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Pioneer-class Super Dimensional Fortress (SDF)

Name and disposition:

Ship's complement:

• Ships' crew (2500 men)
• Space Naval air group (6200 men)
• Space Marine unit (22000 men)
• Life support limits are for a full combat complement and about 76,800 supernumeraries (80,000 men total).

Dimensions:

• Length: 1721 meters overall
• Height: 461 meters overall
• Width: 518 meters overall
• Fuel Mass: 3,320,000 metric tons
• Operational mass (typical): 31,800,000 metric tons

Propulsion systems:

• Main power system: RRD Mk 7 anti-matter-fueled Reflex furnace cluster. The powerplant of the Pioneer-class vessel can deliver up to 156 Petawatts of power, and can operate for ninety minutes at maximum power before overheat initiates autoshutdown
• Maneuvering thrusters (18): Overtechnology MRT-03 fusion-plasma reaction thruster clusters mounted on the main hull; located on the port and starboard top sides  and bottom halfway forward and aft.
• Reaction-mass thrusters (6): Shizuma Drive MRE-10 Fusion-Plasma Reaction Thrusters with anti-matter energizer, mounted in pairs of two in the upper and lower corner of the aft port and starboard halves of the ship.
• Emergency reaction thrusters (15): Six Turbo-Union ARE-3 fusion-plasma reaction thrusters with anit-matter energizer mounted in two vertical rows of three between the main engines, eight Turbo-Union ARE-4 fusion-plasma reaction thrusters with anti-matter energizer mounted in two vertical rows of two flanking the two upper ARE-3 thrusters, and one Turbo-Union ARE-4 fusion-plasma reaction thruster mounted at the aft end of the command citadel.
• Anti-gravity system (1): 40 RRD Behemoth anti-gravity pods.
• Sublight drive (4): Shizuma Drive GDD-5 local, monopolar-induced gravitic space-time distortion drive.
• Space fold (1): Mk15b spacefold drive. This system is conformal to the vessels surface. The problem with the vast majority of the previous generation of fold systems was that the fold bubble weakened the state of the structure to the extent that they needed a refit after only five years of service. As such the RDF mandated the use of conformal systems similar to the old Zentraedi systems which also allows for much higher speeds.  The Mk15b drive was created by placing two Mk15 drives in tandem to increase the foldable mass.
• Planetary capabilities: The Pioneer-class has atmospheric capabilities through its reaction thrusters and anti-gravity system. The ships' lower body has sufficient strength to let the ship land on it, although the landing ground should be as firm as possible (granite is recommended). The ship would float in an ocean, and this is the preferred method of landing.

Endurance and mobility limits:

• The dry stores endurance was limited to about nine months with a full crew complement, assuming no mining and subsequent replenishment, which the Pioneer-class was capable of doing. The on-board life support and recycling system was based on that of the original Macross-class, and the very extensive recycling installations ensured that only incidental biomass losses needed to be replenished. Water stores were recycled almost completely. The hydroponics installations on board provided the crew with a steady supply of fresh foods, and much was exported to smaller ships in the fleet.
• The mecha consumables supplies (mainly missiles) are very extensive, and as long as the onboard factories remained supplied, the ship can sustain continuous combat operations for an unlimited period of time. 
  The ship-launched missile magazines sufficed for six large battles or seven or more skirmishes.
• At full power, the main propulsion systems can produce up to 1200 Giganewtons of thrust at a minimal reaction mass efficiency profile, or as little as 23.5 Giganewtons of thrust at a maximum efficiency setting. At lower power levels, these thrusts are commensurately smaller.
• At full power, the Pioneer-class can achieve a maximum delta-v of 434 kps at the cruising acceleration of 0.1 gees, a maximum delta-v of 86.8 kps at the battle acceleration of 1.4G, and a delta-v of at most 23.5 kps at the flank acceleration of 3.6G. At lower power levels, these ranges are commensurately smaller.
• Sublight drive acceleration is 800 g, but the vessel's maneuverability is reduced to such a degree that only minor course corrections are possible. Typical cruising speed is .20c.
• The fold systems are not navigationally guaranteed for any single jump beyond 1 kiloparsec. If longer voyages are required, the ships must conduct multiple fold jumps.
• The maximum sustained atmospheric speed was limited to Mach 3. A higher speed could be attained while accelerating to orbit, or in emergencies, but this stressed the engines to above their sustainable heat tolerances. The maximum hover time on the anti-gravity systems was limited only by maintenance requirements.

