Tornado Evolution: Top View by Louis-the-Hedgehog

In the poorly made anime known as Sonic X, there was an airplane known as the "Tornado X". I almost immediately thought it was crap. And now that I have an education on this subject the design is even WORSE in my mind. Right off the bat I can tell you the wings are mounted too far forward, causing the plane to be too tail-heavy to fly (unless the thrust is vectored downward to support the weight but that would greatly lessen the top speed.) There are other aerodynamic surfaces that I know they are trying to make it look cool, but are unnecessary and just add drag. Finally, Sonic and his friends are "trying to keep a low profile" and yet Tails flies this thing EVERYWHERE! That design does not look like a stealth one.

So I redesigned it myself, fixing all these problems by using solutions from the real world as well as a few creative ones of my own. Enter the Tornado Evolution. Like the "X", the Evolution can be powered by a Chaos Emerald and has multiple seats. But that is where the similarities end.

You may notice that there are many parallel angles on this airplane. That is because it is intended to be as invisible to radar as possible. Having many parallel angels to lower the radar profile is known as "plan-form alignment". Like other stealth aircraft, the skin, air intake liners, and some inside parts of the weapon bays are lined with a material that can radar signals. This time however, this material is a secret carbon-based composite that also is strong, and has a high temperature resistance. All weapons and thruster ports are kept internally behind doors that open only when needed, even the nose-mounted laser cannon. Keeping the profile even smaller still, the plane is painted black, usually only flies at night, and has folding wings allowing it to be kept in tighter spaces making it easier to hide.

The engines are electric powered triple-cycle power plants that run on batteries that are charged by a chaos emerald. A big electric fan is at the front that acts as either a compressor or a turbine. In the middle is a series of rings containing two-way valves, heating elements, and an internal propellant feed line. At the very end are the adjustable nozzles that adjust the expansion ratio and vector the thrust, both up and down and left and right. In the first cycle, the fan acts as a compressor sending the air to the heating element assembly which acts like an afterburner which may or may not be used depending on what the situation requires. The whole configuration resembles a giant hairdryer. In the first mode the heating element might not be used, relying entirely on the engine fan to create thrust, a method that produces the minimum infrared signature.

The second engine mode has the fan act as a turbine which not only recharges the batteries, but also slows the air and cools it before reaching the heating element. In the second mode thrust is entirely generated by the heating element. The engine then resembles a ramjet but with a turbine at the front to recharge the batteries. The second mode is also used when the pilot uses to wish the air brake, a concept inspired by regenerative breaking found in hybrid cars.

The third mode has all thrust generated by the heating element again. This time however, instead of heating gas in the atmosphere, the element heats gas from a propellant line. The propellant from a tank (if carried) forces open the shutters in such a way that allows propellant in, but also block the path the atmospheric gasses would normally enter, preventing the gasses from leaving the wrong way. In this mode the engine is an electric heated-gas rocket. When the propellant tank is used, the fighter becomes a trans-atmospheric vehicle, or a true aerospace plane. The fighter uses the first mode to leave the ground, the second mode to get up to speed, and the third mode to reach space. That is why in addition to aerodynamic control surfaces, there are thruster ports as well for when the aerodynamic surfaces cease to be useful.

The propellant tanks are kept in internal bays. But other configurations can be used in the load-out. It can be all propellant tanks, a mix of weapons and propellant tanks, or all weapons. And all the way in the back of the weapons bay is where the chaos emerald is kept. But no matter what the configuration, there will be always be the nose mounted laser cannon kept behind a duel-fold hatch when not being used.

Aerodynamic improvements have been made. The wings are a lot closer to the center of gravity. But despite that the airplane maintains aerodynamic instability by using a tailless canard configuration. Which is not to say that it creates a lot of drag, but being unstable means that it does not take much for it to quickly turn. The design is deliberately so unstable that only a computer can keep it flying straight, which is why it uses an electronic flight control system. Basically, a computer flies the plane, and the pilot tells the computer what to do by using the stick, throttle, and rudder pedals. All modern fighters do this. However, the only hydraulics are used in the landing gear. All other control surfaces are controlled by electricity, resulting in a lighter, simpler, and safer design. To further the simplicity, the canards are behind and right next to the air intakes, as well as acting as a leading edge root extension, allowing it to add agility without adding drag or increasing the radar profile.

So there, I DO know how to design airplanes. And I do not trace. And yes, I did reference design traits from some already existing platforms as well as a few that are still on the drawing board. But just to prove I didn't copy them blindly I'm not going to tell you which ones. And unless you posses the same knowledge I do you'll never guess which ones I referenced.