USS ARGUS
WEAPONS SYSTEMS
Generally speaking, Starfleet vessels carry at least one weapon system of one form or another. Even the smallest shuttlepod has a rudimentary phaser system, though its possibilty of taking another vessel is chancy at best. Despite the fact that Starfleet stresses exploration and scientific research as the its primary goals, it never ruled out the militaristic applications of its starships. Either on the defensive or offensive, Starfleet ships have proven themselves capable platforms in combat.
In comparison to other powers in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, Starfleet tends to devote smaller internal volume of its ships to weapons. However, this is relative; a Federation starship is often more than a match for a vessel of equal size built by other powers.
Though in recent years Starfleet has increasingly specified ships with greater weapon loads, USS Argus still hold the basic Federation design principle that weapons and combat is secondary to peaceful exploration. Still its armament is quite impressive. The mainstay of Starfleet's weapons stock includes the phaser system, torpedoes of several models, and shielding. Other features are passive such as armor plating and hull reinforcements. In addition, USS Argus is one of the few that is now incorporating alien technology as part of its armament: this include the phase polaron beam system of the Breen.
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Type
X / Type XI Phaser |
The main battery of USS Argus consists of 10 Type XI (upgraded version of Type X) phaser banks. These individual banks are group together to form 2 linear phaser arrays, on the dorsal and ventral sides of the saucer plus one more on the saucer facing aft, and another pair on the connecting stuts of the warp nacelles. The phaser array design allows energy transfer from one segment to another via force coupling instantaneously. It is capable of rapid recharge/discharge cycle and had been praised for it low maintenance feature. One array can fire a single, focused beam of rapid nadions against a target or it can fire several energy beams at once on a the same or several targets.
The new fire control system installed aboard the Argus has a "fire-and-forget" mode, or more jokingly called the "look-kill all" mode, that allows the computer system to take over the phaser sytems and command it to lock onto several targets and destroy them as fast as the equipment or the command settings allow. This can be done one by one or simultaneously depending on the tactical environment. Also, the robust system have a mid-sequence abort feature that lets the tactical officer or the computer override a firing sequence just moments before the actual release of energy.
Nebula-class starships, along most of their contemporaries, were originally fitted with the basic Type X phaser array. While this had proven itself adequate for several years, more powerful beam weapons were needed in the light of the Borg and Dominion threats looming in the horizon. During the Dominion War, the Galaxy-class and the Nebula-class vessels were fitted with an uprated version of the Type X phaser, dubbed the Type XI. This system packs more power and flexibility than the earlier Type X , is easier and less costly to produce than the newer Type XII, and its compatibility with older vessels means easier fleet integration. It has been tested in combat, and is on its way to become the standard Federation beam weapon for older starships.
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Type
XII Phaser |
Originally labeled as "Type X+" as a security measure, the Type XII is the newest beam weapon system in the Starfleet arsenal. It was developed for used of large stationary platforms (targets, really) such as starbases and colonies and so the older units tended to be too large to be of practical use aboard starships.
Advances in minutiarization and the impetus brought about by the Borg, weapon designers finally came up with the scaled down version of the Type XII phaser and now is used by the newest ship classes of Starfleet. Nebula-class ships, while not fitted with this powerful weapon per se, received an upgrade in the form of the new Advanced Tactical pod that is equipped with three Type XII phaser banks instead of the Type X / XI carried by the Weapons Pod.
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Type
VI Phaser |
These phasers are older and less capable systems than modern designs. They are fitted on older starships, many of which have been or are to be phased out. However, this particular phaser system have proven very reliable for small vessels and a balance of size and power made it ideal for use in Federation runabouts, shuttles and other medium-sized spacecraft.
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Type
IV Phaser |
Another small but sure phaser system, this model arms the smallest of spacecraft in Starfleet inventory, especially shuttlepods.
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DEFLECTOR
SHILEDS |
Deflector shields, or simply shields, is the primary defensive apparatus of a starship against hostile weapons and dangerous natural phenomena. The standard Federation shield is compose of highly focused spatial distortions with intensely energetic graviton fields.
The shield's energy matrix is projected from the ship by shield transmitters located on several points on the hull. There are two general classification of shields, either bubble-type or hull-conformal. Starships are capable of projecting both, though the actual use is dictated by circumstances rather than by preference. Bubble-type shielding is used in tactical engagements, as it is projected the furthest from the hull and envelopes a greater volume, hence forming a bubble over the entire ship. The downside, however, is that it burn-throughs will be more likely as the shield will be thinner (as a balloon's skin is stretched out as its inflated).
