17.1 Projected Upgrades

The Galaxy class USS Enterprise is not a static design. Rather, it is a dynamic system that is constantly being adapted to revised mission objectives and continuing technical advances. A key element of these adaptations is an ongoing program of upgrades and refits expected to continue throughout the projected hundred-year lifetime of the spacecraft. Starfleet expects numerous significant advances in technology during that time.

Minor system upgrades are often performed during routine starbase layovers. During the ship's early years, such upgrades are expected to take place with relatively great frequency — perhaps two to four times annually — as the spacecraft operating systems "mature" with flight experience. Later, upgrades and refits are expected to occur less frequently, but will often be for maintenance or mission-specific purposes. Currently anticipated system upgrades include annual replacement of the LCARS computer software and a major upgrade of the warp drive's matter/antimatter reaction assembly, scheduled for early in the vessel's sixth year of operation.

After the initial few years of shakedown, major upgrades are typically scheduled for twenty-year intervals, when the ship is removed from service for approximately one year so that work such as computer core swapout or warp coil replacement can be accomplished.

Other major system refits can be performed at the direction of Starfleet Command when it is necessary to reconfigure the spacecraft for another mission classification. Such major mission-related reconfigurations are not expected to be frequently required for the multimission Galaxy class starships, but the scope of Starfleet's objectives often require flexibility in mission philosophies.