Flatmouse

One of the variants developed from some of the research that eventually became the FF-X7 Core Fighter, the Flatmouse was designed as a high speed reconnaissance and EW (electronic warfare) aircraft. Unfortunately, the advent of the Minovsky particle largely rendered the Flatmouse’s equipment useless. A high resolution camera pod was mounted on the underside of the fuselage, for use in high speed passes on enemy positions, but this important feature was useless in areas flooded with Minovsky particles. The Flatmouse used hybrid turbofan/ramjet engines to perform the high speed reconnaissance runs it was designed for, and it could also operate at high altitudes. During development, however, there were major flaws in the cooling systems for these hybrid engines, causing them to frequently overheat. This problem was rectified by the simple measure of a liquid coolant tank placed directly over the engines. Much of the technology used on the Flatmouse was based on 20th century research, and as such, it was considered a mediocre aircraft.