Squadron Organization and Regulations Manual

Squadron Organization and Regulations Manual (SORM) Page 1 Introduction Congratulations on your assignment to a fighter squadron of the Star Fleet. This assignment is an indication of Fleet's confidence in your skills and potential. By joining a fighter squadron, you become part of a proud tradition which extends back, not merely to the formation of your squadron, nor to the beginning of the Mako Project, nor yet even to the founding of the Star Fleet, but to the day when one member of your species first took up arms in the defense of another. Today, fighter pilots put themselves in the way of danger, protecting the citizens of the United Federation of Planets just as their predecessors have done for generations. It should by no means be imagined, however, that only the pilots are vital to the success of a squadron's mission. Without a staff full of mechanics, technicians, logistics specialists, intelligence analysts, stellar cartographers, mission planners, yeomen and mess specialists, the fighters could not fly, the pilots could not perform at peak efficiency. There are no insignificant jobs in a fighter squadron. Whoever you are, whatever your job, you have demonstrated your excellence. Now, we of the squadron are counting on you to continue that excellence, so that together we can fulfil the awesome responsibility we have -- to go in harm's way. CDR S'task FSCO, VF-11 Star Fleet Training Command, Fighter Division History The history of starfleet's fighter project, and ultimately of all fightercraft the Federation may yet use in the Star Fleet, can be traced to the Khitomer Accords of November 2291. With the Klingon Empire dealing with internal problems, and the Romulan Star Empire soon to withdraw all contact, the Federation and the Star Fleet were left without a perceptible major threat to peace. During the seventy-three years between the Khitomer Accords and the reemergence of the Romulan Star Empire, the Star Fleet underwent a major drawdown of its combat forces. Instead of defense, Starships were optimized for exploration. Then, within a year after the initial contact between USS Berlin and seven Romulan warships, USS Enterprise encountered the Borg. Suddenly, the Federation faced a need for combat vessels. Several projects were considered, to fill the need. Before any of them could be implemented, the Borg invaded, and the cataclysmic battle of Wolf 359 ensued. This was to be a harbinger of things to come. In short order, the United Federation of Planets faced wars with the Borg, the Dominion, and the Cardassians (twice). The century of peace was over. In 2376, Star Fleet commissioned the first Mako fighter. Designed to serve as defense for stationary installations such as planets and starbases, the Mako Mk. 1 fulfilled its mission admirably, contributing to the defense of Earth during the second Borg invasion. During the Dominion War, Mk. II Makos of the First Fighter Squadron formed a rearguard. Though many pilots were lost in the battle, their sacrifice enabled several transports full of civilians to escape safely. Despite its excellent service record, there were deficiencies in the Mako that Star Fleet Command felt needed to be addressed. Key amongst these was the fighter's low survivability ratio. Only sixty-five percent of the Makos sent on combat missions were returning. The original Mako designers, along with several members of the Defiant and Sovereign class starship design boards, began work in 2398 to redesign the fighter. The first Mk.III Makos entered service with the newly formed Ninth Fighter Squadron (9FS), in 2401. Before the year was out, the Ninth Fighter Squadron was assigned to USS Gaius Marius, and renamed Carrier Fighter Squadron Nine (VF-9). The assignment was an experiment, intended to test the new fighter's usefulness in new roles -- close air support for Marines, CAP for fleet units, and other missions. The Second Cardassian War saw the baptism by fire of VF-9 and the proof of the carrier-borne fighter concept as a vital part of the Star Fleet. The Assault at B'khai started as a minor confrontation between Star Fleet Marines and a garrison of occupying Cardassian troops. In short time, both sides called for reinforcements. By the end of the battle, an entire Marine Regiment had faced and defeated nearly double their number of Cardassian Army regulars, and a large contingent of Jem'hadar left in Cardassian control after the Dominion war. Though VF-9 lost nearly a quarter of its fighters, they were cited with keeping the death toll among Star Fleet Marines from being higher than it was. Through close air support, artillery suppression, dropship escort, and enemy troop transport interdiction missions, VF-9 ensured the future of carrier-borne fighters in the Star Fleet. Despite these impressive accomplishments, many fighter pilots still felt that the design of the Mako could be improved upon. ASDB indicated a lack of interest in persuing further design changes, so a private firm, Broken Drive's Suzuki