The deception idea would be based on pop up display props and picture projection (hologram displays) systems to display containers, cars or other various cargo items to make the ship look like some form of cargo or even cruise ship. Pictures of the ocean could also be displayed to mask the ship against the sea for semi-stealth. But, at no time would the flight deck runway be visible to the public, because that would give away the true mission of the ship.
In the minds of Air Rescue engineers, the ship was the transportation vehicle for the gunship. It was the gunship’s muscle that was needed during rescues which formed the bases for two thoughts. One: the ship would carry only four gunships. Not just any ordinary military style gunship, but a high performance 250+mph gunship that carried three 30 Cal. Gatling guns and a 105 mm main gun. The gunship could attack its targets at high attack speed and would be based on advanced technology. And two: it would carry two helicopters needed to transport rescued people and commandos. So, that meant a ship with at least a 100 foot runway or similar launch platform for the type of helicopters proposed.
In addition, there was ship protection. The Fast Attacks would be the main line of defense and the other would be an anti-missile protection system. On each side of the ship would be mounted two radar controlled pods, front/rear, with three Gatling guns each, capable of firing 12,000 rounds per minute to shoot down missiles or attacking aircraft. At various locations around the ship, would be stored shoulder launch anti-aircraft missiles and automatic weapons. Later, Air Rescue added a very advanced robot submersible to protect the ship from under water weapons.
Once Air Rescue engineers laid out their designs for the ship and gunships then costs were determined. The process began to find a commercial helicopter that would meet their needs and a ship that could be modified to Air Rescues requirements for conversion to include a flight deck.
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Building the First Phantom Cobra Class
Fast Attack Gunship.
The first two Fast Attacks were built from modifying the AgustaWestland AW109 that were salvaged from a hanger fire and purchased by Air Rescue in an insurance sale.
The helicopters were shipped to a Norwegian factory where all the modifications were performed, because of the Norwegian high technology welding skills developed for building cruise ships.
The first function was to strip down the Agusta to the shell and modify the body to accommodate the new jet turbine engines, weapons platform, heavy duty landing gear, supercomputers and microcomputer electro-mechanical devices.
At the rear passenger section of the airframe, the glass window was removed and replaced with a solid metal one. Below the glass window was honeycombed out to create a cavity for the tires to fit from the new heavy duty landing gear.
Sections of the passenger compartment flooring were cut out to create a cavity on either side of the fuselage flooring to accommodate the mounting of two small jet turbine engines. The flooring behind and under the pilot / co-pilot seats were modified for air ducts to be installed so the jet engines could receive outside ram air to feed the engines. The rear end of the passenger compartment flooring was modified to extend the engine cavities out the rear of the helicopter. A two foot tail section, that meets the fuselage, was squared off at the back to create thrust ports cavities for the new jet engines. Hinged covers were installed to cover the engine compartments on the belly of the helicopter.
Second - the weapons platform wings were welded to the fuselage on both sides to accommodate the 105 mm main gun and laser aiming device on the right side of the helicopter. The platform wing on the left side was installed to support the (three) 30 mm Gatling guns. Over the newly installed engine cavity was installed another metal subfloor to accommodate the weight of the main gun auto-loader / shell bank and 30 mm magazine installation. The sliding rear doors were replaced with solid doors, cutout to accommodate the features of auto-loader on one side and the 30 mm shell belts on the other side. Doors were locked into place and could be opened to service the ammo banks.
Third - double tire, heavy duty retractable landing gear was installed for ship landings.
Fourth – three supercomputers were installed behind the electronic officers control panel located on the left side, behind the pilot’s seat. Microcomputer electro-mechanical control devices were installed at various locations around the helicopter to perform the functions of controlling the rudder, cyclic/collective control and throttle functions of the aircraft, as well as electronics officers control panel and pilots display screens and systems were wired and tested.
The co-pilots seat was removed and the pilot’s seat moved two feet over to center in the front of the windshield and the electronics officer’s position seat was placed behind and to the left of the pilot’s seat.
