Photonic torpedo
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.
A Photonic torpedo is a type of tactical photonic antimatter weapon designed for use aboard starships.
[edit] Specifications
The photonic torpedo is equipped with a variable yield antimatter warhead. It has over fifty times greater range than the spatial torpedo. The variable yield was described by Malcolm Reed as being able to "knock the com array off a shuttlepod without scratching the hull, or put a three-kilometer crater into an asteroid." Antimatter to the warheads on NX class starships is provided by the ship's antimatter reserves. (ENT: "The Expanse", "Hatchery")
- An illegible warning label on the torpedo casing calls the photonic torpedo an antimatter ordnance device to be maintained on power at all times. There is a magnetic isolation field, that if breached will release lethal levels of energetic gamma rays. Also, magnetic devices operated nearby may interfere with the antimatter containment fields.
[edit] History
The Vissians utilized torpedoes armed with photonic warheads and charged with sarium microcells aboard their starships by 2153. So sophisticated were these weapons that the Vissians described the spatial torpedoes used aboard Earth Starfleet starships as "antiquated." (ENT: "Cogenitor")
Prior to their encounter with the Vissians, Malcolm Reed was not familiar with "photonic weapons." (ENT: "Cogenitor") However, back on Earth, the technology had been developed prior to April of 2153, when NX-01 Enterprise returned to Earth following the Xindi attack on the planet. These new weapons were installed in the ship's armory to better prepare them for the Search for the Xindi superweapon. (ENT: "The Expanse")
The use antimatter warheads aboard Earth starships came as quite a surprise to the Klingons in 2153. However, this form of torpedo still could not effectively penetrate the shielding of a typical Klingon Bird-of-Prey. (ENT: "The Expanse")
Klingon torpedo technology of the time, nevertheless, appeared to be much more advanced than both Earth and Vulcan technology, as some of their ships were already equipped with photon torpedoes. (ENT: "Sleeping Dogs")
[edit] Background
Startrek.com describes the photonic torpedo as the earliest model of a Starfleet photon torpedo.
It remains unclear what advantage exists between photon and photonic torpedoes, since both seem to have antimatter warheads with variable yields. Additionally, the exact time of when photonic weapon technology was upgraded to photon weapon technology on Earth vessels is unknown. The first evidence of such an upgrade comes in 2267 in TOS: "Arena". Even with a hundred year gap, photon torpedoes in the 23rd and 24th centuries use a similar casing as those of the photonic torpedo.
"Photon torpedo" may be a shortening of the original term, similar to the way we rarely say "cellular telephone;" the term has been shortened to simply "cell phone" over time. VOY: "Living Witness" would point to this conclusion as a photon torpedo was referred to as a photonic torpedo in that episode by the 31st century Kyrians.
A photonic torpedo casing was auctioned off in the It's A Wrap! sale and auction.
