Jem ' Hadar fighter A Jem ' Hadar fighter ( also referred to as an attack ship or patrol ship ) was a small type of warship that formed the bulk of the Dominion fleet . These versatile starship s were also known to perform the roles of patrol ship s and scout s . Technical data . Design . Jem ' Hadar attack ships were vaguely insectoid , looking much like a Terran scarab in design . Extremely sturdy , these warships were capable of surviving the impact onto a planet ' s surface . ( ) As well , Jem ' Hadar attack ships were able to land intact on a planet and take off again . ( ) Once landed , the Jem ' Hadar could land troops from the warship from a large access hatch on the belly of the ship . ( ) While capable of making planetary descents , they were not capable of conducting battle maneuvers while in sub - orbital flight . ( ) Although highly maneuverable , they lacked the edge in maneuverability that Starfleet ' s runabout s possessed . Despite this , they still heavily outgunned the smaller Federation vessels . ( ) Jem ' Hadar fighters generated a 39 cochrane warp field and were capable of achieving the speed of warp 7 . ( ) Early engagements resulted in disastrous outcomes for the Starfleet vessels that engaged them , due to the fact that the shields of Federation starships were initially incapable of deflecting the phased polaron beams employed by the fighters as weapons . However , the Federation overcame this handicap fairly quickly , after which Jem ' Hadar fighters became relatively easy for a large starship to destroy . A few solid phaser or photon torpedo hits were enough to cripple or destroy one , therefore , they usually operated in groups of two or three during routine operations , and in much larger swarms in large battles so that the loss of one or two would not make much difference . Tactical systems . The primary directed energy array was located in the forward section of the ship , and had a range that exceeded 100 , 000 kilometer s . ( ) Armaments of this type employed by this class varied from disruptor s to phased polaron beam weapons . During initial encounters with the Federation , these phased polaron beams were capable of penetrating the shields of Federation starships . ( ) During the waning days of the Dominion War , in late 2375 , Jem ' Hadar fighters were retrofit ted with Breen energy dissipator following the Breen ' s alliance with the Dominion . However , this came too late in the war to have an effective impact ; shortly after the refits began , the Cardassian Rebellion successfully obtained a fighter with the weapon and delivered it to Starfleet . ( ) In addition to directed energy weapons , they were also armed with torpedo es manufactured by the Karemma , which could be fired from forward or aft torpedo bays . ( , " et al " ) Outside of conventional weapon use , these ships were also used in performing kamikaze attacks on enemy vessels , which allowed them to inflict more damage than their weapons alone could perform . ( ) When this tactic was used against the in 2370 , Commander Benjamin Sisko explained that it was the Jem ' Hadar ' s way of " showing us how far they ' re willing to go " , in response to the shocked Miles O ' Brien comment regarding the Federation ' s retreat from the battle . ( ) The Jem ' Hadar also used the tactic against the Federation Alliance invasion fleet during the first Battle of Chin ' toka , resulting in the crippling or destruction of fifteen Klingon starships . Garak described the tactic as a means of " inflicting considerable damage on the Klingon s , " to which Worf added , " and buying time to get their weapon platforms operational . ( ) Other systems . This class of vessel possessed transporter technology that was capable of transporting through Federation shields . The deflector technology that was employed by the attack ships was impervious to tractor beam locks . This form of deflector technology was unknown to Federation science as of late 2370 . ( ) The shields of a Jem ' Hadar attack ship were weakest at the ships ' dorsal field junction . ( ) In addition , cloak ing technology would not reliably hide a vessel from a Jem ' Hadar fighter ' s sensors because they used a form of antiproton beam . ( ) This technology was later advanced to include a form of long - range tachyon scanner , which was capable of penetrating a starship ' s cloak from a great distance . ( ) Interior design . Such fighters were typically commanded by a Vorta field supervisor and a Jem ' Hadar . The bridge had no chair s , and only two head - mounted virtual display device s instead of a viewscreen . The bridge was designed to contain three side doors and two floor hatches leading to other parts of the ship . In place of the captain ' s chair was a central position with several access points to various system controls . Adjacent to this position were several stations pointed inward , facing towards the command position . ( ) Jem ' Hadar attack ships lacked numerous amenities that were otherwise taken for granted on Federation starships , including an infirmary and food replicators . