20140813ᆞ

http://www.silentphoenix.co.uk/confed/Articles/article_combat_wasps.htmlᆞ

  The many different faces of the Combat Wasp

Combat wasps are almost as varied as the starships that carry them, and it is not unusual for a combat ready Starship to possess several different types of combat wasp at any one time.

An average combat capable starship is able to carry around 30 combat wasps, although larger ships, including dedicated warships, can carry much more than this. More wasps can be carried in the internal cargo bays, which will increase the combat capacity of the ship, but these will have to loaded into the launchers before any combat commences as it would be impossible to load the stored wasps in the during combat.

Combat wasps are programmed before combat begins, and once launched, are completely autonomous in operation.

Combat wasps are able to perform both Attack and Defense roles.  Combat wasps can either be programmed to lock-on to and target a specific ship or object, or to engage enemy targets at will.

Combat wasps can posses a whole host of varied weapons and sub-munitions, and although it would be virtually impossible to list every type of commercially available wasp here, some common forms include :-

Beam Weapons : These expensive drones are armed with powerful Beam Weapons (Particle  Beams or Energy  Beams) and are basically flying guns. At close range they can easily punch through the hull of an Adamist starship. At longer range they will burn the Null Foam coating and warp the silicon hull. If they can continue to hit the hull in the same place they will be able to overload the Binding Generators and punch through to the fragile interior. Beam Weapons cannot be intercepted and only the destruction of the wasp that is firing it  will halt the fire. These weapons can be placed in a defensive role to pick off any hostile wasps before they get to close to any friendly ships.Kinetic Missile : These drones are armed with a series of tubes containing pieces hardened matter shaped into a spear or harpoon shape. These harpoons are launched from the wasp and accelerated to a very very high velocity. If they are able to strike a target, the resulting kinetic force that is released will severely damage the target.  The harpoons can be intercepted and destroyed by other wasps, but their advantage is numbers. A wasp of this type will be able to dispense around 100 harpoons at different or the same target. Fusion Torpedoes or Bombs : This particular type of drone is able to launch several sub-munitions that can take the form of either  free falling bombs or guided torpedoes. Bombs have the advantage that once launched they are harder to track and can be set to explode when close to an enemy ship. Torpedoes have the advantage of being able to actively track and chase a selected target, but are more likely to become the target of enemy fire.  This type of wasp will accelerate until it is near to it's designated  target before dispensing it's deadly cargo of sub munitions..Electronic Warfare Wasps : Although most wasps will have some sort of inbuilt ECM (Electronic Counter Measure) device or decoy chaff dispensers, this particular wasp if specially designed for this role. On the space battle field, it's role is to confuse enemy wasps into targeting decoys and sensor ghosts, or making them explode at the wrong time. Although expensive, it's strategic deployment can play a large factor in the unfolding battle.

Military Ships belonging to the major governments of the Confederation possess many advanced wasps not available to the general population

   Structure of a typical Wasp

Most combat wasps (but not all) will follow the same basic rules in their construction. Because there are a vast and varied amount of different designs available a standard form is often employed. This enables wasps of different kinds to be loaded into most launcher systems without too much modification.

The structure of the typical combat wasp is :

Solid Fuel Booster : This module is used during the first few seconds of the combat wasps flight and is used to propel the wasp away from the launcher without damaging it.Propulsion Module : This large part of the wasp contains the guidance and  power for the combat wasp. A typical wasp will be powered by a fusion engine capable of accelerating the wasp to around 25g's. Although outlawed within the confederation, a wasp powered by antimatter will be able to accelerate at round 40g's, giving it a significant tactical advantage over it's slower fusion cousins.Weapon Module : This part of the wasp is the "working part" and contains whatever weapons and counter measures the wasp has at it's disposal.