The first dedicated attack aircraft of Neucom's R-series, the R-201 was developed to fulfill the ground attack role.
The R-201's design is striking at first glance, with its twin-hull fuselage. The individual fuselages are thin, long and narrow, only having the control surfaces for their corresponding orientation (wings, stabilators, but no vertical stabilizers), and they are attached by two struts. There are 2 engines, one for each side, and 2 cockpits as well. Each side has an air intake on the underside.
Its weapons stores comprise a concealed weapons bay in between the engine and the intake (for each fuselage), and the egg-shaped pod attached to the struts, which is also a bomb bay.[1]
The plane's performance is mediocre, due to its great weight and poor acceleration and speed. It is a capable ground attacker, able to wipe out any land target with certainty, but it is useless in air-to-air combat.
"An aircraft developed with ground attack as its main purpose. By splitting the fuselage in two parts, it allowed for the mounting of more weapons and increased durability. Due to its high gross weight, its power and acceleration is not great, but can maintain stable flight conditions. With its high ammunition count, it can wipe out its intended ground target with absolute certainty."
Despite this aircraft having a UPEO variant, the export version of Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere uses the standard Neucom paint scheme for the playable R-201, with the only difference being the Neucom emblem on the wing being replaced with the UPEO emblem. This is also in spite of the export version having the R-201U in-game.[3]
Exporting refers to the international distribution of a product from the original country of manufacture. Exported aircraft sometimes have slight differences from their native variants. Export versions of Ace Combat games are the versions released outside of Japan.
Exporting refers to the international distribution of a product from the original country of manufacture. Exported aircraft sometimes have slight differences from their native variants. Export versions of Ace Combat games are the versions released outside of Japan.