P-996 LAZER

The Jobuilt P-996 LAZER is a military fighter jet featured in Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online. It is the third military jet available in the series, along with the Hydra and the trainer jet, the Besra.

Grand Theft Auto V
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 its 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 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). The Lazer also features radar guided missiles, but lacks counter-measures. It mounts three missiles on each wing, one on each wingtip, two on the underside wing rails and also mounts long range fuel tanks on the wing pylons closest to the plane´s fuselage.

Grand Theft Auto V
Being a fighter jet, the P-996 is an extremely fast aircraft and has the second highest top speed of any vehicle in the game (after the Hydra) 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, 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, as 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 a 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.

As for its armament, 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 is not a very 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 is fairly durable, being able to take between 3 - 4 Rocket Launcher rounds or missile rounds from other planes before finally being destroyed. However, a well-placed shot to the plane's rear will usually blast away one of the P-996's tail fins. While it is still possible to pilot the plane like this, the plane is less responsive at pitching and the engine will usually have been damaged as well (indicated by the afterburner struggling to ignite), and another shot to the plane's rear will either cripple or destroy the aircraft completely.

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

Special Variants

 * During Humane Raid - EMP, several unarmed, grounded variants of the P-996 Lazer can be found in the hangar of USS Luxington ATT-16. These variants lack the armory found on normal Lazers, and also sport synthetic covers over the rear jet and front intakes. These jets are merely solid props and cannot be accessed nor interacted with the player.

Two of the jets are found near the far rear of the hangar, another two are found at the far front, and several located along the sides of the hangar.

Grand Theft Auto V

 * Two P-996 Lazers are featured in the mission Minor Turbulence where the US Air Force use them to chase Trevor Philips after he hijacks Merryweather's cargo plane.

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * Missions
 * In Effin' Lazers the players must use two Lazers to destroy seven planes that are flying over San Andreas.
 * In Base Invaders the players must infiltrate Fort Zancudo and destroy three Lazers in order to steal a Cargobob without being chased by the military.


 * Heists
 * Several Lazers will try to shoot down the Pilot in The Prison Break until the land team broke Rashkovsky out of the prison. The Demolition must defend the Pilot by destroying the jets with a Buzzard Attack Chopper.
 * In Humane Raid - EMP a fleet of Lazers will respond to the help request of USS Luxington ATT-16 and will chase and try to shoot down the player that is flying the Hydra. Also, other players can stole the Lazers parked on the aircraft carrier in order to defend the Hydra's pilot.

Grand Theft Auto V

 * Multiple parked in Fort Zancudo (large hangar, two small hangars, outside some closed large hangars, next to the runway etc.)
 * Sometimes on the runway in Fort Zancudo.
 * Sometimes flying around Fort Zancudo.
 * Sometimes taxiing around Fort Zancudo.
 * One can be commonly encountered flying in Raton Canyon. Can very rarely be found flying in groups of 3. Cannot be obtained. It passes through every in-game half-an-hour.

Grand Theft Auto V
(NOTICE: This only works if playing the Cletus side mission Fair Game as part of the story mode. This WILL NOT work if replaying the mission.)

Obtaining
There is an easy way to steal one without difficulty in the side mission Fair Game. Because of a glitch, after Cletus lets Trevor go off and kill an elk on his own, the player can enter Fort Zancudo without getting a wanted level. From here, it is possible to steal a jet and park it in the hangar in Sandy Shores Airfield. Then, the player can head back and finish the mission as normal. The jet will remain in Trevor's hangar. Notice that if the player were to cause any explosion on the ground, the mission will fail.

Outside of this, another relatively safe way to steal the Lazer is to parachute straight into Fort Zancudo from a high altitude, and into the hangar where the jet spawns. The player should try to land on the cockpit to quickly escape. Alternatively, obtain a Rhino tank, and drive right through the gate and straight to one of the parked aircraft; if the player does not shoot anything with the tank cannon the only armed response will be soldiers with smallarms, not tanks, so the player should be invulnerable until he actually leaves the vehicle to get in the cockpit.

Another way is to jump the fence from the hill on the Northside of the fort with a fast vehicle. Once the player has cleared the jump drive to the left and follow the perimeter along the fence. This will allow the player to avoid heavy gunfire and easily avoid tanks, Given if the tanks isn't along the fence in the pathway. Proceed until the player reaches the airstrip. Drive down the airstrip on the right side. There should be some Lazers along the airstrip. quickly drive over and enter the plane. Once the player has taken off they should proceed to dodge missiles as they will be fired immediately after takeoff.

Escaping & Saving
If the player successfully steals a jet with or without cheats from Fort Zancudo and loses their wanted level, they must place it in a hangar as soon as possible, as the plane is likely to be shot up bad enough that the engines would be smoking. If it does, the player has a few minutes before the engine fails and the plane is essentially lost. (This can be avoided by Quick Saving and reloading the game; the plane will be completely repaired, or the player can switch to a different character then switch back after losing their wanted level. However, the jet will save when placed in a player's hangar, but will be lost completely upon switching hangar vehicles.

