This is my fictional medium attacker for the @LettuceRob119 bomber/Attacker challenge (it’s my secondary contract). It's called the AF-27 Reaper, it is a sub-sonic anti-insurrection aircraft specialized in high-speed precision strikes.
It can operate at an altitude of up to 10 000 meters and with a speed of 550 mph. It is equipped with four 50 kg and two 25 kg bombs, two Hellfire missiles and two AIM-9 air to air missiles.

The history of the aircraft started in 1972 when the UFUS (United Federation of Uncle Sam) needed an airplane capable to counter the terrorists actions disturbing the production of petrol in the middle east. The design had to use mainly unguided weaponry because more advanced electronics could not lock on the very basic terrorist targets. It also had to be quick and maneuverable to be able to follow the very mobile guerilla warfare of the enemy

The first flight of the YAF-27 took place in 1978. The engineers found out that the pre-production model had some great maneuverability. However, the absence of prototype to save time created some issues. One of the biggest problems was that the aircraft lacked precision in low-speed dives. It was solved on the production model by fitting two airbrakes on each wing. However, it meant that the first delivery of AF-27 was delayed to 1979.

The first combat mission took place in December 1981 with one AF-27 destroying two surfaces to air missiles batteries at a terrorist strong hold in Kuwait. The first deployments showed the advantages of the high maneuverability allowing the plane to doge a lot of the anti-air weapons fired at it. The aircraft has been used trough out the entire Kuwait war and is still the spearhead of the anti-rebellion forces of the UFUS.

The YAF-27 pre-production aircraft

Here is a little gallery