Two new Pratt & Whitney Canada 206C turbo shaft engines were installed with a four blade rotor. In addition, two new MAT Pegasus RP-6 turbine engines with specialized reverse thrusters for ship landings and hovering were installed.
The software operating systems (Voice Command-Fly-By –Wire) developed by Air Rescue was flown in and loaded on the supercomputers by a team of technicians for testing.
Voice command-fly-by-wire: is a voice command and control software package that is stored on the Flight Supercomputer and controls all functions of the helicopter electronically. The software takes the voice command from the pilot, converts that command into a function and sets up the flight dynamics of the helicopter to do it. For example: if you tell the helicopter to lift…it's programmed to lift 10 feet straight up and it will sit there all day until it runs out of gas. If you say move forward, it’s programmed to move forward at one mph, until you tell it to stop. If you tell it to accelerate 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 mph and you will start picking up speed all the way up to 250 mph.
For commands to turn right, left, climb and dive, the nose of the helicopter is zero degrees and a right, left, climb or dive is based on 90 degrees or some degrees thereof….10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, or 90 degrees. Another example: full right or left turn is 90 degrees. When climbing/ diving, straight up is 90 degrees and straight down is 90 degrees. If you are under speed and you command a right or left turn, it banks the helicopter to the right or left and makes a full 90 degrees turn or the number of degree stated. If you are hovering, a right or left turn command and the helicopter will turn the nose 90 degrees to the right or left and waits for the next command. Or you could tell it to reverse and it will back up or U-turn and it will turn the nose 180 degrees and wait for the next command. To climb or dive, command to climb or dive 10, 20, 30 to 90 degrees and the helicopter will start to climb or dive at the degree stated. Standard commands are: take-off and landing (automated), forward, reverse, U-turn, accelerate, right / left turn, climb, dive, de-accelerate, hover, stop, and execute.
Once the software packages were debugged, voice command data tables set, and software patched on the Flight Supercomputer, the aircraft completed its first test flight and modifications were made at the factory.
The first two fast attacks were cargo lifted to the nearest port to the ship, and then flown out to the ship for months of pilot training in how to fly a fast attack.
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Fast Attack Specifications
MFG: Agusta
Country of Origin: Italy
Model: AW109
Color: solid black
Crew: 2 (Pilot & Electronic Officer)
Electronics: voice command, electro-mechanical flight
control systems, three supercomputers. Flight, Battle and
standby.
Length: 42.9 feet
Height: 11.6 feet
Weight: 4555 lbs (3461 lbs unloaded)
Speed: 250+ mph
Range: 600 miles
Ceiling: 19,600 ft
Power: 567 HP (two Pratt & Whitney engines) and two
Williams F112 turbofan engines.
Rotor Blades: Two foot shortened, curved/twisted four
rotor blades.
Weapon- platform wings, expandable 3 feet for
takeoff/landing.
Wing guns: left side - 3 x 30mm mini-guns
Right side -105 mm self-propelled main gun (laser fire
control).
Defense: Anti-missile flares
Radar/ radio countermeasures
Anti-missile decoys
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Building Global Rescuer
At the same time, the first two Fast Attacks were being constructed; Air Rescue was negotiating an insurance deal for a cruise ship.
In 1990, a cruise ship sailed out of Miami harbor and caught fire and everybody had to abandon ship. The ship was a total loss in the eyes of the insurance company and they were going nuts trying to sell the burnt out ship.
Air Rescue inspected the ship and found that it was in good shape and the engines were just fine and so were the forward 50 cabins and staterooms from the smokestack to the front of the ship.
