FFE Space Fighter 戦闘ロケット

FFE Space Fighter
FFE Space Fighter

Length :
Height :
Mass :

Powers / Weapons

Flight; space travel; heat ray gun

Appearances

Battle in Outer Space (1959)

Series // SHOWA

Sound Effect

Description

After the successful moon landing mission, humanity was preparing for a counter attack. The battle in outer space would be brought back to Earth. The Natarl would not be deterred that easily.

The moon assault gave Earth enough time to build countermeasures for the eminent attack from the Natarl. Initially meant for an unmanned space patrol craft, prototype ships were turned into the FFE Space Fighters by the combined efforts of humanity. They would engage the Natarl high above the planet Earth. As part of preparations, the crafts were strategically placed in three locations. These included the Siberian Plain, the Arizona Desert and the Tokyo International Space Science Center.

When the Natarl attack fleet was detected, the fighters were launched immediately into space from these locations. A huge dogfight between the Natarl UFOs and the FFE Space Fighters erupted. Ultimately, despite how many Natarl UFOs were destroyed, the Natarl attack fleet was able to break through. The key was the launching of Meteor Torpedoes, which forced FFE Space Fighters to break away and engage.

Successful in breaching the atmosphere, the Natarl took their attack to the Earth's surface. Their mother ship began to level Tokyo, using its gravity based weapons to tear up the metropolis. The last of the FFE Space Fighters waged another strike, though. They took down all but one UFO, which was destroyed by the Giant Heat Ray Guns that guarded the Space Fighters' bases. The mammoth heat cannons focused on the mother ship, obliterating it and ending the Natarl once and for all.


Powers / Weapons
Flight

Flight

The Space Fighters were able to fly inside the Earth's atmosphere. While this includes them being rocketed off to space, it was also demonstrated during dogfights with the Natarl UFOs on Earth.

   
Space Travel

Space Travel

The battle rockets were able to fly within the Earth's atmosphere, but also were able to travel in space as well. This ability was used extensively as the crafts first engaged the Natarl UFOs far above the Earth.

   
Heat Ray Gun

Heat Ray Gun

Developed in 1965, humanity had created an advanced heat ray gun. It was able to discharge a narrowband energy radiation beam. This jagged ray proved able to pierce the armor of the Natarl UFOs and destroy them.

Off a single charge of plutonium, the gun could fire continuously for 20,000 hours.


Background and Trivia
  • The 2005 publication Godzilla: Toho Giant Monster Picture Encyclopedia (ISBN: 4092800525) lists an English name of "Space Fighter" for the craft. This causes a slight issue, though, as this is the same English name for the fighter crafts in The War in Space (1977). To tell them apart, Toho Kingdom has elected to use the name FFE Space Fighter for these crafts.

    For reference, the Japanese name of the crafts are "Battle Rockets" (戦闘ロケット - Sento Roketto), or "Rocket Fighter" (ロケット戦闘機 - Roketto Sentoki) as known in Koichi Kawakita's Toho SFX Mechanic Chronicle 1954-2003 (ISBN: 477530142X). This is quite different from the Japanese name of The War in Space (1977) crafts, which are literally "Space Fighters" (スペース・ファイター - Supesu Faita).
  • In the Columbia Pictures' US version of the film, the crafts are referred to as "Fighter Rockets".