VF-11MAXL Thunderbolt Custom

Model number: VF-11MAXL
Code name: Thunderbolt Custom
Unit type: custom variable fighter
Manufacturer(s): Shinsei Industry; Macross 7 Project M Special Technologies Group
Operator: U.N. Spacy
Rollout: AD 2045
First deployment: AD 2045
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard canopy-style cockpit
Dimensions: overall height 11.24 meters (Battroid mode), overall height 3.49 meters (Fighter mode); overall length 15.48 meters (Fighter mode); wingspan 11.2 meters (Fighter mode)
Weight: empty 7.9 metric tons (variable fighter only); 6.25 metric tons (Sound Booster unit); max gross unknown
Armor materials: SWAG energy conversion armor
Powerplant: 2 x Shinsei Industry/P&W/Roice FF-2099A thermonuclear reaction turbine engine, power output rating unknown
Propulsion: 2 x 41,500 kg (2 x 407.12 kN); 2 x vertical two-dimensional vectored exhaust nozzle; 2 x dorsal auxiliary thruster pod; many x P&W HMM-7Y high maneuverability vernier thruster
Performance: Fighter mode: maximum level atmospheric speed at 10,000 meters: Mach 4.1+
Thrust-to-weight ratio: unknown
Equipment and design features: sensors, range unknown; guitar sound stick control system; sound energy conversion seat; audio/speaker system, mounted in nose; projector system, mounted in nose; 2 x sound energy converter; 2 x sound aura amplification system; optional Sound Booster unit, features hybrid sensors; optional fold booster
Fixed armaments: 2 x fixed laser cannon, mounted on main body; speaker-firing gun pod, stored under main body in Fighter mode, hand-carried in Battroid and GERWALK modes; 4 x internal micro-missile launcher, features many x Little Rock micro-missile, mounted on forward dorsal engine nacelle; 2 x internal missile launcher, features 12 x Little Rock micro-missile, mounted on engines; chaff/flare dispenser system, mounted on engines
Optional hand armaments: none

After Fire Bomber lead singer Basara Nekki’s music proved to have an effect on the brainwashed Varauta pilots, the U.N. Spacy forces in the Macross 7 fleet created the independent civilian unit Sound Force and provided customized variable fighters to Basara’s bandmates. One such unit was the VF-11MAXL Thunderbolt Custom piloted by Mylene Flare Jenius, the daughter of famed Space War I ace pilots Maximilian and Milia Fallyna Jenius. In keeping with the radical customizations found in Basara’s VF-19 Excalibur Custom, the VF-11MAXL featured a distinctly feminine design that was completely different from the standard VF-11C Thunderbolt. Like Basara’s plane, the VF-11MAXL also featured a custom guitar-based control system. Its offensive armaments were limited to two laser cannons and four micro-missile launchers. Its main sound-based armament was a custom launcher pod that could fire speaker pods into enemy units and forced them to hear Fire Bomber’s music. The VF-11MAXL had a built-in audio and speaker system, but it could also equip a Sound Booster to extend its audio range. Mylene piloted the VF-11MAXL through the end of the Protodeviln War in 2046 and continued to use it one year later.

Pilot: Mylene Flare Jenius
First appearance: Macross 7
Original mechanical designer: Shoji Kawamori

Cockpit

Gun pod

Rear view (Battroid mode)

Rear view (Battroid mode, equipped with Sound Booster)

Rear view (GERWALK mode)

Sound Booster

Underside view (Fighter mode)