A modified version of the ADF-01 "Raven" Designed as a foil to the growing meta of AI piloted aircraft. Antheok Arcanos took... a different approach to the question. Introducing the Experimental Manned Aircraft 6 codenamed Dreadwing. First: Where’s the Pilot? Inside a “coffin.” The pilot of a Dreadwing is heavily augmented. Listed augments include an AIM system, an enhanced skeleton, an enhanced cardiovascular system (including an auxiliary pump), an enhanced respiratory system, cybernetic arms and legs, a Reinforced Cranial and Spinal Casing, an Advanced Neural Processor, a Pain-Gating Module, a Blood Oxygenation Reserve, a Metabolic Regulator, and finally an Emergency Coagulant System :) Before entering the aircraft, the pilot’s cybernetic arms and legs are removed. Now to explain the “coffin.” The coffin is where the armless and legless pilot is placed in a supine position. It is a bathtub-sized armored container, protected in a similar fashion to the armored cockpit of an A-10. The coffin is filled with an oxygenated, kinetic-dampening gel. This gel also fills the respiratory tract of the pilot. Don’t worry, they’ll be fine. It’s safe, and when exposed to air it breaks down into oxygen. The gel supports the pilot and prevents them from being jostled around inside the coffin during violent maneuvers. It does not magically negate G-forces. The pilot still experiences acceleration. The gel’s purpose is to stabilize and support them while the other systems and augmentations help the pilot tolerate the physiological effects of high-G flight. The coffin also contains its own life-support systems. Next, the cradle. The cradle surrounds the coffin and contains the protected electronic and interface components of the system. It is EMP-protected and serves as the connection between the pilot’s AIM, the coffin, and Dreadwing itself. Once the coffin is installed into the cradle, the pilot is connected to the aircraft. And to be clear: Dreadwing does not have a conventional cockpit. There is no canopy. There are no displays, pedals, flight sticks, or other conventional flight controls. The coffin and cradle are the cockpit. So… How the Hell Do You Fly It? Through AIM. Rather than relying on conventional displays and controls, information from Dreadwing’s cameras and sensors is fed through the cradle and AIM directly to the pilot. The pilot is placed into a semi-dreamlike state and “sees” through the aircraft. Optical cameras effectively become their eyes. Other sensors, such as thermal imaging and radar, can be translated by AIM into information that the pilot can intuitively perceive and understand. The pilot can switch between these senses through thought. They can also focus on, highlight, and mark objects detected by the aircraft. AIM helps correlate those objects between different sensors, allowing the pilot to maintain awareness of a target while changing how they are observing it. Likewise, the pilot does not individually command every control surface or engine. They provide intent. If the pilot wants to turn, climb, roll, accelerate, or point the aircraft toward something, AIM and Dreadwing’s flight-control systems translate that intention into the required combination of control-surface and propulsion inputs. AIM does not replace the pilot’s judgment. It handles the interface between the human and the machine. In effect, the pilot doesn’t simply operate Dreadwing. They experience Dreadwing as an extension of their own body. Why? Most autonomous aircraft attempt to solve the limitations of human pilots by removing the human. Antheok took the opposite approach. The problem wasn’t necessarily the human. The problem was everything between the human and the aircraft. So instead of replacing the pilot with an AI, Dreadwing removes the conventional human-machine interface. No HUD. No displays. No stick. No pedals. No need to look through a canopy. The human pilot remains responsible for tactical judgment, improvisation, and decision-making, while AIM and the aircraft handle the enormous amount of information processing and translation necessary to turn human intent into action. The pilot is not seated in the aircraft. The pilot is installed in it. The Pilots This obviously means Dreadwing pilots are not particularly easy to replace. Dreadwing pilots are selected from already exceptional conventional pilots. They therefore enter the program already understanding aerial combat, energy management, aircraft behavior, weapons employment, and the other skills expected of an experienced fighter pilot. They are then augmented and retrained to operate through AIM. This involves learning to use synthetic senses, operate a cybernetic body, interpret information from the aircraft’s sensors, and eventually treat Dreadwing itself as their body. Consequently, the pilot is arguably the most valuable and difficult-to-replace component of the entire aircraft. Which is why we went slightly overboard on the ejection system :)
