Talaharan Air Corps

TCDF Air Corps
TCDF Air Corps
ⵛⴰⵛⵀⴰⵜ ⵏ'ⵀⴰⵔⴱⵉⴳⵏⴰ; Šašhat N'Harbigna
	Roundel of the Talaharan Air Corps
Active	Since 1922; 102 years ago
Country	Talahara
Type	Air force
Role	Aerial warfare
Size	25,100
Part of	Talaharan Commune Defense Forces
Colours	Black; Red; Steel blue
Engagements	List Liberation of Kirthan;
Commanders
Commander-in-Chief	Executive Council
Executor of Defense	Taos Jebar
Defense Committee Senior Representative	General Zidan Šawis
Defense Committee Enlisted Representative	Wing Sergeant-Major Siman Anamar

The Talaharan Air Corp, (Takelat: Šašhat N'Harbigna N'Talahara; ⵛⴰⵛⵀⴰⵜ ⵏ'ⵀⴰⵔⴱⵉⴳⵏⴰ ⵏ'ⵜⴰlⴰⵀⴰⵔⴰ), officially the Talaharan Commune Defense Forces Air Corps, is the aerial warfare branch of the Talaharan Commune Defense Forces. The TCDF Air Corps has a fleet of 538 aircraft, including just under 400 fixed-wing combat aircraft. The branch consists of 25,100 personnel with administrative assistance from the Black Guard Corps as well. The senior representative of the Air Corps at the Defense Committee is General Zidan Šawis. Wing Sergeant-Major Siman Anamar holds the elected representative seat.

The main missions of the Talaharan Air Corps are air defense, local air superiority, and aerial border patrolling. The Air Corps also supports the Navy Corps in littoral defense and maritime aviation.

The TCDF Air Corps was founded in 1922 with the advent of combat-effective fixed-winged aircraft. Previously, military aviation and aerial reconnaissance units were maintained by both the Army Corps and the Navy Corps. The early Air Corps had two major divisions: the wing division and the airship division. The airship division declined in use and development as fixed-wing aircraft advanced to faster, well-armed, and comparatively more durable units. In 1936, the Air Corps was reorganized with airships taking an ancillary role.

The new organization replaced the two air divisions with a set of air groups under a central command group. At present, there are six air groups, including the command group. Each air group generally has two wings under their command. Each wing has its own airbase, housing up to three squadrons.

History

Talaharan semi-rigid airship, c. 1908

Prior to the inception of the Air Corps, balloons, airships, and early fixed-wing aircraft had been employed by both the Army Corps and Navy corps as observation platforms and limited bombing units. The Second West Scipian War saw the introduction of massed air doctrine in the region. While the United Communes of Talahara did not participate in the conflict, independent observers reported on novel use cases and the development of air doctrine to the military theorists of Talahara. In 1922, the TCDF Air Corps was founded as the fourth branch of the Defense Forces.

The new Air Corps was divided into two divisions. The first division consolidated the dirigible airship assets of the Army Corps and Navy Corps into a single organization, with airship groups as the immediate subgroup assigned to land or sea missions. The second, initially smaller division was the wing division, with three wing groups eventually filled with three squadrons of fixed-wing craft each. Throughout the 1920s, the wing division grew substantially, with three wing groups growing to five by the end of the decade. Fixed-wing technology was also advancing rapidly, accelerated in Talahara with the 1933 Joint Development Agreement with Tyreseia and the covert acquisition of foreign aircraft. At the same time, the airship division remained largely stagnant. Faster fixed-winged aircraft were able to enter and exit target zones for reconnaissance faster than the airships, and the dirigibles were too slow to evade fire from planes in exercises, even despite the fact that they could bombard targets from higher elevations. As the use cases for airships diminished, the airship division began to crawl back their numbers.

In 1936, the Air Corps was reorganized into four air groups, with wings organized beneath. The airship division was effectively folded into the fixed-wing division, with remaining airships merged into airlift or reconnaissance wings. For all intents and purposes though, the United Communes terminated further developments of airship technology. Fixed-wing aircraft would continue to advance rapidly. By the second half of the 1940s, jet engines were being developed for military applications. Talahara acquired a test engine in 1948 and had its first prototype jet fighter in the air by 1950. The AGMA Abelxir 60 first entered service in 1951, though only a handful was available for deployment during the 1951 Liberation of Kirthan.

