Control: Gd
Speed: Ex
Body: Ex
Known Powers:
Armor: The Heli-Carrier was armored to provide In protection against physical attacks and Rm protection against Energy attacks.
Weapons: The Heli-Carrier had a variety of weapons systems. Characteristics of major systems are given below:
-Radar-guided 30-mm and 70-mm Electric Cannon: The highly sophisticated radar-automated firing systems on the cannon gave them Am Agility. The 40mm cannon did In damage, while the 70mm cannon did Am damage. Both had ranges of 10 Areas.
-Box Missile Launcher: The Box Missile Launcher fired up to 8 air-to-air missiles at once. Each missile was self-guiding with the following statistics:
Body: Ex
Control: Rm
Speed: In
Damage: In
The damage given is for a standard high explosive warhead.
-Cruise Missile: A Cruise Missile would have the following statistics:
Body: Rm
Control: Am
Speed: Rm
Damage: Mn
The damage is for a non-nuclear warhead.
-Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile: An IRBM would have these stats:
Body: In
Control: In
Speed: Mn
Damage: Un
The damage is for a non-nuclear warhead.
Particle Projector: Mn Energy Blast at a 25-Area range.
Before its destruction by a mutant cockroach infestation, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s airborne aircraft helicarrier was the major headquarters of the entire organization. as well as an official arm of the World Wide Military Command and Control System (WWMCCS). WWMCCS maintains secure communications in times of world crisis with strategic military bases throughout the United States. The Heli-Carrier was also a major link in the Defense Communications System (DCS) which incorporates everything from ground lines to satellites.
The Heli-Carrier was armored with a triple hull of 5-inch hardened alloy, then a 12-inch layer of high-speed fragment suppressor, and finally another layer of hardened armor. The internal bracing and construction was rigid enough to permit the Heli-Carrier to alight on land or water (although it had to jettison its radar "ball" deck to do so). The Heli-Carrier was heavily armed, with its primary defenses against missiles. There were 2 forward, 2 aft, 2 aft port and starboard, and 4 forward/downward radar-guided 70mm electric cannons with cyclic rates of 200 rounds per second. There were 3 midship port and starboard radar-guided 40mm electric cannons with cyclic rates of 1,000 rounds per second. There were 2 forward port and starboard armored box missile launchers, each with 8 variable payloaded radiation seeking and infrared seeking missiles. The cruise missile maintenance and launch deck contained 30 variable payload programmed cruise missiles and an anti-missile tetravolt-charged particle projector.
The aircraft complement on the Heli-Carrier was primarily 32 F/A-18s with full weapons loads for the continuous Combat Aircraft Patrol (which maintained an ever ready patrol for intruders). There were two repair decks which could perform major overhauls on 12 planes at once. The helicarrier was provided with 4 mini-Sea Kings, scaled down versions of the Sea King 6-bladed helicopter, for submarine patrol, cargo, and rescue missions. Its Electronic Warfare (EW) and Electronic Countermeasure (ECM) range was augmented from 130 miles to 300 miles with E-2C Hawkeye early warning planes.
The Heli-Carrier's primary role was land and space surveillance and was manned by highly trained Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) personnel. Much training and testing of field agents was also done on board. The normal crew complement was 450 with provisions for 1,000. It was thermoelectrically nuclear powered and used six 20,000 hp electric engines with twin-bladed propellers to augment a secret anti-gravity generator (which, because of classified restrictions, offset only 75 percent of the helicarrier's mass) and to maintain level attitudes and rapid movement.
The Bridge/Combat Information Center (B/CIC), Combat Operations Center (COC), and Air Traffic Control Tower (ATC) were located on the flight deck. Along with the hanger deck, they were the aircraft carrier aspect of the Heli-Carrier. The forward half of Heli-Carrier contained the Battle Command Center (BCC), the Command/Observation World Monitor Center (C/OWMC), and the vast computer equipment which supports the ELINT and the Heli-Carrier in general. The aft below segment of the Heli-Carrier contained the World Watch Situation Display Room (WWS), S.H.I.E.L.D.'s non-military, intelligence gathering and field agent clearing center.
The Heli-Carrier was also equipped with an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM; range of 3,500 miles, or the ability to achieve low-Earth orbit) which was variably programmed and payloaded to perform a number of special duty, clandestine, and crisis-oriented functions and was housed in a vibration-isolated silo. It was originally installed as part of the Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network (MEECN) which, in the event of limited nuclear confrontation, would be able to provide the communications support of placing a satellite package in orbit after the primary satellites had been incapacitated. This function was filled by several Minuteman III missiles at Whiteman AFB, Missouri before the helicarrier's destruction.
The Heli-Carrier was also hardened against nuclear electromagnetic pulses (EMP: the nuclear weapon detonation-induced drifting of unwanted ions that leads to high voltage current leakage paths and electronic circuit failure) to full Military Satellite Hardening Specifications. It could resist 1.2 joules per centimeter squared of radiation per second. The Heli-Carrier's nuclear generator was designed to keep it afloat indefinitely.
The original design for the S.H.I.E.L.D. Heli-Carrier
