The ARC-350

Okay, so I've spoke of this ugly for a while now, but here it is. The ARC-350.

An upgrade to the big ARC-170 that was discarded during the late clone wars (because development wasn't completed on time) and then picked by exiled clones to produce their main heavy multi-role craft.

So, a big chunk of history.

The first drafts for the ARC upgrade program, called ARC-135 was supposed to replace the big laser cannons on the tips of the main wings for mass-driver canons identical to the ones found on the AT-TE, using the massive wings length to store the ammunition.

This project was conceived by one of the top scientist of the Republic Special Weapon group, as the prospect of a small craft capable of punching through the heaviest of all Separatist ships of the line was interesting to high command. The task would be delegated to Orson Callan Krennic, who did his work in good time and good manner, showing everyone he excelled at leading projects, something that would be dully noted for his later programs, such as Stardust.

However, security breaches from inside his worker teams allowed for pirates to steal 2 out of the 4 prototypes, severely compromising the future of the program and allowing some pirates smarter than other to copy them for bigger fishes needing some extra muscles

He managed to barely escape the political fallout of such a steal by putting the blame on someone of his team but couldn't do anything about the cancellation of further research of the craft.

However, Omega army, tasked with the difficult job of holding the separatists from flanking the Republic through the unknown regions, heard of these prototypes about to meet the scrapyards and the documents the archives and called for the transfer of the remains to its base on Myrkr (their high command chose Myrkr before being assigned to their sector), as the prospect of having a single heavy craft and an interceptor to their taste, as logistical lines were always strangled by the hyperspace instability in the region and the duo of the Y-Wing and ARC-170 was a burden often to heavy for them.

Once the remaining prototypes and the blueprints arrived on Myrkr, it was decided to build 30 more prototypes without chassis going with the nickname of Skeleton, as all of the inside components were still visible and the cables hanging, like guts and arteries.

One crucial battle happened during the development of the ARC-175 would be the battle of Coruscant, as the heavy casualties took by ARC-170, even veteran squadron like Clone Flight Squadron 7, so the engineers went back to their work as laser cannons were deemed necessary to even stood a chance of striking with the big guns.

So, they looked into their pile of scrapped crafts and found the perfect weapon for such endeavours, the Z-95 KX5, as more and more Z-95 came to retire as the short-range interception was done by V-Wing. Some other prototypes were graciously equipped with Sienar short-ranged L-s1 found on the later TIE fighter as testing would allow to spread the cost of testing those guns.

Another modification tested on some other prototypes would be the use of ion cannons for the rear-gunners, as the natural instability of the ion projecticle allowed for better defense during runs, as shown by the Y-Wing.

Before we move further into the history of the ARC-175, now called ARC-270, let's check all the prototypes:

30 prototypes with their medium laser cannons replaced with mass-driver cannon, divided into 3 categories

10 with KX5 mounts at the tip of the S-foils

10 with L-s1 mounts at the tipe of the S-foils

10 with ion cannon at the rear to protect the craft during the runs.

Prototyping for a new bomb bay, called "coffin" for its form and danger if hit is well concluded and will be used for the ARC-270.

After order 66, came what the Omega Army call the great exile, at the time, all of the facilities on Myrkr were put in deep sleep, with sentinel droid watching on it against pirates.

After their relocations on the other side of the hyperspace barrier, the remains of the Omega army didn't began research on the craft well until 18 BBY, almost a full year of break, but despite this, during the desperate defense of their capital during the episode known as the march of the titans, where most of them bombed the helpless titan, doing strafing runs and 90° dive atop their preys, nailing them with their mass-drivers. Some clones aces like Warthog and Hawk who joined them over time, managed to cut some of those massive titans (which have been estimated to be between 20/30 meters high) in two by striking right before pulling out of their dives, leaving a gruesome sight to their opponents.

Now the project came back and was in full swing, but with new components and new ideas in mind, so let's go over them.

First, a new airframe, built out of carbon fiber, a doctrine that would become a staple of any Outer Heaven crafts, wrapped in a titanium-alusteel (with most of the alusteel first coming out of the Iron mountains) built using the Geonosian technique of laminating and encasing with the armor, which made it both lighter and sturdier than crafts of its size.

