STARSNIPE Strategic Reconnaissance Craft

I'm working on a Starfleet SR-71. Meanwhile, here's a few things in the same vein as the Foch-class carrier thread.

TENSIONS FLARE IN NEUTRAL ZONE

Dateline 45262.4, Federation News Network, Deep Space 7

Federation officials were taken aback today when the Romulan government accused the UFP of violating Neutral Zone treaties.

Senator D'vorix claimed that Romulan orbital defense platforms destroyed a Federation "spy ship" and captured the pilot in orbit near the Romulan outpost on Scutus II. The alleged pilot was seen in a prerecorded interview and admitted to performing a "spy mission" in Romulan territory. Federation computer experts claim to have detected signs that the recording was tampered with and believe that the Romulans beat the pilot and tried to cover the evidence with computer image manipulation. A Federation psychologist also studied the recording and offered an opinion that the pilot was drugged or otherwise influenced during the interview.

The Romulans have also displayed a piece of wreckage that appears to be a dorsal fin from a Federation Snipehawk cultural research craft.

Captain Julio Sanchez-Sanchez, DS7's chief intelligence officer, ridiculed the notion that a Snipehawk could have reached Scutus.

"The specs for the Snipehawk are open to public viewing," stated the captain. "If you check the warp drive, you can see clearly that there is no way a Snipehawk could have reached Scutus. Not in less than a month, anyway, and those little ships only carry a week's worth of emergency rations."

When queried about the Romulans' possible intentions, Captain Sanchez-Sanchez replied, "The obvious answer is that they're up to something. At this stage, it's too early to guess what their plan is, and it might be harmful to our intelligence assets to speculate at this point."

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LUGTrek isn't really dead. Not as long as we remember it.

[This message has been edited by Sarge (edited 02-03-2001).]

An SR-71.

So she'll be big, black, super fast and a energy sheath to reflect high altitude recon, plus high tech sensors!

Any more?

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SIR SIG a Aussie TREK Narrator

To: DS7 Intell Office
From: SFI R&D Office
Date: 45263.3

Captain Sanchez-Sanchez,

I assume you remember two months ago, when we reported that the Snipehawk-S would have serious operational difficulties and that we would have to do a complete redesign to give you what you wanted, you replied that the Snipehawk-S would be an adequate short-term solution.
It occurs to me that you made that decision knowing full well that you wouldn't be the one in the cockpit.

I also want to remind you that you did not authorize SFI to allocate resources to design a new reconnaissance craft.

Finally, I want to point out that you stood up in front of the press and lied through your teeth.

Fortunately for the security of the UFP, we went ahead and designed a new ship without your authorization. However, you won't be around to see it become operational.

If you have any integrity at all, you will resign your commission. If not, I have records of our meetings and the decisions you made. I'm prepared to release them to the JAG when I charge you with reckless endangerment, incompetence, and criminal neglect of your duty. Rather than give Starfleet a black eye with your court martial, I'm prepared to let the matter drop, but only if you are gone permanently from Starfleet.

Captain Thev Tupauk

PS: I told you so.

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:) <<<<

LUGTrek isn't really dead. Not as long as we remember it.

(a brief piece of techno-music plays as an introduction)

"Welcome to today's edition of Face the Federation. I'm Bendari Ru'ul. We are honored to have a special guest here today for a discussion on recent events in the Neutral Zone. Joining us via subspace link from his home on Venus is retired Starfleet Admiral Eric Pressman. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us, Admiral Pressman."

"My pleasure, Miss Ru'ul. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to set your audience straight on some common misconceptions about the Neutral Zone and the Snipehawk incident."

"Let's get right to the point, Admiral. Is this incident the prelude to another war with the Romulans?"

"Not unless the Romulans think they can win it. In fact, I'd say this whole incident makes us safer. Many of the Federation's enemies think that we're the kind of idealists who don't understand that you can't always play by the rules. The Romulans now know that we're willing to violate the Neutral Zone to gather intelligence, and that will make us a more formidable opponent in their minds. They won't attack someone who's willing to do whatever it takes to win."

"So you do believe that Starfleet deliberately sent a spy ship across the Neutral Zone?"

"We don't call it a spy ship. It's a reconnaissance craft. But of course we sent it. We have to know what their intentions are, and more importantly, we have to know what their capabilities are. To do less than that would be to neglect our duty to defend the Federation. And the Romulans don't have any cause to complain; everyone knows they send cloaked ships to spy on us all the time. We're just trying to level the playing field."

"What do you think will happen to the captured pilot?"

"The Romulans know how to interrogate a prisoner. It's not likely he'll be returned to us before they milk him for everything he knows. Eventually, they'll agree to trade him for one or more of the Tal'Shiar agents we've picked up on our side of the border."

"Will Starfleet Intelligence cancel further spy - excuse me, reconnaisance - missions in the Neutral Zone?"

