ARMD Class Sublight Carrier

(Version 1.00 - Last Modified: 10/09/2004)
Background information inspired by ARMD-class Sub-light Carrier by Pieter Thomassen, with Peter Walker on the Unofficial Robotech Reference Guide.
ARMD Class Sublight Carrier

The RDF Space Forces, from 2005-2010, constructed nine ARMD class vessels at the L5 manufacturing plant. Four of these were finished by the time of the Zentraedi arrival, and were all destroyed during the initial assault. ARMD-02 was destroyed in the first battle after the Zentraedi fleet arrived in Earth orbit, while ARMD-01, -03, and -10 were destroyed during an attempt to link up with the SDF-1. There were 12 other carriers under construction in the L5 factory, but there were only sufficient power plants available for five of them. This, coupled with the ease with which the first carriers were destroyed, led to the cancellation of the last seven. The other five were completed just in time for three of them to be destroyed in the Zentraedi Holocaust. These were ARMD-05, -07, and -08. ARMD-04 and -06 were at that time orbiting the moon, filled with officers the UEG brass had decided were not like-minded politically. The carriers had orders to support the SDF-1 in its ordered suicide attack on Breetai's fleet. It was intended that these carriers would be destroyed with the SDF-1 and its political time-bomb load of refugees, after which the Zentraedi would hopefully go and leave the Earth in peace, and the UEG securely in charge. Fortunately, Breetai's peace initiative prevented its execution. This plan later caused the court martial of several survivors known to have supported it. ARMD-04 and -06 survived the Holocaust, as they were unable to participate in the battle itself due to their low speed. After the war they served as orbital bases until they were decommissioned in 2023 with the other orbital fleet units. ARMD-11 and -12 were constructed as part of the SDF-2 project, and were ARMD carriers in name only. Though they shared identical frames with the ARMD-10, they had no engines and were permanently mated to the Megalord's arms. As such, they are generally not considered separate vessels, but rather part of the Megalord. They were lost with the SDF-2 in December 2013.

The ARMD carriers formed the backbone of the RDF's orbital fleet. The carriers were designed shortly after the arrival of the SDF-1 on Macross Island, at a time when many Tirolian technologies were not yet available. This factor has hampered the Armor craft throughout their lives. Because of the newness of the technology, a fold drive could not yet be built, as its principle was not yet sufficiently understood. However, mass and space for a fold drive was reserved in the design, to facilitate refitting. This allowance was then temporarily filled with a long duration low thrust ion drive system, which gave the carriers a rudimentary interplanetary capability, which was rarely utilized. Unfortunately, power demands for the combat systems turned out to be far higher than anticipated, and in fact in excess of the ship's generating capacity. It was not until 2009 that the necessary refits were finally designed and prepared. At the time of the Zentraedi arrival, however, the Zentraedi destroyed the four completed carriers without much trouble, and hence the effectiveness of the design was called into question. Therefore, the refits were put on hold and the building program suspended. The nine ARMD carriers completed up to then would remain the only nine completed.

An interesting design feature was the capability of the ARMD class to dock the engine section to the 'shoulder-locks' of the SDF-1. This was done so as to increase the combat power and versatility of the SDF-1 while also extending the ARMD's capabilities. However, the two carriers to attempt this link-up were destroyed by Zentraedi fire prior to rendezvous.

The ARMD series was a completely Human design, made without any knowledge other than the basic principles of space-warfare tactics. The shape of the carriers, therefore, borrows little of any Tirolian or Zentraedi design, in contrast to later Human ships. The ARMD was made up of five main sections. The main control section of the carriers was located in the small bridge section forward on the centerline. Aft of this was the flight deck, with hangars, elevating arms that placed mecha outside the ship for take-off and recovered them when landing, and to the rear the reaction mass tanks. Two large sponsons flanked the flight deck and extended downward from it, forming a large well between them. Inside the sponsons were the magazines for the large SLBM missiles, the quick-release bays for the space fighters and the conveyors to the main flight deck hangars, and, forward of this were the maneuvering thruster clusters. Aft of the flight deck and the upper part of the sponsons was the engine section, with one large central exhaust flanked by the ion and secondary engines. It was intended that a fold-drive would be installed as soon as the Robotech Research Group had developed and built them to satisfactory standards. The additional engine would then have made up a sixth section, and be located in the well between the sponsons. The ion drive units would also have been removed during this refit.