Weapon systems:

• RRD reflex cannon Mk VIII (2): An extremely powerful particle beam with an effective range of 150,000 km. As in the Zentraedi Monitors, this weapon formed the forward part of the ship. The two forward halves of the hull slid vertically apart, and the beam was generated between these two halves capable.  The effects of this weapon against planets equaled the heat and blast effects of the detonation of a fusion weapon of 85 MT, if the cannon was fired at full power which took a full 60 seconds to charge. If utilized against starships, the largest vessels could be destroyed with the leakage of the beam. A direct hit would vaporize the target vessel. The weapon could also be set to a wider dispersal. In this setting, it was capable of clearing a wide area of fighters and other mecha, although starships in this area would only be blinded.
• Krupp HPC-17 heavy particle beam cannon turrets (10): A heavy weapon firing 4.3 GJ of particle energy per shot out to an effective range of 75,000 km. Capacitors can charge and fire each weapon ten times per minute at maximum capacity. Four of these cannons were mounted behind conformal covers in the spacious bow halves, two were located in the dorsal surface of the cannon booms, and the final four were mounted in blisters on top of and directly underneath the engines.
• Europa RIC-8 reaper ion cannon turrets (40): The reaper cannon delivers 4.5 GJ of energy with a range of around 75,000 km, but at a faster rate of fire of around once every three seconds. The cannon delivers charged atomic particles that impact a target and release radiation and large amounts of heat melting the armor. This cannon is also very effective against shields because the radiation interferes with the harmonics of the shield by delivering EM pulses with the radiation. Twenty of these turrets are mounted forward in the main battery booms, the other twenty are dispersed over the Pioneer's other hull areas.
• Bofors PL-7 point defense turrets (32): Mounted behind movable panels in the upper main hull (24) and the side bodies (8), these standard RDF weapons can fire 53 MJ of particle energy four times per second at a range of up to 20 km.
• Lockheed SLBM launchers (12): Mounted to fire a rocket horizontally away from the cannon booms (6 to each boom). The missiles are specialized Lockheed SLBM-11 Archer (Space Launched Ballistic Missiles) with nuclear warheads in the 5 MT range. The delta-v capacity of the missiles is 351.6 kps, and the magazine can store 12 missiles per launcher.
• Raytheon Mk.270 MLS missile systems (14): Each launcher has 10 individual launch silos. The silos each contain 6 ready missiles in a rotating mechanism, which can be reloaded while firing. The ready magazines store 420 missiles per launcher. These launchers typically fire Avatar and Savior missiles. Typical warheads are anti-mecha cluster munitions, nuclear reaction anti-warship and nuclear reaction re-entry capable weapons.  Four launchers were located near the engines, four amidships and four in the bow. The final two launchers were located near the bridge.
• Lockheed Mk 267 surface to air missile turrets(20):  A missile launcher mounted in a twelve tube pop-up turret, firing anti-mecha/missile missiles, though the projectiles can guide on point-blank enemy ships. When the missiles are released they are already on their intercept vectors, or very close to them.  The launcher is designed to fire the SA-12 Arrow medium range surface-to-air missile. Each turret has a reload time of 6 seconds and a magazine with a 6000 round capacity.  These turrets are mounted behind armor plating and pop up when firing and are mounted on the bow(8), stern(8) , in the bridge area(4).