AGMA Abelxir 60 jet fighter-bomber, c. 1953

The Liberation of Kirthan was the first service-wide deployment of the TCDF. The Army Corps's land invasion of the Yisraeli-backed Protectorate of Tarshish was backed by naval landings and air power. In addition to bombing strategic targets at the onset of the raid, Talaharan aircraft maintained air superiority and provided close air support for ground troops. The Liberation took two weeks, at the end of which the Protectorate surrendered and the territory was restored to the United Communes.

Despite the limited participation of jet fighters in the Liberation, the operation had served as a test case for several technologies and Talahara was quickly on the heels of other international developments in jet aircraft. The Abelxir 60's introduction as the mainstay of the air fleet would be followed soon with the first test flight of the NA6 Tiara in 1956. The Tiara would finally be introduced in 1961 and quickly entered into mass production, becoming the major element of the Air Corps by the end of the decade. The introduction of the Tiara also saw the air doctrine pivot towards an emphasis on air superiority and interceptors, paralleling advances in armour and artillery which, in theory, mitigated the loss of effective close air support.

By the latter half of the 1970s, military thinking had tempered on pure air superiority doctrine. Thus, the necessity for a multirole fighter had become evident to the Air Corps. The NA28 Spirit Wind introduced the United Communes's first multirole fighter. Less than a decade later, a dedicated attack aircraft variant was developed from the Spirit Wind, the NA28/36 Sunray. The most recent development in the Talahara fleet is the NA48 Chainbreaker, another multirole aircraft with greater payload capacity and advanced systems which entered service in 2004. Over the past two decades, active service aircraft have undergone major upgrades in payloads, electrical systems, and engine power.

Structure and organization

Air Command & Development Group	Air Group 1	Air Group 2	Air Group 3
1 Wing - Air Command & Flight School 6× NA28/36T Trainer 6× MT22 Dragonfly 11 Wing - R&D 17× X48/70 Chainbreaker Classified projects 1^st Air Defense Battalion 6× VT3 Sky Serpent SAM 3× 15T0 Starstrike Interceptor 2^nd Air Defense Battalion 6× VT3 Sky Serpent SAM 3× 15T0 Starstrike Interceptor	2 Wing - Multirole 15× NA48 Chainbreaker 15× NA28 Spirit Wind 15× NA28/36 Sunray 4 Wing - Multirole 15× NA48 Chainbreaker 15× NA28 Spirit Wind 15× NA28/36 Sunray	5 Wing - Airlift 21× OMT3 Griffon Vulture 8× MI15 Leopard 2× OAT6 Lifeline 15× MT34 Heron 9 Wing - Maritime Patrol 12× MI15/50 Gannet 3× NT11 Seamaster	12 Wing - Multirole 15× NA48 Chainbreaker 15× NA28 Spirit Wind 15× NA28/36 Sunray 17 Wing - Multirole 15× NA48 Chainbreaker 15× NA28 Spirit Wind 15× NA28/36 Sunray
Air Group 4	Air Group 5	Air Group 6	Air Group 7
14 Wing - Multirole 15× NA48 Chainbreaker 15× NA28 Spirit Wind 15× NA28/36 Sunray 15 Wing - Multirole 15× NA48 Chainbreaker 15× NA28 Spirit Wind 15× NA28/36 Sunray	3 Wing - Advanced Multirole 30× NA48 Chainbreaker 15× NA28/36 Sunray 6 Wing - Intercept 15× NA48 Chainbreaker 2× MT44 Raven 2× MT22 Dragonfly 2× OMT3/27 Black Vulture	13 Wing - Advanced Multirole 30× NA48 Chainbreaker 15× NA28/36 Sunray 18 Wing - Intercept 15× NA48 Chainbreaker 2× MT44 Raven 2× MT22 Dragonfly 2× OMT3/27 Black Vulture	7 Wing - Airlift 21× OMT3 Griffon Vulture 8× MI15 Leopard 2× OAT6 Lifeline 15× MT34 Heron 8 Wing - Combat Transport 45× MI15/51 Scarab 10 Wing - Close Air Support 30× NM47 Razorwind

