This is a difficult one - only one item allowed? Any chance of expanding that a bit? We could all vote! If I get the AF series' wrong please forgive me?
Anyway, I outline a few options?
SAS and/or Z?
(on the same basis that a Z Force base has AF insignia on the flag?)
Chinook - with refuelling probe for Herc air-to-air refuel, minigun or jimpy for crew member. Could also carry Commando Arty (see below)
Sea King - raid on Pebble Island vintage plus refuelling probe for Herc air-to-air refuel, minigun or jimpy for crew member. Also could carry Commando Arty?
Lynx - European Central Front era, TOW missiles on the side plus jimpy.
Harrier - maybe not the GR3 but a slimmed down version a la AV8B or Sea Harrier 1 - sidewinders, rockets, bombs.
The Red Shads
Airpower -
They've got the Roboskull so for infantry support and those tricky desant missions they needed some terrifying choppers...
Hokum - with mean pilot, dunno if they ever actually made it to the last phase of Afghan wars, but still bristling with rockets, titanium armour, missiles, mean chain gun.
Havoc - bristling with Afghan era titanium armour and multiple rocket batteries
Hind - Afghan era for troop transport and languid anti-armour attacks
Seapower (aka the Kraken Travel Agency)
Water Moccassin - need to rename Copperhead
Moray - Lamprey would be perfect in red guise.
Space
Roboskull docking station with satellite deployment capability
Landforces
Base? - All those Shadowtraks and Hyenas would need refits occassionally.
Z
"Commando" Artillery - Falklands era 155m with baseplate a la Bosnia RRF too (them being for rapid deployment anyway), with option to tow or bring in by HELO.
Hovercraft - a jumped up version of the flawed AF series 4?
Z got loads of stuff in the third series - Lance, Dart, the amazing Z APC.. But that arty prob just won't go away!
Q
Base? -
Space -
Base - What are Cosmic Cruisers and Triad Fighters for without a base?? Plus I have at least one promo pic with it in (I think there's one also on this site) and it's in BAF....
The decision...
On the basis that, if there had been a SAS-Z-Space-Q-Shads wave 3 then the Moray and Moccassin could easily have been integrated into the series I think. Also, someone somewhere wanted a base for Space but it was never produced for some reason but prototypes were in some promotional material (even making it into an early BAF story).... Plus, members of this site have already created a lot of cool customs like the Red Shad canoeists ergo they sort of exist! So, that rules out some of the options.
I'm a sucker for the old SAS so, although I'd love some commando arty instead of the Attack Cannon (ready for pensioning off to guarding Z base?) and a Lynx, or a grimly crossboned Hokum and/or Hind for the Red Shads, after all they needed to lift the Laser Exterminator around sometimes I guess, I want a Chinook for those complicated long range recce/behind the lines hit-and-run deployments/bluewater infils (Jonesy take note.)
Or maybe I'm too heavily influenced by Victor-Two type scenarios against the dastardly Shads ... or maybe I'm too realistic about the absolute mutli-role fire superiority conferred on the Shads by the monstrous Roboskull!
Could we maybe nominate one item (beyond what could have been integrated into a third or fourth series from CPG Products/Hasbro??) and have another vote?
Very respectfully,
PS. To dive back into the AF (SAS Z et al) to Marvel (Flint et al) continuum, I remember a US cartoon in the UK Marvel comic having a very fine WARPAC APC and Hind at the disposal of the enemy each of which could have been (gulp.. heresy...) insinuated into the true AF world... Even though they were blue/metallic grey.