Source: Technical Readout 3025
Mass: 80 tons
Frame: Wakazashi V
Engine: Shinobi 320
Armament:
1 Zeus 56 Mark IV Type 10 Autocannon
6 Diverse Optics Type 20 Medium LasersM
Manufacturer: Wakazashi Enterprises
Communications System: Sony MSF-21
Targeting and Tracking System: Radcom T11
Overview:
The SL-15 Slayer, used by House Kurita since the Star League era, has proved itself a durable craft able to carry out a wide variety of missions. Designed as an offensive/defensive assault craft, the Slayer and its many variants are deployed in almost any role suitable for an aerospace fighter over a battlefield full of 'Mechs.
Capabilities:
Seeing its delta wing design and compact fuselage, many new pilots have confused the Slayer with lighter aerospace fighter designs-a mistake they seldom repeat twice. The Slayer was built for endurance and heavy firepower, with a double-capacity fuel tank that allows the craft to remain in the battle area far longer than most other aerospace fighters. The nose mounted Zeus 56 Mark IV autocannon packs a good punch, with minimal heat discharge. This weapon, coupled with the five forward-firing Diverse Optics Type 20 medium lasers can destroy a target with one salvo. If the fighter is not using overthrust, it can fire all these weapons at once with no major heat buildup. This continuous massed firepower has won many skirmishes over the centuries of combat among Successor State armies. A sixth medium laser fires to the rear, discouraging enemy fighters from close pursuit.
With its heavily reinforced nose and upper and lower fuselage, the Slayer has some of the best armor for its tonnage of any aerospace fighter yet constructed. The rear section of the engine housing has also received some special attention. In 2775, Wakazashi Enterprises experimented with a rotating rear turret design for the Slayer. These tests were not totally successful; the turret rotation assembly tended to freeze while the fighter was in deep space, and the Slayer's upswept tail assemblies limited the turret's field of fire. Though turret-testing for the Slayer was suspended in 2780, the craft retains a vestige of the experiment: the rear weapons mount is positioned on the raised circular plate where the turret once sat.