Photon/Quantum Torpedoes
Introduction:
Phasers are only useful as long as the vessel carrying them are operating in a sublight environment. By their nature, these weapons cannot function in a faster-than-light situation. As time passes, there are more and more hostile forces being encountered in our galaxy and we must have the means of being able to combat and defeat them. Part of this situation has created the need for weapons that able to be utilized while the vessel operating them is traveling at faster-than-light velocities.
In the earliest days of the Federation, the first weapons used on board space-going vessels were nuclear-based (fission) devices. At the time these were the most powerful devices known to Federation science. As time passed these weapons were replaced by fusion-based systems and were used for many years.
Approximately 100 years ago began the utilization of the photon torpedo device as it has become known today. This devices replaces the few pellets of matter and antimatter utilized in the first form of the torpedo device with thousands of smaller packets. This allows more interaction between the matter and antimatter, creating a more effective weapon by allowing a faster rate of destruction. (In effect, more is happening at any particular moment of the reaction process). The matter and antimatter supplies are stored in magnetic containment fields until detonation, when the fields collapse and the supplies are allowed to interact. There is a delay in the field collapse process due to problems in its testing phase when devices were known to detonate while still in the torpedo launch tube. Today the weapon possess a range of about 15 to 3,500,000 kilometers. The fuel supplies themselves are relatively slow, but the resulting energy release per unit of time is greater than from an antimatter pod containment failure.
Torpedo Configuration:
The photon torpedo casing is an elongated tube of duranium with a terminium skin layer. The torpedo casing measures 2.1 x .76 x .45 meters with a mass of 247.5 kilograms. Once completed, the casing is split with phased energy cutters and the internal equipment is installed. This equipment consists of matter/antimatter fuel storage tanks (and their intermix equipment), targeting systems, guidance equipment, detonation systems, and the warp field sustainer system. Additional cuts are made into the casing to install data interfaces and allow for the injection of the matter/antimatter reactants.
The warp field sustainer system is not actually a warp propulsion system due to its small power supply. This field absorbs a portion of the subspace bubble surrounding the vessel firing the device. The sustainer system is able to maintain this bubble and add a very small portion of energy to it, allowing the torpedo to accelerate away from the firing vessel. If the vessel firing the torpedo is at a sublight velocity, this system can accelerate the torpedo to a greater velocity, though not to faster-than-light speeds. This system can extend the torpedo's range by utilizing the matter/antimatter supplies of the warhead. This does have the effect of reducing the warhead's yield.
The firing process occurs within the launch tube. They are located on Deck 15 for the six forward and two aft tubes. Adjacent to the loading section of the tube is the device preparation area. It is here that the matter/antimatter supply is loaded into the torpedo (to prevent accidental detonation while in storage). It should be noted that torpedoes can be kept in the launch tube when it is felt they may be needed on a moment's notice. A matter/antimatter injection system is maintained in the launch tube assembly so that devices loaded in the tube do not have to be kept fueled. The torpedo storage capacity is 400 casings of either photon or quantum projectiles. The normal load is 300 photon torpedoes and 100 quantum torpedoes.
When ready to be fired, the torpedo tube is prepared. The tube consists of machined tritanium and sarium farnide. It is equipped with sequential field induction coils and launch assist gases to aid the torpedo in being fired. Once the device has been fired, the tube is cleared of all gases and the coil's charge is neutralized. The tube is then ready to accept a new device. Up to 10 devices can be loaded in the tube at any one time. In such a situation, the devices will remain in close proximity to each other for a distance of about 150 meters (depending on any input received from the Weapons Officer). At this point they will diverge and engage their targeting systems.
Torpedo Operations:
Operating a torpedo is not much of a consideration due their semi-autonomous nature. Torpedoes are generally utilized against targets located within approximately 15 degrees of the torpedo tube's orientation. Torpedoes are capable of rapid course changes to engage targets not in their direct path or those that are engaged in evasive maneuvering. They can also analyze maneuvering patterns and compare them to know patterns. The device can then attempt to "anticipate" the next move of the target and adjust course as needed to maintain a targeting lock.
In cases where a torpedo device has been fired at a target at minimum ranges, the targeting system transmit instructions to the deflector shielding management computers to intensify the shielding closest to the target. This is done to reduce the effects to the launching vessel of the impact on the target.
Control input for torpedo devices is generally received from the Weapons Officer, who in turn receives instructions from the Commanding Officer. The Weapons Officer is presented with input from the computer offering possible courses of action to improve the effectiveness of the device against the target.
Quantum Torpedoes:
This vessel is also capable of operating the new quantum torpedo designs being produced by the Federation. Because they are still very new systems, much of how they operate is still highly classified and cannot be discussed in this document. They are the same size as photon torpedoes and can utilize the same launching system.
System Accommodation & Related Systems:
Radiation shielding for the phaser service passageways has been improved to reduce radiation emission leakage from the power conduits. Automatic lockout subroutines have been built into the targeting and firing software to disable any weapon aimed at a target where the line of fire would intersect with the hull.