The TCDF Air Corps has eight air groups, seven of which are standard operational groups. The first air group is the Air Command & Development Group (ACDG). The ACDG has two air wings: 1 Wing - Air Command & Flight School and 11 Wing - Research & Development. 1 Wing includes both the central headquarters for the branch and flight schools for helicopters, fixed-wing rotorcraft, and jet aircraft. The ACDG also commands two air defense battalions which are armed with anti-air and missile interceptor missiles. Air groups 1, 3, and 4 contain conventional multirole squadrons. Groups 5 and 6 have a mix of advanced multirole aircraft and AEW&C/reconnaissance planes. Groups 2 and 7 each have an airlift wing in addition to special mission wings, such as the 8 Wing combat transport helicopters or the 9 Wing Maritime Patrol squadron.

In general, each of the 17 wings maintains its own airbase. The exception is the ACDG which has assets strategically distributed across the 17 airbases. Central Air Command is located at the United Maktarim-Mestaɣanim Airfield. The ACDG flight schools are primarily based out of Gawawa. The six companies of the two air defense battalions operate in a ring of bases around Talahara's borders.

Equipment

Aircraft

Fixed-wing jet aircraft
Model	Image	Origin	Type	Quantity	Notes
NA48 Chainbreaker		Talahara	Multirole combat aircraft	182	4+/++ generation, two 30mm internal autocannons and 14 hardpoints with 9.5 tonnes ordnance capacity
NA28/36 Sunray		Talahara	Attack aircraft	126	4th generation, 9 hardpoints with 6.5 tonnes ordnance capacity
NA28 Spirit Wind		Talahara	Multirole combat aircraft	90	4th generation, two 30mm internal autocannons and 9 hardpoints with 6.3 tonnes ordnance capacity
OAT57 Lifeline		Ottonia	Aerial tanker	4	Fuel capacity of 111 tonnes, cargo capacity of 45 tonnes
Fixed-wing propeller aircraft
Model	Image	Origin	Type	Quantity	Notes
OMT3 Griffon Vulture		Ottonia	Transport aircraft	42	Cargo capacity of 16 tonnes, transport capacity of 93 infantry, 88 paratroopers, or 62 stretchers
MT34/38 Egret		Talahara	Transport aircraft	20	Cargo capacity of 7.5 tonnes, transport capacity of 78 infantry or 52 stretchers
MT34 Heron		Talahara	Transport aircraft	10	Cargo capacity of 5.5 tonnes, transport capacity of 48 infantry or 32 stretchers
MT44 Raven		Wazheganon	AEW&C aircraft	4
OMT3/27 Black Vulture		Ottonia	ELINT aircraft	4
NT11 Seamaster		Rubric Coast	Maritime patrol aircraft	3	Carries two anti-ship missiles and internal bays for 2 tonnes of bombs, mines, or torpedoes
MT22 Dragonfly		Talahara	ISTAR/trainer aircraft	10
Rotary-wing aircraft
Model	Image	Origin	Type	Quantity	Notes
NM47 Razorwind		Rubric Coast Tsurushima	Scout/attack helicopter	30	One 30mm autocannon, 6 hardpoints with a capacity of 2 tonnes, deployed from Mass Akli-class helicopter cruisers or ground bases in support of Army Corps operations
MI15 Leopard		Rubric Coast	Utility helicopter	16	Can be equipped with a door-mounted 20mm autocannon and two 7.5mm machine guns
MI15/51 Scarab		Rubric Coast	Medevac/tactical transport helicopter	45	Can transport up to 28 passengers or 18 stretchers, can be equipped with two 7.5mm machine guns and two unguided rocket pods
MI15/50 Gannet		Rubric Coast	SAR helicopter	12	Can transport up to 24 passengers or 16 stretchers

