Fiction:Torrent

"Flying the Torrent for the first time is an experience no pilot will ever forget. You get into the cockpit. It's cramped, there's barely any room to move around, and it smells like electronics and burnt leather. You go through preflight with ops control, and then proceed to turn on the engine. It starts as a slow hum at first, but grows progressively louder until you can feel your bones shake. Then, when you're ready, you finally take off... and discover the most graceful flying machine ever created by man."

- Carl Matthews

The Torrent is an advanced French omnirole, dual engine, hyperspace-capable, swept-wing, supermaneuverable strike craft. Widely considered to be one of the most impressive fighters in the Gigaquadrant for its flight characteristics, combat ability, and egregiously high per-unit price. It was developed during the 2790's and officially released into the French Armed Forces in 2799. It would see some early action during the Plazithian Seismomachy and later earned a reputation for itself during the Great Xonexian Schism as perhaps one of the most famous Xonexi Angelfire missile carriers.

Base design
The Torrent is the direct spiritual successor of the Mirage Roi, meant to fill the same role of fighter, tactical bomber, and interceptor. It employs an entirely different shape than the Mirage Series, however, abandoning the delta-wing for a sleeker body and swept-wing design. As with many post-Dominatus War French military inventions, the Torrent was developed with hyperspatial warfare in mind, integrating a more efficient hyperdrive system that masks its emissions better than its predecessor. As a result, the craft is difficult to detect and track through hyperspace. It is equipped to carry an array of different hyperspatial weapons, ranging from anti-ship, long range anti-air, and short-range anti-air missiles.

However, it is more than capable of handling missions in conventional scenarios as well, both in realspace and in the atmosphere of a planet. In both of these, it excels, far outdoing strike craft of the previous generation in maneuverability, speed, and responsiveness.

The base variant is a two-seater, allowing room for a pilot and a navigator responsible for aiming and firing ordinance. It also carries active ECM equipment, greatly increasing its cost while making it very difficult for sensors to track.

Trivia

 * The original Torrent model was made in March of 2014 and was overhauled several times before it was finally released to the wiki on September 1.