Konbinaato, began looking at the question. Recruiting a panel of expert pilots, including most of the Fighter Squadron Commanding Officers in the Fleet, Suzuki quickly focused on the area they felt could be improved most effectively: the fighter's propulsion suite. With its maximum speed of Warp 4.5, the Mako was ineffective in fleet point defense roles, as well as in customs and border patrol roles, where larger ships could easily out run the small fighters. Suzuki quickly developed a new Matter-Antimatter Reactor Assembly and warp engines capable of propelling the small craft to greater velocities, though range was strictly limited. Now being issued to fighter squadrons, the Gueken promises to play an important role in fleet and station defense for many years to come. Mission The basic mission concept for the Gueken was defined in the Design Specification Package as "a vessel capable of: 1. Operating in defense of fixed or mobile installations with minimal resource expenditure; 2.Providing support and defense to ground units, as well as serving as a mobile communications relay, and providing tactical coordination; 3.Operating as a point-defense fighter during Fleet operations, including traffic interdiction. 4.Coordinating with major Fleet units in any conceivable offensive or defensive scenario." The Gueken is a major upgrade from the Mark III Mako. While retaining the Mako's atmospheric capability, which allows the fighter to act in roles such as close air support, artillery coordination and suppression, and drop ship escort for Marine units, the new fighter has significantly improved manuverability, increasing its capablity to assume roles such as traffic interdiction for Fleet point defense, as well as customs / border patrol activities. As a communications relay station and battle coordinator, the Gueken is capable of handling and relaying message traffic on a geometrically scaling level; the more fighters are present, the more message traffic they can handle. The expert systems link to handle the message traffic in a cooperative fashion, rather than each fighter handling every frequency. This relay can be performed without noticeable degradation of the system's normal functionality. Gueken fighters can be carried aboard any ship which has standard shuttlebays; as part of the design specification, no special equipment is required to launch, recover, or maintain the fighters, other than that which can be moved from ship to ship using a standard cargo transporter. Fighter Squadrons A total of ten fighter squadrons currently serve the Star Fleet actively, with an eleventh assigned to Training Command. They are numbered sequentially in order of founding. VF-11, assigned to Star Fleet Training Command, serves a dual purpose. Only 16 pilots are assigned on a permanant basis. Half of these serve as a cadre of flight instructors, training new pilots to handle the Gueken fighter. The other half are trained in enemy tactics, and fly against the other squadrons during "Agressor" training sessions. Stations and Carriers Squadron / Station Carrier Fighter Squadron 1 (VF-1) / USS Quanah Parker 2nd Fighter Squadron (2-FS) Starbase 867, Broken Drive Carrier Fighter Squadron 3 (VF-3) / USS Goddard 4th Fighter Squadron (4-FS) / Starbase 1, Earth 5th Fighter Squadron (5-FS) / Deep Space Gamma 1, Kelsius IV 6th Fighter Squadron (6-FS) / Starbase 4, Vulcan 7th Fighter Squadron (7-FS) / Starbase 968, Bajor 8th Fighter Squadron (8-FS) / Starbase 23 Carrier Fighter Squadron 9 (VF-9) / USS Vanguard 10th Fighter Squadron (10-FS) / Starbase 3, Andor Carrier Fighter Squadron 11 (VF-11) / USS VonBraun, Star Fleet Training Command SORM Page 2a - Gueken Technical Details General Specifications Name: Gueken Fighter, Mark I, Mod 1 Role:Short/Medium-Range Interceptor/Interdictor Length: 10m Speed: Atmospheric: Mach 2 Interstellar: Cruise Mode - Warp 4; Burn-Out Mode - Warp 9.9 Impulse Engines: Standard with Overdrivers Warp Engines: M/ARA Type SCE, Mark IV, Mod 3 Maneuvering: Twenty-Six Type V Reaction Control System (RCS) Thrusters Computer System: Daystrom Model ES924-C Expert System Crew: 1 (2 in trainer version) Gravity: Type III Inertial Dampers Armor: Parametallic polydiburnium with crystalline ablative matrix Armaments: Phaser Cannons, 2 pulse-type Quantum Mini-torpedoes (16 max. Shielding: Tri-layered multiphasic harmonic Misc.: Standard Tractor Beam Variants: Scout (with ECM) Ground Assault Trainer (Crew: 2) Construction Schedule The Gueken fighter is a product of Suzuki Konbinaato, Broken Drive, and all fighters produced to date have been built in their facilities. Negotiations are underway which would allow all H9 compliant facilities to produce the craft. To date, less than one hundred fighters have been produced, with ongoing production to replace older fighters in squadrons, and to replace combat losses. Shields The deflector shield system of the Gueken is a hybrid of Federation and captured Borg technology called multi-layered shielding. The shields are composed of three shield layers