

Fighter can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 2 percent of light per melee maximum.


The Concussion missile is the equivalent of a medium range missile in Rifts. If the A-Wing carried proton torpedoes, the fighter could have only carried about 4 total so instead the A-Wing carries the smaller concussion missiles. They are more compact than the mounts on the Y-Wing, are not fixed in place, and have the ability to traverse to hit targets. The fighter has only two laser cannons instead of the four cannons carried by the X-Wing but each of the cannons is slightly more powerful. When the fighter was designed, atmospheric performance was strongly considered which resulted in a fighter with very good performance in an atmosphere. The fighter does not carry a droid but instead the computer has the ability to store up to four jump locations. Above and below the engines are steering vanes to increase the fighters atmospheric performance.

Behind and inwards from the turrets, the fighter has two very powerful ion engines. The turrets do not have full rotation but do have the ability to move up to 30 degrees up, down, or side to side. On the sides of the fighter are two powerful laser cannons in turrets. The pilot ejects in a similar way to the X-Wing and Y-Wing fighter and the pilot ejects after the top of the cockpit has been blown off. The fighter is wedge shaped with the fighters cockpit in the approximately the center of the fighter. The profile of the A-Wing is very aerodynamic. If compared to fighters of the later twentieth century, they could be seen as having the same relationship to the X-Wing as the F-16 Falcon had to the F-15 Eagle. All this makes for a very lethal fighter and a fighter that has becoming very popular with the hotshots among the Alliance forces. Unlike the imperial Tie fighters, which are in many ways the closest approximate for the A-Wings performance and size, the fighter has powerful shields to help protect the fighter. It is a relatively small fighter yet has good firepower, is very fast, is very manueverable, and carries a hyperdrive to travel from system to system.