Obtaining
In GTA Online, the easiest way to steal a Lazer is to call Lester and have the "cops turn a blind eye" for $5000. Doing so will prevent the military to attack (as long as the player does not attack them) and let the player freely roam around the base and take the Lazer for themselves - no jet will pursue the player upon flying away.

Alternatively, the player can jump a vehicle over the perimeter fence in any of at least four locations with natural ramps on the outside perimeter. This is especially useful online, since the front checkpoints are gated.

Escaping
Often when stealing a Lazer from Fort Zancudo players will be shot down by other Lazers in the air. There are three ways to avoid being shot down. However, the player must also be careful to not fly close to Rhino tanks as the tanks are extremely accurate and can easily blast the jet.
 * The player can fly straight up. If they don't look back, the Lazers may de-spawn and the player can easily escape.
 * The player can fly as close to the terrain as possible until well clear of Fort Zancudo, preferably over an uninhabited area such as up a mountain or over the sea to lose the four-star wanted level. This method is somewhat difficult, and should not be attempted by novice pilots.
 * The player can try to dodge the missiles by doing stunts such as a flip and the missles may miss.

General

 * The P- prefix of the plane is possibly a reference to the the older combat aircraft designation system of USAF where P- means "Pursuit", which was eventually replaced by today's F- for "Fighter".
 * The AI-controlled Lazer has the ability to fire cannons in any direction, regardless of where the nose of the plane is aimed.
 * 996 is the in-game police codename for an explosion. It appears to be a coincidence, as all the vehicle's weapons are explosives.
 * The Lazer still uses an RPG's rocket when selected, which does not match the rockets mounted on the wings, which are much larger and more detailed.
 * The missiles on the P-996 appears to be modeled after the AIM-120 AMRAAM, a common air-to-air missile fitted on several fighter jets, including those that inspired the Lazer.
 * The difficult handling is somewhat realistic since the Lazer's cockpit is directly copied from the F-16. And the F-16 controls does not feature a "one to one" input, i.e., for most fighters, if the pilot moves the stick one degree, the plane moves one degree in the direction inputted. The F-16's stick, however, can be only moved 17 degrees in any direction. This means the stick is highly sensitive, especially to any fighter pilots who got used to the "one to one" input from other fighters.
 * The Lazer's nose heavy stance mirrors the F-16 is which is one of the first "relaxed stability" fighters created. During the design phase, the fighter's designer purposely threw the wings some 10 feet to the rear in order to increase the plane's maneuverability. This means without its fly-by-wire computerized controls, the plane highly nose heavy design makes it very, very hard for the pilot to control.

Grand Theft Auto V & Grand Theft Auto Online

 * If a blacklight is shined over Fort Zancudo on the Collectors Edition map of the game, it mentions the P-996 Lazer along with the Titan and the Buzzard.
 * Two P-996 Lazers intercept Trevor in the mission Minor Turbulence and eventually shoot down his hijacked Cargo Plane.
 * Also, the P-996 Lazer pilots realistically wear G-suits and flight helmets. This outfit is now available in the San Andreas Flight School Update.
 * Lazers can sometimes be seen flying on patrol runs around Mount Chiliad. They will engage on the target if they are attacked.
 * After patch 1.16, players now have the option to choose homing missiles or lock on.
 * The P-996's jet turbine has the ability to project any nearby NPC/player away, sometimes even killing them. This can also be done with the Hydra.
 * It is possible to take off the plane in backwards by going reverse fast, then tilting down the jet's nose making it do a flip, then engaging the thrusters while airborne.
 * The P-996 is carrier-capable as it is seen on board the USS Luxington ATT-16 on the flight deck and in the hangar.
 * If Agent 14's statement in Humane Labs Raid: EMP is taken literally, the P-996 entered service sometime in the 2000s, as the Hydra is stated to be 1960s technology and the Lazer is said to be 40 years newer.
 * However, the F-16C, the jet that the P-996 is based on, began production and entered service in the mid-1980's. The same story applies to the Hydra's counterpart, the British Aerospace Harrier II, which was introduced in 1989, approximately 20 years after the timeframe that the Hydra was said to have been produced, and only a few years after production of the F16C began, meaning that the F16C is actually older than the Harrier II.
 * If the player chooses to put aircraft helmets on, the player will equip a different targeting mode, which is more accurate, it also comes with a helmet-Inclinometer. This mirrors the real life Joint Helmet Mounted Cuing System (JHMCS) that is mounted on all F-16s, one of the planes the Lazer is modeled after. This system not only guides the jet´s guided missiles, but also display all the critical targeting and critical information system on the visor itself, vastly improving the targeting and the pilot's situation awareness. This is also present on armed helicopters as of the Heist Update, and the Hydra.
 * This is because armed, especially helicopter gunships also carry their own HOD, Heads Out Display, which again, displays all the necessary targeting and the copter's vital information onto the helmet visor itself.
 * As of Patch 1.17:
 * Players flying a Lazer will be indicated on the minimap by a special aircraft icon.
 * The cannon aim is reset to a small dot, though the player can change it to a complex aim.
 * The handling has been slightly smoothed, making it easier to control.

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