Qirex Research and Development, otherwise known as Qirex International, and variously stylized as QIREЖ, QIREX-RD, QІГЕЖ-ГD or QIЯЁЖ, is an anti-gravity racing team headquartered in Russia. Original design documents also introduced this team under the name Qirex Industries.
Approached by a former AG Systems executive named Holst McQueen, Qirex formed a long-standing ideological rivalry with both AG Systems and Auricom, which came to define the competitive climate of the sport's first century. The absorbtion of Qirex-RD into the more ruthless Tigron Enterprises caused this level of animosity in the league and the wider world to reach boiling point. Following the collapse of Tigron and the F9000, businessman Felix Levovich is credited with reviving the Qirex operation from scratch from its Russian-based manufacturing plant, and in turn bringing it back to competitive spirit in a modern age.
In the original trilogy of games, their design ethos was built around heavy ships with lengthy acceleration and slow turning, but blistering high-speed and high combat effectiveness. After the reintroduction in Pure, their ethos shifted instead to an all-rounder that prioritized defensive strength over acceleration. The retroactive inclusion of 2048 created a fusion of these two philosophies early into the history of AG racing, making high-speed combat-ready ships with moderate manoeuvrability and quite slow acceleration.
Continuing from the same foundations as the FX300 model, this ship competes handily with Mirage for having the most well-rounded flight characteristics, but is much more capable of taking a hit. While a bit slow off the mark, competant pilots will be able to extract its potential on all tracks and Speed Classes.
All-round upgrades fully eliminate the issues with race start launch and speed recovery, practically securing its place as a top and midfield contender in capable hands.