Air group and mecha complement:

(circa 2055)

(Space Naval Air Group)

• 1200 VF-11 Thunderbolt Veritech fighter
• 600 VF-17 Nightmare Veritech fighter
• 12 EC-12 Eagle Airborne early warning and control aircraft
• 16 Horizont-class Transatmospheric dropships
• 15 SC-45 Hawk Personnel and cargo shuttles
• 20 VC-25 Samson Heavy VSTOL cargo transport
• 41 VC-27 Hercules Light VSTOL cargo transport

(Space Marine Unit)

• 120 VF-17 Nightmare Veritech fighter
• 360 MBR-25 Atma Heavy battle destroid
• 600 SDR-14 Tiger Missile destroid
• 600 ADR-14 Razor AAA destroid
• 5 RGM-78 Gundam Mobile suit
• 70 RGM-79 GM Mobile suit
• 15 HWR-04 Godzilla Heavy artillery destroid
• 3,000 VR-066 Hurricane Veritech cyclone
• 2,000 VR-073 Typhoon Veritech cyclone
• 1,000 VR-089 Tornado Veritech cyclone
• 400 VR-099 Tsunami Veritech cyclone
• 360 VHT-2 Ragnarok Veritech hovertank
• 2 MTA-2 Behemoth Military assault transport
• 1,200 VR-071 Protector Veritech cyclone
• 1,200 VR-077 Firefly Veritech cyclone
• 1,200 VR-074 Gorilla Veritech cyclone

(circa 2063)

(Space Naval Air Group)  

• 900 VF-19 Thunderbolt Veritech fighter
• 300 VF-17 Nightmare Veritech fighter
• 15 VF-22 Sturmvogel Veritech fighter
• 300 VA-14 Falcon Veritech bomber
• 12 EC-15 Lynx Airborne early warning and control aircraft
• 12 Concorde-class Transatmospheric dropships
• 15 SC-52 Vulture Personnel and cargo shuttles
• 10 VC-37 Perseus Heavy VSTOL cargo transport
• 20 VC-39 Ajax Light VSTOL cargo transport

(Space Marine Unit)

• 360 VA-14 Thunderbolt Veritech bomber
• 90 VF-17 Nightmare Veritech fighter
• 360 MBR-25 Atma Heavy battle destroid
• 600 SDR-14 Tiger Missile destroid
• 600 ADR-14 Razor AAA destroid
• 3 RGM-90 Double Zeta Gundam Mobile Suit
• 18 RGM-91 ReGZ Refined Gundam Zeta Mobile Suit
• 24 RGM-89 Jegan Mobile suit
• 8 HWR-04 Godzilla Heavy artillery destroid
• 3,000 VR-066 Hurricane Veritech cyclone
• 2,000 VR-073 Typhoon Veritech cyclone
• 1,000 VR-089 Tornado Veritech cyclone
• 400 VR-099 Tsunami Veritech cyclone
• 360 VHT-2 Ragnarok Veritech hovertank
• 2 MTA-2 Behemoth Military assault transport
• 1,200 VR-071 Protector Veritech cyclone
• 1,200 VR-077 Firefly Veritech cyclone
• 1,200 VR-074 Gorilla Veritech cyclone

Note: The given numbers are approximations; the exact number and type of mecha varied somewhat due to operational realities.

Electronics Systems and Special Equipment:

• RRD DSO-6 Omnidirectional Barrier Defense System(1): An advanced forcefield system which covers the full four pi steradians around the ship with a yellow-greenish forcefield (or if desired, only part of the ship). This field will stop all solids and directed energy weapons (except lasers through a narrow band). However, excess energy which cannot be shunted from the field will be stored in the virtual structure of the field itself. The storage wattage is high but not infinite, and when the barrier overloads the field will discharge the stored energy particles. This discharge will have the force of a high-yield (>45 MT) fusion bomb. However, as the discharged energetic particles' vectors will be away from the field and its generating vessel, the vessel will survive, though it will suffer severe damage to its internal electronics and power systems, and will not be battleworthy until repairs are made .
• Hughes DSP-6 Pinpoint Barrier Defense System(1): Uses four movable disks of force field, conformal to the ship's surface, to repel light torpedo attacks, or particle beam fire.
• The Pioneer-class carries several manufacturing centers.