nested closely together. The outer layer is optimized for distribution and radiation of thermal energy. The middle layer rotates shield frequency and nutation, absorbing enemy fire and spreading it out along the shield before finally redirecting it into space as thermal energy. The shield can then adapt to the frequency of the enemy weapon and render it useless. The innermost layer is virtually identical to the middle layer, though the nutation is polarized in an opposite direction to the former shield's This redundancy serves two purposes. First, it ensures that the fighter will not be caught unawares by a weapon tuned to the shield's frequency, as no two layers will ever be tuned to the same frequency. Secondly, it ensures an additional margin of survivability during combat situations. The innermost shield forms within five meters of the fighter's hull, with the outer layers forming at an approximate three meter interval beyond that. Shield power is drawn from the fighter's M/ARA. Armor Comprised of layers of the light alloys used in the construction of the Defiant class, the fighter's armor can best be termed ablative parametallic polydiburnium armor. Its surface has the ability to reflect much of the energy from beam weapons (q.v. SHIELDS). The hull is also treated with sensor-absorbing substances designed to reduce the sensor signature of the fighter. While not as stealthy as a cloaked vessel, a lone Gueken can lie in wait powered down and go undetected by any but the most through of scans. Armament Most of the weapons systems carried onboard the Mako fighter have been carried over to the Gueken. The pulse phaser cannon, a hybrid of phaser and disruptor technology, is carried in paired, front-mounted linked configuration. The phaser cannon automatically rotates frequencies, and in conjunction with the expert computer system, can home in on opposing craft shield frequencies, increasing the weapon's effective yield. The missile weapons system has been designed to handle standard issue quantum minitorpedos. More stable than the conventional photon torpedo, and capable of a warhead yield of approximately 18.5 isotons, the quantum weapon is carried in sixteen individual launch tubes, distributed among the fighter's four engine pylons. The maximum velocity of the torpedo's warp sustainer engine is determined by the speed of the launching vessel, as determined by the formula Vmax = V1 + 0.75*V1/C, where V1 is the velocity of the initiating vessel. Computer / Targetting System Following the Federation High Court Decision on the Rights of Synthetic Intellegences as Sapient Beings (UFPHC Ruling 188901, Section 1, Subsection C), the production of new Artificial Intelligences has been halted. While existing AI units can be fitted to the new fighter (with the consent of the AI), the Mako's AI has been replaced by a sophisticated Expert System. Developed by a design team from Memory Alpha in conjunction with the Bynar Institute, the systems onboard each Gueken are operated by an Expert System (ES). The ES monitors the status of the fighter as well as the pilot. As the pilot logs more flight time with the ES, the ES becomes more aware of its pilots needs and abilities. Its link to the holographic targeting heads-up display (HUD) enables it to assist the pilot with tracking multiple targets. While most commands to the computer are verbal, several functions, such as targeting, can be configured to be visually activated (giving a new meaning to the term "look down, shoot down"). With time, the ES will use its knowledge of its pilot's preferences (for attack, maneuvers, etc.) to help the pilot in deciding a plan of action. Using the fighter's incredible communications ability, all fighters in a flight, wing, or squadron can share their telemetry, assembling a composite image of a battle's progress. In addition to increasing the individual pilot's situational awareness, this situational database may be of great use to flight controllers planning mission tactics. Unlike the AI carried in the Mako fighter, the Gueken Expert System has neither self-awareness nor individual personality. The ES is incapable of disobeying or countermanding orders given by the pilot, making it impossible for the pilot to lose control of the craft due to ES interference. If a pilot should be rendered unconscious during a mission, the ES will recognize this and navigate a course to the nearest safe location. In extreme situations, a single pilot can control multiple fighter craft, by slaving their Expert Systems to his own. Cockpit / Ejection System Cockpit controls have been designed to minimize familiarization time for any Mako-qualified pilot. The Gueken retains the two-hand, two-foot control system used in the Mako, in which the pilot's primary hand controls the weapons systems, as well as pitch and roll, while the secondary hand controls velocity. Foot pedals control yaw. Additionally, five configurable multi-function displays can show tactical, engineering, or weapons system status, as well as information from