Early on, Cobra had a need for an inexpensive, light weight, easily transportable attack helicopter. Destro's MARS Industries came up with the FANG chopper. It was first fielded in 1983 and was found to be effective on the battlefield. In an urban setting they are usually deployed one at a time to perform terrorism operations. In a theater or war, they are deployed in large numbers to overwhelm opposing forces. The early FANGs were armed with 4 air-to-air missiles, one 500 pound "dumb" bomb and a chin mounted cannon. The FANG was easy to fly and required a bare minimum of training. One downside of the FANG was the open cockpit design, which exposed the pilot to small arms fire. You could theoretically knock a FANG out of the sky with one well placed shot with a .22 rifle. Pilot safety was of no concern to Cobra Commander though, and he ordered thousands of the aircraft over the years. The original design remains in service.
FANG II
The FANG II was conceived to compliment the original FANG, not to replace it. It was designed as a missile platform to provide air cover for swarms of FANG helicopters. Its design was a departure from the original FANG in that it abandoned traditional helicopter design and went with the more experimental tilt-rotor function. The tilt-rotors gave the FANG II extra speed and the ability to carry additional weapons. Bristling with extra missiles and twin chin cannons, the FANG II was formidable. Again, the downfall was its open cockpit design.
FANG III
Military experts say the third incarnation of the FANG was an upcycled version of the original FANG. This couldn't have been farther from the truth. The airframe was strengthened with composite materials. An all new turbine engine was developed. The rotors were a radical new forward-swept design which allowed for maximum speed. The FANG III was faster, lighter and stronger than its predecessors. Once again, Cobra sacrificed on pilot safety by going with the open cockpit design. The chin cannon was upgraded to a 20mm dual vulcan type design that proved to be devastating in battle. Missile armaments were reduced to just one under the belly and 2 optional on the fusilage.
BLACK DRAGON VTOL / FANG IV
The fourth version of the FANG was radically different. It was much larger than any of the previous FANG aircraft and utilized 2 large turbopop engines on nacelles to power the tilt-rotors. Gone was the ubiquitious open canopy design and in its place was a reinforced opaque cockpit shell. No longer could the average Cobra trooper pilot this thing... you needed an Air-Viper to do the task. Since there was no clear canopy to view the outside, everything was done by instruments. These differences caused the FANG IV to be re-named the Black Dragon. It was an aircraft all its own, mainly used as an attack, bomber, or transport aircraft.
The Future Of FANGs
Over 30 years after its conception, the original FANG remains one of Cobra's most numerous aircraft. Current versions are still being manufactured to this day. FANG IIs are still in limited service, but are being phased out through attrition (crashed FANG IIs are used for spare parts for flying models). The FANG III is slowly replacing the original FANG, although some units prefer the older model for its missile configuration. Only one squadron is equipped with the Black Dragon, due to its cost ($1.8 million per unit, compared to $118,000 for a FANG). The 9th Air-Viper Squadron "Black Dragons" takes great pride in flying the aircraft and they are considered an elite unit in Cobra's Air Force.
*FANG is a registered trademark of MARS Industries.
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