The hull-conformal type on the other hand closely matches ship's curvature. The only disadvantage is that when a weapon impacts on it, it is much closer to the hull. And when a burn-through does occur, significant damage to the ship will be the result.
USS Argus, as with other ships, use both configuration. In addition, a shield matrix, whether bubble or conformal, is made of of several individual shield sections that overlap each other. So we have aft shield (back half of the ship), forward shield (forward half), dorsal shields (top half of the ship, forward to aft), and the ventral shields (bottom half). Though they work together, they are independent so that when one collapses or fails, the others can still function. They do share the same generators, though, and when these lose power, the whole shield system collapses.
Impacts on the shield produces Cerenkov radiation which an observer might percieve as a coruscating band of color, also rendering parts of the otherwise unseen shield visible to the naked eye.
Use of a vessel's shield renders tranport operations impossible. Though in recent years there had been procedures established to allow the use of tranporters even when the shields are used, such as creating wide frequency windows, it is still risky and unadvisable especially in tactical situations. The same principle holds in using transporter to beam over into a shielded enemy ship.
The USS Argus now incorporates a regenerative shielding system, a recent advancement that allows a large fraction of the impact energy to be absorbed by the shield generators and reused to reinforce the shield layers.
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ABLATIVE
ARMOR |
The original ablative armor, now known as Mk.I, was first introduced by the USS Defiant as a counter against the immense superiority of the Borg weapons but it proved its mettle against the Dominion forces instead. The armor consists of reactive plating designed to be an adjunct to a vessel's shields and basic hull structure, and has the capability of distributing the force of impact of a weapon through out the ship's structure, avoiding critical systems in the process.
Recently, the USS Voyager's return provided a much needed technological advancement on the ablative armor concept: the ablative armor generator. The Mk.II, as it is now known, is a series of devices implanted on the ship's hull. When activated it replicates a layer of armor over the hull surface, and its effectiveness is well documented in battle.
When the armor is hit, tiny work probes or nanites repair the damaged area, thus making it auto-regenerative. In addition, the armor proper has been doubled and has the potential to be increased further depending on a ship's resources. Because it covers the whole ship, phasers, shields, and transporters are inoperable. Sensors, warp factor, and power available to othe systems are also significantly reduced whilst the armor generators are engaged.
The USS Argus was fitted with ablative armor technology during the height of the Dominion War. She was recently upgraded to carry the Mk.II ablative armor generators as well.
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STRUCTURAL
INTEGRITY FIELD |
The structural integrity field (SIF) is one of the basic requirements for any modern spacecraft. This field is projected through the structure of a vessel,essentially turning the material into a cross between matter and forcefield. This increases the strength and rigidity by orders of magnitude, allowing the materials to withstand the stresses associated with both normal and combat operations.
The Structural Integrity Field of Starfleet vessels can also serve as a backup to the ships main shielding system if required; when run at above normal capacity the system is capable of protecting a vessel from even multiple direct hits by heavy weapons. This makes the SIF a key component in the protection of a starship.
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TORPEDOES |
Photon Torpedoes
These weapon has been in service for generations, from the early days of the Federation up to the present. Photon torpedoes has been redesigned and reconfigured progressively as the technology associated with it advanced, producing more destructive versions of the already potent weapon.
As most vessels in service with Starfleet, the bulk of USS Argus's missile weapons is composed of these dependable and versatile torpedo. Specifically, Argus carry the Mk-48 Type 6 Photon torpedo, the newest version of the Mk-48 torpedo family. The weapon casing is elongated and elliptical, 210 cm long and 76 x 45 cm across. It has an empty mass of 247.5 kilos. The warhead is composed of 3 Kg of explosives (half matter, half anti-matter) stored in small pellets suspended in a magnetic field. The explosive yield of the torpedo is determined by the number of pellets.
(Star
Trek : The Magazine)
The ship is equipped with three Type 3 burst fire torpedo lauchers, (two facing forward, one aft) each of which can fire a up to ten torpedoes in a single spread every five seconds. This option is rarely used in a non-fleet engagement scenario because of the wear and tear it subjects the lauchers to; alternatively, it can launch single shots at 4 torpedoes per second per tube. The torpedoes can be guided manually or by the ship's tactical processor; it can also home in to the target by its own guidance systems.
