I just wanted to present four possible ships for the next patrol/escort Frigate in one of Earth Euro factions.
The basis for the decision by the politicians is that it needs to be capable if independent action and is suppose to serve in a patrol and escort role. It if preferable if the ship also have the capability to patrol and escort the maritime space in several critical system. There have been some incidents by the ultra nationalist Chinese faction (there are three Chinese or central Asian factions vying for domination over the Chinese peoples).
All four designs will follow the main design specification but all have their pros and cons. The speed of the frigate is said to be at least 3500km/s, one of the designs is a bit under this but due to its very economically viable maritime patrol capabilities it has passed the final drafting. The ship is suppose to have a deployment of at least 4 month, above 2.5 years of maintenance cycles and be of size 6000-7000t in size. On of the ships is just shy of just above 7000t but that has been deemed acceptable by the committee due to its otherwise excellent capabilities.
The standard fleet speed of the other ships of the fleet are between 3600-4400km/s. Given that this ship are suppose to mainly act on its own the speed of the ship is not significantly important in and of itself. Even if it act as part of a task-group it if likely to do so in a scouting or reconnaissance role.
Among other capabilities the ship is tasked with are the ability to defend against missiles and engage smaller ships if necessary. Its main role is to fight against FAC and fighters but the possibility to engage larger ships is a bonus.
All ships of this class are required to carry some beam weapons defences and all four have some form of point defence options from their beam weapons in the form of rail guns. Rail guns are the fore most used weapons for beam PD in almost all fleets so far, some even favour heavy rail guns for long range offensive firepower.
The sensor suite for the class have basically been predetermined and is none negotiable, it is suppose to be equipped with the necessary sensors to do the job.
If a design is selected it will be ordered from the Walter Hodgson Naval shipyard and an initial order is set to six ships with a possible further four later on. The yard have two slipways at 7500t and can produce roughly two ships every 18 months.
Tribal Type-1 class Frigate 6,000 tons 153 Crew 1163.8 BP TCS 120 TH 480 EM 360
4000 km/s Armour 3-29 Shields 12-300 Sensors 42/42/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 14.2
Maint Life 3.15 Years MSP 303 AFR 115% IFR 1.6% 1YR 46 5YR 687 Max Repair 120 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Flight Crew Berths 1
Hangar Deck Capacity 125 tons Magazine 283
Ion Drive 10/45 (4) Power 120 Fuel Use 45% Signature 120 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 300,000 Litres Range 20.0 billion km (57 days at full power)
Epsilon R300/360 Shields (4) Total Fuel Cost 60 Litres per hour (1,440 per day)
15cm C3 Far Ultraviolet Laser (1) Range 300,000km TS: 5000 km/s Power 6-3 RM 5 ROF 10 6 6 6 6 6 5 4 3 3 3
10cm Railgun V4/C3 (1x4) Range 40,000km TS: 5000 km/s Power 3-3 RM 4 ROF 5 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
BFC 320/5000 (1) Max Range: 320,000 km TS: 5000 km/s 97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Stellarator Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (1) Total Power Output 6 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Size 4 Box Launcher (7) Missile Size 4 Hangar Reload 30 minutes MF Reload 5 hours
Size 1 Missile Launcher (3) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Missile Fire Control FC36-R5 (1) Range 36.8m km Resolution 5
Missile Fire Control FC82-R100 (1) Range 82.3m km Resolution 100
Missile Fire Control FC9-R1 (1) Range 9.4m km Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR26-R5 (1) GPS 420 Range 26.3m km Resolution 5
Active Search Sensor MR7-R1 (1) GPS 56 Range 7.8m km MCR 854k km Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH3-42 (1) Sensitivity 42 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 42m km
EM Detection Sensor EM3-42 (1) Sensitivity 42 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 42m km
Compact ECCM-1 (1) ECM 20
Tribal Type-2 class Frigate 7,200 tons 208 Crew 1433 BP TCS 144 TH 576 EM 540
4000 km/s Armour 3-33 Shields 18-300 Sensors 42/42/0/0 Damage Control Rating 4 PPV 23
Maint Life 4.11 Years MSP 498 AFR 103% IFR 1.4% 1YR 47 5YR 707 Max Repair 120 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Flight Crew Berths 1
Hangar Deck Capacity 250 tons Magazine 279
Ion Drive 10/71 (4) Power 144 Fuel Use 70.98% Signature 144 Exp 12%
Fuel Capacity 400,000 Litres Range 14.1 billion km (40 days at full power)
Epsilon R300/360 Shields (6) Total Fuel Cost 90 Litres per hour (2,160 per day)
25cm C4 Far Ultraviolet Laser (1) Range 320,000km TS: 5000 km/s Power 16-4 RM 5 ROF 20 16 16 16 16 16 13 11 10 8 8
10cm Railgun V4/C3 (2x4) Range 40,000km TS: 5000 km/s Power 3-3 RM 4 ROF 5 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
BFC 320/5000 (1) Max Range: 320,000 km TS: 5000 km/s 97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Stellarator Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (2) Total Power Output 12 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Size 4 Missile Launcher (25% Reduction) (6) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 2400
Size 1 Missile Launcher (3) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Missile Fire Control FC82-R100 (1) Range 82.3m km Resolution 100
Missile Fire Control FC36-R5 (1) Range 36.8m km Resolution 5