"We can't afford to blind ourselves just because one man got hurt. We'll have to put some more thought into the equipment and tactics we're using, though. Obviously we can't learn much if we get caught. UFP citizens can rest assured that SFI will figure out new techniques to keep them safe. Naturally, those techniques will be highly classified, but never doubt that they exist."

"Thank you for your time, Admiral Pressman. This has been a very illuminating interview."


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LUGTrek isn't really dead. Not as long as we remember it.

[This message has been edited by Sarge (edited 02-08-2001).]

STARSNIPE Strategic Reconnaissance Craft

Size 1, length 5.9 m, beam 3 m, height 1.9 m
SUs available/used: 325/325
Outer hull resistance 8
Inner hull resistance 2
SIF, main: class 1 (40/60) [1 pwr/10 protection]
SIF, backup: (20) [1 pwr/5 protection]
Specialized hull: atmospheric, planetfall, energy sheath, stealth, holo-emitter class Beta [20 pwr]

Crew: 2
Basic life support [1 pwr], reserve [1 pwr], consumables for 1 week
IDF: main (str 9)[3 pwr], backup (str 6)[2 pwr]
Transporter: 2 pads (in seats), type 3 emerg emitter (15,000 km), class A energ/trans coils (str 1)[1 pwr]
Fire suppression: str 10 [1 pwr]
Cockpit: fwd dorsal
Computer: 1 core [5 pwr], std ODN
Autopilot skill 3, coord 2
Nav comp: class 3 (+2)[2 pwr]
MSC: (+1d)[1 pwr]
Attitude control [1 pwr]
Comm: class 2, security Epsilon (str 2, -4 security)[2 pwr], emerg comm (str 1)[1 pwr]

Nacelles: 4B6, retractable [5 pwr], upgrade 4, downgrade 2 (3.8/7.4/9.982)[1 pwr/.2 warp], (3.7/7.3/9.9 with nacelles retracted)
PIS type A (4 hours)

Impulse: class 4A (.6/.85c)[1pwr/.1c]
Accel pkg Gamma (100%)[4 pwr]
Impulse thrusters (.95c, +1d@>.6c)[2 pwr]
RCS (.025c)[2 pwr]

Warp engine class 1A (90 pwr)
Impulse engine class 4A (35 pwr)
1 aux reactor (5 pwr)
EPS (+50 pwr transfer)

Long range sensors type 6, str pkg 1, gain pkg Gamma (+3)[5 pwr]
hi-res: 5 ly (.5/.6-1/1.1-3.7/3.8-5)
lo-res: 16 ly (1/1.1-5/5.1-12/12.1-16)
Lateral sensors class 1 (str 1), gain pkg Gamma (+3)[5 pwr]
Towed sensor array (double long-range and lateral gain, only gentle RCS maneuvers)[1 pwr]
Nav sensors: class 1, std gain [5 pwr]
Nav deflector: [5 pwr]
Probes: 10 torpedos and/or probes, usually probe class III, VI, and VII

TA/T/S class Alpha (str 7, acc 5/6/8/11)
Type V phaser, 180 degrees aft, std mode, 40 emitters (100 dmg)[1 pwr/10 dmg], 10/30,000/100,000/300,000 km
Std torpedo/probe launcher, fwd, spread 1 [20 pwr]
Shield class 1, fwd/aft/port/stbd (160 protection, 260 with nacelles retracted)[1 pwr/10 protection]
Distortion amps class Alpha (50 threshold, 60 nacelle retract)
Grid type A: up to (200 protection, 300 nacelle retract) (60 threshold, 70 nacelle retract)
Covariant shielding (sensor reflective)

Notes:
From a distance, the casual observer would be hard-pressed to tell a Starsnipe from its progenitor, the Snipehawk. In fact, the Starsnipe is a complete redesign which is enlarged and improved in many ways.

Putting in a two-man cockpit was a controversial decision. Many old-school "fighter jocks" wanted to have a single-seater, but SFI wanted to reduce the crew's workload, so the Starsnipe carries a backseater. The BIB (Being In Back) is trained to operate the sensors, and aft phaser, while the BIF (Being In Front) navigates and watches out for "the Hun in the sun". The backseat also makes the Starsnipe suitable for dropping off and picking up agents behind the lines, but SFI has not released any information on this kind of activity.

Snipehawk-S pilots had asked for the highest possible warp speed in the Starsnipe, but it was impossible to reach the desired speeds with embedded nacelles. Since exposed nacelles are not compatible with stealth aspects, the design engineers fitted retractable nacelles. They can function as embedded nacelles when retracted, but top speeds can only be obtained by extending the nacelles and giving up stealth operation.

Only a handful of Starsnipes have entered service. They are extremely expensive to build and difficult to maintain, so numbers are likely to remain low. The lucky pilots who have transitioned from the Snipehawk to the Starsnipe would like to see more of them; they claim the new craft has all the best qualities of the Snipehawk, while vastly improving on the older craft's weak points.


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LUGTrek isn't really dead. Not as long as we remember it.

[This message has been edited by Sarge (edited 02-10-2001).]