P-996 LAZER

The Jobuilt P-996 LAZER is a military fighter jet featured in Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto VI. It is the second fighter jet available in the series, after the Hydra in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Design
The entire fuselage, from the nose to the rear, with the two rear downward vertical tail fins, cockpit, (with side-mounted control stick), landing gears (main and nose) and wings heavily resemble the equivalent sections of the F-16C Fighting Falcon, with an almost identical air intake to the aforementioned aircraft, albeit split into two separate intakes similar to a Eurofighter Typhoon. It's forward swinging canopy (with zig zag canopy detonation cord), twin vertical stabilizers and horizontal stabilizers are from the F-35 Lightning II. The aircraft also features a subtle light grey camouflage painting similar to the two tone ghost grey scheme worn by most naval fighters. The Lazer is depicted as carrier-capable, whilst the F-16 was never designed for use on a carrier due to the fact it's landing gears are still designed for ground operation, lacking catapult attachment point on the nose and they are not strengthened for the landing. It is operated by the United States Navy, United States Marine Corps and possibly the United States Air Force.

In terms of armament, the P-996 is equipped with dual cannons in its nose firing explosive rounds, which are reminiscent of the F-20 Tigershark (the F-16 has only one cannon, mounted on the port side). Similar to its GTA San Andreas predecessor, the Hydra, the Lazer also features automatic lock-on missiles, but lacks counter-measures. It mounts three missiles on each wing, one on each wingtip, two on the underside wing racks and also mounts long range fuel tanks on the innermost wing pylons.

Performance
Being a fighter jet, the P-996 is an extremely fast aircraft and has the highest top speed of any vehicle in the game and with the second highest acceleration (after the Besra). In addition to that, it has excellent maneuverability, and is extremely responsive and able to quickly pitch, yaw and roll in any direction. Add to that a short take-off and landing distance (capable of taking off in the space of the hangars at Fort Zancudo) and the P-996 is an ideal aircraft for traveling around San Andreas quickly and efficiently with little threat from opposing players. However, P-996 has a severely low speed for a fighter jet. According to the airspeed indicator in the cockpit, it maxes out at 140 knots, or 160mph. By comparison, the F-16's max speed is 1,320 mph, and its takeoff speed is 184mph. The LAZER's low speed was likely due to the map's size or even due to the console's hardware, as the game needs to render the map at time and at that speed, the game wouldn't even render the ground.

However, the P-996 can be lethal to the inexperienced. The fighter jet is sensitive to minor inputs to the ailerons and, is very fragile which is untypical for a combat-ready aircraft. The jet can be quickly disabled using a Minigun or a Heavy Sniper. The jet is very nose-heavy, and if the engines are not on or idling the plane will quickly enter stall as the jet does not glide particularly well. It also frequently "wobbles" in flight due to turbulence and its small size, and thus requires minute corrections to its flight.

By exiting the fighter jet mid-air, the player is ejected out of the cockpit just as pilots would be ejected in real fighter jets. They will be flung upwards considerably, preventing them from hitting the fuselage, unless at low speeds. However, the seat won't launch off the plane, and the player won't automatically earn a parachute unless he has one already, or the mission Predator has been completed.

Combat
The P-996 is equipped with dual explosive cannons and lock-on missiles. The cannons are extremely powerful and effective, being able to easily finish off an enemy with a single well-aimed burst. The cannons can be continuously fired without need for reloading. The missiles are also useful, although they often miss locked-on targets, and can lock-on only on specific targets. The range is limited but even one explosive round can kill a player or destroy a vehicle. Destroying a tank usually requires at least two passes, however it is possible to destroy a tank in one pass with the landing gear deployed, as it dramatically slows the aircraft down allowing more time to properly aim the cannon. This isn't a recommended tactic as it requires the pilot to approach an angle where the tank can return fire. It is best to fly straight down to destroy tanks, due to the fact that the tanks turret cannot aim at more than a 70 degree angle.

The P-996 does not have any flares or other counter-measures against locked-on missiles that are fired at the jet, forcing the pilot to manually evade the missile.