Produced by Serredo Autonomous Aerospace in the early Colonisation Era, the ANTAC (All-New Tactical Aircraft) was an armed drone designed for new colonial governments.

The ANTAC was marketed as a next-generation aircraft, relying on new technologies to produce a vehicle much lighter than previous designs for similar levels of reliability. Weight savings were particularly attractive to colonies due to the significant cost of shipping mass on interstellar spacecraft. The ANTAC also offered state-of-the-art autonomy and target analysis systems, with capabilities similar to or exceeding the latest UN drones.

The aircraft attracted major interest from colonial governments interested in establishing military control over their populations. Most colonies at the time lacked the infrastructure to produce military equipment locally, as well as the personnel to conduct enforcement operations, but were often centred on extremely valuable natural resources which privately-sponsored governments were eager to restrict access to. Orders were placed for over 3,500 ANTACs by various colonies, based on the excellent performance and specifications of four demonstrators. Serredo shipped the orders over the course of five years; due to the travel times involved, production was completed before the first deliveries arrived.

There was just one catch in an otherwise smooth sale: none of the ANTACs worked. In fact, the only ANTACs that had ever worked were the four demonstrators. All the production aircraft were polymer and composite shells, fitted with a few mechanical components and civil aviation engines to pass basic inspection. None of them had electronics cores, sensors, or weapons rigs.

When hired investigators arrived at Serredo's orbital manufacturing station over Titan, some 15 years later, they were disappointed, if not entirely surprised, to find it gone. Serredo had ceased to operate, and all people involved had vanished, as soon as the last shipment of ANTACs was away.

No trace of Serredo was found until 300 years later, when the Serredo orbital platform was picked up by traffic control on the edge of the Groombridge 34 system. A UN system patrol cutter was sent to investigate, and determined that it had been towed from Titan orbit onto an outbound trajectory and cast loose. The station had clearly been abandoned since its departure from Sol, with no signs of any human presence in the intervening centuries.

Documents aboard the Serredo platform revealed that the entire ANTAC program had been a targeted scam designed to sabotage private militarisation in the new colonies. Having paid for the ANTACs and their shipping, and having waited years for their arrival, the customers had been left with little military funding and without the autonomous watchdogs that had been at the centre of their plans. In its failure, the ANTAC paved the way for civil governance and public ownership of numerous early colonies.

The success of the ANTAC scam depended on the convergence of a number of unique circumstances, such as the special requirements of fledgling colonial militaries and the long travel times of pre-FTL interstellar craft. Its planning was a remarkable exercise in foresight, and its execution apparently flawless. Even to this day, none of the people responsible have ever been identified.

Interestingly, the functional demonstrator aircraft, stored aboard the manufacturing platform, were discovered to completely live up to their sales pitch. The autonomous components of the drones were genuinely advanced for their time, and would have marked a significant improvement in artificial intelligence if released onto the wider market. Nevertheless, they were left aboard the station when it was set adrift, and the technology was never distributed.