Let me start this article with a brief introduction to the GALAXIA universe. It is set in the mid-22nd century in the aftermath of a massive depopulation of and exodus from Earth in the region of space within approximately 50ly of Earth. It is a hard science fiction universe, with the exception of the Alcubierre 'warp' drive- a concession to plot and the ability to move characters and hardware across Known Space. Technology is roughly comparable to present-day hardware, as Moore's Law has dead-ended, thanks to limitations at the molecular level. Quantum computing is possible, but the devices are extraordinarily expensive. Superluminal communications do not exist in any practical form.
Known Space is controlled by a range of factions, each with control of one to ten star systems. Foremost is the UNCS, or United Nations Co-prosperity Sphere, a socialist descendant of the present-day UN. It has conquered numerous alien species, such as the reptilian, metallic-based Sinterians, and salamander-like Arquians, and makes wide use of cloning technology. Next, is the UCSA, the United Confederate States of America. Formed from Southern and western states after a devastating civil war in the early 21st century, the UCSA is a conservative, loosely-organized confederacy that works to counterbalance the UNCS. Its allies include the CIS, or Confederacy of Independent States, a successor to the Russian Federation, and the Systems Commonwealth, formed from the remaining nations of the British Empire. Numerous alien nations and other human-controlled systems fill in the gaps. Indeed, the larger nations' boundaries end at around 25ly from Earth. One of the most remote systems is Rainor's Star, commonly referred to as Ozark, located precisely 24.7588ly from Earth. Past this distance, space is lawless and populated mostly by mining conglomerates, scientists, occasional military patrols, and the odd terrorist, pirate, or fugitive from the law.
GALAXIA does not utilize energy shields, magic laser cannons (although directed-energy weapons are in use for point defense), or mile-long warships. Simply, the lethality of kinetic weapons is such that a single hit will destroy or disable any vessel of reasonable size. One hit equals one kill (mission-kill or complete destruction; it doesn't much matter).
Logically, a military force would wish to maximize its survivability, roughly definable as the number of weapon-target hits it can sustain. In consideration of the destructive power of kinetics, the simplest way to accomplish this is to present the enemy with as many targets as possible. One may think that drones launched from an Alcubierre-capable, independent vessel (ACIV, pronounced ay-siv) built as a carrier would be an excellent means to target-saturate the enemy. However, the carrier itself will be a vulnerable one-hit kill, require numerous personnel to crew, and leave its complement stranded should it fall to a lone missile or Gauss-cannon projectile. The electronic warfare environment is also hostile enough to compromise control links between the carrier and its drones, and tactical datalinks between the individual drones.
The next conclusion is that numerous small ACIVs would offer a combination of self-deployment capability, survivability through numbers, and security against decapitation or stranding by destruction of their carrier. These craft could be tailored for a variety of roles, and constructed in large numbers due to their small size. Assuming that cost scales linearly with the volume of a spacecraft, a smaller craft offers exponential cost savings due to the square-cube law. At this point, we have a corvette-like ACIV. How, then, will it be based, maintained, rearmed, and refuelled?
In the GALAXIA universe, tethered space elevators have emerged as a relatively cost-effective means of surface-to-orbit transportation, and permit the movement of fuel, personnel, and construction materials directly to orbit for a simple, reliable way to build large space stations. These might seem like the ideal for massive orbital bases- but consider the effects of kinetic weaponry on a non-maneuvering target the size of a city. Their use is generally restricted to civilian traffic and occasional resupply for military vessels.
This, then, pushes spacecraft maintenance and construction to the surface of the planet, and introduces the complicating factor of atmospheric entry and exit into the equation. In GALAXIA, human aerospace craft are usually propelled by dual-cycle nuclear turbines, capable of running on their reactor alone in atmosphere, and of using liquid hydrogen as reaction mass once in space. From this requirement, we have an atmospheric-capable, relatively small craft that must be able to take off and land on terrestrial airbases. In effect, this leaves us with a dual-environment supersonic bomber with modular payloads and a compact Alcubierre drive. The naval terminology used most military science fiction to describe orbital combat craft seems inaccurate to describe such a craft, so I will coin my own term: "striker". The Alcubierre drive essentially posits an offensive craft, capable of carrying a massive weapons payload, as seen below:
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| Do not trifle with this much ordnance. |
This is a demonstration of the variety of payloads the B-1 Lancer could conceivably carry. Each missile or bomb shown here can easily destroy an ACIV with one hit, prompting an interesting balance between offensive missiles and defensive "interceptor" rounds (but, that's a topic for another article). When nuclear or precision-guided weapons are considered, the striker also becomes an excellent surface-attack weapon. Forty or so strikers, each armed with six to ten nuclear missiles in reentry casings, could absolutely annihilate an inhabited planet, considering the extremely small human population in GALAXIA.
Exact basing procedures will vary based on individual requirements. Important factors include the type of striker and its fuel, weapons, and maintenance requirements, the planet's socioeconomic conditions, and the level of threat faced. To represent a relatively typical human-governed planet, we will select Dixie, located at 22.4722ly for 19460 mils off Earth, population 4,822,023. The majority of its population is concentrated in rural counties with an area of approximately 1000 square miles and populations in the 4,000 to 10,000 range. UCSA planets tend to have a military service rate ranging from 3% to 5%, giving 150 to 400 active National Guardsmen per county. Each county usually has one to three companies of Army National Guard troops, meaning that, on average, fifty to one hundred personnel are available for the Air National Guard, and by association, striker units. Approximately one half the counties have an ANG group or flight and half of all ANG units are flying units; the remainder are usually air defense, civil engineer, radar, command and control, ground-based terminal control, or Special Forces units.
GALAXIA, unlike many hard science fiction universes, has not done away with aerospace fighters- simply, a light, extremely affordable space-capable weapons platform is still extremely useful for defensive purposes and limited deployment. Around one half of ANG flying units are equipped with eight-odd aerospace fighters, with the remainder flying strikers. This means that, approximately, one in every eight counties will possess a striker unit, for a total of 75 units. With four craft per flight, you wind up with three hundred strikers for the planet.
One of the primary reasons for surface basing is to disperse the fleet and offer greater survivability. This, coupled with extremely low population density, provides the perfect justification for extremely small units, most likely on the four-craft
flight level. Aerospace maintenance technology has noticeably improved, with computerized scheduling and diagnostics assisting crews and permitting more efficient distribution of labor. If each striker has a crew of six, including spares, and administration/airfield operations require twenty personnel, we can assign eight maintenance personnel to the average seventy-five-man flight. In effect, a roughly twenty-to-one ratio of personnel to ACIVs is accomplished, for around three hundred strikers assigned to Dixie, and perhaps two to three thousand throughout the UCSA. It's an interesting way to replace your ISO Standard Human Spaceship (See
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StandardHumanSpaceship?from=Main.ISOStandardHumanSpaceship )
That's about it for this article. Hope y'all enjoyed it!!
