Lylum-Claan F-218 Wasp

1975 ECN Next Frontline Naval Fighter Requisition

In 1975, the Erqaedian Commonwealth Navy saw fighter aircraft technology advancing around itself, most notably the Air Force’s own 215 Aquila poised to enter service in full in the coming years. Abroad, especially in D-TO, navies were modernizing their air wings, with Kerthenia introducing their next-generation fighter, the F-14 Tomcat. While the ECN had only a small carrier fleet of two active carriers, the naval air squadrons were still of importance, as there were a number deployed abroad.

The carrier squadrons were operating the FF-204 Super Tiger, originally license-built F11F-1F Super Tigers from Kerthenia, upgraded with the Rolls-Royce Avon from Perennia. These designs dated back to the early-1960s, with the original design being from the late-1950s. The latest variant, FF-204E, entered service in 1971, as a continued modernization of the airframe. The avionics and weapons of the FF-204E were sufficiently modern for the time, but it was undeniable that the base airframe design was nearing two decades old. It was running out of room for improvement, metaphorically and physically, and the airframe was going to be outpaced soon by newer aircraft designed with decades of additional aerodynamics experience.

The ECN thus posted a requisition for a new fighter aircraft, the Next Frontline Naval Fighter, which would emphasize carrier-friendly size and weight dimensions, and ruggedness, all in a cost-efficient package. It was implied that cutting-edge technology was not a primary focus, and that the Navy would pick up capabilities and equipment it needed from the Air Force’s developments.

A few companies would answer the NFNF, sending designs for review starting from 1976.

Central Erqaedia Aircraft had been working with CAeSAR on Air Supremacy Program #11 at this time, but the experimental designs offered were felt to be too complex for the ECN’s needs. Twin Crown sent a few design proposals, but did not build any airframes in the end, especially as it already found itself busy with other projects, notably 215 Aquila production that had been transferred to it by the government.

Lylum-Claan began its own project, taking all available knowledge and experience into account. It also looked abroad, managing to secure some Harrier GR.1 aircraft for evaluation through the recently established North Nuntic Cooperative Exchange. While engineers did not find too many answers in the Harrier, they still learned many lessons and derived new conclusions about the path to a modern carrier-based fighter.

The ECN also found that the 218’s payload capacity matched or even exceeded that of the FS-206(?) being operated as the attack aircraft of the carrier air wings.

The 1980 ECAF Doctrinal Review identified a desire for an updated lightweight fighter aircraft design, deployed in strategic border defense hardened bunkers. This necessitated a different design paradigm from the F-215 Aquila, which was a heavier, larger, and more complex fighter aircraft.

There were four contenders for the Lightweight Fighter Program: Twin Crown Aerospace Industries 216 Perlin, Lylum-Claan 218 Wasp, Central Erqaedia Aircraft Company 219 Gyrfalcon, and a Perennian design simply designated 220.

The TCA 216 was the largest and heaviest of the group, which did not reflect well on the design, especially as it did not prove to have significantly different performance from the other aircraft. The CEAC 219 was the lightest, most compact, and generally innovative of the designs, but it proved to have too many odd problems, peculiar flight characteristics, and design complexities for the ECAF to put their confidence into it. The Perennian 220 was a promising aircraft, but it was also on the heavier end of the designs, and it was a foreign design, meaning it would be more costly to procure.

LC’s 218 however, found the precise combination of aircraft design that the ECAF was looking for. It was a moderate-weight design, not as light as some may have wanted, but well within the desired weight range. The design was simple, making it easy to maintain in suboptimal storage and operating conditions. Its flight performance was competitive. The 218 was exactly the kind of safe choice the ECAF wanted for its Lightweight Fighter Program.

As the 218 was originally designed for naval operations, it was also naturally rugged. In fact, the ruggedness of the aircraft had already been tested by the ECN, and so the testing of the ECAF in this department seemed more like a formality.