Akira class model The is one of four ship classes that were created for the Battle of Sector 001 in . An early favorite of Alex Jaeger – who designed the class – and producers of the film alike , this design featured more prominently in the movie . " " They initially planned to have at least one ship that we could get closer to camera , " " stated Jaeger . " " That was the " Akira " , so it got the most attention to detail . It wound up being almost as big as the " Enterprise " - E – the E is longer , but the saucer section is almost the same size . " " ( ) Design . Along with the three other vessels of its ilk , the " Akira " - class was designed by Alex Jaeger at Industrial Light & Magic ( ILM ) in . It was inspired by the and the Klingon Bird - of - Prey designs . Jaeger explained , " " I love the stance of the bird of Prey , so that was my main influence , to make a ship with an aggressive stance . I also wanted to make a carrier of sorts , more akin to the with fly - through shuttle hangers and I also loved the ' roll bar ' weapons pod of the " Excelsior " " [ sic : he meant the " Miranda " class ] " . Therefore the bay doors are both front and rear and the weapons pod on the boom . There was considerable thought put into the placement of elements . Since we were going to flesh out one of these background ships for a close up I knew it would be scrutinized . . . and it has : ) For more than 13 years ! " " The new class was named after the Japanese animated film . ( ) In a July 1999 partly published interview , conducted by Larry Nemecek , Alex Jaeger stated that he created the " Akira " as a sort of " carrier / gunship , " elaborating , " " This was my gunship / battlecruiser / aircraft carrier . It has 15 torpedo launcher s and two shuttlebay s – one in front , with three doors , and one in the back . I really got into it with this one , with the whole idea that the front bay would be the launching bay , and then to return they ' d come into the back , because they ' d be protected by the rest of the ship . " " . ( ) Visual inspection of the hull and design drawings show all fifteen , plus two more : twelve on the ship ' s weapons pod , one forward torpedo launcher under the deflector dish and four flanking torpedo launchers on the saucer , two on each side . A decade later , in June 2009 , Jaeger commented in far more detail about the overall design of the " Akira " - class on Doug Drexler ' s : " So the design started with the overall shape layout . Then in order to start the details I needed to set the scale , so I started with the bridge and worked out from there . Set nestled between the catamaran split secondary hull s the bridge is nicely protected . Just on either side of the bridge in a notch on top of the secondary hulls are the shield generator s . This further protects the command unit of the ship since one of its duties is launching smaller craft , communication protection is a must . At the back of the bridge there are emissary docking hatches and just below that the circular hatch is the captain ' s lifeboat . The rear view at the back of the saucer is the main shuttle bay and shuttle control center . This area is also well protected tucked down between the hulls and below the weapons pod flanked by the Nacelle s . This serves as a safe haven for the smaller craft in a fire fight and a calm entry point . " " Also in this protected center region are most of the sensor array s for the transporter s and communications with the remainder of the sensors atop the weapons pod . Moving forward the notch in the front of the saucer is the forward launch bay doors ( 3 ) . This is for the fast exit of small craft into battle . There are extra shield generators on either side of this notch as this would be a target for enemy ships . Surrounding most of the saucer section is the phaser array strip . Also on the saucer there are flanking torpedo launchers . At the rear of the saucer are the impulse engine s . Underneath is the deflector dish , 2 flanking phaser arrays and a forward facing torpedo launcher . " Alex Jaeger ' s design of the " Akira " - class was quickly approved by the producers of " First Contact " . He proceeded to produce blueprints for CGI modelers Larry Tan and Paul Theren at ILM , who had to build and map the CGI model using software for animation , and software for the model . Orthographic views and wire meshes of their model have been published in ( pp . 49 , 51 ) . A year later , ILM was requested by Paramount to hand over their models made for " First Contact " – amongst them , the " Akira " – to Digital Muse in preparation for use in the upcoming sixth season episode . Due to software differences , the model had to be largely rebuilt in the software , and was remapped at a higher , but still relatively low , resolution in the process . The model was completed early enough to be already showcased in the season five episode . Muse ' s model , as a variety of unnamed " Akira " - class starships , soldiered on to be featured in the Dominion War in eight more episodes of " Deep Space Nine " , including and the series ' finale , . Additionally , it made three appearances in , for the very last time featured in that series ' finale , . In 2001 , Digital Muse ' s model was refined by Adam Lebowitz and Robert Bonchune for representation as the ( the same ship featured in " First Contact " ) in their reference book , " " . Though a fan favorite , the model has , outside the movie references , hardly been featured in other licensed print publications , conspiciously the " " calendars or their book derivatives . Nevertheless , the model received in 2014 its own entry in the " " magazine partwork publication . Despite its 2001 upgrade , the " Collection " project manager , Ben Robinson , decided that the Muse model needed an overhaul for that publication and had the model re - render ed ( but not rebuilt ) anew , a task he farmed out to outside contractor Fabio Passaro . While no physical studio models were constructed for on - screen use , a foam core camera test model used for " First Contact " , or more likely the television shows , was sold as in January 2009 in " It ' s A Wrap ! sale and auction " for US $ 86 . 85 and is one of the few physical representations of the class constructed by the production staff . Legacy . This design has been a notable source of inspiration for Doug Drexler ' s later design of , the central ship of the fifth " Star Trek " series , . In effect , the producers of the new show at first wanted to reuse the " Akira " - class without any changes , as a horrified Drexler recalled , " " Believe it or not , the producers were of the mind to just use the " Akira " , lock stock and barrel . " " Production Designer Herman Zimmerman continued , " " We did not use that ship , but we took ideas from it and from those ideas eventually – and this process took about four months , all week and weekend CGI work by [ . . . ] Doug Drexler – we finally came up with [ the eventual ] shape . " " ( " Behind the Scenes of " Enterprise " " ) In contrasting the two designs , " Star Trek " scenic artist Geoffrey Mandel observed , " " The " Akira " is a rather ugly , bowlegged vessel from some angles , [ but ] the NX - 01 is streamlined and elegant , and looks good from almost any angle . " " Nevertheless , when fans were presented with the " Enterprise " NX - 01 for the first time , they still were struck with the design resemblance of that ship with that of the " Akira " , and for a time the new ship was in certain fan circles endowed with the somewhat derogative sobriquet " Akiraprise " . As a fan favorite , the design was slated for a 2009 release as the USS " Thunderchild " model kit release by Polar Lights , but was canceled later the following year without much further ado , despite being in an advanced state of development and having secured the input of Designer Alex Jeager . The company has later stated that they felt the ship was not the right choice as the debut outing in their new 1 : 1000 scaled product line , as it was not a " hero - ship " , fearing it would not sell well enough to cover development costs ; the sentiment was certainly not shared by fans . While several illegal " garage kits " were released in the intervening years ( including the 1 : 1400 scaled resin one from unlicensed " garage " model kit company Starcrafts Models , Jaeger is holding in the above featured picture ) , the class had to wait for its " official " entrance into the physical realm until 2014 with the publication of the " Official Starships Collection " .