Nephele

Nephele
Role	Interceptor, air superiority, and multirole fighter
National origin	Republic of Syara
First flight	1973
Introduction	1976
Retired	2004
Status	In limited service
Primary user	Syaran Army Air Corps
Produced	1976-2000
Number built	300+

The Nephele was a supersonic fighter aircraft built by the Republic of Syara. First introduced in 1976, the Nephele was a departure from earlier Syaran designs like the Erinys, which were predominantly light fighters. The Nephele was intended to serve a variety of functions including interception, air superiority, and ground-attack missions. With a powerful radar, long range missiles, and variable-swept wings, the Nephele was a major point of pride for the Syaran Army Air Corps and became very popular with both fighter pilots and the Syaran public.

The Nephele saw extensive use during the Refusal War on both sides of the conflict, and afterwards was originally slated for continued use into the 2010s. Difficulties in restarting production, coupled with the maintenance heavy nature of the aircraft due to its design however led to a shortfall in production, and the Nephele was replaced by the domestic Ceyx and the Ossorian designed Zephyr in the 1990s. The Nephele was retired from service in 2004, though some were pressed back into service for the Zemplen War. A few airframes remain operational for training and testing purposes.