AFM-5 Atmospheric Assault Vehicle

The AFM-5 AAV is a 5th millenium combat aircraft, primarily intended for a ground-attack role but also effective against other airborne threats. The AFM-5 is the 5th Millenium equivalent to a helicopter gunship and resembles the Boeing AH-64 Apache, although flight is provided entirely by lifting body principles and vectored thrust engines: it has no rotors, and its wings provide no appreciable lift.

Design
The AFM-5 resembles a helicopter gunship. It has a cockpit with two crewmembers, a pilot and weapon's officer sitting one behind the other, while its body narrows into a long boom with prominent twin tails at the end. On the sides of the fuselage, near the top, are two large nacelles, one on either side, bearing twinned hydrogen-fueled ion engines. Another pair of jets is located under the base of the tail boom. The nacelles are theoretically capable of rotating 360 degrees about their mountings, although the aircraft's rear-swept gull wings - mounted directly below the nacelles - prevent them from moving past 90-degrees verticle. The twin engines under the tail boom are also capable of thrust vectoring, and the nozzles may simply flip down to verticle, allowing the aircraft to hover.

Weapon Systems
The AFM-5 is equipped with two 23mm chainguns. One is under the nose of the aircraft in the chin while the other is located on the aircraft's arching back, above and behind the base of the tail boom. Each of the aircraft's large, down-swept wings has four weapons' hardpoints, capable of mounting a variety of weapon systems - including 152mm anti-tank missiles, rocket pods and 23mm magnetohydrodynamic cannons.