Jouncers
Jouncers (officially DH Series fighter jets) are ORCHESTRA's bespoke fighter jets. Originally designed by ORCHESTRA engineer Henry Jounce in the late 1970's as specialised dragon hunters, they were first prototyped in the early 1990's and manufactured from the beginning of the millennium. Since then, they have been improved upon and added to over the years, and are now one of the most dangerous and versatile tools in the organisation's arsenal. They excelled at their initial role, being key to the near-extinction of modern dragons, and since then have expanded their scope to include countering any flying abnormal creature, as well as providing general air superiority and support.
History
In its early days, ORCHESTRA could not possibly obtain their own fighter craft, whether through purchase, manufacture, or siphoning from world militaries. However, this did not stop Henry Jounce, an member of the '2nd wave' of ORCHESTRA members, and engineering genius, from designing many craft for fighting the supernatural; the Jouncer was one of them, though it did not have a name at this time. While helicopters were very useful in transport and covering fire, they did not have the speed or manoeuvrability of a jet, and as such were more vulnerable to flying creatures or attacks from the ground. Especially, using them or ground troops to fight monsters such as dragons was less than ideal. Jounce envisioned his fighter to be the prime dragon hunter; able to fly faster than any dragon, carry long-range weapons able to pierce their targets, be highly accurate, and have incredible manoeuvrable capabilities, able to making sharp turns and dodges at high speed. While such a perfect fighter jet may have been a pipe dream at the time, Henry Jounce was not a man easily dissuaded. As the Cold War escalated in the 1970's, and ORCHESTRA began to gaining more resources and influence with a new surge of members, aircraft began to become available to them. Jounce had joined the organisation a bit before this, and it was at this time that he began to design his ideal craft for fighting the supernatural, Jouncers included. He worked on the design for a couple of years, and presented the first complete version to the organisation officially in 1976. Then, it was called the DH-01 (Dragon Hunter, first version), and billed it as "the most effective craft to give us control of the skies." However, his design was rejected for being so technologically advanced and complex, with so many extreme engineering requirements, that it was completely unfeasible for the organisation to make with the resources they had available. Some questioned whether his design was even possible at all. Jounce went to work on other, more immediately useful projects, but was undefeated and continued to refine and update the design, knowing it would be achievable someday. It wasn't until the end of the Cold War in 1991 that ORCHESTRA gained the resources necessary to fulfil Jounce's dream. With lots of equipment and resources stolen amid the chaos of the collapse of the USSR, the Conductor permitted Jounce to begin the process of creating working prototypes in 1992. It took a long time, lots of resources, questionable R&D, and extensive 'borrowing' from experimental designs in world air forces, but eventually after many years Jounce and his team produced the first working version, ready for use in 1998. For extensive movement capabilities, Jounce had developed a unique thruster system that used two powerful jet engines, but also a network of micro-thrusters and wing flaps that could be used in short bursts to change velocity (both speed and direction) very quickly, as well as move sideways or up and down a small extent without even needing to turn. However, this kind of movement produced intense G-forces, and some early prototypes ripped themselves apart during more extreme manoeuvres. To help counter this, Jounce created a strong inertial dampening system for the pilot to withstand the huge G forces. To fulfil the goal of the craft having extremely high accuracy, even at fast speeds, he got _____ _____, another founding member and skilled software engineer, to adapt the Venefice Targeting System (VTS) for it, and to be integrated with the new G.L.O.A.M Network. To do this, _____ _____ and his team had to make great improvements and additions to the system, which in the process helped it make great advances in its effectiveness, and so the Jouncer was the first vehicle to show off the VTS’s true potential, as well as how it could be integrated with the G.L.O.A.M Network to great effect. The first finished design of the Jouncer, at this point version DH-03, was a marvel of aerospace engineering. However, its custom features and high-performance design still made it extraordinarily expensive to manufacture. ORCHESTRA considered continuing to use the conventional fighter jets they had, however these were all rescued from retirement from regular air forces, and so were old and outdated. Jounce argued that his craft was worth the expense, and since it was only ever to be used by ORCHESTRA, they wouldn't have to make many. Finally, the Conductor authorised construction of two of the fighter craft to test how well they would perform. The craft were made, and the pilots trained, picked from the best the organisation currently had. Finally, they first got the chance to prove themselves during an incident with a group of agitated dragons in the Pyrenees in 1999. The Jouncers were deployed, and not only succeeded in killing all the dragons, but saved the lives of other ORCHESTRA soldiers, and were barely damaged in the operation. This proved their effectiveness not only at dragon hunting, but also at any other task a multirole fighter jet might be expected to perform. The DH-03 could fly only a bit faster than any supernatural creature, or magic-assisted flight, but proved itself