Air Rescue had been looking for a ship to buy, but the companies wanted a fortune for them. But, one of their engineers, who took a look at the ship, sat down over lunch and drew out a plan on a napkin of how simple it would be to adopt the ship to what they wanted. So, Air Rescue made a ridiculous offer and five days later the insurance company accepted it. Air Rescue put a skeleton crew on board ship and sailed it to a harbor in India, where they had all three burnt out decks cut out to make a large hanger. A steel floor was laid down and over the top of the hanger was installed a steel flight deck and elevator to the hanger. The other damaged decks were made into storage rooms except for a large room behind the bridge where the battle room was constructed.
The battle room is a unique control room that is somewhat like the command and control center you see on a starship in the movies. Like most ships, the bridge on the cruise ship was left pretty much intact much like any other ships bridge. But, directly behind the bridge and down the stairs begins the battle room, and this sets Global Rescuer apart from any other ship. The battle room begins behind the stairs with the cubical rooms that are set aside for the Skyspy and Remote Control Device. These rooms control up to eight Skyspy aircraft and fast attack gunships when en-route to a target. Just in front of the stairs is located the Air Traffic Control, Radar and Comm.’s stations with information and picture collection displays that are used to fly the gunships. Just past these positions, and in the center of the room, is located the Captain's chair next to the Science Officer’s chair and she runs the battle room. Facing the Captain and Science Officer are display consoles that control weapons systems used to protect the ship and activate weapons on the fast attack gunships. Against the wall behind the consoles are very large display screens, that displays maps, radar pictures, pictures from skyspy, close circuit TV pictures from the flight deck, signals and analysis displays, and anything else that the Captain and Science Officer needs to make a decision. Around the room are extra chairs and desks for guests for meets with the Captain and Science Officer. Behind the Captain's and Science Officer’s great room is located the Signals and Intelligence room and their purpose is to collect signals and evaluate.
Next deck down and directly under the battle room, is located the Air Conditioned Electronics Room, which houses the three mini-supercomputers. These three computers control the entire ship, and all command and control consoles and displays. It’s the brains of the ship.
During the ships reconfiguration, all the other decks and 50 cabins / staterooms forward from the battle room were left intact with some becoming crew and guest quarters.
Once the cruise ship completed its reconfiguration and sea trials, and Air Rescue signed off on the ship, it became known as Global Rescuer. At any given time, Global Rescuer carries four Fast Attack gunships, two rescue helicopters, and when needed, one little bird.
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The development of Air Rescue Technology.
It was in 1993, when Global Rescuer was on a rescue mission and got into a situation with Government forces of a country that shall remain nameless after passing over the Line of Death in the Gulf of Sid. If it wasn't for their ships stealth technology, and the smart action of one of the Fast Attack pilots, the ship would have been sunk. This was a shock to Air Rescue’s operations and they quickly came to the realization that more advance weapons technology was needed such as missiles, remote spy aircraft and even maybe a robot gunship. You have to appreciate that Air Rescue Special Forces is not a very big paramilitary organization and rely heavily on technology, especially to operate their ship - Global Rescuer. So, Air Rescue embarked on developing a standard missile to be used by both the Fast Attacks and aboard ship in the form of a missile bank and the Scorpion Missile was created.
Scorpion cruise missiles are tube fired remote controlled / GPS guided missiles that turns on the radar in the final 30 seconds before impact to home in on the target. These cruise missiles are 14 feet long, 16 inches in diameter, plastic fuselage with a 3 foot, 6 inch wind span and one foot horizontal and vertical stabilizer tail. The small cruise missile is powered by a solid fuel turbofan combined booster engine built only by Air Rescue. The solid fuel in the booster burns fast to accelerate the missile out of the tube to 500 mph, then switches to slow burning solid fuel that powers the turbofan engine. The Scorpion cruise missile has a range of 13 to 15 miles and carries a 200 pound warhead of high explosives.
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Drone Aircraft
The other eye opener came during the almost near fatal rescue situation, when Air Rescue couldn't see the ships that were coming towards them until it was too late. They were relying too much on long range radar and what they really needed were eyes on the target. This idea led Air Rescue to creating a concept called forward-eyes-on-target utilizing drone aircraft and Air Rescue’s name for their aircraft was Skyspy.
