TCA 215 Aquila

The Twin Crown Aerospace 215 Aquila (commonly known as the FF-215 Aquila) is a medium-weight tactical fighter aircraft designed by Stardust. It has been developed into further variants, notably the 217 Super Aquila series of fighters.

Project GOLDENROD HARPY
Twin Crown Aerospace Industries - Air Supremacy Project no. 9 was an internal TCA requisition for a conventional twin-engined combat aircraft with good all-around performance for air-to-air combat. ASP-9 was originally conceived of as a drone, and therefore engineering the aircraft was the responsibility of Advanced Combat Systems Division (ACSD). Development on ASP-9 was slow at the time of the internal program's introduction.

Jet Showdown 5, STARDUST Test Drones
During its slow development, the [JS5] fighter program became active, and TCA submitted a few designs to the competition. TCA's initial submission was its ASP-7 aircraft (FF-215; Project GOLDENROD HARPY and TERMINATOR HARPY), which was similarly designed with the attributes of "twin-engine fighter aircraft", but it was pulled due to its mediocre performance. In its place, ASP-11 (FF-219) was submitted, an aircraft designed by TCA's rising Combat Aircraft Design Bureau (CADB). FF-219's flight performance was so notable for a convetional airframe, that ACSD took the FF-219 airframe and mated it to TCA's test UCAV body to create the now-venerable STARDUST-I combat testing drone.

Air Supremacy Program no. 9 — STARDUST-II


FF-219 failed [JS5] trials, forcing TCA to return to the drawing board, with many options at its fingertips, but all very under-developed. ASP-9 was completed during this time and became the STARDUST-II, which itself proved to be a capable combat test drone. Seeing the potential in the ASP-9 airframe, CADB was given the task of taking the airframe and turning it into a manned aircraft with a cockpit. This was the beginning of ASP-9-2 (which probably should have been ASP-7 Extended due to the project being a twin-engined manned fighter, but internal documentation at this time suffered from a recent large fire in TCA's facilities, creating large disruptions in program organization).

CADB's conversion of the STARDUST-II airframe into a manned design did not take long, and ASP-9-2 received the official designation FF-217. Multiple design iterations and variants of the FF-217 airframe would be made before its first official combat deployment in a [JS5]-compliant configuration, using the FF-217J variant. The FF-217J Super Aquila featured additional auxiliary engines for increased combat TWR, breaking from the original twin-engine design outline to a 2-2 engine configuration.

Super Aquila
FF-217J would be the first airframe variant to see multiple blocks/subvariants, mainly J-5, J-6, J-7, and J-8, though the combat records of these are still unclear. Known configurations other than [JS5] are [RT]/[RT1], [FD], [FC], and [RP2]. FF-217K existed as a lengthened airframe for greater range and payload capacity.

In the interim waiting for a new contract, TCA received orders for older, more basic FF-215A airframes. These were delivered and saw combat in [RP1] configuration. Spare FF-215A Aquila airframes from this procurement were picked up by one “Manley” spaceflight program for flight tests.

Return to Form - FF-215M
After the RT2 trials, FAS2 began. Under the new considerations from the program parameters, airframe upgrades developed through the FF-217M program were applied back to the lighter FF-215 airframe.

Design (Real Life)
While not necessarily the original intention, the FF-215 Aquila eventually morphed into a form based off of the F-15 Eagle, as is very clearly evident in its appearance and designation/name, "aquila" being the Latin word for "eagle".

The Forgotten Versions
The craft under the designation "FF-215" actually underwwent many different versions, as Stardust was still learning how to actually build good conventional BDA combat aircraft at the time.

The first iteration was... a mess.

The second iteration was closer to something viable, and ended up resembling a Sukhoi Su-37 Terminator more than anything else. It was here it was actually given the name "Aquila", in reference to the famous Ace Combat 04 enemy squadron, "Yellow Squadron", officially the 156th Tactical Air Wing "Aquila". At this point in time, it was also a callback to the attempts made to make this an F-15-like plane.

The name was then also given to the newly-made, STARDUST-II-based FF-217, which seemed far more Eagle-like. Again, this era of Stardust planes were secretly a mess behind the scenes.

Missile Rail Frame
This background can be found on the FF-217M page.

The MRF was eventually replaced at the end of FAS II by a simplified PWing frame, which reduced part count at the cost of (debatable) vulnerability to damage. This proved to be a prudent move, as FJRT3 banned the changing of materials on BDA missile rails (a controversial ruling).

Moderately Plane Related (MPR): Source Aircraft
The FF-215M served as the source aircraft for all three of the original "TCA High Performance Control" control surfaces, numbered 01-03. The aircraft also served as the basis on which the "generic 4.5 gen" cockpit was designed for and was later named after, as the Air Supermacy Program no. 9-4 cockpit.

Putting all of these custom parts together on an Aquila airframe resulted in the FF-215N variant.

Major Variants



 * FF-215C
 * Initial version with uprated Saturn engines.


 * FF-215J
 * Enhanced maneuverability with the addition of canards.


 * FF-217J Super Aquila
 * Enhanced thrust-to-weight by the addition of two auxiliary Tiger engines to the rear of the aircraft.


 * FF-215A
 * Single-seat air-superiority verision, basic stock KSP construction.


 * FF-215M
 * Modernized airframe variant, derived from FF-217M development; removed auxiliary engines, replaced with DroidCorp Thrust Enhancement Device. Primary powerplant consists of two J-119 Cheetah engines.


 * FF-215L
 * Simplified 215M version, utilizing minimal modified mod parts. Powered by two Saturn engines. Theoretical build.


 * FS-215M Strike Aquila
 * Two-seat multirole strike variant.


 * FF-215N
 * Further airframe modernization of FF-215M; features further aerodynamic refinement and advanced materials construction for both weight reduction and strength. Powered by two TFJ-229-DT-938 Talon engines.


 * FF-215F
 * Another anachronistic variant; designed as stock + AP+ derivative of FF-215M design. Powered by two Saturn engines.