Second, this new airframe would host a new reactor, called Hypernova, not using the traditional hypermatter used on most crafts but using a much more dangerous but immensely cheaper and easy to acquire fuel : metallic hydrogen (which also complicate refuelling but that's another topic), but somehow managed to have more power at the same size (it still require hypermatter, and an even rarer form that can be forged into reactor plating, which makes it more expensive to build, but cheaper to run, hence why reactors are recovered after battle, to be verified then refurbished and shipped back to the factories)

Third : a plethora of new weapons, it's quite extensive so let's make a list :

First, the 14 centimeters mass-driver cannon, each of them on the tip of the main wings, built by Outer Heaven repair and construction bureau (who's in charge for the construction of such mass-driver weapons)

Second, 4 laser cannons at the tip of the 4 smaller wings and 2 at the rear of the craft, of the model Ltl-127b, built by Angel's Mountain construction, who was also a big name in the domain of energy grid and energy turnkey solutions.

Third, 1 medium ion cannons above the 14 centimeters mass-drivers, so 2 in total, I-14 built by Karu Mechanism, who's also a specialist in maglev trains and cargo handling.

Fourth, 4 small ion cannons at the tip of the smaller wings and 2 at the rear of the crafts, also built by Karu Mechanism (Karu is the name of an old kingdom that was later integrated into Outer Heaven, the republic-controled territory), however the firing mechanism for those combined to the lasers would only be fixed and reliable by 16 BBY

Fifth : the detachable bomb bay, filled with whatever can be used, torpedoes, bombs, missiles... Pick your poison it's free

Sixth : a low-power laser to guide bombs on their target. A technology copied from local air superiority crafts, it allows for bombs modified for such tasks to be extremely precise and act like a scalpel, something useful in tasks like taking a city mostly intact, their greatest feat was obviously the second battle of Coruscant where they destroyed E-Web nests in buildings leaving the building intact, something traditional bombs couldn't achieve.

Seventh : a jamming and recon sensor suite, a leftover from the old grampa ARC-170 but still extremely useful during bombing runs to allow a smooth drop without being notice (something the eclipse witches used to a great extent)

Eighth : missiles. A perhaps node to their counterparts of the separatists alliance but these crafts were filled to the brim, with up to 32 missiles (8 on each of the big wings, 4 on the smaller ones) on them. It gave them an extra edge during the opening salvo of dogfighting

That was the offensive system, but what about the defense of such heavy craft.

Well, they kept the old shield generators which were perfectly good for such heavy craft but they changed 2 things on the passive defense, before being hit comes the idea of being seen and that's where they wanted to improve the ARC-350 who was already pretty good with its jamming suite.

Some braves suggested the use of stealth crystals like those found on Aeten 2 but there were nearly not enough to equip such vast fleets. So the idea laid dead in the water before even taking off but then came a miracle from the bottom of the seas of Rocks. A species of cuttlefish who had electro-sensitive pigments in its skin, allowing at a moment notice to change to hid itself from predators.

After a few trials, it took some time to isolate the pigments, purify it, and mix it with the right medium to not destroy the property of the pigment and some changes to make sure the paint can trigger.

Now, this paint allow for 2, totally different things

1. either to have a craft that can hide itself in the darkness of the deep space, used by bomber squadron to maximize the surprise effect and limit the reaction of their opponent.
2. To show the opponent you are here, akin to what Jedi pilot did back in their time, especially Anakin Skywalker and his yellow Eta-2. Perhaps the best example would be the ARC-350 of clone ace "Odd Ball" Davijaan with his gorgeous bright red, the main body in crimson with the front left white, his family coat of arms of an Aiwha skull & and his wife's family emblem painted in deep blue above this white.

Uses :

Three major can be found :

Support craft for light starfighters by jamming enemies communication, aiming systems, engaging in dogfights (hard but pilots can make do, especially after the empire fielded less and less TIE and more unorthodox crafts like the Preybird and such heavier crafts, or even during the second galactic civil war, where, despite their extreme old age were deadly to any forces trying to attempt to cross into Outer Heaven territories) and being a missile boat, dropping missiles at incoming target (something Grand Admiral Thrawn, who fought in his early years with them, admitted he was inspired by these crafts heavy payload to inspire him) during the dogfight

Heavy bomber, for both ship-to-ship combat & for close air support, by using the extensive arsenal of bombs and the 14 cm mass-driver to destroy whatever the ARC-350 was tasked with engaging, generally critical points like shield generators / hangars / aiming systems for ships and heavy fortifications and vehicles like the AT-AT or even decimate infantry formations, depending on what the air controllers decided on the ground

Recon craft : despite the all the modifications done by overzealous engineers, it remains an ARC-170, designed for long-range reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines and even opportunity strikes on logistical bases

Now, for the operational operation :

First Heaven war : the prototypes engaged the titans in a last ditch effort during the defence of the exiled Republic troops's capital. They proved successful and even a terror weapon with their instantaneous strikes without any warning.

