A classification of fightercraft which instead of using an engine to throw itself forward, alters gravity in order to fall along a flight path - in much the same way some starships’s subluminal maneuvering engines do.

Conventionally, fighter-craft rely on lift - the act of air passing over a wing at different speeds above and below creating a pressure difference which “sucks” the craft upward. If the craft’s velocity drops below a level needed to gain such lift, the craft falls and cannot orient its direction correctly to gain speed. In turn, this may also stall an air-breathing engine which needs a quantity of air entering it in order to work as artificial pressure differences inside the engine are further expanded by heating them, using controlled explosions — and the hotter air which wants to expand, passes out the back, resulting in thrust.

This creates conditions where for fighter-craft to chase one another, they must fall behind one another to fire but must not become so slow that they stall, losing lift or engine power. In turn, altitude can be exchanged for speed by descending — or speed for altitude by ascending - and by making a turn, speed can also be intentionally bled off (meaning fighters will often pitch upwards but roll sidewards, resulting in a corkscrew called a barrel roll).

A loomer does not require air pressure to create lift or air intake to create thrust and as such is not subject to common rules of stalling or aerodynamic maneuvering - giving them an enormous advantage.

The gravity well of a loomer can usually be tilted directionally with around an output equivalency of around two to three times a planet’s gravity in most cases - allowing for control over the lateral plain, vertical plain and hovering - but is generally limited in top speed inside an atmosphere due to airflow over the hull.

Loomers are often fitted with secondary engines for sharper acceleration and maneuvering to make up for the “sleepy” handling in atmosphere.

In a vacuum, huge amounts of energy can be shunted for subluminal maneuvering (hence the name).

In the gravity of a large object, it is common to use the subluminal system to reduce gravitational forces on pilots.

This allows a loomer to violate many common rules of air combat (which depend on energy distributed as either inertia or altitude

Loomers do not require engines, though often feature them for the sake of making more dramatic maneuvers.

Loomers often posess retractile lifting surfaces as so when maneuvering in high-G turns, the gravitational functionality can be used to both sharpen the turn (by ascending vertically on the Y axis or descending - sliding into the turn) and cancelling or reducing the G-forces on the pilot allowing for dogfights at very very high speed. These wings often work not only as conventional wings but also as high-power air-breaks for sharper turns.