2.10 Weapons and Defense: Phasers & Photon Torpedoes
An introduction to the Enterprise's weaponry, describing the ship's phaser banks (their power, range, and frequency modulation) and its photon torpedoes (their matter/antimatter warhead, launchers, and tracking ability).
Weapons and Defense
The mission of the Enterprise is exploration, science, and diplomacy. It is not a warship, nor is Starfleet a military organization in the 20th Century sense. Nevertheless, the galaxy is a big place, full of unknown — and occasionally hostile — life forms. For those times when the Enterprise must protect itself and the interests of the Federation, the ship is fully equipped with both defensive and offensive weaponry. When provoked, the Enterprise is a formidable adversary.
Additionally, Picard's staff is fully trained in cultural sociology, strategy and crisis analysis, and they have at their disposal a powerful array of information-gathering sensors and computers. They know that their skills in these areas are often more important in the successful resolution of a crisis than are advanced weaponry.
Weapons - Ship's Phasers
In brief: A particle/beam projector which is the ship's primary offensive weapon. The Enterprise has a number of massive phaser banks that wrap around both of the ship's main sections. At maximum power, the main phaser banks can totally disrupt the surface of a planet. Phaser beams travel at the speed of light, and thus are relatively ineffective at warp speed. Phaser is short for “phased array emitter”. Maximum effective phaser range is about 300,000 kilometers.
Phaser frequencies: It is occasionally useful to adjust the “base emitter frequency” or “secondary modulation” of a phaser beam. This can sometimes be used to more effectively disrupt a deflector shield, although most sophisticated deflectors use “random modulation” to prevent such tactics.
Weapons - Photon Torpedoes
In brief: An energy weapon in which a small quantity of matter and antimatter are bound together in a magnetic bottle and launched at warp speed at a target. Photon torpedoes are the weapons of choice when the ship is at warp drive, because their speed is not limited by the speed of light.
Torpedo launchers: There are two torpedo launchers on the Enterprise, one at the front and one at the rear of the Engineering hull. Photon torpedoes are “smart” weapons and are capable of tracking a moving target. Torpedoes are usually launched in clusters, each independently targeted.