Viper (TOS)

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Starhound Viper (credit: Universal / ABC)

The Colonial Starhound Viper was the primary space superiority fighter / attack craft deployed by the Colonials. Capable of atmospheric flight, it was a single-seat craft mounting two laser-torpedo guns as standard, as well as having hardpoints for mounting missiles.

The Viper was originally introduced into Colonial service during the 1,000 yahren war with the Cylons, and was a far superior craft to the Cylon Raider.

Propulsion was said to be provided by a hybrid tylium / fusion reactor powering three ion engines with a "turbo-boost" facility for very rapid acceleration. For atmospheric flight, the engines are additionally supplied with atmospheric gases as combustibles to conserve on-board fuel supplies. The viper cockpit is fully pressurised, and in the event of catastrophic system damage, the entire module can detach and eject away from the damaged Viper.


Dimensions

  • Length: (approx) 8.7m
  • Wingspan: (approx) 3.8m

Propulsion

  • 3x ion engines mounted aft

Aramaments

  • 2 x forward-firing laser-torpedo guns
  • 4 x two-hundred kiloton Solonite missiles
  • 2 x thirty megaton Solonite bombs

Crew

  • Pilot

Layout

File:Tos-viper-cut.jpg
Starhound Viper Cutaway (credit: Mike McAdams)

The Viper is a long, sleek vehicle that can be spilt into two parts, fore and aft.

  • Fore section: comprises the nose back to the cockpit. This contains the targeting dish and sensor array, the forward landing gear; the main avionics and sensor packages, plus the cockpit module
  • Stern section: comprises the main engines, reactor systems, turbo-boost injection systems, fuel tanks, wings and vertial stabiliser. The wings themselves contain the laser-torpedo guns and their power packs. Harpoints beneath the wings allow missiles, munitions pods and other items to be rack-mounted.