external sources the fighter may be able to access. The holographic head-up display serves as a virtual sixth display, shortening pilot response time in combat situations. Integrated into the rear of the cockpit is the pilot survivability module, known as the Pilot Out In Space Ejection (POISE) capsule. This module is designed to activate in an emergency, giving the pilot a margin of safety in conditions where transporters can not be used, due to distance, intervening shielding, or other unforeseen circumstances. Upon activation, POISE activates explosive bolts, which set off a sequence of events. First, nets deploy around the pilot, then tighten, bringing arms and legs safely within the module's boundaries, to avoid accidental amputation. Then, a multi-segmented Physical shield deploys, enclosing the pilot in a bubble which holds both atmosphere and temperature. Finally, the entire module is propelled clear of the fuselage of the fighter craft. Once POISE has been ejected from the fighter, it contains consumables capable of sustaining the pilot for up to five hours. In addition, it contains a medical stasis generator, which the pilot can use to enter protective hibernation. Though the longest-duration test conducted with this specific hardware is a period of twelve months, it is based upon the same principles as the pods in which the Vaadwaur survived for nearly a millennium. The module is equipped with an automated distress beacon. This beacon is dormant until it is activated by either incoming Star Fleet coded IFF transmissions, or by manual pilot override. Propulsion The propulsion suite of the Void Gueken fighter is comprised of three major systems: the warp drive, impulse engine, and reaction control system (RCS) thrusters. The Gueken uses an enhanced small craft engine, with two microfusion reactors and a mater / antimater reactor assembly (M/ARA) in a sealed unit, along with deuterium and anti-deuterium storage. Reaction Control Thrusters: In vacuum, Newton's laws of motion can be observed in a nearly pure environment, and in a much more obvious fashion than in an atmosphere. Once a fightercraft has established a vector, for instance, it will continue to move in that direction and at that speed for a practically infinate distance, unless thrust is applied to change its momentum. For this reason, the Gueken has a linked group of twenty-four RCS thrusters mounted as far as practical from the fighter's center of gravity. Because of the fighter's low mass, the RCS thrusters provide angular momentum, and thus, agility which can not be matched by larger ships. Impulse Engines At sublight speeds, the fusion reactors power the impellor coils, which lower the aparent mass of the fighter, as well as activating the energetic plasma which serves as reaction mass for propulsion. The actual impulse thrust emitters are located on the trailing edges of the engine mount pylons, providing for thrust vectoring. Warp Engine / Nacelles As defined in the Design Specification, the sealed M/ARA core used in the Gueken has a maximum cruise mode output of 150 cochranes, enabling the craft to reach a speed of warp 4.5 at maximum output. In this mode, the range of the craft is practically limited more by the pilot's endurance than by the fighter's. In burn-out mode, this output increases to a maximum of 2000 cochranes, enabling the craft to reach a speed of warp 9.9. As the name implies, burn-out mode can not be sustained for lengthy periods. The craft's supply of deuterium and anti-deuterium is consumed at a rate which increases on a geometric scale as velocity increases, and the increased violence of the matter-antimatter annihilation reactions causes damage to the dilithium crystals within the intermix chamber. At maximum velocity, the ship's power plant will deplete its consumables literally within minutes. Damaged dilithium crystals must be removed and replaced by qualified engineering crews onboard the squadron's duty station. These damaged crystals can be restructured in a Starship's engineering core, to enable them to be reused. Due to the likelyhood of damage, the Gueken is equiped with four warp nacelles, though it is capable of making warp speed on any one. Designed for the Gueken, the craft's nacelles are the latest in propulsion technology. They use low impedance warp coils which lessen the craft's effect on subspace, as well as lowering the effective power needed for a given mass / speed matrix. Each nacelle contains a complete set of four warp coils, creating a bulky, bulldog look. Under normal conditions, only one coil in each nacelle is actually in use. This arrangement increases the angular distance between the lobes of the warp field, leading to increased manuverability at hyperluminal velocities, though it lowers the overall efficency of the system. For increased efficency, and higher straight-line sprint speeds, the warp field can be flattened by reducing to a standard two-nacelle operation. Should circumstances dictate, any one or all four of the nacelles can be jettisoned.