Latest revision as of 16:52, 5 August 2007

This article deals with the Mitsubishi A6M Zero as it relates to the nations of Aurono and Questers. You are invited to add sections related to your nation. For the RL fighter plane, see wikipedia:A6M Zero.

Aurono

The Mitsubishi A6M Zero ("A" for fighter, 6th model, "M" for Mitsubishi) was a lightweight, carrier-based fighter aircraft employed by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service since 1940, the Imperial Japanese Airforce since 1947 and the Aurono Air Defense Force since 1987. Its history mirrored the fortunes of Imperial Japan in World War II. At the time it was introduced, the Mitsubishi A6M was the best carrier-based fighter plane in the world and was greatly feared by Allied pilots. Tactics were developed by 1942 by US air volunteer corps to engage the Zero on equal terms. By 1943, British manufacturers were producing fighters with greater firepower, armor, and speed and approaching the Zero's maneuverability. By 1944, the Mitsubishi A6M was outdated to aircraft manufactured in Europe, but remained superior both to the older aircraft used by American volunteer air defense corps and the soviet aircraft and thus remained in production. It is universally known as Zero from its Japanese Navy designation, Type 0 Carrier Fighter (Rei shiki Kanjo sentoki, 零式艦上戦闘機), taken from the last digit of the Imperial year 2600 (1940), when it entered service. In Japan it was unofficially referred to as both Rei-sen and Zero-sen. The official Allied code name was Zeke (Hamp for the A6M3 model 32 variant); while this was in keeping with standard practice of giving boys' names to fighters, it is not definitely known if this was chosen for its similarity to "Zero." A combination of excellent maneuverability and very long range made it one of the finest fighters of its era and the newer models are still amongst the top fighter planes today. In early combat operations, the Zero gained a legendary reputation, outclassing its contemporaries. Later, design weaknesses and the increasing scarcity of more powerful aircraft engines and aircraft fuels meant that the Zero became less effective against newer fighters. Still, the Zero series continued evolving under Mitsubishi's guidance to stealth aircraft in the 70's (A6M53 Kage, A6M53 Oni) to such advanced multi-role strike aircraft as the A6M106, the newest addition to the series (as of 2007), and will continue development to orbital fighter craft with the A6M112 to A6M120 already in the pipe. Traditionally, new types enter production every 5 years. Within these 5 years, any given model spawns, on average, 8 models and after 10 - 15 years, one can consider the latest A6M model a radically different craft than the one before this interval. Development continued from propeller planes to jet aircraft and shifted from a dedicated one-seat fighter role to rocket-drivcen airships with the latest models (were airship must not be seen as blimp or zeppelin, but rather any kind of large aircraft with airship-like capabilites and size, unrelated to the method of propellation). At the beginning of the new millenia the "Zero" series is at the forefront of spatial combat with models like the A6M96 "Kotaka" and the derived Ragnarok-class Space-Airship.

Models

A6M9

• Put in Service: 1946
• Armament:
  • Guns:
    • 3X 13.2 mm guns (one in the cowling, one in each wing)
    • 2X 20 mm Type 99-II guns

Took over the increased armor plate on the cabin's windshield (5.5 cm) and in the pilot's seat from the A6M8. This version also possessed armament of three 13.2 millimeter guns (one in the cowling, and one in each wing with a rate of fire at 800 rpm), twin 20 millimeter Type 99-II guns and an additional fuel tank with a capacity of 367 liters, often replaced by a 250 kg bomb, self-sealing wing tanks and the Mitsubishi Kinsei 62 engine.

A6MX

• Put in Service: 1949
• Other name(s): Zero-X, Zero-10, A6M10
• Armament:
  • Guns:
    • 2X 20 mm Type 99-II guns
    • 1X 30 mm Type 5 Cannon
  • Bombs / Missiles:
    • 2X 60 kg bombs and
    • 1X 125 kg bomb

The A6MX (or A6M10) was the first model to enter production after World War II, though development started in mid 1947.

A6M16

• Put in Service: 1950
• Other name(s): -
• Armament:
  • Guns: 2x
  • Missiles:

A6M24

• Put in Service: 1955
• Other name(s): Zero-H
• Armament:
  • Guns: 2x
  • Missiles: 4

A6M32

• Put in Service: 1960
• Other name(s):
• Armament:
  • Guns: 2x
  • Missiles:

A6M40

• Put in Service: 1965
• Other name(s):
• Armament:
  • Guns: 2x
  • Missiles:

A6M48

• Put in Service: 1970
• Other name(s):
• Armament:
  • Guns: 2x
  • Missiles:

A6M56

• Put in Service: 1975
• Other name(s):
• Armament:
  • Guns: 2x
  • Missiles:

A6M53

A6M53 "Kage"

A6M53 "Oni"

A6M53 "Hi no tori"

• Other names: Zero Firebird, Volcano
• Armament:
  • Guns: 20mm Vulcan Cannon
  • Bombs/Missiles:
  • 1X 60kg Ryu ("Dragon") TOW pod and
  • 1X 60kg Congreve rocket pod or
  • 1X 250kg Napalm bomb

A6M64

• Put in Service: 1980
• Other name(s):
• Armament:
  • Guns: 2x
  • Missiles:

A6M72

• Put in Service: 1985
• Other name(s):
• Armament:
  • Guns: 2x
  • Missiles:

When Aurono became independant, the A6M72 model was the newest model of the ASDF Air Defense Force and five of these aircraft remained in their service with independance.