Skyspy Aircraft are compound delta wing (tailless), small pusher propeller driven aircraft capable of flying over a thousand miles on internal autonomous program or by a remote controller from Global Rescuer. The airframe shell is made from a one passenger, modular, composite fiber, and commercially available kit built aircraft manufacture. The aircraft is 14 feet long, 5 feet high, weighs 580 pounds and has a wingspan of 22 feet. These simple, lightweight aircraft are capable of flying 1635 miles with a top speed of 175 mph. It's powered by a multi-fan prop, air cooled, self-start, 100 HP gas engine. Aircraft flight control has been modified to operate by electronic/mechanical devices, controllable by a navigational system composed of global positioning satellites electronics, micro-computer and autonomous software. These spy planes are capable of taking pictures night or day in conventional format or infra-red.
Skyspy Console is where the controller sits. It's composed of a standard equipment rack containing two CRT displays. The top CRT is the workstation display for displaying aircraft hardware parameters and computer functions. The mid-CRT (operator eye level) displays the video from the aircraft’s on-board TV camera. Extending from the rack is a "U" shaped console table. In the center of the table is the keyboard. On the right side of the "U" is mounted the joystick for controlling the aircraft. On the left of the "U" is a mouse pad used for selecting hardware parameters for aircraft control, speed, altitude, autopilot, cameras, etc.
Once Skyspy was developed and flying, Air Rescue soon discovered that having an aircraft over the target gave them a tremendous military advantage. One: they could spy on the target. Two: they could shoot Scorpion missiles from the ship or fast attack at the target with deadly GPS positioning accuracy, and Three: if Air Rescue had a remote controlled gunship over the target, it could shoot at the target. The third idea led to the development of GunRunner, a remote controlled, robot gunship
GunRunner Aircraft are a larger version of the Skyspy autonomous aircraft and only carry weapons. The gunrunner airframe shell was built from a four passenger, modular, composite fiber, compound delta wing, commercially available airplane kit manufacture. The aircraft is 20 feet long, 7 foot high,
weighs 2900 pounds and has a wingspan of 31 feet. The larger size aircraft are designed to carry a 30 Cal Gatling-gun weapons system and two rocket pods of eight rockets each and if needed can be fitted with Scorpion missiles. The weapons systems can only be activated by operator override and can’t be activated by autonomous systems. The aircraft was modified to handle a Williams F107 turbofan jet engine and has the same electronic autonomous systems as Skyspy, but no spy camera or instrument measurement packages are on the aircraft, it's strictly weapons.
Gunrunner Console utilizes the same console at Skyspy. The difference is in the computer software package that ties the console to the ships supercomputer to control the weapons. Only the Captain and Science Office together can approve weapons use. The other difference is the joystick contains two red buttons. One button fires the main Gatling gun and the other fires rockets.
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Undersea Technology
It was during a technology meeting as the Captain was being updated on the latest technology developments in Global Rescuer’s arsenal that a smart ass engineer brought up an interesting comment regarding undersea dangers. The engineer explained to the Captain that Global Rescuer had developed all this high technology to fight off ships, torpedo boats, missiles, helicopters, aircraft and everything coming at them from the air. But, nothing had been done about undersea weapons such as mines, subs or long range fire torpedoes. The captain sat back in his seat thinking, while he rubbed his chin with his right hand, knowing full well, this guy is no dummy. So the Captain asked him to explain himself and give him some suggestions. The young engineer went on to suggest undersea remote controlled robot submersible devices that would carry undersea missiles. These submersibles would be launched during battle conditions to protect the ship from torpedoes or subs. They could operate autonomous or be controlled from the ships remote control room by acoustic communications. The ideas are unlimited explained the engineer, but this technology doesn’t exist, it’s virgin technology and Air Rescue would be the first to use it. The Captain thought about it for a few minutes and asked the young engineer to write him a white paper on his ideas.