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Federation attack fighter

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference

Federation attack fighter
A squadron of attack fighters

A squadron of attack fighters

Affiliation: Federation Starfleet and civilian use
Type: Attack fighter
Active: 24th century
Crew complement: 1-2
Armament: At least 3 torpedo launchers and 2 phaser emitters
Defenses: Deflector shields
Ventral view

Ventral view

The Federation attack fighter was a type of starship employed by Starfleet as an attack fighter during the Dominion War. (DS9: "Sacrifice of Angels")

Contents

[edit] History

The Maquis appropriated several of these ships and used them as attack fighters during their insurrection against the Cardassian Union. Prior to 2370 these ships were civilian Federation support couriers not used by Starfleet. (DS9: "The Maquis, Part II"; TNG: "Preemptive Strike")

The fighter cockpit interior was a modification of the Type 15 shuttlepod set, reused later in DS9: "The Search, Part I" as the Type 18 shuttlepod cockpit. A line in DS9: "Heart of Stone" suggests the ship class may be called Peregrine.
Fighters attacking the Dominion Fleet during Operation Return

Large numbers of these ships were used by Starfleet in the Dominion War. During Operation Return, eight successive waves of fighters were sent to attack the Cardassian ships of a Dominion fleet, hoping to provoke them into breaking formation and creating an opening for the Federation fleet. (DS9: "Sacrifice of Angels")

The script states the attack fighters were firing quantum torpedoes. The effect used for the phaser and quantum torpedoes was not however what is normally associated with those Starfleet weapons.

This ship type was also used as an Academy flight trainer by Starfleet Academy. (VOY: "Drone", "The Voyager Conspiracy", "Life Line")

Side view

[edit] Tactical systems

Firing Pygorian pulse cannons

The attack fighter was capable of carrying an impressive arsenal. When used by Starfleet in 2374, the ships had several forward torpedo launchers and at least one phaser bank with two forward emitters.

The torpedo launchers were mounted on the wings and on the nose of the ship. In some shots the wing torpedoes seem to be launched from the same spot where the pulse cannons were located in "The Maquis, Part II" and in others they seem to be coming from the three small visible tubes on each of the wings. These tubes would seem to be much too small to launch full sized torpedoes. In one shot, one of the fighters is seen firing a bluish white beam from the one of the two forward phaser emitters on the extended phaser bank under the nose of the ship. When a fighter fired the phaser from the same location in "What You Leave Behind" the regular Starfleet phaser effect was used.

When used by the Maquis in 2370, the fighters were armed with what weapons were available.

Pygorian weapons were used when an attack was planned at a weapons depot on the Bryma Colony. Two attack fighters divided the weapons purchased from the Pygorians and had the combined mounted arsenal of two hundred photon torpedoes, twelve pulse cannons, six ship-mounted high-energy disruptors and three particle accelerators. (DS9: "The Maquis, Part II")

The script of "The Maquis, Part II" calls for the fighter to fire phasers from its pulse cannons. The initial phaser blasts however seems like regular phaser fire from the extended bank under the ships nose. Photon torpedos are seen fired from the tube at the nose of the ship. When the torpedo tubes are damaged the fighter opens fire with phasers from two wing mounted banks that are not visible on the model. These shots look more like the pulse cannons called for by the script.

Captain Keogh referred to these two vessels as "lightly armed shuttlecrafts," compared to the Dominion ships he expected to face. (DS9: "The Jem'Hadar")

Later in 2370, according to Gul Evek, the Maquis attacking his ship were armed with photon torpedoes and type-8 phasers acquired from an unknown source. (TNG: "Preemptive Strike")

Visual effects show phaser fire pulses coming from the wings, where there are three visible tubes on each wing. Fire is also seen coming from close to the front ends of the embedded warp nacelles in the nose section of the craft. These banks seem to be targetable instead of firing straight ahead like the Pygorian pulse cannons in "The Maquis, Part II". No torpedoes were seen fired by any of the ships.

[edit] Appearances

[edit] External link

Retrieved from "http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Federation_attack_fighter"
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