Binder Class Assault Frigate
Name/Type: Binder-class Frigate
Designer/Manufacturer: Stellar Enterprises
Combat Role: Assault Frigate
Length: 260 Meters
Speed: 38 MGLT
Hyperdriver: x1.5
Shield Rating: 2,200 SBD
Hull: 950 RU
Weapons: 1 Heavy Ion Cannon, 6 Ion Cannons, 3 Twin Turbolaser Cannons, 8 Quad Laser Cannon emplacements, 4 Dual Warhead Launchers, 2 Heavy Tractor Beam Projectors
Fighter Complement: 4 fighters and 2 Bombers
Troops: upto 450 Combate Droids
Special: Molecular Hull Cutter, 6 Heavy Ionized Grapplers, microthruster Banks, Movable forward section
Description: With pirate engagements growing almost daily, Stellar Enterprises needed a way of locating these pirates quickly and disabling their leadership. These groups were always well hidden and hard to locating. While the company was able to fight off many battles with pirates, that still did not solve the problem, they always returned.
Because of this, it was decided that pirates should be caught and then interrogated so their base of operations could be located and destroyed. No vessels were available to carry out these specific missions, as most of Stellar Enterprises warships had been designed for defense. The Binder Class Frigate would be a totally new design, designed from the ground up for the specific mission of capturing enemy ships.
The Binder was designed for hi speed attack and that meant little armor plating was added to the vessel and most of the rear was taken up by massive sublight drives. For endurance in battle, heavy shields were installed. While these gave the vessel excellent survivability, they also drew too much power for many weapons to be added.
For its mission profile, the Binder Class was equipped with a heavy ion cannon that could disable most of the ships in a pirate groups arsenal. Other ion cannons were added as well for increased disabling ability. Defense comes in the form of three twin turbolaser cannons and quad laser emplacements, for anti fighter duty, while droid controlled fighters and bombers could be deployed as well for protection and mission completion.
What makes the ship truly capable is its movable forward section, which can come together or move apart depending on the ship that needs to be captured. Anything under 85 meters wide can be brought between these mandible like sections, from which hull airlocks with hull cutters can be extended.
These cutters are a new design with molecular furnace like rings around them, allowing them to demolecularize any hull armor. Once cut, combat droid teams from each of the mandibles can rush onto the ship and capture anyone left alive.
Heavy tractor beam projectors allow the ship to hold and capture its pray, but heavy woven grapplers help hold it still. These grapplers are specially designed and ionically shielded to be able to pass through shields and hit the hull a vessel. A small disintegration field generator on the grapple head allows it pass into a ship's hull and deploy solid durasteel extensions to keep the grapple in place. This allow either the pirate ship to be reeled in, or allowed the Binder an easy way to get closer to the enemy ship, depending on the mass difference.