Killercraft

From Turtledove

Killercraft were the Race's fighter aircraft, comparable to, but far more advanced than, the jet techonology being developed in the aborted World War II.

The Race's killercraft were extremely effective in securing dominance over the skies. In the early days of the war, the Killercraft were able to totally destroy most a human air force at every engagement. One missile could go 10 times faster than the best human fighter. However, the Race had anticipated an easy victory. There were not enough killercraft to sustain the war. Also the Race's tactics of using killercraft are poorly in comparison to actual aerial combat, given to the fact that the Race has only two known battles in their thousand year-long history.

Killercraft pilots were choosen for their agressiveness. The craft themselves had an 18 missile capacity and were equipped with radar controlled cannons. They were also shielded from EMP, painted with camouflage, and specially modified to be capable of extremely high altitudes so that they could be picked up by orbiting ships in the absence of available airstrips on the ground.