to be incredibly useful. Jouncers could be used to perform flyby attacks on large targets such as bases, or effectively fight airborne abnormals with very little risk. They were also too fast and manoeuvrable to be taken down by ground-based weapons or magic. Hence, ORCHESTRA was able to use the jets to gain air superiority wherever they pleased, which previously would have been difficult, if not costly. Extremely happy and impressed, the Conductor personally congratulated Jounce and ordered the construction of many more. The manufacture of many DH-03's improved ORCHESTRA's offensive capabilities immensely, even at the high construction cost, and were a key factor in the Conductor's decision that ORCHESTRA was powerful enough to go on the offensive and launch the Unseen war. It was at this time that the DH series got the nickname 'Jouncers' in Henry Jounce's honour, and in reference to the extreme manoeuvres they could perform. Henry Jounce died of natural causes during the Unseen War, not long after completing the craft's next design, the DH-04. The Jouncers and their new design were extremely helpful in the Unseen War, especially for fighting magical fauna and destroying ground locations. After the war, ORCHESTRA continued to use the DH Series, updating their design as new technology came along, with more powerful and efficient thrusters, better inertial dampeners, more powerful weapons, including specialised anti-magic weapons, and new versions of the Venefice Targeting System. But the core capabilities remained the same, and they continued to prove themselves as extremely deadly craft, granting ORCHESTRA air superiority anywhere they could be deployed. While they were still exorbitantly expensive, becoming increasingly expensive with each improvement, the organisation never needed to make very many, and set up special routes to siphon money from conventional nation's aerospace programs to theirs. As well as their general usefulness, the fighter jets' special skill was still killing dragons, which is what originally inspired them. Jouncers were almost single-handedly responsible for the extermination of every adult dragon not in hibernation by 2010, due to their heavy ordnance, farther range than helicopters, greater accuracy than artillery pieces, and being more flexible in their deployment. Later designs were even faster, much faster than dragons, meaning that the dragons could never get close enough to harm them, but the Jouncers could constantly pursue the dragon, shooting it from a safe distance until it was dead. From their first mission’s huge success, Jouncers were used whenever they could to hunt down the creatures, until eventually, the only ones that were left were those hidden in caves unknown to ORCHESTRA. Despite their effectiveness, ORCHESTRA is not able to use Jouncers as often as they would like in recent times. Very few dragons are known about in the modern day, and those that are most often found hibernating in caves and not out in the open. Jouncers are also not very stealthy, and draw lots of attention. What's more, nowadays there are less magical locations that can be conceivably be attacked with an air raid, as magic users nowadays tend to fight guerrilla style. In a way, Jouncers were so effective at helping wipe out the supernatural that they made themselves nearly redundant, and have few targets anymore. As such, ORCHESTRA makes less of them nowadays to save costs, but whenever they are used, they nearly guarantee success, and restate their potential as deadly tools for fighting the supernatural, often being able to kill their targets with no damage to themselves. There seems to be nothing nowadays that can prove a match for them...Propulsion
Jouncers are jet fighters, meaning they are propelled by jet engines. Jouncers have two powerful engines, which allow them very high speed. They also have a network of micro-thrusters and wing flaps which allow for much more complex, short bursts of manoeuvring. These include short jumps in any direction, as well as very sharp turns.
Weapons & Armament
Jouncers can be equipped with weapons that normal fighter jets can be equipped with, including machine guns and missiles. However, due to their uniqueness as craft designed to fight the supernatural, they can be equipped with ORCHESTRA's special in-house anti-magic weaponry. The most powerful of these are missiles tipped with silver, a powerful anti-magic substance. These weapons deal great damage to any magic-dependant creatures in the area, especially dragons, and heavily disrupt magic in and around the blast radius. However, due to the high amount of silver, these weapons are expensive, so when more conventional tasks are required, such as suppression, destruction, fighting weaker creatures, or fighting hard-to-hit targets, normal missiles can be used. Silver bullets can theoretically be used in the machine guns, but the number of bullets used makes this very expensive, so would only be used in extremely apt situations.
Communication Tools & Systems
Jouncers use standard radio technology to communicate with each other and to base, although they use special ORCHESTRA frequencies to try and avoid being listened to. However, due to the nature of radio, this isn't always possible.
Sensors
Jouncers are equipped with the latest version of the Venefice Targeting System (VTS), a specialised targeting system designed to detect magic and lock on to it, helping aim weapons towards the source. This is also integrated into the G.L.O.A.M Network, which allows data to be fed back the network and compared with other sources nearby. This makes calculations more accurate, which is sent back to the Jouncer, making triangulation more precise. Yet, this only works when the Jouncer has a connection to base, and other friendly units around with the same systems.
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