Phaser Array Introduction:
Even in the earliest days of space travel by our ancestors, it was clear that a method would have to be developed to be able to clear dust and microscopic particles from the path of a space-going vessel. A vessel moving at the speeds necessary for practical space travel (and even more so at faster-than-light velocities) would be severely damaged or destroyed by encounters with any type of object, no matter how small it is. Once deep-space travel began, methods were developed to perform this task that were extremely effective with a small energy expenditure. These systems would vaporize the material in front of the vessel, allowing it to pass without damage to the vessel. It was quickly realized that these systems could be developed into an effective weapon system for the spacecraft.
For over a century, the weapon of choice for starships of the Federation has been the phaser. It replaces the pure EM (electromagnetic) devices such as lasers and particle beam accelerators of past generations. Phasers use stored energy and converts it into another form for release upon the target without the need for converting it into an intermediate energy form.
Type X+ Phasers:
The Type X+ phaser emitter is the primary phaser weapon of the Intrepid design. They are located in the following places:
*- Amidship on the lower (ventral) surfaces of the hull contains a small strip for downward firing angles.*
This weapon is comprised of many emitter segments, each having a capacity of 7.4MW. The segments are grouped together to control their firing order, thermal effects, field halos and target impact. On the vessel hull, the take on the appearance of short strips. The majority of the emitter is contained within the hull structure out of view.
NOTE: In comparison, handheld phasers are designated Type 1 and 2. These are limited to approximately .01MW.
The base of the array is installed in a mesh platform of duranium 235 and operates with a liquid nitrogen cooling system. The channel the emitters are installed in is thermally insulated from the rest of the hull by multiple struts.
Arrays elements begin with a electroplasma assemblage (EPA) submaster flow regulator. This is the main method for controlling phaser strength levels for firing. This devices leads to the plasma division manifold (PDM), which divides into separate conduits for each emitter segments. The emitter crystal is the final part of the phaser system.
When a fire command is given, the EPA submaster routes plasma energy through a series of irises and magnetic switching gates. Iris response is approximately .01 seconds. The iris manages gross adjustments of plasma distribution. The magnetic gates have a reaction time of .0003 seconds. These are designed for fine-tuning of the energy stream with array sections. Control of these systems is usually handled by the phaser command processor and coordinated with the enemy assessment/tracking/targeting system (EA/T/TS). Flow regulators are constructed from combined crystal sonodanite and rabium tritonide. They are lined with a 1.2cm layer of paranygen animide for structural surface protection.
Energy is transmitted from the flow regulator to the PDM valving device on each prefire chamber. The manifold is a solid of double crystal boronite machined by a phased energy cutting device. The prefire chamber is a sphere of LiCu 518, reinforced with wound hafnium tritonide that is gamma-welded. Inside this chamber plasma energy is routed and experiences EM spectrum shift linked with HNI. The energy in the chamber is confined to between .05 and 1.3 nanoseconds with a collapsible charge barrier before moving on to the LiCu 518 emitter. The pulse for RNE is formed by the raising and collapsing of the charge barrier. The power level will be set by the control system (or Weapons Officer is on manual) which will determine the proportion of harmonic neutralization and pulse frequency in the end emitter.
Each segment of the final emitter crystal is formed from LiCu 518. It measures 3.25 x 2.45 x 1.25 meters. The crystal lattice formula used in the forced-matrix process is: Li><Cu>>:Si::Fe:>:O. The prefire chambers activated will determine which facet(s) the energy beam will pass from. Firing order, controlled by the phaser command processor, will determine the beam vector. Rapid firing orders create a narrow weapon beam. Wider beams suffer reduced power levels.
Phaser Operations:
In normal operations, phasers would be used in multiple volleys to either disable or destroy a target. Computer control, combined with input from the Weapons Officer, will determine the exact nature of the phaser burst (strength and emission pattern). Targeting information is generated by long and short-range sensor scans and fed into the TA/T/TS system. That will establish the best firing pattern to use against the target. In the case of multiple targets, they will be prioritized and targeted accordingly. Maximum effective range is approximately 300,000 kilometers.
A measure used by opposing forces to counter phaser weapons is the utilization of deflector shields and/or energy-absorbing hull material. It is possible for the phasers to overcome these defensive measures, but will usually require more power usage in the weapons. Phasers can be fired through the Sulu's own shields due to EM polarization with a minimal reduction in strength upon shield contact. Enemy shields will generally attempt to spread the phaser's energy over the area of the shield and/or reflect it back into space. This can be overcome by channeling more weapon power into the emitted burst in an attempt to overload the enemy's shielding. More advanced adversaries possess very strong shield generator systems. It has been found that a rapid-firing pattern can be more effective at shield disruption *than the previous tactic of target dwelling*.
In any event, the most effective method of target destruction is to maximize weapon strikes on the target's hull or shielding. It is also desirable to strike the same location(s) as often as possible to create a weakness in the enemy's defenses. In the case of the Sulu, it should be attempted to present a minimal target to the opponent. Aggressive maneuvering should prevent the enemy from being able to target weak areas in the defenses of the vessel.