Firebird-A Class gunboat
Overview:
The Firebird-A version of the Firebird class came about as a result of the Reforger program, the extensive effort to refit older ship designs still in service with the Terran Royal Navy in light of the experiences from the war.
The Firebird was one of the principal candidates for a refit. Although it was a swift and powerful ship it suffered from a deadly flaw in it's thin armor protection. At the start of the war this had not been a major issue since the Firebird could rely on it's great thrust to get into a strike position on high value targets, and then usually avoid retaliation afterwards from short legged fighter screens. But when the great houses started deploying their own gunboats as screening units, usually cheap converted freighters which cost a fraction of what a Firebird did, for their fleets the casualties for the Firebirds increased drastically while the value of the enemy ships destroyed dropped dramatically. Although the Firebird crews learned to perfect the dangerous art of Sabre Dancing (hard maneuvering against an enemy in order to get a favorable firing position without exposing yourself to return fire) there was no going back to the glory days for the Firebird.
The end of the happy hunting days called the entire concept of the big gunboat into question but the Terran Royal Navy was adamant in it's continued support for the Firebird, pointing out that there was nothing else in space capable of shouldering the Firebird's mission profile - so it was the first gunboat class to be considered for a refit.
Capabilities:
One of the principal goals of the Reforger program was to improve survivability and lower the dependency on high tech equipment, particularly such items as advanced weaponry and double strength heatsinks that the fleet can usually manage without. The Firebird gave up it's advanced long ranged Gauss Rifles and Extended Range PPCs in favor of standard PPCs and a solid array of Long Range Missiles, albeit without the advanced targeting systems originally planned for the design.
The wing mounted White Shark Missiles were downgraded to Barracudas both for improved anti-fighter capability as well as to make it possible to take out lightly armored enemy gunboats from a safe distance. Although this somewhat decreases the anti-shipping firepower of the ship the White Sharks were never it's principal anti-shipping weapon so the effect on the Firebird's strike profile is limited at best.
One of the main concerns Terran Royal Navy was the survivability of this large and expensive attack ship. The obvious solution to the survival of the ship would be to strengthen the hull at the expense of the small craft bay and add more armor. Unfortunately, apart from some structural improvements that could be made following the downgrade of the wing missile tubes, any significant reinforcement of the old hull design would effectively require a reworking of the entire hull structure of the ship. Faced with this problem it was decided to improve the Firebirds survivability by adding active defenses rather than passive ones so several anti-missile laser clusters were installed instead. The somewhat uncertain availability of ferro-aluminium armor plating and the slightly improved structural integrity allowed the Firebird to use standard armor plating without any significant drop in protection.
The final improvement was one proposed long ago, and carried out by the enemy on hundreds of Megalodons during the war against Amaris. The replacement of the four small craft bays with six fighter bays. The addition of a fighter bay greatly extends the Firebird's engagement envelope.
Variants:
There are several Firebirds that keep their original ferro-aluminium armor and as a result they are marginally better protected than the standard versions, these are designated Firebird-A1. The A1 version is also built whenever ferro-aluminium is available for new construction and was originally intended to be the main version of the refitted Firebird class, but uncertainties in armor production made the designers select the more common and easily manufactured standard armor plating for the main Firebird-A version.
A second Firebird-A version maintains the old design's small craft bay and uses long ranged small crafts for scouting or boarding actions, this version have no formal designation but each Firebird flotilla usually contains at least one such ship.
Deployment:
Despite it's age the old Rimworld Megalodon is still considered a premier front line gunboat and the Terran Republic are putting great efforts into keeping this class alive. The Firebirds in the refitted version or in their original configuration serve in almost all the premier Heavy Attack Wings of the Terran Royal Navy, such as the Hammer Wing(1st HAW),the Nova Makers(4th HAW) & the Wing of the Void(13th HAW). Despite the high priority assigned to these ships new construction have barely kept casualties from exterminating the Firebirds in a blaze of glory and their use is now mostly limited to major operations on the Combine and League frontiers.
Firebird-A Class gunboat
Type: Military Aerodyne
Tech: Standard
Introduced: 2796
Mass: 17,900 tons
Fuel: 400.00 tons (12.000)
Tons/Burn-day: 1.84 tons
Safe Thrust: 8
Max Thrust: 12
Heatsinks: 465
Structural Integrity: 22
Armor: 99 tons standard ferro-aluminium (A1)
Nose: 300 (30) 340 (34)
R/L Wings: 220 (22) 240 (24)
Aft: 140 (14) 155 (16)
Weapons:
Arc (Heat) Type Short Medium Long Xtreme
Nose(57 Heat)
4 KillerWhale (10 rnds ea) 16 16 16 16
3 LRM 20(30 rnds ea ) 4(36) 4(36) 4(36) -
2 PPC 2(20) 2(20) - -
3 small Laser 1(9)* - - -
LW/RW front(56 Heat)
2 Barracuda (10 rnds ea) 4 4 4 4
3 LRM 20(30 rnds ea ) 4(36) 4(36) 4(36) -
2 PPC 2(20) 2(20) - -
2 Medium Laser 1(10) - - -
3 small Laser 1(9)* - - -
LW/RW rear (24heat)
4 Medium Laser 2(20) - - -
Aft(35 Heat)
2 PPC 2(20) 2(20) - -
4 Medium Laser 2(20) - - -
3 small Laser 1(9)* - - -
Cargo:
Bay 1: Cargo ( 331.0 tons ) 1 Door
Bay 2: Fighter (6) 2 Doors
Jump Infantry (6 platoons**)
Escape Pods: 12
Life Boats: 12
Crew: 3 Officers, 19 enlisted, 12 bay
* anti-missile system
** normally not used except on ships with small craft bays
