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ACI2M1 Dalang

The ACI2M1 Dalang is a Khertlandian purpose-built, four-engine, high-speed airborne early warning and control aircraft. The Dalang has a radome merged into the aircraft’s fuselage and wing roots for improved aerodynamics. It was designed for the Khertland Air Force to replace the Sylphid AEW&C helicopters as their primary aerial C2 platform.
Even as early as the introduction of the Sylphid, the Air Force had wanted to replace its much older piston-engined airborne early warning aircraft with another fixed-wing system. While Khertland allocated significant funding for the military modernization, it couldn’t cover all of the program’s broad range of desired capabilities. Due to budget constraints, modernization were narrowly focused and based on importance. Although, some observers will argue priority was given based more on the political climate than objective necessity. As a result, a fixed-wing AEW&C aircraft was pushed back by years, using the existing Sylphid as justification.

The ACI2M1 Dalang’s most distinctive feature is its radome being integrated into the fuselage and wing roots of its cranked arrow delta wing. The goal was to improve the Dalang’s survivability by aiming for a top speed of mach 1. The Air Force found the Sylphid’s low top speed too vulnerable and some argue is now over correcting. Nonetheless, the Air Force went with a canard high delta wing configuration. This will allow a dorsal mounted radome to be integrated into the wing. Four large afterburning turbojets are mounted in a boxy structure under the wings and next to the fuselage. The twin vertical stabilizers are mounted atop the outboard most engines. To provide clearance for the double-sided rotating multi-band AESA radar, the fuselage and nose is angled several degrees down, providing a slight hump from the cockpit up to the strakes and radome. The aircraft also utilized area ruling to a heavy degree, with the fuselage creating a slight hourglass shape to compensate for the radome’s cross sectional area. The fuselage also originally tapers off towards the tail into its delta wing. The cranked arrow wings were chosen as the trailing edge cross sectional area reduces gradually compared to a more abrupt change on a traditional delta design.

The large wings and long nose hampered the radome’s look-down angle, so a large powerful nose mounted AESA radar was fitted to compensate for the forward depression blind spot. The tail section had to undergo heavy modifications between the first and second prototype. The fuselage was more boxy inorder to house a large radar at the tail which created more wave drag. This tail radar could scan a 120 degree rear arc from the horizon down. Due to being sloped at a roughly 26 degree angle, it could also look down and slightly forward. Both radars are capable of detecting a non-stealthy fighter sized target at 400 km. These supplementary systems are fused for a common picture and eliminates any blind spot on the lower hemisphere. The radome is able to depress sufficiently towards the sides due to being placed far enough in front of the delta wings so as to not be blocked. This main radar can detect targets up to 530 km away. This arrangement leaves only a 120 degree cone blind spot directly above. An additional tail mounted optical and infrared sensor mast complements the aircraft’s detection capabilities for shorter distances.
Further compromises had to be made by switching to a less powerful but twice as efficient set of engines. This and inherent infeasibility of the initial target goal lowered the aircraft’s sustained top speed to a still respectable mach 0.85. In addition to the high speed, the aircraft can use its AESA radar for electronic warfare and is equipped with flares and chaff for self defense.

Seated side by side, the plane is piloted by a captain and a first officer. Behind them is the navigator with their own console. Further back is the data storage and communications rack with a technician onboard to troubleshoot the system. Next along the sleek and narrow fuselage are the consoles, limited to just 8 operators inside on the right with the door on the left. A folding seat is also provided for the Mission Crew Commander in charge. Stepping up towards the tail is the galley, and a single bed for rotating the pilots or spare navigator. At the tail end is the lavatory.

Despite the high cost and troubles in achieving a high top speed, the Air Force proudly showcased it to the public with a televised broadcast of President Hustisya inspecting it. The Air Force currently plans on ordering 16 planes. Planners believe that five concurrently airborne AEW stringed together will be able to cover the entirety of the front line. With 8 hours and 40 minutes endurance, they can be rotated in three phases for 24/7 coverage. Engineers estimate that stealth aircrafts could be detected at under 200 km. The Air Force plans to extend this range by overlapping the radar coverage. Having the 330 km outer edge overlap between two AEW&C allows a “multi-static” approach to exploit less stealthy aspects of a plane with control zones delineated in the middle. The edge zones where there is no overlap will be assisted by Sylphid helicopters. Sylphids stationed roughly 360 km from the Dalang serve as an additional sensor node; detecting stealth aircrafts from two or more angles and forming a single comprehensive picture of the battlefield.
During peacetime, the Air Force expects to only have 1-3 airborne at a time excluding training. The remaining crews on the ground will train via digital simulators, attend specialist courses, assist in formulating new TTPs, and disseminate institutional knowledge to trainees. The crews will still undergo scramble drills to maintain readiness even without taking off. They may also be used as additional manpower to assist technicians and engineers with miscellaneous tasks for maintaining their aircraft. Lastly, spare crews will often deploy as backup or as relief for the few Dalangs that are airborne.

Basic specifications:
Cost: 65,122
Blocks: 2,816
Weight: 109,981
Volume: 4,025 cubic meter
Length: 100m
Width: 65m
Height: 15m
Speed: 169 m/s
Endurance: 8 hours, 42 minutes

Features:
-Max strategic antenna range @ 400-500m altitude
-Carries 752,000 resource
-"Chaff dispenser" (not decoy) for jamming radar guided missiles
-Emotional support chaff/flare decoys (too small to actually do anything other than look cool)
-Fully detailed interior