Missile Fire Control FC9-R1 (1) Range 9.4m km Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR26-R5 (1) GPS 420 Range 26.3m km Resolution 5
Active Search Sensor MR7-R1 (1) GPS 56 Range 7.8m km MCR 854k km Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH3-42 (1) Sensitivity 42 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 42m km
EM Detection Sensor EM3-42 (1) Sensitivity 42 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 42m km
ECCM-2 (1) ECM 20
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Tribal Type-3 class Frigate 6,000 tons 151 Crew 1110.6 BP TCS 120 TH 384 EM 360
3200 km/s Armour 3-29 Shields 12-300 Sensors 42/42/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 16
Maint Life 3.36 Years MSP 289 AFR 115% IFR 1.6% 1YR 39 5YR 581 Max Repair 120 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Flight Crew Berths 0
Hangar Deck Capacity 125 tons Magazine 279
Ion Drive 10/26 (4) Power 96 Fuel Use 25.76% Signature 96 Exp 8%
Fuel Capacity 210,000 Litres Range 24.5 billion km (88 days at full power)
Epsilon R300/360 Shields (4) Total Fuel Cost 60 Litres per hour (1,440 per day)
15cm C3 Far Ultraviolet Laser (1) Range 300,000km TS: 5000 km/s Power 6-3 RM 5 ROF 10 6 6 6 6 6 5 4 3 3 3
10cm Railgun V4/C3 (1x4) Range 40,000km TS: 5000 km/s Power 3-3 RM 4 ROF 5 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
BFC 320/5000 (1) Max Range: 320,000 km TS: 5000 km/s 97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Stellarator Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (1) Total Power Output 6 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Size 1 Missile Launcher (3) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Size 4 Missile Launcher (25% Reduction) (6) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 2400
Missile Fire Control FC9-R1 (1) Range 9.4m km Resolution 1
Missile Fire Control FC36-R5 (1) Range 36.8m km Resolution 5
Missile Fire Control FC82-R100 (1) Range 82.3m km Resolution 100
Active Search Sensor MR26-R5 (1) GPS 420 Range 26.3m km Resolution 5
Active Search Sensor MR7-R1 (1) GPS 56 Range 7.8m km MCR 854k km Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH3-42 (1) Sensitivity 42 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 42m km
EM Detection Sensor EM3-42 (1) Sensitivity 42 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 42m km
Compact ECCM-1 (1) ECM 20
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Tribal Type-4 class Frigate 6,000 tons 160 Crew 1211.4 BP TCS 120 TH 576 EM 270
4800 km/s Armour 3-29 Shields 9-300 Sensors 42/42/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 13.6
Maint Life 2.98 Years MSP 315 AFR 115% IFR 1.6% 1YR 53 5YR 795 Max Repair 120 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Flight Crew Berths 5
Hangar Deck Capacity 125 tons Magazine 279
Ion Drive 10/71 (4) Power 144 Fuel Use 70.98% Signature 144 Exp 12%
Fuel Capacity 350,000 Litres Range 14.8 billion km (35 days at full power)
Epsilon R300/360 Shields (3) Total Fuel Cost 45 Litres per hour (1,080 per day)
15cm C3 Far Ultraviolet Laser (1) Range 300,000km TS: 5000 km/s Power 6-3 RM 5 ROF 10 6 6 6 6 6 5 4 3 3 3
10cm Railgun V4/C3 (1x4) Range 40,000km TS: 5000 km/s Power 3-3 RM 4 ROF 5 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
BFC 320/5000 (1) Max Range: 320,000 km TS: 5000 km/s 97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Stellarator Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (1) Total Power Output 6 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Size 1 Missile Launcher (3) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Size 4 Box Launcher (6) Missile Size 4 Hangar Reload 30 minutes MF Reload 5 hours
Missile Fire Control FC82-R100 (1) Range 82.3m km Resolution 100
Missile Fire Control FC9-R1 (1) Range 9.4m km Resolution 1
Missile Fire Control FC36-R5 (1) Range 36.8m km Resolution 5
Active Search Sensor MR26-R5 (1) GPS 420 Range 26.3m km Resolution 5
Active Search Sensor MR7-R1 (1) GPS 56 Range 7.8m km MCR 854k km Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH3-42 (1) Sensitivity 42 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 42m km
EM Detection Sensor EM3-42 (1) Sensitivity 42 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 42m km
Compact ECCM-1 (1) ECM 20
All ships carry the Raptor class scout vessel...
Raptor Mode-C class Scout 125 tons 3 Crew 39 BP TCS 2.5 TH 24 EM 0
9600 km/s Armour 1-2 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/7/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 23.62 Years MSP 20 AFR 1% IFR 0% 1YR 0 5YR 1 Max Repair 14 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.5 months Spare Berths 3
24 EP Ion Drive (1) Power 24 Fuel Use 280.02% Signature 24 Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres Range 2.6 billion km (3 days at full power)
Active Search Sensor MR19-R100 (1) GPS 1400 Range 19.6m km Resolution 100
EM Detection Sensor EM0.5-7 (1) Sensitivity 7 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 7m km
Missiles and probes that can be carried are either the Viper AMM, Baracuda ASM or the Striker anti fighter missile, along with a varied number of 40cm missiles, probes or buoys. Some of the class only have box launched 40cm missile options which is a clear drawback as they have to be pre-loaded at port with whatever missiles and probes the mission might require. There are some options of 10cm anti-fighter type missiles available as an option though along with a few 10cm probes. It is not the best option though.
Just for fun I allow you to become the committee and see if the council can decide which ship the Northern Alliance faction should order.