LMI-30 Wyvern
The LMI-30 Wyvern multi-role uncrewed combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) is Lyme and Martens Industries' (LMI) response to Avalon Aerospace Corporation's (AAC) X-41 Paladin. Like the X-41, the LMI-30 is a high performance autonomous or remotely piloted aircraft capable of carrying a massive payload over great distance. With its ACA.41 30mm revolving chamber autocannon, its two internal weapons bays, and five external hardpoints as well as its impressive electronics suite, the Wyvern offers its users a wide range of options to punish their foes with superb precision.
Contents
Origins
The Wyvern arose from a failure in industrial intelligence. When the Isselmere-Nielander military attaché in Woodstock received word that AAC was designing a new UCAV putatively armed with a 30mm cannon for the Incorporated Sarzonian Air Force (ISAF), she immediately informed the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA).
The United Kingdom of Isselmere-Nieland Defence Forces (UKINDF) had a UAV, the LMI-17 Thrush, that had great promise. The Thrush, however, had only a 7.62mm machine gun as well as its internal bays owing to the reluctance of senior officers to equip an autonomous vehicle with a larger gun. Spurred on by developments in Sarzonia, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and the DPA pressed LMI for a second mark of the Thrush.
Initially, the UKINDF deemed the LMI-17.2 (DFA.2 in UKINDF service) a success despite its slightly shorter legs necessitated by replacing the forward fuel tank with an ACA.41 and 100 rounds of 30mm ammunition. Then the Defence Staff and the engineers at LMI learned of the Paladin's capabilities. The Thrush was much too slow to counter the Sarzonian UCAV, never mind keep pace with the newer generation of crewed combat aircraft.
Design
The Wyvern needed much greater speed than preceeding LMI designs like the LMI-3 Rook and LMI-4 Tern. Whilst the Thrush, the fastest of the LMI's three fixed-wing UAVs, was limited to a top speed of about Mach 1.6, the LMI-30 had to travel almost twice that to compete with the X-41.
LMI-30
Function: Fighter-bomber
Current model: LMI-30
Service designation
(-30): DF.1
(-30.2): DF.2
Cost: $38.5 million
Wings: Span: 12.01m (fold to 6.8m)
Fuselage: Length: 16.21m (nose folds to 14.32m); height: 2.83m/3.32m
Powerplant: 2 × Isselmere Motor Works ATG-24F2 afterburning turbofans with interstage turbine burning (dry: 7000 kgf; reheat: 10440 kgf)
Mass: Empty: 9879kg; clean: 17828.5kg; maximum take-off: 22800kg
Performance
Speed: Economic cruise: Mach 0.94; supercruise: Mach 1.6+; operational maximum: Mach 2.48; maximum: Mach 2.61+
Range: 2400km+
Service ceiling: 15km+
Weapons
(-30): RINO ACA.41 30mm autocannon (250 rounds)
(-30.2): RINO ACA.72 35mm autocannon (125 rounds)
Bays: 2 × (4.6m × 0.75m × 0.75m)
Hardpoints: 5; 1 centreline (3000kg; 2500kg max. payload)[1] + 4 wing (800kg+ ea.)
Payload: 4900kg+
Fuel fraction: (9220 litres; 7376kg JP8)
Thrust loading (kgf/kg): Dry: 0.785 (clean)–0.614 (MTOW); Reheat: 1.171 (clean)–0.916 (MTOW)
Wing loading:
Electronics suite:
ECM/ESM:
Countermeasures: 6 × 30-cell ALE.209 chaff/flare ejectors; 2 × 3-cell ALQ.212 towed decoy systems
References
- ^ Use of fuselage hardpoint blocks the weapons bays.
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