GEPARD CLASS GUNBOAT
The Gepard is the gunboat version of the FDS's Cheeta class assault transports. Inspired by the Combine's new high preformance Okha class gunboat, the rather poor strike mission profile of NETC's Piranha class and the Capellan conversion of the Intruder assault ship into the Celestial Intruder gunboat configuration. The Cheeta was very well suited for gunboat conversion due to it's high thrust ratio and well protected hull. FDS only needed to make some redistributions of the armor protection to match the modern gunboat armoring schemes. Unfortunately the planned active defences, in the form of AMS arrays, were not reliably available to the Capolla yards. This caused the FDS to shift from the superior AMS to cheaper, and more generally available, laser clusters that were originally developed as part of the refit program of the older gunboat designs. The pentagonal laser clusters were mounted in larger numbers to compensate for their lower preformance. The project started in 2800, but as with the Intruder adding nose mounted missile tubes connected to missile magazines down in the old cargo bays on a sphereoid hull required extensive reworking of the upper half of the ship which delayed the project for years. When the design phase was complete FDS had major problems getting permission to actually divert resources to building the prototypes since the TRAS wasn't too keen on losing even one production run Cheeta to a prototype conversion.
Eventually FDS managed to get hold of two badly damaged Cheetas from the fighting on the Combine front for conversion. Though not flight worthy and thoroughly scavanged by DCMS troops for their advanced weaponry and double capacity heatsinks the basic hull frames and more importantly the fusion drives were essentially intact. FDS rebuilt the ships adding the new simplified weaponry and point defences as well as the massive twin missile tubes to the ships before handing them over for testing by the TRAS in 2805. With simpler more cost effective laser weaponry and single heatsinks the Gepard was also substantially cheaper than the transport version and the TRAS immediately took a liking to the design during their tests of the prototypes.
Production of the ship have turned out to be more troublesome, while the navy want it mass produced the army is very reluctant to reduce production of their favored "hot LZ" landing craft for yet another gunboat design. Efforts to disperce the production to other yards have also been troublesome both due to the original Cheeta's rather specialized design and a reluctance of other corporations to licens produce what is essentially a competing design to their own gunboat classes, so for now the main source for the Gepard gunboat remains the FDS Capolla yards where the TRAS army and navy fight for every slipway of yard capacity.
GEPARD CLASS GUNBOAT
Type: Military Spheroid
Tech: Star League
Introduced: 2805
Mass: 4,500 tons
Dimensions
Length: 90.00 meters
Width: 90.00 meters
Height: 85.00 meters
Fuel: 200.00 tons ( 6000 )
Tons/Burn-day: 1.84 tons
Safe Thrust: 6
Max Thrust: 9
Heatsinks: 220 ( single )
Structural Integrity: 40
Armor: ferro-alu
Nose: 1200 ( 120 )
R/L Sides: 420 ( 42 )
Aft: 600 ( 60 )
Weapons:
Arc (Heat) Type Short Medium Long Xtreme
Nose(67 Heat)
2 Killer Whale 8 8 8 8
2 Large Laser 3(26) 2(16) - -
2 Medium Laser
5 Small Laser 2(15) - - -
LF/RF(27 Heat)
2 Large Laser 3(26) 2(16) - -
2 Medium Laser
5 Small Laser 2(15) - - -
AL/AR(28 Heat)
2 Large Laser 4(36) 2(16) - -
4 Medium Laser
Aft(27 Heat)
2 Large Laser 3(26) 2(16) - -
2 Medium Laser
5 Small Laser 2(15) - - -
Cargo:
Bay 1: Cargo ( 90.0 tons ) 1 Door
Bay 2: Jump-Infantry Platoon 2 Doors
Escape Pods: 0
Life Boats: 8
Crew: 3 Officers, 12 enlisted/non-rated
Ammunition:
20 Killer Whale Missiles
Note:
Equipped with 144 tons of ferro-aluminium armor.
Cost:
373 million C-Bills.