Missiles

Model	Origin	Type	Notes
VT3 Sky Serpent	Wazheganon	Surface-to-air missile	11 km range 9 km flight ceiling 1,200 m/s top speed 73kg overall weight 13kg warhead
15T0 Starstrike	Wazheganon	Missile interceptor	120 km range 20 km flight ceiling 1,531 m/s top speed 450 kg overall weight 15 kg warhead
ET0 Black Sky	Wazheganon	Cruise missile	560 km range 280 m/s top speed 1,300 kg overall weight 450 kg warhead
0T1 Wasp	Rubric Coast	Air-to-air missile	200 km range 1,400 m/s top speed 112 kg overall weight 12 kg warhead
AM39T2 Shipbreaker	Rubric Coast Wazheganon	Anti-ship missile	70 km range 319 m/s top speed 780 kg overall weight 165 kg warhead
50T0 Sabre	Talahara	Precision-guided munition	50 km range 100 m/s top speed 340 kg overall weight 250 kg warhead
30T0 Falcon	Wazheganon	MCLOS missile	12 km range 10 km flight ceiling 450 m/s top speed 520 kg overall weight 240 kg warhead
24T1 Sunburst	Talahara	Air-to-surface missile	11 km range 450 m/s top speed 49 kg overall weight 9 kg warhead
27T4 Lance	Wazheganon	Anti-tank missile	4.5 km range 240 m/s top speed 24.5 kg overall weight 6.5 kg warhead

Ranks and insignia

Officer ranks

	OF-9	OF-8	OF-7	OF-6	OF-5	OF-4	OF-3	OF-2	OF-1
Insignia
Takelat name	ⴰⵎⵖⴰⵔⵉⴳⵏⴰ	ⴰⵎⵖⴰⵔⵉⴳⵏⴰⵏⴰⵢⵉⴱ	ⴰⵎⵣⵡⴰⵔ ⵏ'ⵣⴻⵔⴷⴰ	ⴰⵎⵣⵡⴰⵔ ⵏ'ⵉⴼⵔⴰⵔ	ⴰⵎⵣⵡⴰⵔ ⵏ'ⴰⴼⴰⵍⵉⵙ	ⴰⵎⵣⵡⴰⵔ	ⴰⵎⵣⵡⴰⵔⵛⵉⵔⵡⴰ	ⵎⴰⴽⵜⵉⴱⵙⵉⵏ	ⵎⴰⴽⵜⵉⴱⵢⴰⵏ
Transliteration	Amɣarigna	Amɣarignanayib	Amzwar N’Zerda	Amzwar N'Ifrar	Amzwar N'Afalis	Amzwar	Amzwarširwa	Maktibsin	Maktibyan
Translation	General	Vice-General	Group Commander	Wing Commander	Squadron Commander	Commander	Adjutant- Commander	Lieutenant II	Lieutenant I

Enlisted ranks

	OR-9	OR-8	OR-7	OR-6	OR-5	OR-4	OR-3	OR-2	OR-1
Insignia
Takelat name	ⴷⵔⵉⵡⴰⵛⵀⵍⵓ ⵏ'ⵉⴼⵔⴰⵔ	ⴷⵔⵉⵡⴰⵛⵀⵍⵓ ⵏ'ⴰⴼⴰⵍⵉⵙ	ⴷⵔⵉⵡⴰⵛⵀⵍⵓ ⵏ'ⴰⵢⴰⵍ	ⴷⵔⵉⵡⴰⵛⵀⵍⵓ ⵉ'ⵎⴰⵎⴰⵜⴻⵔ	ⴷⵔⵉⵡⴰⵛ ⵉ'ⵎⴰⵎⴰⵜⴻⵔ	ⵅⵓⵛⴽⵔⴰⴷ	ⵅⵓⵛⵙⵉⵏ	ⵅⵓⵛⵢⴰⵏ	ⵜⴰⵍⵉⴱⵉⴳⵏⴰ
Transliteration	Driwašhlu N'Ifrar	Driwašhlu N'Afalis	Driwašhlu N'Ayal	Driwašhlu I'Mamater	Driwaš I'Mamater	Xuškrad	Xušsin	Xušyan	Talibigna
Translation	Wing Sergeant-Major	Squadron Sergeant-Major	Flight Sergeant-Major	Watch Sergeant-Major	Watch Sergeant	Aviator III	Aviator II	Aviator I	Air Cadet