Source: Technical Readout 3025
Mass: 35 tons
Frame: Mangon Mark II
Engine: Shinobi 280
Armament:
1 Hovertec Short-Range Missle 4 Rack
2 Diverse Optics Type 20 Medium Lasers
Manufacturer: Mangon Aeronautics
Communications System: Neil 4000
Targeting and Tracking System: Chichester ASR-26
Overview:
The SL-21 Sholagar has served as House Kurita's primary light aerospace craft for more than two centuries. Maneuverable and fast, the Sholagar also outguns many comparable light fighters used by the other Great Houses. Lately, however, the Sholagar has declined in popularity among Kurita pilots and air lance commanders. Rumor has it that a new design in the works may phase out the Sholagar entirely.
Capabilities:
The Sholagar is slightly heavier than many light fighters in the Successor States, with an impressive amount of armor on its hull and a larger-than-normal array of weapons. Even with these additions, however, the Sholagar can fly as fast as less well armed and armored fighters.
The Sholagar's two wing-mounted Diverse Optics Type 20 medium lasers are standard in many Kurita aerospace designs, and its nose-mounted Hovertec SRM 4-rack gives it extra punch. Though susceptible to heat buildup, these weapons are extremely effective when used with care.
After more than a century of service, the Sholagar has recently fallen on hard times. A study recently conducted to determine the cause of its high rate of inflight accidents and crash landings showed that the Sholagar's curved main wing structure and limited tail assembly could cause the craft to become uncontrollable in some atmospheric conditions on certain planets. Though an exceptional fighter in vacuum, the Sholagar's performance became problematic during atmospheric flight and combat. The report was hushed up by higher authorities, its results never revealed to the aerospace forces.
The fighter's performance again came under scrutiny in 3002 when Akiro Kurita, nephew of then Coordinator Hohiro Kurita, was killed when his Sholagar crashed during a patrol of the Skandia system. After Akiro's death, the decades-old report of the fighter's flaws was made public, and rumors arose that House Kurita was testing a new light fighter design. A technological-exchange treaty with House Liao provided additional evidence of inherent wing-design problems; the TR-7 Thrush, House Liao's circular-wing light fighter partly based on the Sholagar design, also experienced atmospheric control problems on certain planets.