Those...SOULLESS COMMIE BACKSCRATCHERS! I put all that effort into designing the perfect weapon to fight them, and they design a weapon specifically focused on killing the thing I made! This is obviously the work of a spy who I shalt strangle with my own two hands!
Now, back to designing! I had actually thought of my own Fighter last night, going in a different direction. I think we can all agree that our main goal right now is teaching those lousy Type 20s who is boss. And the boss is us.
Z-2 "Dragon" Tank-Type Jet
A massive jet, lets say 10X the Z1 for now. Its main focus is thick armored plating defending the vehicle, ideally strong enough to take multiple hits from current-gen USSA missiles in any location without effecting performance. Its secondary focus is load-out, carrying as many missiles as it can safely. Speed and agility are willing to be sacrificed, though ideally it should travel fast enough that the Z1s escorting it do not stall.
There! We have a bunch of ore, so we should focus on using it. If we can get these things working at Very-Expensive or less, it shouldn't matter if they have perfect accuracy, they only have two missiles each and, with luck, this thing could eat them like potato chips.
Flares/Chaff: Since we got more-or-less free missile upgrades with the Sunrise, it should be *easy* to add chaff/flares to any new Jet that we make without needing an additional Design phase.