Endwar:X-2A Wraith

The X-2A Wraith is a sixth-generation American prototype fighter featured in Tom Clancy's EndWar: The Missing.

Overview

The Wraith was developed as a sixth-generation fighter and reconnaissance aircraft by Lockheed Martin at Skunk Works, California. The lead designer was Dr Helena Ragland, who had a degree in in aerospace engineering from UCLA and a PhD in aircraft systems engineering from MIT.

The aircraft's physical appearance was apparently an "all-body" configuration, which is where the aircraft has no distinct wings from a wide fuselage, though it is also described as looking like a manta ray, suggesting it is meant to resemble a flying wing design. It was apparently matte black in colouration. The aircraft's design was apparently necessary in order for air to be spread across its whole body.

Several prototypes had been built and during the prototype phase, each plane cost $671 million to produce. The plane was going to be officially adopted a few weeks after November 2022. Ragland considered it to be the most advanced fighter in the world, with no aircraft being able to match its speed, stealth or firepower. It was believed that the Wraith was so advanced that it would turn World War III in America's favour.

Armament

While the exact armament of the production version is unknown, one prototype was armed with a 25mm autocannon and an advanced tactical laser, apparently developed from the Advanced Tactical Laser program that Boeing had developed for the AC-130, yet its size and weight had been reduced by 70% to fit on the Wraith. The laser was extremely accurate, such that it was possible to hit a target only a few inches wide. It was also powerful enough to cut open the canopy of a MiG-29.

Sensors and Systems

The plane had a sensor and communication's suite similar to that of the F-35B. The pilot had a three-dimensional heads up display.

Stealth

As a sixth-generation aircraft, the Wraith was designed with stealth in mind. Its contours had been engineered to minimise its radar signature and it was covered in a radar-absorbent coating.

The most advanced part of its stealth system was known as the AN/AST Radar Warping System and Algorithm (RWSA), which was controlled by dedicated software. The RWSA had exceptionally fast onboard computers which would absorb and amplify an enemy's radar beam, returning it at a reflected angle. This was supposed to cause enemy fire-control radars to have a distorted image of where the plane was supposed to be, directing their weapons to where they though it was rather than it's actual position. The RWSA concept was apparently inspired by the planet Mercury's apparently wobbly orbit when it neared the sun, which Albert Einstein had deduced was due to the gravitational field of the sun distorting Mercury's reflected light beam, causing an Earth based observer to perceive the planet as on a bearing that it was not actually on.

RWSA was first field-tested on an F-35B against Russian S-500 SAMs in November of 2022, though the system was seemingly sabotaged and did not perform as planned, resulting in the F-35 being shot down.

Propulsion

The Wraith used a hypersonic scramjet engine, developed by Pratt and Whitney. This powerful and advanced engine allowed the plane to reach speeds of Mach 6.

The underside of the forward body of the plane acted like a ramp that compressed air and the underside of the tail as an exhaust nozzle. The engines required an enormous inlet in order to achieve a high thrust and thus took up most of space beneath the vehicle.

The engine apparently used JP-10 fuel and required a great deal of it (which was also why the all-body configuration was chosen). Being powered by JP-10 was only possible thanks to modifications done to the scramjet design by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, where Ragland had previously worked.

While the Wraith's service ceiling is unknown, it was apparently capable of flying at an altitude of 70,000 feet.