MONARCH

Introduction
Experimental swing-wing drone.

Usage
Skewing on the even lighter side of experimental aircraft in terms of performance numbers, the MONARCH trades in durability, payload, and avionics for improved top speed and extremely high acceleration/deceleration rates.

Befitting that it is a swing-wing aero, the MONARCH is sluggish when maneuvering at high speed, yet is incredibly maneuverable at low speed. Being in either state can leave it vulnerable in a fight, so careful speed management is required to stay alive.

In regards to speed, the MONARCH's top speed surpasses the TENGU and ROGUE II by 1000 and 1500 units, respectively. In exchange, its pitching ability suffers, maxing out at 90 compared to the TENGU at 100 and the ROGUE II at 105 in terms of agility. It also lacks the payload capacity of either, limiting its weapons options slightly. Its durability is also poor, starting at 100 as opposed to 120-130 for the ROGUE II and TENGU respectively.

This is offset by the fact that not only is it faster, but also in the fact it can accelerate much faster than either two, starting at 0.75 acceleration and maxing out at 1.05 at the end — making it almost effortless to swap between high and low speed. In addition, its micromissile launch points are close together, making aiming with unguided primary weapons much easier.

Overall, the MONARCH's handling characteristics make it a potent craft for getting quickly into, out of, and changing directions into/away from danger — all important factors due to its rather low durability.