RS-12 Condor
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Name/Type: RS-12 Condor
Designer/Manufacturer: Stellar Enterprises
Designation: Reconnaissance Drone
Flight Controls: SE-301 Enhanced Droid Brain Unit
Length: 10.5 Meters.
Speed: 125 MGLT, 155 MGLT under Boost (Stealth Speed 55 MGLT), 2,205 Kph atmospheric
Hyperdrive: x1
Shield Rating: 0 SBD
Hull Rating: 35 RU
Weapons: Mag Acceleration Tube, 2 Internal Storage bays
Extras: HoloSheath, Advanced Sensor Array, Advanced Optics, Stealth Armor, plasma engine, Slicer Droid Brain

Description: The Condor is an evolution of the EagleEye Drone. Do to that drone's success, it was decided to design and release a newer version. Many lessons were learned from the EagleEye and applied to the Condor's design. New integrated technologies were fitted into the platform, making it the most advanced drone in the galaxy.

The designers and engineer took some existing technology and integrated it into the new recon systems. The design of the Hornet bomber was used for the airframe and the stealthy armor of the Defel Scout was used for the body. The crafts slopping and curved sides make the Condor less detectable on sensors and the armor is designed to absorb most of the sensor emissions thrown at it by using polymer threads braided together with spun Nutorium threads to create a polymer Nutorium mix. These speeders are also painted with non-reflective paints that help prevent light from glaring off the hull or viewports and giving away the speeder's location.

To increase stealth a plasma engine was added to the craft and used to drive it at slow speeds around an enemies territory. The engine is designed to quickly scatter all exhaust so that a trail does not form. It brings in particles from the surrounding space and accelerates them out the back through the use of magnetic fields. These fields contain the plasma, but are also maintained through the energy that the plasma gives off, which is channeled to battery banks within the craft and used to feed the field generators. The magnetic fields not only contain the plasma, but also its heat, allowing the ship to have an almost nonexistent heat signature.

For speed and rapid getaway, however, a set of powerful standard ion thrusters can be activated and used. Do to the Condor not having a living pilot, the ship can accelerate much faster than standard craft and maneuver out of harms way before hyperspacing out. If unable to escape, a self destruct can be used.

The Condor is built with not just sensor stealth in mind, but also visual stealth through the use a HoloSheath. This system uses a series of microholoprojectors to coat the entire craft in a holoimage. That image is taken from the surrounding area and allows the drone to escape detection through visual means. With its slow speed, the holo image is able to quickly and efficiently mimic the surrounding star field, or another other background, such as ships or planets.

Unlike the EagleEye, however, the Condor, like the Hornet, was fitted with 2 internal storage bays. These could hold anything from micro drones and tracking beacons, to holonet relays and even mines. The bays are designed to quickly jettison the cargo and close back up in order to avoid detection. They are also designed with a rotating launch system that brings new stores to bare whenever the last ones are launched.

In the nose, a special magnetic acceleration tube has been fitted. This is a small launcher used to deploy specialized tracking beacons and has a magazine of 7 shells. It is also powered by a battery with enough energy for only those seven shots.

NT-24 Tracker: The NT-24 are specially designed tracking beacons that are made from nano technology. These were developed in full secret are designed to by deployable by many means. One such means is the Condor's launch tube which deploys a small shell filled with millions of these tiny trackers in the path of ships or fighters. The microscopic mist that spreads out is too small to be registered on scanners and if something is picked up, most computers will simply not mention it because it would be read as regular space particles.

Each NT-24 is coated in an ion layer, allowing it to pass through defense shields and also to bond quickly with the vessel's hull. Since a ship passing through this "mist" is likely to pick up thousands or more of these nano sized trackers, they are designed to work as one entity. Through very short tight bursts each NT-24 is able to communicate with each other and link up one to establish their signal schedule. Once done, no one communications are sent the trackers work together to turn the whole metallic hull into one communications array. They conductivity of the ship's hull would allow the trackers to send out a message to relay stations within the array and make it seem as if the ship itself is sending out the signal.

While these could be possibly be picked up by other ships, the chances are remote since ships are usually communicating with each other often anyways and the signal sent is not always active. The trackers can be set to send out a communication once a day or once a few hours, in order not draw attention to themselves. Also, given their microscopic size, they can no be detected visually and if the communication is discovered, it would take a long time to realize it was not sent from within the ship or something on it.

Even with limited use, the NT-24s can function for a week at the most, with their limited power source.

Besides these trackers, the Condor has been built to absorb all sensor scans through banks of sensors throughout the airframe. Along with passive scanners, these are able to pick up scans from other ships and designate the ship type that conducted the scans. It can also follow the scan back to its source to record its location and type.

Through the use of photo optics, the Condor can stand off at a distance and track ships through telescopes in order to not give away its position. These sensors give away no emissions and are therefore untraceable, however, they are clear enough to allow the Condor to scan along a fighter's hull to detect imperfections, just as weapons pods or damage at the range of 2000 kilometers.

Along with these sensors, the Condor is designed to pick up communications traffic within the area and store it for further analysis. This communication is also scanned for key words and prioritized for relay back to headquarters. If any comm traffic is encrypted, the Condor has been fitted with a slicer droid brain and algorithm in order to help with the decryption process. All, but the most heavily secure communications could be deciphered if the Condor is given enough time.

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Page Information
Created By
Rob Stellar
Created On
Jul 10 2007 8:44pm
Last Updated
Jul 10 2007 8:44pm
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