The armament was a mixture of traditional Human and Tirolian technologies. Five large particle beams of the design found on the SDF-1 were mounted. However, the rate of fire proved to be extremely disappointing. The two SLBM launchers fired their weapons through two hatches in the upper rear of the sponsons. The weapons were expelled horizontally from the ship and then ignited. Also, six triple-barreled laser turrets with more or less the equivalent firepower of the standard Zentraedi laser-turret design were located around each auxiliary engine, and six missile launchers were placed around the vessel for area defense. As a last-ditch defense, 24 laser cannons were located in pop-up turrets on both the ventral and dorsal sides of the ship.

The strategies for which this weapon fit was conceived were based on the expectations that RDF planners had of the Zentraedi attack capabilities and tactics. These however were based on the examination of the SDF-1, which was assumed to be a typical example of a large Zentraedi spacecraft. As such, it had one main cannon, a number of smaller batteries, and hangar capacity for about 1500 mecha. The planners could not imagine anyone building a much larger vessel, and therefore the SDF-2, under construction on the moon, was to be a copy of the SDF-1, and hoped to be superior to most other ships. As such, smaller escort ships were expected, and possibly different versions of the Battle Fortress, without the main gun but with a larger troop carrying capacity for use in planetary landings. Also, given the power of the ship, it was not expected that alien Battle Groups would comprise more than one SDF-1 class vessel per group. These assumptions, while logical and sensible, were utterly wrong. In defense of the analysts it must be stated that the SDF-1 was definitely not a typical example of a Zentraedi ship-of-the-line, but a new type of Border Fleet battleship intended for extended missions. Most Zentraedi ships were far larger than the SDF-1, carried far more mecha and operated in fleets ranging from 12 to 10,000 individual ships. The Adoclas Fleet, which Breetai folded to Earth-space to relieve Azonia of command, numbered over one million ships, but it was one of the three main fleets in the Zentraedi armada. Had Earth encountered a typical Border Fleet group they would have done badly, but not nearly as bad as they did facing the regular Zentraedi battle groups.

It was intended that the ARMD class ships, escorted by Oberth destroyers, would take out the single large ship in an alien battle group. This was to be accomplished by firing the large particle beams at long range, disabling the enemies' main cannon in the process. Then the carriers were to close with the vessel, still firing the particle beams, and finish the ship off with concentrated SLBM barrages. The drones and mecha were launched with the SLBMs to take out any alien mecha that had managed to escape the destruction of their ships. Unfortunately, the Zentraedi vessels were larger and tougher than expected, carried enough mecha to overwhelm the defenses of the carriers, had more firepower than they could handle, and outnumbered them enormously to boot.

Names and Disposition:

Ship Information:

Vehicle Complement: (-0X Series)

Vehicle Complement: (-1X Series, pre-2014)

Vehicle Complement: (-1X Series, post-2014)

M.D.C. by location:

Speed:

Statistical Data:

Weapon Systems:

  1. PB-3 Particle Beam Cannons (5)
  2. Heavy Laser Cannons (6)
  3. Retractable Defense Laser Turrets (48)
    4. Pepperbox Missile Turret
  4. Pepperbox Missile Turrets (6)
  5. Heavy Missile Launchers (2)

Special Systems:

  1. Electronic Warfare System

Standard Systems:

  1. Life Support System
  2. Communication Systems
  3. Sensor Systems
  4. Targeting Computer System

Combat Summary: