F-302 fighter-interceptor

"Now, while many of the 302's systems were retro-engineered from Goa'uld technology, it is entirely human built."

- Samantha Carter

The F-302 is the production model of the X-302 hyperspace fighter, an air and space superiority vehicle operated by the United States Air Force and Russian Federation.

History
After the largely successful testing of the X-302, the craft entered production with only slight modifications. The hyperdrive, which had originally been intended to allow interstellar travel, was altered to provide only short intra-system hops. Also, the two jet exhausts were modified so as to function as rockets in outer-atmosphere combat.

The F-302 is an STOL vehicle, needing only a very short runway and capable of slowing to a near hover while in flight. In addition to standard landing gear, it possesses three grappling cables that allow it to latch onto another object. The cables are able to withstand considerable strain, enabling the craft to tow objects far larger than the fighter itself. It also possesses a small cargo or bomb bay, which was used to deploy an anti-Replicator satellite over the Alpha Site.

The F-302 saw its first use against the forces of Anubis, in which its hyperdrive was used to bypass the shields of his mothership and disable its primary weapon. Since then, it has handled itself well in combat against both the Goa'uld Death Glider and Wraith Dart.

In exchange for use of the Alpha Gate, the United States provided Russia with the plans for both the X-302 and 303. The Russian 304 Korolev carried a compliment of F-302s.

The F-302s have since been used in most major battles of the Tau'ri.

Features
The F-302 intercept fighter has four different sets of engines: air breathing jets, modified aerospikes for high altitude, a rocket booster, and a hyperspace window generator. The Goa'uld death gliders are not capable of entering hyperspace because the engine to create a hyperspace window would be much too large. But, because the F-302 uses naquadria to power the hyperdrive window generator, the F-302 has a more compact hyperdrive engine and thus became the first human-built space craft thought to be capable of interstellar travel. Because of the instability of the naquadria, however, the hyperspace window can only be generated for a very brief moment, thus greatly limiting the F-302's interstellar travel capabilities. Because the F-302 cannot maintain a hyperspace window for a long period of time, it is not capable of prolonged interstellar travel. In order to get it from one planet to another within the galaxy, the SGC disassembles the aircraft and transports it through the Stargate. F-302s do not require a very long runway, possibly having VTOL capabilities, making them easy to adapt to various locations. Even with their limited hyperspace capability, the F-302s have proven their usefulness in battle situations and are stationed both on Earth and at off-world bases, such as the Alpha Site and the Gamma Site.

The X-302 reached the hypersonic speed of Mach 6 inside Earth's atmosphere at an altitude of 30 kilometers. The interceptor uses the modified aerospike engines in high altitudes. These capabilities were most likely inherited by the F-302. Along with inertial dampeners, the F-302 also has the maneuverability of an F/A-22 Raptor and the ride of a Boeing 747 airliner. The F-302 has hundreds of safety mechanisms to compensate for anything that could go wrong. It also has an autopilot which cuts in to ensure safety. As with other Earth aircraft, the F-302, like its predecessors, the X-301 and X-302, features an ejection system allowing the occupants of the craft to escape the vehicle.

When an F-302 is destroyed, it emits an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) which can easily interfere with electrical and communications signals. This was discovered during the clean-up following the battle with Anubis's al'kesh and death gliders in Antarctica. The phenomenon was studied by scientists at Area 51 and was determined to be caused by the concussive force of the craft's destruction interfering with the artificial gravity field generated by the inertial dampeners.

F-302's are armed with some form of projectile cannon in the nose (caliber, type, and number currently unknown, theorized to be dual rail guns) and modified AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles. The warheads on said missiles have been enhanced with naquahdah and the missiles also have frequency modulators, allowing them to bypass shields. However, the effectiveness of said modulators is questionable. While they were not able to penetrate the shields of Anubis' Ancient technology enhanced shields, they were able to penetrate those of the Asurans. Whether this is due to Asuran technology being inferior to the mainstream Ancient technology (being from an earlier time than the latest Ancient tech) or not is unknown.

The F-302 has also been shown to be equipped with a payload bay on the underside of the craft, as seen when Teal'c piloted an F-302 to deploy a Replicator disruptor satellite in orbit over the Alpha Site. Whether this payload bay can be used to carry additional weapons remains to be seen.

Alternate reality
''At least three alternate realities possessed them as the reality jumping Daedalus used to have them, but the crew took them when they abandoned ship, and the reality under alien attack launched an attack against the alien fighters with them to rescue the nearly disabled Daedalus. Then the alternate reality where Earth was originally attacked by the ZPM powered Hive Ship, possessed them.''

Bases

 * Area 51
 * Alpha Site
 * Gamma Site
 * Prometheus
 * USS Daedalus
 * USS Odyssey
 * RFS Korolev
 * USS Apollo
 * USS General Hammond

Fighter wings

 * 1st SFW - "Snake Skinners"
 * 201st Space Fighter Squadron - "Darkstar Titans"
 * 510th Space Fighter Squadron - "Death Angels"
 * 701st Space Fighter Squadron - "Dragon Riders"
 * 901st Space Fighter Squadron - "Flying Tigers"
 * 1st TFW - "Wraithwaxers"

Pilots

 * Jack O'Neill
 * Samantha Carter
 * Teal'c
 * Cameron Mitchell
 * John Sheppard
 * Redmond
 * Adam Banks
 * Alec Colson (on a joy ride)