft is able to be fitted with an extra, centreline-mounted fuel tank for extended patrols and long-range missions. The craft is propelled by either a single, large thruster engine, or by two smaller engines each capable of generating up to sixty-thousand tonnes of thrust. The Fury is outfitted with several altitude jets to control its movements in zero gravity.

Crew

Each Fury is crewed by at least two crewmen, the pilot and the gunnery officer. A fully crewed Fury requires a four-man crew, adding a navigator and a second gunner. On occasion, an Astropath psyker will also be aboard, to provide greater communications capability. The size of the crew is dictated by the mission paramaters set each time a squadron is launched into the void, small scale missions such as fleet patrol and short-range interdiction only require the pilot and a gunner be present while long-range reconnaissance and interceptions require larger crews. The craft is also capable of having at least a partial crew made up of Servitors. The Fury's reinforced hull contains an extensive network of circuitry and life-support systems, including a small chemical toilet and a sleeping compartment for the crew, allowing for the craft to stay away from its mothership for longer periods of time. Each crew member aboard a Fury is highly trained, usually undergoing many years of harsh training to prepare them for the extremes of piloting a Fury in void combat. All crew members aboard a Fury are required to wear suspensor-wire pressurized suits to ensure their blood doesn't pool and to help counteract the horrendous forces of rapid acceleration and extreme g-forces encountered during high-speed void combat. The suits pump super-oxygenated blood directly into the body via spinal connectors and their contoured helmets exerted outwards pressure on the surrounding air to prevent them from blacking out. A Fury can be easily torn apart by the intense gravitational forces experienced by mishandling the craft or by loosing control of a damaged craft. A Fury Interceptor crewed by Space Marines probably has these systems removed, as the Astarte's Power Armour and enhanced physical body would provide the same, if not better protection.

Armament

The Fury Interceptor is heavily armed for a craft of its size, and due to its number of patterns and variants the craft has several known weapon loadouts. All known Furies can be armed with up to two wing-mounted racks carrying an variable amount of high-explosive anti-starship missiles. The craft is also usually armed with several banks of forwards-firing Lascannons, either mounted on the starship's hull or on its wings. There exist variants of the Fury with a nose-mounted turret ball that can be armed with either Lascannons or Multi-Lasers, although it is unclear which. It is also unknown what other types of weapons are how many the various marks and patterns of the Fury may contain.

Known Fury Interceptor Squadrons and Wings

• Tempest Wing - Battlefleet Koronus - A renowned fighter wing that is stationed aboard the Imperial Navy Mars-class Battlecruiser Gryphon.
• Angel Squadron - Unknown Imperial Navy Fighter Wing - Battlefleet Tempestus - Angel Squadron is stationed aboard the Dictator-class Cruiser Kharloss Vincennes and took part in the defence of the world of Tarsis Ultra against the Tyranids.

Imperial Navy Starships Known to Carry Fury Interceptors

The following are the known Imperial Navy Starships that carry Fury Interceptors within their launch bays, although this list is incomplete as any starship of adequate size can be modified to have hangers and launch bays and thus carry starfighters.

• Emperor-class Battleship
• Oberon-class Battleship
• Exorcist-class Grand Cruiser
• Mars-class Battlecruiser
• Dictator-class Cruiser
• Escort Carriers

Adeptus Mechanicus Technical Specifications

Fury-class Interceptor

Type	Void Starfighter / Attack Craft	Operational Ceiling	N/A (Void-Ship)
Vehicle Name	Fury Interceptor	Max Speed	Unknown
World of Origin	Unknown, mass produced on many worlds	Range	Unknown
Known Patterns	Unknown	Main Armament	Anti-Starship Missiles, Lascannons (Varies)
Crew	1 Pilot, 1 Gunnery Officer, 1 Gunner, 1 Navigator, Astropath (Full-Crew)	Secondary Armament	Lascannons, Multi-Lasers (Varies)
Powerplant	Unknown (Varies)	Main Ammunition	Unknown
Weight	Unknown	Secondary Ammunition	Unknown
Length	40 Metres to 70 Metres (approx.)	Armour
Wingspan	Unknown	Superstructure	Unknown
Height	Unknown	Hull	Unknown
Vehicle Designation:	Unknown	Transport Capacity	N/A

Also See

• Attack Craft
• Starhawk Bomber

Sources

• Warriors of Ultramar (Novel) - The Ultramarines Omnibus by Graham McNeill, pp. 305-312
• Imperial Armour Volume One - Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy, pg. 223
• Shadows of Treachery (Anthology) - Prince of Crows by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, pg. 370
• Rouge Trader - Battlefleet Koronus (RPG), pp. 10-11, 14-15, 24, 40, 59, 62-63, 123, 140-141
• Fury Interceptor (Battlefleet Gothic) - Games Workshop
• Battlefleet Gothic - Imperial Fleets - Games Workshop
• Battlefleet Gothic - Ships of the Gothic Sector - Games Workshop
• Battlefleet Gothic Armada - Armada Appendices - Games Workshop

Gallery

The smallest sized pattern of Fury Interceptor (approx. 40 metres) near a Starhawk Bomber, and a Shark Assault Boat