Granite class Interceptor

Granite class Interceptor
Distant Fringe vessel.
Type: FC Microfighter
Category	[[Smallcraft]]
Size	6 Tons
Hull Configuration	[[Cone Hull]]
Streamlining	Streamlined Hull
Tech Level	TL–7
Engineering
Computer	1
Jump	J-0
Maneuver	2 G
Armaments
Hardpoints	1
Accommodations
Staterooms	0
Personnel
Crew	1
Officers	1
High/Mid Passengers	0
Payload
Cargo	0.0 Tons
Fuel tank	0 Tons
Construction
Origin	Distant Fringe
Year Operational	None
Price
Cost	MCr8.150 (base) MCr6.520 (qty)
Architect fee	MCrAde Stewart
Statistics
Quick Ship Profile	PL-1A20
Images
Blueprint	No.
Illustration	No
Source
Also see	Interceptor
Canon	Published, fan design
Era	1105
Reference	Fan: Ade Stewart
Starships are designed with the Classic Traveller format, using High Guard.

The Granite class Interceptor is a combatant smallcraft.

• It is a military ship and a fighter.
• This is a generic class of smallcraft.
• Please also see AAB article: Ships of the Distant Fringe.
• Please also see AAB article: Warships of the Distant Fringe.

Description (Specifications)

The Interceptor is a cheap, reliable vessel designed to engage enemy units from close range. Similar designs have been in use from the time the Distant Fringe was first settled. It is defined as a microfighter due to its small size.

• The vessel is a TL-7 design.

Image Repository

A Vigilance class Interceptor (top) and a Granite class Interceptor (bottom).

General Description & Deck Plans

No information yet available.

Basic Ship Characteristics

Following the Imperial Navy and IISS Universal Ship Profile and data, additional information is presented in the format shown here. The small craft factor indicates the number of squadrons (...of ten subcraft) carried on the ship. Tonnage on the universal ship profile is shown in kilotons (...thousands of tons) where necessary.

Basic Ship Characteristics
No.	Category	Remarks
1.	Tonnage / Hull	The Interceptor is constructed using a 6 dTon hull built in a generally cone-shaped configuration. The hull is fully streamlined and has airfoil surfaces, giving good atmospheric performance. The vessel is not fitted with artificial gravity generation equipment but has thrust vectoring capability, giving it VTOL performance within atmospheres and gravity wells. Individual sections of the ship are divided into sealed compartments. The vessel has a sturdy retractable wheeled undercarriage, allowing surface landings.
2.	Crew	Total Crew Complement: x1 x1 pilot Accommodations The cockpit is the only crew-accessible part of the ship: it does not have grav plates or inertial compensators. The vessel has full life support and environmental systems. The craft does not have an airlock: if the cockpit is opened life support integrity is lost. There are monitoring and security systems throughout the vessel. There is a small emergency locker.
3.	Performance	The vessel mounts an extremely efficient reaction-based Maneuver-2 drive and a Fission Power Plant-2, giving performance of 2-G acceleration and producing 0.12 Energy Points. The ship has an agility rating of 2. The internal fuel supply provides reaction mass for the Maneuver drive and is considered sufficient to support up to 20 weeks of operations. Activity in significant gravity wells and atmospheres exponentially reduces the vessel's maneuver endurance. The Power Plant includes inherent fuel, consisting of a heavily shielded pellet of fissionable material. The engineering section is controlled from the cockpit. The onboard machinery is not accessible.
4.	Electronics	The cockpit contains an acceleration couch and control equipment. The vessel is fitted with a Model/1bis Computer: no backup computer is installed. The vessel is fitted with communications equipment, a standard sensor array, and has an Avionics suite. It is equipped with an ECM package. It has a transponder unit that can be deactivated on command.
5.	Hardpoints	x1 hardpoint.
6.	Armament	The normal weapons fit-out for an Interceptor is: Fixed triple missile racks. Each missile rack mounts x3 standard Anti-Shipping Missiles. The Interceptor is equipped with a Light Machinegun in a fixed forward-facing mount. The LMG has a ROF of 200 rounds per minute: the vessel carries 400 rounds of cartridge ammunition. The weapon is ineffective against spacecraft or starships but can be used to strafe light targets and vehicles. It is sometimes referred to as a "frustration weapon", serving to give the pilot a means of striking at a threat, however ineffectively, and thus providing them with a psychological release.
7.	Defenses	The hull is plated, braced and structurally reinforced, with an armor rating of 4. The vessel is not fitted with screens or other passive defensive systems.
8.	Craft	The vessel carries no subcraft.
9.	Fuel Treatment	The vessel has an internal fuel tank containing 1 dTon of reaction mass for the Drives. The hull has intrinsic fuel scoops. The vessel is not equipped with fuel purification equipment.
10.	Cost	The basic cost of the vessel is MCr8.150. The ship is a standard design. Detailed architectural plans are widely available and no design fee is chargeable. If multiple examples of the design are ordered all of the ships in the production run qualify for a 20% discount, which reduces the price of each unit to MCr6.520.
11.	Construction Time	24 weeks (5.5 months) as standard. Build times can be reduced by mass production and the efficiencies such processes generate, by increased financing, and by allotting additional yard resources and facilities to the construction contract.
12.	Comments	The vessel has no internal cargo capacity.

History & Background (Dossier)

An ubiquitous design used throughout the Distant Fringe, the Interceptor is cheap, durable and reliable. The design is representative and a large number of variants exist, particularly with regard to the allotted weapons systems and onboard electronics. Despite their status as space fighters, designs of this type have airframe features, augmenting their handling characteristics within planetary atmospheres.

Distant Fringe Vessels

The Distant Fringe is said to be a far spinward-rimward area inhabited by colonists and refugees originating on Terra. The region is extremely isolated, separated from the rest of Charted Space by vast, almost uncrossable rifts that were once broached by a system of calibration Points and the use of tankers. Those few academics within Charted Space who have found references to the Distant Fringe regard it as little more than a tall tale. Likewise, many of the inhabitants of the Distant Fringe believe the existence of Charted Space to be mythical.

Vessels originating within the Distant Fringe are very rarely encountered outside of the region. However, misjumps do occur and anomalies with bizarre spacetime and Jumpspace effects exist: as such, craft of this type are not entirely unknown within Charted Space.

Class Naming Practice/s & Peculiarities

Individual vessels are generally named by their crews.

• Individual vessels within the class are issued specific serial numbers and transponder codes.
• Naming a ship is considered a serious affair and is generally accompanied by a traditional ceremony, usually pouring a local beverage over the bows of the craft. Spacefarers tend to be superstitious folk and a ship with a frivolous name is considered "unlucky".

Selected Variant Types & Classes

Interceptors are mass produced commercial fighter craft, made from standardized components and assembled in class A and B starports of TL-7 or greater across the Distant Fringe region. A range of different hull shapes are available but two main variants have become standard:

Smallcraft - Fighters:

• Type PL class Light Fighter
  • Granite class Interceptor
  • Vigilance class Interceptor

References & Contributors (Sources)

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This article is missing content for one or more detailed sections. Additional details are required to complete the article. You can help the Traveller Wiki by expanding it.

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Marc Miller, Frank Chadwick, John Harshman. High Guard (Game Designers Workshop, 1980), 20-37. (Design Sequence Used)
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master Scout Emeritus Adie Alegoric Stewart of the IISS
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science