A6M80

• Put in Service: 1990
• Other name(s):
• Armament:
  • Guns: 2x
  • Missiles:

A6M88

• Put in Service: 1995
• Other name(s): Zero-H
• Armament:
  • Guns: 2x
  • Missiles:

A6M96

• Put in Service: 2000
• Other name(s): Millenium
• Armament:
  • Guns: 2x
  • Missiles:

A6M96 Kotaka

• Put in Service: 2000
• Other name(s): Kotaka, Falcon, Millenium Falcon
• Armament:
  • Guns: none
  • Missiles:
    • 2X wing-mounted Avenger II AtA missile systems or
    • 1X nose-mounted Avenger II AtA missile system and
    • 1X nose-mounted Scram Cannon for spatial combat

The A6M96 "Kotaka" ("Falcon" in Japanese) was the first fighter of the Zero series capable of leaving Earth's atmosphere. To achieve this, the jet engine was considerably scaled down in size and put into an auxiliary position to a rocket drive. Bomb load was removed to make place for rocket fuel tanks. The resulting fighter was slower than the original A6M96 when on jet mode, and unsuitable for combat. In rocket mode, however, it was considerably faster, but less maneuverable. The rocket boos only held for a short while and allowed for a fast intercept. It also served its purpose of propelling the craft to LEO. However, the absence of payload and the inavailability of directed energy weapons made this a poor advantage in combat, since the fighter had no weapons to attack ground targets. However, a nose-mounted Scram cannon and several modified missile systems provided capacity against other craft in space, which was thought as a great method of fighting Imperial German spacecraft, which were prevalent in space at the time. The Kotaka served as basis for the Kotakan Ragnarok-class of Space-Airships.

A6M100

• Put in Service: 2003
• Other names: A6MC, Ace, Centurion
• Armament:
  • Guns:
    • 1X Phalanx CIWS
  • Missiles:
    • 4X Avenger Missile
    • 2X Gladius Missile
    • 2X Excalibur Missile
    • 2X Kusanagi Missile
    • 2X Gungir Missile (through the Arms Technology Exchange Program with Hatomia)

The A6MC "Ace" uses an experimental gatling gun with DU rounds, the Phalanx, to defend against incoming missiles.

A6M101

An A6M100 with an experimental laser weapon as primary gun.

A6M102

An A6M100 with a Mercury Arc as primary weapon and an extensive laser system distributed among nodes all over the hull. The project seemed promising, but was dropped to await further progress in spacefaring technology, energy storage and directed energy weapons.

A6M103

An A6M102 using a gatlinged Mercury Arc as primary weapon. One prototype built. No missile armament was installed on the prototype.

A6M104

• Put in Service: 2005
• Other name(s):
• Armament:
  • Guns:
    • 1X Nose-mounted Black Adder
  • Missiles:
    • 3X Scram Cannon (one under each wing, one mounted under the aircraft's nose)

A6M105

• Put in Service:
• Other names(s):
• Armament:
  • Guns:
    • 2X Black Adders (one in each wing)
    • 1X Gattling gun (nose-mounted)
  • Missiles:
    • 2X Scram Cannon (one in each wing)
    • 1X SCREAM Cannon (nose-mounted)

The A6M105 was the first attempt of creating an efficient Symbiote conunterweapon and anti-personnel weapon. The aircraft has increased belly plating, sacrificing speed. It has less air-to-air missile power than the A6M104, sacrificing one Scram Cannon for a SCREAM bioweapon cannon. Also, the number of guns and their firepower was greatly increased again, moving from the single nose-mounted Black Adder of the 104 to one Black Adder in each of the wings and a powerful Gattling gun in the nose, making the A5M105 an efficient, but slightly slow and bulky anti-ground unit.

A6M105b

Identical to the A6M105, but with additional firepower by replacing the wing-mounted Black Adders with 30mm autocannons and the Gattling with another Scram Cannon.

A6M106

• Status: Active
• Put in Service: 2007
• Armament:
  • Guns:
    • 2X nose-mounted Black Adders
    • 1X underbelly Nerve stapling emitter
  • Missiles:
    • 2X wing-mounted Syndicate Scram Cannons
    • 1X nose-mounted Scram Cannon

The newest fighter of the Zero series. It has limited LEO capabilities and is armed with Symbiote countermeasures.

A6M112

• Status: Development (20%)
• Put in Service: 2010 (planned)
• Other name(s): -

A6M120

• Status: Planned
• Put in Service: 2015 (planned)
• Other name(s): Future Falcon
• Armament:
  • Guns:
    • 1X Phase Stream Projector (hypothetized directed energy weapon)

Questers

Questers designaes its Candrian-designed FA-15 Cardinals as A6M; Fighter, Sixth Model, Mitsubishi-Supermarine.

Designation

A6M1

A6M2