Part of a series on TritonAerospace's lore. | designed to work with TritonAerospace's Weapons Network.

Lore, use cases, and missile specifications are listed here!

A new weapon designed for one role that ended up doing all of them

Included in Package

• new missile: my AAM-35 "Spearhead" family
  
  
  
  • AAM-35A — the original one, but scrapped due to leaks. (left)
  
  
  • XAAM-35B — An experimental RAMJet version. was only for research purposes. (middle)
  
  
  • AAM-35C — motor-upgrade version of the AAM-35A. produces a bit more thrust than before and increases its range. (right)
  
  
• initially designed for the Mid-long Rangeband (60km-100km), however fits a lot more than you'd expect. See specifications page.
• can fit in the weapon's bays of the F-4C Block 2
  

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Lore

With the F-4C's Block 2 upgrade around the corner, Triton Aerospace had developed an upgrade of the old AAM-20A, the AAM-20B, to make the most out of the new capabilities brought in the refresh package. The older AAM-20As used outdated guidance logic, however this new AAM-20B had an issue: despite having software designed for tomorrow, it was still equipment designed ages ago. this caused performance issues, that being its inability to consistently hit targets under 85km.
Seeing this, Upper Command started a contract for a new mid-long range missile, one that could fit between the rangeband of the AAM-30 (5-50km), and the rangeband of the AAM-20B (85-150km). Rokugou Systems would answer this call with the Spearhead Family.
Their first development was the AAM-35A, a heavy weapon for its class at nearly 200kg, but outperforming all expectations of it. its exceptional maneuverability, powerful motor and high altitude cap gave it amazing performance across all altitude bands. As stated by Jada "Sky" of 14th Fighter-Reconnaissance Squadron, "It's a very powerful weapon, despite it's weight. Compared to our older AAM-20s and even the newer AAM-20B, it's miles better."
The platform even got an experimental RAMJet version, the XAAM-35B. This, however, was research-only and was not put into full-rate production.
However, as a wise man once said, "a defense contractor's worse enemy is parliament", and this would very quickly start to show. DSC's Parliament, once again, started condemning the AAM-35 program. as stated by Jerry Cook, "Having 2 missiles for the same job is useless. we should stick to the AAM-20B instead of wasting money on a new missile."
While this wasn't very much of an issue at first, it quickly grew after a scandal was uncovered by DSC's spies in Ali. It turns out, one of the lead engineers for the Spearhead program had sold blueprints of the AAM-35A to Ali Officials for a quick buck. he was quickly arrested and sentenced for treason, and seeing how easily something like that could slip through the cracks, formed the Internal Security Division (a breakoff of DSC's Intelligence and Surveillance Division).
Oddly enough, Internal Security had always existed, however it never received proper funding to run at full capacity until now.
What ensued could only be described as a political shitshow. within the first few weeks of being pushed into actions, Internal Security made 18 arrests on suspected connections to Ali Base Officials and weak links. Parliament took this as an excuse to do what they do best: beat the ever living life out of Military Upper Command. However, they argued back this time, stating they had never been given proper funding for internal security in the first place.
This argument continued for a few days, which brought everything to a screeching halt. Nobody could agree on anything, and it wasn't looking too shiny for either sides. eventually, Nora Freeman, a younger MP, reminded both sides that "The past is just ashes in the wind now. there's no point in dwelling on what's happened, we can't change it anymore."
In the end, Rokugou Systems and Triton Aerospace were fined for their security weak links, and Rokugou Systems began an upgrade package for the AAM-35, the AAM-35C, which brought a new motor, more range, and upgraded materials for better heat resistance.

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Use Cases

this is DSC's Equivalent to the AMRAAM. Need to kill a bomber at long ranges? Check. Need to kill a fighter at close ranges? Check. Need to fire off a quick defensive shot? Check. This is the epitome of jack of all trades, master of none, but better than a master of one. sure, it's heavy, but it's very maneuverable. In testing, We got it to peak at 70°/s, however in most normal situations it probably won't pull beyond 40°/s. Either way, use it to the best of your abilities. Stretch its rangebands if needed (however you probably won't need to).

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Missile Specifications (AAM-35C)

• speed cap: Mach 6.3 (launched @ 20km altitude/mach 2), Mach 3.5 (launched @ sea level altitude/mach 0.8)
• Rangebands: short-long (5-220km/3-136mi)
• Altitude cap: 20km (65,000ft)
• Probability of Hit: 95% (under ideal conditions)
• Probability of Kill: 90% (good sized warhead, shouldn't have any issues with killing things given it reaches its target)
• Off-The-Rails Weight (excluding ejection rack): 196kg
• TWR: 8x (off-the-rails), 16x (empty)
• burn time: 12 seconds
• Steering: Canards with 35° control authority
• Launch platforms: F-4C (Block 1 & Block 2 MLU) "Cyber", F-5A "Phoenix", F-6B "Nightwatch", F-8 (A/B) "Skipper", F-9 (A/B/C) "Dragonfly", AT-2 "Leapfrog"
  

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That's all of the important stuff. I recommend launching above 4.5km though. happy hunting! :D