Search
Cookie Usage Statistics Colour Key Sudden Death Monthly Poll Caption Comp eMail Author Shops
Ships Fleets Weaponry Species People Timelines Calculators Photo Galleries
Stations Design Lineage Size Charts Battles Science / Tech Temporal Styling Maps / Politics
Articles Reviews Lists Recreation Search Site Guide What's New Forum
Jonathan Archer Soji Asha Reginald Barclay Julian Bashir Chakotay Christine Chapel Pavel A. Chekov Pavel Chekov Zefram Cochrane Beverly Crusher Wesley Crusher Damar Daniels Data Dax Richard Daystrom Degra Dukat Michael Eddington Elnor EMH Forrest Elim Garak Gowron Guinan Kathryn Janeway Agnes Jurati Kahless the Unforgettable Kes Harry Kim Kira Nerys James T. Kirk James T. Kirk Geordi La Forge Leeta Lore Martok Travis Mayweather Leonard McCoy Leonard H. McCoy Morn Raffaela Musiker Narek Alynna Nechayev Neelix Nero Nog Keiko O'Brien Miles Edward O'Brien Odo Thomas Eugene Paris Phlox Jean-Luc Picard Christopher Pike Katherine Pulaski Q Quark Janice Rand Malcolm Reed William T. Riker Cristóbal Rios Rom Alexander Rozhenko Worf Rozhenko Sarek Sarek Hoshi Sato Montgomery Scott Scotty Seska Seven of Nine Shran Silik Benjamin Sisko Jake Sisko Noonien Soong Soval Spock Spock Hikaru Sulu Hikaru Sulu Surak B'Elanna Torres T'Pau T'Pol Deanna Troi Lwaxana Troi Charles Tucker III Tuvok Nyota Uhura Nyota Uhura Weyoun Winn Adami Natasha Yar Additional People The Original Series The Next Generation Deep Space Nine Voyager Enterprise La Sirena Star Trek XI Enterprise

Ablative Armour

NotesImages
Universe : Prime Timeline
Name : Ablative Armour [1]

Ablative armour was originally developed for the USS Defiant [1]; the Borg had proven their ability to penetrate Federation shields with ease during their encounter with the Enterprise at system J-25 [2], and the Defiant designers wanted the ship to have a degree of protection even if the shields should be overcome in the expected future encounters. [3]

The value of the armour was proven when the Defiant came up against Dominion forces. Like the Borg, the Dominion were able to penetrate Federation shielding systems relatively easily in the first years of hostility between the two powers [4], and the Defiant's ablative armour allowed the ship to withstand attacks that would have otherwise caused significant damage. [5]

Recently there has been a massive revolution in this technology with the appearance of the ablative armour generator. This device was given to the crew of the USS Voyager by a future version of Admiral Janeway, who travelled back in time to the ship in order to assist them in returning home from the Delta Quadrant. The generator involves a series of devices placed onto the hull of a vessel; when activated these replicate a layer of armour over the surface of the ship. The effectiveness of armour is considerable. The system Voyager employed was able to withstand a simultaneous attack by several Borg cubes. One of the most useful features of this system is that as it can be materialised and dematerialised as needed, even weapons systems can be covered over when they are not actually in use. This gives a much greater degree of coverage than any standard armour protection which must leave permanent apetures to operate such systems through. [6]

At time of writing Starfleet had had relatively little time to asses this technology, but it was simple to adapt it for use on Voyager without spacedock or any outside support [6], indicating that it should be reasonably easy for the remainder of Starfleet's ships to create ablative armour generators for themselves. This should multiply the hull strength of the fleet massively at a single stroke.

Colour key

Canon source Backstage source Novel source DITL speculation

References

# Series Season Source Comment
1 DS9 3 Past Tense, Part 1
2 TNG 2 Q Who
3 Various Deep Space Nine episodes
4 DS9 2 The Jem'Hadar
5 DS9 3 The Search, Part 1
6 VOY 7 Endgame, Part 2
Series : DS9 Season 3
Episode : Past Tense, Part 1
Series : TNG Season 2
Episode : Q Who
Series : DS9 Season
Episode : Various Deep Space Nine episodes
Series : DS9 Season 2
Episode : The Jem'Hadar
Series : DS9 Season 3
Episode : The Search, Part 1
Series : VOY Season 7
Episode : Endgame, Part 2


© Graham & Ian Kennedy Page views : 48,488 Last updated : 1 Jan 1970