Aethon class Light Fighter

Aethon class Light Fighter
Distant Fringe vessel.
Type: FL Light Fighter
Category	[[Smallcraft]]
Size	20 Tons
Hull Configuration	[[Wedge Hull]]
Streamlining	Streamlined Hull
Tech Level	TL–9
Engineering
Computer	2
Jump	J-0
Maneuver	6 G
Armaments
Hardpoints	1
Accommodations
Staterooms	0
Personnel
Crew	2
Officers	2
High/Mid Passengers	0
Payload
Cargo	0 Tons
Fuel tank	0 Tons
Construction
Origin	Distant Fringe
Year Operational	None
End of Service	Still in active service.
Price
Cost	MCr44.700 (base) MCr35.760 (discounted)
Architect fee	MCrAde Stewart
Statistics
Quick Ship Profile	PH-2A60
Images
Blueprint	No.
Illustration	No
Source
Also see	Light Fighter
Canon	Published, fan design
Era	1105
Reference	Fan: Ade Alagoric Stewart
Starships are designed with the Classic Traveller format, using High Guard.

The Aethon class Light Fighter is a combatant smallcraft.

• It is a military ship and a Light 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 Heavy Fighter is a reliable vessel designed to mount energy weapons as its primary armament. Similar designs have been in use from the time the Distant Fringe was first settled.

• The vessel is a TL-9 design.

Image Repository

A Firebolt class Heavy Fighter (top) and an Aethon class Heavy Fighter (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 Heavy Fighter is constructed using a 20 dTon hull built in a generally wedge-shaped configuration. The hull is fully streamlined and has airfoil surfaces, giving good atmospheric performance that is further enhanced by its onboard gravitic systems. Individual sections of the ship are divided into sealed compartments. The vessel has a sturdy retractable landing legs, allowing surface landings.
2.	Crew	Total Crew Complement: 2 x1 pilot, x1 weapons/electronics specialist. Accommodations The cockpit is the only crew-accessible part of the ship: it is fitted with grav plates and 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 are x2 small emergency lockers.
3.	Performance	The vessel mounts a Maneuver-6 drive and a Power Plant-16, giving performance of 6-G acceleration and generating 3.6 Energy Points. The ship has an agility rating of 6. The internal fuel tankage is sufficient to give the power plant approximately 4 weeks duration. The engineering section is controlled from the cockpit. Access to the machinery can be gained via a sealable hatch.
4.	Electronics	The cockpit contains x2 acceleration couches and control equipment. The vessel is fitted with a Model/2 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 a sophisticated ECM package and Jamming Equipment. It has a transponder unit that can be deactivated on command.
5.	Hardpoints	x1 hardpoint.
6.	Armament	The normal weapons fit-out for a Heavy Fighter is: Fixed dual beam lasers. Fixed single missile rack. The missile rack mounts x3 standard Anti-Shipping Missiles.
7.	Defenses	The hull is unarmored. 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 internal fuel tankage of 3 Tons. The hull is fitted with fuel scoops. The vessel is not equipped with fuel purification equipment.
10.	Cost	The basic cost of the vessel is MCr44.700. 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 MCr35.760.
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 Heavy Fighter is 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 trailing-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

Smallcraft - Fighter:

1. Type FL class Light Fighter
   1. Firebolt class Heavy Fighter
   2. Aethon class Light Fighter

References & Contributors (Sources)

This article has metadata.

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 Mongoose Publishing 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