Quantum Torpedoes
Quantum torpedoes entered service in the early 2370s, the successful result of years of intensive research and weapons development efforts of Starfleet. And it came none too soon, as Federation starships were being outclassed by the Borg and the Dominion forces in terms of firepower.
Superficially it is similar to the photon torpedo, but the the similarity ends there. Quantum torpedoes took advantage of the zero point energy system heretofore considered unpractical. The device works by generating an eleven dimensional space time membrane which is twisted into a string similar in structure to a superstring. This process calls large numbers of subatomic particles into existence, liberating correspondingly large amounts of energy in the form of an explosion amounting to 52 isotons.
The actual fleet model is made of a shell of densified tritanium and duranium foam coated in an ablative layer and an antiradiation polymer coating. Great attention has been paid to making the weapon stealthy in operation by minimising the number of penetrations through the casing and by treating those which have been made.
Unlike the photon torpedo, the quantum warhead comprises of a zero-point field reaction chamber, which is formed from a teardrop shaped crystal of rodinium ditellenite jacketed with synthetic neutronium and dilithium. A zero-point initiator is attached to this; the initiator is made of an EM rectifier, a wave guide bundle, a subspace field amplifier, and a continuum distortion emitter. The emitter creates the actual pinch field from a conical spike 10-16 meters across at the tip.
The zero-point initiator is powered by the detonation of an uprated photon torpedo warhead with a yield of 21.8 isotons. The m/am reaction occurs at four times the rate of a standard warhead; the detonation energy is channelled through the initiator within 10-7 seconds and energizes the emitter, which imparts a tension force upon the vacuum domain. As the vacuum membrane expands over a period of 10-4 seconds, an energy potential equivalent to at least 50 isotons is created. This energy is held by the chamber for 10-8 seconds and is then released by the controlled failure of the chamber wall.
The propulsion and guidance systems of the quantum torpedo also represent improvements over the standard photon. The computer system is based around bio-neural gel packs, allowing more efficient data processing and so improved guidance capability.
Initially,
production was limited due to the system complexity. This was only circumvented
recently and the quantum torpedo is fast becoming a standard weapon aboard
large Federation vessels.
Tricobalt Device
Although by law Starfleet is not permitted to use subspace weapons, it still maintain the capability to produce and stock them. Most prominent of these is the tricobalt torpedo, a high-yield slow-reacting subspace weapon. It has an explosive capability of up to 20,000 Teracochranes, two of which can destroy an object a hundred times the size of Argus.
Because of its raw power, Federation starships only carry only up to six of these at a time if they carry them at all. It is primarily used against large stationary targets that would otherwise require dozens of standard torpedoes.
Transphasic Torpedo
Currently in pre-production status, this powerful torpedo system has been well proven in combat by the USS Voyager against the Borg. The high-yield capacity of this torpedo enable the ship to win single-handedly even in the face of overwhelming odds.
The technology behind this weapon is still not completely understood, yet because of the ease of use and fitting with ships, it may well replace all Starfleet's torpedo weapons in the near future.
Microtorpedo
(Star Trek : The Magazine)
As the name implies, this is a scaled-down version of the standard photon torpedo for use of small vessels such as runabouts and perimeter-action spacecraft.
Mines
(Star Trek : The Magazine)
The standard Federation mine is a simple weapon but very effective when used in large numbers. Whether to deny an enemy of access from an area of space or simple making a statement, mines ar e very efficient tools, and require little maintenance once in place.
Mines can be activated by several options. One is the command-guidance option wherein the lauching platform (i.e. a ship) remains in the vicinity of the minefield and activate them on command if the ship detected a target passing through the minefield. Another option is the pre-set mode, in which the mine itself, fitted with its own sensors, would actively or passively search for its target.
Sophisticated mines such as the Federation Mk.20 Encapsulated Torpedo, are capable of a number of detonating options. The Mk.20 is fitted with a micro warpdrive sustainer in addition to interference-resistant sensors.
USS Argus do not normally carry mines as part of her armament but is capable of deploying and/or controlling them should a mission requires it.
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Last Updated : April 12, '04 |
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© MMIV R.A. Lungay |
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