Design notes:

The SDF-3 Pioneer was primarily designed to be the flagship for the Terran expedition, named after the SDF-3 as the Pioneer Mission, to achieve a peace treaty with the Robotech Masters, or, alternatively, to ensure that the next Robotech War would be fought thousands of light-years away from Earth. As such, it would be necessary to open talks with the Tirolians. This would be difficult, since, according to Zentraedi descriptions, that race had become, after many centuries of war, prone to shoot first and sift through the wreckage later.

To approach the Masters, it was decided that the SDF-3 would have to appear as normal as possible to the Masters, at least until messages rather than weapon salvos were exchanged. Thus, the decision was made to model the exterior characteristics of the SDF-3 not on the rare Macross-class of battle-fortress, but on the Sian Dereta-class of improved monitor, a Border Fleet design. It was hoped the Masters would be more trusting of a ship they believed was under the command of some of their clone Triumvirates. The internals of the SDF-3 were however not based on the Border Fleet vessel, but were newly designed by the Robotech Defense Forces, to as advanced a technological standard as Earth was capable of. At that time, the technological standard of Earth was based on the Macross's systems, which had by now been mostly deciphered. The SDF-3 was first constructed with only a light exterior hull. Once completed, exterior hull plates scavenged from Zentraedi ships were mounted on the Pioneer, giving the ship an almost authentic exterior.

As designed, the central hull section, which served the same function as the central hull section of the Macross (although the Sian Dereta, and by extension the SDF-3, were not transformable in nature) was the smallest, most important and best shielded part of the ship. It was flanked by the two engine sections, which contained the reaction engines and most of the special equipment on the SDF-3. These three sections were all mounted behind the twin cannon booms, receiving additional protection. The two engine sections were themselves shielded by what were dubbed the 'outriggers' of the ship; large and heavily armored outer hull sections flanking the engine sections. These outriggers contained several laser turrets and long range sensors. On top of the SDF-3 was a conning tower, a rather low and stretched-out design compared with the conning tower of the refitted SDF-1 Macross. It contained the navigation bridge and several key sensor installations.

An unique feature of the Sian Dereta class were its twin Reflex Cannons. As the original Zentraedi vessel was designed for the Border Fleets, and thus to operate for extended periods without external maintenance, two Reflex Cannons were provided in order to save wear and tear on a single cannon by repeated firings. In addition, the two cannons could be fired in sequence, giving the Sian Dereta the power of two Monitors -- though only for one salvo as the ships could not recharge more than one cannon at a time. As a near copy of the Sian Dereta class, the Pioneer also carried twin Reflex Cannons. After the numerous, and at most inconvenient moments, failures of the single Reflex cannon on the SDF-1, this was another reason for the Terrans to choose the Sian Dereta template, as it would ensure that at least one cannon was operational. However, as the Tirolians found the advantages of twin cannons specious, so did the Terrans find that their new designs for Reflex cannons were more reliable and robust than expected, and later battlefortresses reverted again to a single Reflex Cannon.

As stated above, the capabilities and internal systems of the SDF-3 differed considerably of those of the Sian Dereta. The Reflex cannons on the Macross class were more powerful and smaller than those on the Sian Dereta, and the Macross-style Reflex cannon had to be slightly redesigned so as to conform to the resulting longer beam-generation area, as well as to the fact that the inner sections of the cannon booms no longer rotated. The additional space between each cannon and the outer shell was partly filled with four large particle beam cannons. These four were mounted in the outer forward corners of the cannon booms. Another six, for a total of ten, were mounted in the normal Sian Dereta heavy weapon mountings; four on the engine pods and two in the dorsal main cannon booms. The ubiquitous Zentraedi laser turrets of the Sian Dereta were replaced with a Terrestrial two-barrel design, also used on the other ships of the fleet, with a higher rate of fire and a larger yield. The missile batteries too were fully Terran in design. In addition to this heavy weapons suite, about as powerful as on a Zentraedi Flagship, the SDF-3 carried a 1330 Naval fighters, and had space for a large contingent of Planetary Forces troops and mecha. In effect, the SDF-3 combined the capabilities of the Tokugawa-class carrier version with those of the Tokugawa class landing ship version. Unfortunately, there was insufficient hangar space to allow the Planetary Forces mecha to operate from the SDF-3 as additions to the Fleet Air Arm group. The SDF-3 had one of the best balanced fighting groups in the Terran Robotech Forces, not to mention the most powerful.