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Studio model . The Jem ' Hadar fighter was designed by Jim Martin , whose scarab - shaped design was based on Rick Sternbach ' s Egyptian influences . Two studio model s were built at Tony Meininger ' s Brazil - Fabrication & Design model shop ; the full scale mock - up of the ship , featured in , being a John Eaves design . A noticeable change in the color of the nacelle glow was made between its first appearance in in DS9 Season 2 and following appearances , beginning with in DS9 Season 3 . Initially it was given a blue glow , but this was later changed to purple . For the visual effects heavy episode , Effects Supervisor Gary Hutzel envisioned a shot where the flies through the exploding debris of a " Jem ' Hadar " fighter it had just destroyed , " " I needed something that would break apart . We wanted the scene to say that Sisko is really turning it on , so we designed the shot to have the " Defiant " fly right through a Jem ' Hadar ship . " " Hutzel had Tony Meininger cast a series of small sections from the molds of the studio model . A Image G Hutzel lined up the pieces with the corresponding sections of the full model , photographing them individually in a break - away motion as the " Defiant " " collides " with the fighter . Looking at the screen however , after post - production , " You see a Jem ' Hadar ship blowing up , because that ' s all you ' re supposed to see . " " , Hutzel continued . ( " " , page 324 ) What Meininger essentially had constructed was a break - away model after pyrotechnics would have been done with it . One of the pieces , a nose cone section , constructed of styrene elements with applied metal grid and plastic elements , measuring 15 " ×10 " , showed up as Lot 1482 in the Profiles in History Hollywood Auction 40 of 12 June 2010 , estimated at US $ 300 - $ 500 , where it sold for US $ 300 . For appearances in later seasons , a CGI model , was constructed at VisionArt Design & Animation by Carl Hooper in the " Prisms " and " Ice " software , from SideFx Software , premiering in . When the episode went into pre - production , the CGI - model was turned over to Foundation Imaging for rebuilding and remapping into the software . Foundation ' s CGI - modeler Michael Stetson recalled on Doug Drexler ' s blog , " " I remember rebuilding this model at Foundation Imaging specifically for the Sacrifice of Angels episode . I don ' t remember where exactly the original model came from , but I believe we got it as a . obj file that was a mess when it was imported into Lightwave ( version 5 . 5ish back in ' 97 ) I had a couple of days to make it usable in Lightwave3D which involved seriously cleaning up the geometry ( I think the original might have been NURBS ) and redoing the texture map since LW didn ' t have UV mapping back then . The CG model is about 500 feet long ( 150m ) . I don ' t remember how that size came about but the number was passed down through official channels . It ' s possible there was a mix - up in units as you ' ll notice that 45m is about 150ft . As Doug pointed out it ' s pretty light geometry - wise as we needed to conserve as much memory as possible . " " The Jem ' Hadar fighter model ( measuring 27 " ×30 " ) , known as was listed in the auction with an estimated sale price of US $ 3 , 000 - $ 5 , 000 ; it sold for US $ 6 , 000 ( $ 7 , 200 with premium ) on October 6 , 2006 . An externally almost identical unused and internally unlit break - away model ( slightly damaged and measuring 29×30×7 inches ) was additionally offered as of the It ' s A Wrap ! sale and auction selling for US $ 7 , 000 to a German collector . Several white foam core camera test model s and miniatures were also sold as Lots , , and at various It ' s A Wrap ! - auctions . This model design later appeared as one of many starships created as a Micro Machine . It was also one of the many models made by Furuta , and again later by Eaglemoss Collections as part of " " . Size . According to a note " for future reference " found in the script of " The Jem ' Hadar " , " " this type of Jem ' Hadar ship is approximately the same size as a Klingon bird of prey " , " which is generally accepted as being 360 feet ( 110 meters ) in length . A quote taken from " The Ship " , which seems to support this reference , states that the ship in question was " embedded 90 meters " into " the rock " , while still partially exposed . If by using Benjamin Sisko ' s height ( of approximately two meters ) as a visual reference , it would appear that approximately nineteen meters of the ship remains exposed , calculating to a length of approximately 109 meters . When they ram the Birds - of - Prey in , they appear about the same size as the Birds - of - Prey . Two foam core camera test models , sold by It ' s A Wrap ! , gives further insight into the scaling used for this ship . An inscription on the models states " Jem Hadar ' Bug ' 500ft [ 150 meters ] in scale to ' Lead ' Hadar " . The same size was also stated by VFX supervisor David Stipes . " Technical Manual " . The following information of specifications and defenses comes exclusively from the " " :