the Firebat

Known amongst Cobra pilots as the Pocket Rocket, the Firebat is a miniature, single-engine fighter jet. It is considerably smaller than most other aircraft of its type, barely consisting of a cockpit, the jet engine, and just enough control surfaces to enable it to steer.

Fast and lightweight, the Firebat gives its pilots ample firepower and maneuverability, in exchange for a relative dearth of instrumentation and protection from enemy weaponry. Nonetheless a favorite amongst Cobra's pilots, the Firebat features these capabilities:

Handling   RV 30
Velocity   RV 100
Durability RV 20
Protection RV 10

20mm Miniguns: mounted beneath the Firebat's cockpit, these twinned, rotary-barrelled cannons may be fired to inflict rank value 30 Piercing damage in a short burst, or rank value 40 Piercing damage in a continuous stream of ammunition, and can hold up to 2,000 rounds.

Communications Array: as can most Cobra aircraft, the Firebat can keep in touch with an air tower, or Terror Drome, to coordinate its pilot's actions. It can transmit and receive signals with rank value 30 ability, its 500 mile maximum range dependent on its altitude.

Condor Bombs: the Firebat is armed with four bombs its pilot can drop on unsuspecting targets. These one hundred pound bombs are parachuted above their target, and detonate above the surface to blanket up to nine sectors with rank value 30 Slashing damage each.

Flight / Levitation: the Firebat can take off and land using a conventional runway, or it can be launched vertically from a prefabricated Terror Drome facility. It moves at up to rank value 100 air speed, but can hover in place for short periods, if oriented vertically.

Radar: equipped with minimal radar capabilities, the Firebat can barely spy upon targets within up to 500 miles of its location, depending on its altitude. This rank value 30 radar system is primarily intended to aid its pilot's targeting capabilities.

'Snakeye' Bombs: these laser-guided implements are air-to-surface missiles that can be laser-guided to strike whatever target the Firebat's pilot wants to destroy, and are useful for wrecking buildings or vehicles. These weapons possess the following vehicular characteristics:

Handling   RV 30
Velocity   RV 75
Durability RV 20
Damage     RV 40 Slashing (fragmentary)

* 1988 VARIATIONS *

After its initial production run, the Firebat was mass produced by Cobra factories for the next twenty years. While the original Firebats had a maroon coloration, all of its subsequent iterations built by Cobra featured a cherry red paint scheme, but were otherwise identical.

* 2003 VARIATIONS *

For a short time, Cobra produced a BTR variation on the Firebat. This vehicle was also the same, functionally speaking, but could be reconfigured in the field to launch from a runway or a catapult-like platform, instead of from a vertical silo like the original model.

* 2016 VARIATIONS *

the Sky Sweeper, Mark 2

About thirty years after they were originally built, GI Joe's Sky Patrol put several captured Firebats to use as their Sky Sweepers. Heavily modified, these aircraft incorporate two new capabilities that the original Firebats lacked, including the following technologies:

Invisibility to Radar: Sky Sweepers have been fitted with a chromium-based coating that allows them to deflect radar signals at oblique angles, as opposed to sending them back to their source. This effectively makes them invisible to radar systems with rank value 50 ability.

Missile Launchers: two of the bomb mounts on these former Firebats have been replaced with missile launchers, allowing the Sky Patrol's Sky Sweeper pilots to engage targets in the air with more than machine guns. These projectiles have the following capabilities:

Handling   RV 20
Velocity   RV 100
Durability RV 20
Damage     RV 30 Slashing (fragmentary)