Second Heaven war : some of the intermediate crafts aka ARC-290 would be part of the strike forces, where the versatility of the craft, who went from a heavy fighter straight to a bomber, made it proof of concept and allowed for mass-production

Third Heaven war / battle of the five armies & the western scorch : some of the early ARC-350 would be used during the battle of the five armies alongside the total annihilation of the western enemies of the exiled Republic. Most craft would wield incendiary HS (standing for hydrocarbons and surface agents) coffins, leaving whole plains blazing for days and nights, even deserts would melt under the heat of that mixture that would stick to anything it touches

Chiss Alliance war : after focusing on internal matters, they managed to get in contact with the secretive Chiss ascendancy through exploration by ARC-350 crews, at first mere diplomatic contacts, then quickly trade and finally an alliance between the two nations. Both Republic forces, now going by the name of Outer Heaven and Chiss had to face a common thread, the Grysks and both nations chose to make a stand on a planet well known to scholar, as it was Rakata Prime or rather Lehon prime by that time. The battle was ferocious, with ARC-350 opening the first salvo of the conflict by laying down space mines into the temperate wastes around Lehon prime, stretching Grysks logistics to their maximum and engaging their rears with a mix of light ships, mostly Chiss who decided to strike at that time.
The battle was fierce with the ARC-350 being used as a hammer, well hidden into the debris field of what once was the starforge and the anvil of the Outer Heaven fleets and it would culminate into the victory of the alliance and a major blow to the Grysk empire.

Exogol massacre & battle of Ilum. A double battle that would call the ARC-350 to be drenched in the blood of fanatic sith cultists on Exogol and imperial forces driven to madness by hunger on Ilum by conducting carpet bombing of any fortifications and living quarters on Exogol alongside the use of HS mixture on imperial fortifications on Ilum

Jedha skirmish : in 9 BBY, responding to a distress call with highest priorities, marines from the legendary 3rd marine regiment, led by colonel "Iron Hand" Echo would duel with the empire on the sands of Jedha, which was a defeat for the clones who did not managed to evacuate any of the survivors and took some losses.

Nova Gardon strike : right after the disaster of the Jedha skirmish, a squadron of ARC-350 went alongside the Arquitens II "Shroud" to strike upon the imperial outpost. Using their jamming capabilities to hide the marines who boarded the stations as debris, they were a crucial part in the attempt to hide the judgement coming for Bode

Galactic civil war : From the early skirmishes to the conquest of Coruscant, the Outer Heaven ARC-350 would lead, striking at a moment's notice and then leaving, with far bigger craters and smoke behind than anything the rebels could ever hope to align in their hangars. They would be used from joined strikes with Phoenix cell all the way to the battle of Coruscant, delivering high precision strikes, onto the bloody defeat of Jakku, where ARC-350 would deliver devastating strikes against stormtroopers refusing to surrender against the overwhelming odds, yet keeping the fight after such battles against warlords, like Zsinj & Isards

Famous squadrons :

Clone flight squadron 7 : one of the best starfighter squadron aligned during the clone wars, it would keep shining throughout the whole civil war and further conflict with their ARC-350. Their general colour is the red.

Squadron 818th, the titan killer : reborn out of the Shadow squadron, trading the Y-Wing for the ARC-350, it would be renowned in its skill to plunder dreadnought and heavier craft. Rumours claims such ferocity came to the ears of Palpatine himself who decided to keep his heavier capital ships further away from their operating paths (they had at least 4 Executor SSD under their belt by the end of the galactic civil war).

Squadron 588th, the eclipse witches : a newly found squadron after the exile, it is one of the rare women-only squadron. It is extremely famous for its skills at the game of hide and seek, using rotation on ships or garrisons to strike, when it was time to sleep, they would emerge from the depth of the night with their ship power at the lowest, a noise sometime barely heard by scanners and picked as : the sound of probe droids, then, once close enough, S-foils locked, bombs away on anything that could cause havoc. Their stealth, striking one days near Balmorra an ISD busy refuelling at the ship's night, did so much damage to the Empire they had to postpone any and all fleets coming to Balmorra for refuelling.

Conclusion :

Well, that's my first post, probably too long for anyone to bother reading but here it is, not sure what to think of it, maybe I'll do more, maybe I'll do none if they don't fit the subreddit.

Oh and since I can't find any flair that fit, I've tried action