Beta Wing Starfury Squadron
Beta Wing, "Rolling Thunder", was commissioned in 2257. Although it is the second of Babylon 5's Starfury Squadrons, it is still not fully operational. The squadron uses the Mitchell-Hyundyne SA-25 Heavy Starfury Badger variant. In the company of Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova, you have taken a car round to the next Cobra Bay arm, and entered Beta Squadron's Ops room.
If you come over here, Sir, you can see the conversion work underway to fit out Cobra Bay 2 for the Heavy Starfury. We had a small wing delivered last year by a Hyperion-class cruiser, but we've not managed to accommodate them yet, because of the different design. You see, they don't fit onto the launch cradles properly.
Mitchell-Hyundyne SA-25 Heavy Starfury
You can see one of the SA-25 Badgers on this screen over here. What's different is that there's a second rear-facing cockpit for a backseater Intercept and Operations officer. Otherwise, it's basically the same design as the standard SA-23 Aurora, but with all the mounts for the plasma pulse discharge cannon duplicated at the rear.
At the moment, we have to keep the Heavy 'Furies parked in the main Docking Bay. This one came from an older Hyperion-class Heavy Cruiser, which has a different kind of launch bay. You see, we can't yet station Heavy 'Furies here at Babylon 5, because the tractor cradles won't accommodate the rear-facing cockpit. Our Techs are working on a solution, but it will require raising the height of the launch rail in the Cobra Bay. And naturally, EarthForce Central Command are not providing any credits to help complete the work! Why am I not surprised?
Heavy Assault Starfury
EarthForce thought up this variant partway through the development of the Starfury SA-23 series. They reckoned that they needed a heavier, long-range assault fighter that could concentrate on the enemy's capital ships without worrying about enemy fighters closing from behind. So the idea was to have a rear gunner to keep the fighters off, while the pilot attacked the cruiser ahead. The Badger's greater endurance meant that Hyperion-class cruisers could project their fighter screen further out than before. As an early warning system, it worked, but that's all.
I don't think the rear gunner idea can have worked very well, because we went back to single-seaters later in the SA-23 series. Although the Badger is more heavily armoured, I think the extra weight threw out the balance a little. Also, the limited ability to track the cannon meant that the backseater had to depend on the pilot for attitude control. Most of the time, he could only expect to lay down general covering fire; it wasn't very satisfying to be trapped at the back there.
Would you care to visit the next bay now? Just follow the EarthForce signs.
Click on the Starfury fighter to continue to Delta Squadron.