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Boeing-class Orbital Factory Satellite (OFS)

Names and Disposition:

(RNY = Robotech Naval Yard)

Ships' Complement:

• Ships' crew (750,000 men)
• Space Marine unit (1 million men)
• Civilians (8 million men)
• Life support limits are for a full combat complement and about 19,200,000 supernumeraries (20,000,000 men total).

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

Dimensions:

Propulsion Systems:

• Main power system: Craft specific anti-matter furnace. 
• Maneuvering thrusters (180): Overtechnology OTMS-06 Fusion-plasma reaction thruster clusters mounted at various locations over the vast hull of the ship.
• Sublight drive (1): Craft specific gravitic displacement drive.
• Space fold (1): Craft specific fold drive.
• Planetary capabilities: None whatsoever.

Endurance and Mobility Units

• The dry stores endurance is effectively infinite; the satellite is a production center for dry stores.
• The mecha consumables supplies (mainly missiles) are effectively infinite, as the satellite produces mecha consumables.
  The missile magazines for the ship's own launchers are effectively infinite, as the satellite produces missiles.
• Sublight drive acceleration is 20 g, but the vessel's maneuverability is reduced to such a degree that only minor course corrections are possible. Typical cruising speed is .05 c.  However it is not designed for long range cruising.  It is usually used for precision movement within a star system.
• The fold systems were not designed to be used for folds of distances greater than approximately 5 kiloparsecs, for safety reasons. If longer voyages are required, the Satellite must conduct multiple fold jumps.

Weapon Systems:

Circa 2063

• Defensive fleet: A RDF Space Navy task force is permanently assigned to the satellite for defensive purposes.  The fleet usually consists of 1 Ikazuchi-class Space Battlecruiser, 3 New York-class Heavy Space Cruisers, 5 Hurricane-class Light Space Cruisers, 10 Raptor-class Heavy Space Destroyers, 3 Nile-class Light Space Carriers, 8 Blue Jay-class Space Escort Carriers, and 20 Sentinel-class Space Patrol Vessels.
• Bofors PL-7 point defense turrets (1800): Mounted behind movable panels in the main hull (200) and ancillary body (400 per) in a spherical pattern providing excellent defensive capabilities.  These standard RDF weapons can fire 53 MJ of particle energy four times per second at a range of up to 20 km.
• Raytheon Mk 267 surface to air missile launchers (2000): 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 3600 round capacity.  These turrets are mounted behind armor plating on the main body (300), and ancillary body (425 each) and pop up when firing.

Electronics Systems and Special Equipment:

• RRD DSO-6 omnidirectional barrier defense system(10): 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.
• Starship manufacturing facilities: The Boeing-class are the secondary service bases for the Space Navy as well as manufacturing centers.  To serve the later end of the design, numerous construction docks exist.  The layout of each is different depending on cliental using the factory.  A mecha manufacturer would have more mecha lines than shipyard, but most still retain the following design:
  • Main Body:
    • 1 x 20,000 meter
    • 6 x 10,000 meter
    • 12 x 7,000 meter 
    • 30 x 5,000 meter
    • 50 x 1,000 meter
    • 100 x 700 meter
  • Ancillary Bodies:
    • 10 x 7,000 meter 
    • 18 x 5,000 meter
    • 22 x 1,000 meter
    • 30 x 700 meter
• Starship repair and refit facilities: The Boeing-class contained extensive starship maintenance facilities. A total of 2500 starships of all classes could be contained in the various individual docks and the large communal docking holds. The throughput of ships differed with their damage or disrepair, but typically 1200 ships could be refitted and repaired in one week.
• Naval auxiliary production and maintenance facilities: The Boeing-class contained sufficient production lines for Auxiliaries to equip and restock all starships under construction, repair or refit with their allotted numbers of Auxiliaries. In one week, these production lines could built 15,000 total.
• Mecha production lines: The Boeing-class could produce sufficient mecha to equip the new construction, restock the ships under repair and refit and replace attrition in large areas of the galaxy. In one week, the mecha production lines could produce 1,000,000 mecha of all types.
• Ammunition production lines: The Boeing-class contained extensive ammunition production lines. For example, over 22,000,000 missiles of all types could be produced in one week.

Air group and mecha complement:

(Space Marine Unit)

• 100,000 VR-071 Protector Veritech cyclone
• 100,000 VR-077 Firefly Veritech cyclone
• 500,000 VR-074 Gorilla Veritech cyclone

Note: The given numbers are approximations; the exact number and type of mecha varied somewhat due to operational realities.  Additionally there are always a large number of mecha in storage awaiting delivery to various locations across space.  These mecha can be made combat ready in a short period of time, though there is a lack of trained combat pilots onboard the factory as most pilots are shuttle pilots or ferry pilots.

Design Notes:

History:

The Boeing-class Factory Satellite is among the more interesting vessels in the RDF Space Navy as it is not wholly owned by the United Terran Government, it is a partnership between major defense contractors and the government.  The original concept for these vessels began in early 2046 during the refit of the G-95 Super Factory later known as the Robotech Naval Yard.  While this factory had massive internal docking and construction bays for capital ships, there was not much space dedicated to the construction of mecha, missiles, and the other parts to keep the Terran war machine in full swing.  As such Rear Admiral Joshua Bernard proposed the concept of having several smaller factories be built to handle the smaller ships and mecha production.  This concept lead to the ultimate combination of the military industrial complex.  Each of these factories would be constructed by the RDF and paid for by the RDF budget, however they would lease out the factories to large defense contractors and the contractors could would pay back the RDF by producing mecha and other machines equal to the value of the factory.  However as the factory had such a large output of mecha and ships the contractor could lease out the spare production lines to other companies or turn them to building civilian products and turn a profit. 

The first one of these vessels was authorized in 2047 to be constructed by the RDF Naval Yard and was completed two years later and handed over to Boeing Aerospace Company which used to begin production of the VF-11 Thunderbolt and many types of missiles.  Two years later the second was completed and every two years and additional was completed.  The success of this program, both militarily and commercially has been great.  All the companies that expanded to the satellite have made trillions off them and the military has been able to fulfill all requisitions for all sorts of items from toilet paper to nuclear missiles.  During the 4th Robotech War these bases became vitally important and were commandeered by the RDF Space Navy to be used as forward supply depots to keep the offensive pushes going and keep the supply lines chugging.  Only one of these vessels every came under major attack prior to 2067 and that was UES Lockheed/Martin which came under heavy Marduk/Invid attack in late 2065.  The attack was repulsed by the station's battlefleet and SDF-21 UES Macross.  All ships were marshaled to Sol in December of 2067 to help defend Earth from the final Marduk onslaught and though most were heavily damaged, there combined production might allowed the RDF to carry the day and emerge victorious. 

Layout adapted from Robotech Reference Guide

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

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