Upon its return in 2047, Pioneer underwent and extensive refit which took a full year to complete.  During this time she received a new pair of reflex cannons which, while taking longer to charge, deliver over twice the firepower of the original.  The heavy particle beam turrets were upgraded to a more powerful design.  The laser turrets for long range support fire were replaced with the new reaper ion cannon greatly increasing overall firepower.  Also point defense systems were upgraded and supplemented with the addition of surface to air missile launchers soon to become standard on all RDF Space Navy vessels.  While this refit was being conducted, a new fortress, dubbed SDF-04 UES Sentinel began construction at the RDF Naval Yard in November of 2047.  In August of 2048 she was commissioned and entered service.

History:

The Pioneer was completed in December 2022, and soon folded for what was thought to be Tirol with most of the Home Fleet of that time. Upon defold in the Oort cloud of their target, the Pioneer left its obviously non-Tirolian fleet trailing behind and proceeded to the target planet. However, it soon became apparent that the target system was not Valivarre, and that the position of Tirol was still unknown. The Expeditionary Forces were then reinforced with the needed logistic train and personnel to sustain their search for at least a decade. This in effect created a mobile colony of humans and Zentraedi away from Earth, another reason for the large number of personnel transferred.

During the next seven years, the Pioneer was worked hard in the front lines of the Expeditionary Forces reconnaissance missions, and several times the ship was damaged in combat. In early 2029 she paid off for a nine month, long overdue, yard availability period for refit and modernization. However, it was discovered that repeated, multiple folds in combination with neglected action damage had caused tears and cracking in the primary structural hull members, and repair would last an additional nine months. It was during this period, with the most powerful Terran ship in dock, that the Robotech Masters arrived at Earth. Priority was then given to the ships that could be finished in time to contribute in the war, and the Pioneer was consequently not ready for action again until several months after the Invid invasion of Earth.

The military situation of that moment precluded the Pioneer from folding to Earth, and the battlefortress served as the core of the fleet that warred against the Invid in deep space. This lasted until 2043, when the Pioneer was refitted again and equipped with Shadow cloaking technology. In 2045 she folded from Space Station Equality to Earth, as the flagship for the final offensive against the Invid. however, she never arrived at her destination, and was listed several weeks later as missing.

She appeared three years later in Earthspace and immediately underwent a refit and was given a new weapons suite. Her sister, UES Sentinel, commissioned in 2048, had a spectacular history of destroying twenty Invid strongholds as well as assisting her sister in the Transient War in 2057. However these illustrious vessels meet with a tragic end. Defending Earth, the second home of Pioneer, these vessels were destroyed during the Marduk invasion on Christmas in 2068. Pioneer succumbed only to combined fire from five flagships and three reflex cannon blows followed by a barrage of anti-ship torpedoes. Sentinel outlived her sister by only a few hours when she was attacked by swarms of Marduk mecha during the Song of Death when mecha began ramming capital ships and other mecha. Both of these ships, in particular SDF-03 UES Pioneer, will be long remembered as some of the most important ships in Earth's history, joining other vessels such as SDF-01 UES Macross in history books.

Layout adapted from Robotech Reference Guide

Original content by Pieter Thomassen and Peter Walker

Content by Jeffrey R. Spillner
Copyright © 1998-2002 Jeffrey R. Spillner

Page Last Updated on January 21, 2002 @ 14:00 GMT