| This is an adaptation of other material to GURPS |
Skydiver[]
This is the Skydiver submarine and jet fighter from the TV show UFO.
The Skydiver is a multi-role submersible patrol craft operated by SHADO, designed primarily for rapid interception of UFOs within Earth's atmosphere. Its hull integrates a high-speed submarine ("Diver") with a detachable supersonic interceptor aircraft ("Sky").
Diver has a crew of four, and uses twin nuclear-powered MHD propulsors.
The Sky interceptor is launched from underwater: the submarine tilts back at an angle, and the Sky aircraft ignites two rocket boosters equipped with hybrid underwater/air nozzles. Once clear of the water's surface, the Sky aircraft switches to a jet engine.
Design caveats: I was uncertain if Skydiver was intended for long or short occupancy, so I included a habitat with a bunkroom. From available cutaway drawings of the original vehicle, it is not clear if there might be a bunkroom or engine room. Furthermore, I included a control station in the tactical array, as the original vehicle clearly has more than two stations in the control room.
| Skydiver (Key) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TL | dST/HP | Hnd/SR | HT | Move | LWt. | Load | SM | Occ | dDR | Range | Cost |
| 8 | 30 | -0/3 | 13 | G/ | 100 | 1.4 | 6 | 4ASV | 6/6/6 | -- | $2.873M |
- Move: 1/12 (water surface) or 1/19 (underwater)
- Crush Depth: 1,800 yards.
Design Features[]
- Streamlined
- Submarine Lines (see below)
- Seaskim Hull (see below)
Weapons[]
The torpedo tube holds 6 x 20cm missiles or torpedoes (usually 3 of each).
Ship Systems[]
Front Hull[]
- [1-3] Small Upper Stage (15 tons, Sky fighter jet)
- [4-6] Light Alloy Armour (6 dDR) $150K
Centre Hull[]
- [1-3] Light Alloy Armour (6 dDR) $150K
- [4] Submarine Ballast $40K
- [5] Smaller Systems (three at SM +5): Hangar Bay (1 ton, water sleds) $3K; Tactical Array (1 station, comm/sensor 4) $300K; Weapon Battery (fixed 20cm torpedo tube $150K)
- [6] Habitat (1 bunkroom) $100K
- [core] Control Room (2 stations, comm/sensor 3, C3 computer) $200K
Rear Hull[]
- [1-3] Light Alloy Armour (6 dDR) $100K
- [4!!] Screw Propeller $60K
- [5-6] Fission Reactors (2 Power Point) $1M each
- [core] Engine Room (1 workspace) $30K
New Design Features[]
Submarine Lines (TL7). Treat as nautical lines, with the following multipliers: Water surface speed is multiplied by 0.5 (as though it had no streamlining); underwater speed is multiplied by 1.75.
Seaskim Hull (TL8). The hull is shaped to act like a hydrofoil at high speeds. Decrease Stability in water by 1, but increase top speed by x1.5. A seaskim hull has the same cost as the winged design feature ($500K at SM +6)
Sky Interceptor[]
Sky is an underwater-launched interceptor aircraft, deployed in response to a UFO entering Earth’s atmosphere. To prepare for launch, the Diver submarine Sky is attached to tilts back 45-degrees, a magnetic clamp is released, then Sky uses its chemical rockets to thrust through the water surface. Thereafter, the Sky uses an air-breathing jet engine to accelerate up to Mach 5, with 2 hours of flight time. Sky can make a water landing, or a splashdown using parachutes. It can then use a ballast tank to submerge for redocking with Diver.
The Sky Interceptor has a 20-ton (SM+3.5) streamlined hull of titanium alloy, 12 yards (36 feet) long. It is winged ($100K) and has a crush depth of 1,800 yards.
| Sky Interceptor (Key) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TL | dST/HP | Hnd/SR | HT | Move | LWt. | Load | SM | Occ | dDR | Range | Cost |
| 8 | 17 | +4/5 | 12 | 2 G/3,500 mph | 20 | 0.4 | 3.5 | 1SV | 2/2/2 | -- | $1.05M |
Weapons[]
A Sky fighter is fitted with four 15mm machine guns with 400 rounds of ammunition each; and two rocket pods.
[Design note: it is assumed that the conventional guns from GURPS Spaceships do not function in an atmosphere, or at least do not receive their 18 accuracy and +9 targeting bonus at ranges less than 100 miles.]
[To Do: convert Missile system to Rockets]
The machine guns are 1.6 cm very rapid fire conventional guns.
Acc 5+2, dDam 2d+2, range 1,200 / 3,600 yds, RoF 10, Rcl 2, Gunner (Machine Gun)
(Rapid Fire: a burst with all four guns gives a +5 bonus to hit)
Ship Systems[]
Front Hull[]
- [1] Control Room (1 control station, C2 computer, comms/sensor 1, $40K)
- [2] Smaller Systems (three at SM +3.5): Medium Weapon Battery (4 x 1.5cm very rapid fire conventional gun, 400 shots each, 200 lbs cargo, $20K) ; Tactical Array (comms/sensor 2, $12K) ; Cargo Hold (0.3 tons)
- [3-4] Light alloy armour (dDR 1, $10K each)
- [5] Soft Landing System ($20K)
- [6, core] Fuel tanks (1 ton jet engine fuel, $6K each)
Centre Hull[]
- [1] Submarine Ballast ($8K)
- [2] Major Weapon Battery (Two 16cm missiles each with 5 shots, $120K)
- [3-4] Light alloy armour (dDR 1, $10K each)
- [5] Defensive ECM (TL8, $200K)
- [6, core] Fuel tanks (1 ton jet engine fuel, $6K each)
Rear Hull[]
- [1] Chemical Rocket (3G acceleration, $40K)
- [2-3] Jet Engines ($200K each)
- [4-5] Light alloy armour (dDR 1, $10K each)
- [6] Fuel tank (1 ton rocket fuel, 0.15 mps delta-V, $6K)