Emergency Ejection In case of an emergency, the entire coffin can be ejected downward from the aircraft. Upon ejection, the pilot is awakened. The coffin contains its own life support, tracking beacon, and automated parachute. Once safely on the ground, the pilot has access to rudimentary mechanical arms and legs, giving them enough mobility to move and survive until recovery. Whenever a Dreadwing is deployed, a recovery team is kept on standby to retrieve an ejected pilot. If recovery is impossible within a reasonable amount of time, the pilot is also provided with a scuttling charge capable of destroying the coffin and its sensitive systems Now, the Actual Plane With the pilot explained, we can finally discuss the thing they’re installed in. Dreadwing is derived from the ADF-01 Raven and retains its broad, blended, delta-like planform and distinctive rear notch. There is no visible cockpit because, well…there isn’t one. From a distance, Dreadwing looks much more like an unmanned aircraft than a conventional fighter. This is somewhat intentional. The aircraft has a planned maximum speed of approximately Mach 2–3. Antheok has little interest in making Dreadwing hypersonic simply for the sake of making the number bigger. Its speed is intended to get the aircraft into a favorable position; its weapons handle what happens afterward. Dreadwing uses two primary engines. Each primary engine is surrounded by four smaller auxiliary thrusters, giving the aircraft eight auxiliary thrusters in total. These provide additional control authority during extreme maneuvers. AIM coordinates the auxiliary thrusters, main engines, and aerodynamic control surfaces automatically according to the pilot’s intended maneuver. This allows Dreadwing to perform violent changes in attitude without requiring the pilot to independently manage each propulsion system. For example, during an extreme pitch maneuver, Dreadwing can use its aerodynamic surfaces and auxiliary thrusters to rapidly change its orientation before applying its main engines along the new thrust axis. Because sometimes forward changes. Hunting Dreadwing’s Raven-derived lifting-body design also gives it another useful characteristic: It can glide. At high altitude, Dreadwing can reduce or shut down its main engines and use its aerodynamic surfaces to maintain controlled flight. This does not make the aircraft thermally invisible. The aircraft itself, its electronics, life-support systems, and other components continue producing heat. What it does accomplish is substantially reducing the enormous thermal signature produced by active jet exhaust. This creates a potential attack profile in which Dreadwing climbs to altitude, reduces propulsion, uses passive sensors while gliding toward the target area, and then dives toward its target. Altitude becomes speed. Dreadwing attacks during the dive before relighting its engines to accelerate away or regain altitude. In other words: Falcon with a directed-energy weapon. Carrier Operations Dreadwing is also designed with carrier operations in mind. The lack of a conventional cockpit isn’t particularly problematic here because the pilot isn’t looking through a windshield anyway. Dreadwing’s distributed cameras and sensors allow the pilot to perceive the carrier, deck, and surrounding environment from angles that would be physically impossible from a conventional cockpit. The auxiliary thrusters can also provide additional control authority during low-speed approaches, wave-offs, and other carrier operations.This does not make Dreadwing a VTOL aircraft. Power and Weapons Dreadwing’s electrical systems are powered by one Fusion Coil, an already-established technology used by Antheok and its technological predecessors. The Fusion Coil powers the aircraft’s sensors, AIM interface, coffin and life-support systems, electronics, and directed-energy systems. The main engines remain responsible for actually moving the aircraft. Dreadwing is intended to carry conventional internal weapons alongside Antheok’s existing directed-energy technology. Internal carriage helps maintain the aircraft’s aerodynamic and signature characteristics while still allowing conventional missiles and other weapons to be carried when required. The exact weapons load depends on the mission COST: Plane (Domestic): 100M Plane (Export): 300M Full Pilot Package (Domestic): 200M Full Pilot Package (Export): 300M
