Pulse phaser cannon

A **pulse phaser cannon** was a type of phaser armament developed by Starfleet in the mid 24th century.

## Description

The cannon directed energy through a nearly flawless emitter crystal before storing it in rapid discharge electro-plasma system capacitance banks. High-speed beam-focusing coils were then used to emit pulses of layered spheroids of phaser energy. The compactness of the energy made it more difficult to disperse and adapt to the pulses.

## History

Pulse cannons as a technology existed among members of the United Federation of Planets since the 21st century. Commonly seen as a midway point between laser weaponry and more advanced directed energy beams, they were cheap and effective for the cost. At a basic level, energy was directed into beam-focusing coils then stored for a brief moment before being released in a layered fashion. Energy emitted in this fashion was harder to disperse than if it was projected in a beam state. Pulse cannons were visually distinguishable from standard cannons by the shape of the energy that was emitted. Cannons produced a much longer bolt due to the way the energy was stored before release, whereas pulse cannon bolts were significantly more compact. This raised the maximum amount of energy that could be transferred to the impact site, although trading effective range in order to do so.

Though the technology was widespread, the phased energy rectification (phaser) process did not lend itself to being stored safely in coils due to rapid degradation, as well as key crystals burning out under the stress. By the 23rd century, advances in material sciences allowed for phaser cannons, but the power cost was high for effectively no gain in yield and a loss of versatility compared to traditional beam emitters. They were equipped to a few starship designs, such as the *Crossfield* and *Miranda*-classes, but were notably absent from the *Constitution*-class that would project Starfleet power for most of that century.

At the beginning of the 24th century, a new type of phaser, eventually classified as Type X, was developed to be compatible with the technology being iterated upon as part of the Century Cruiser Project. Requiring less energy to project significantly more force, it also reinvigorated studies on how to adapt phaser energy for use in pulse cannons. Improvements pioneered by the array were used to raise energy retention to acceptable levels in the coils. Progress remained slow due to a lack of use cases that excluded the phaser array. It was not until after the Battle of Wolf 359 that more resources were allocated to the pulse phaser cannon's development.

A major breakthrough occurred at Starfleet's Tokyo Research and Development Center towards the end of 2368. It was commonly accepted that emitter crystals had a maximum growth size beyond which they would experience severely diminishing returns, offering only a 0.047% increase in mass per year. This soft cap on size was nearly doubled through the use of ground-based microgravity chambers that steadied the collapse of the crystals’ structure beyond its previous limits. With these new crystals to experiment on, rapid advancements were made with increasing the speed of beam-focusing coils. Within six months, a working prototype pulse phaser cannon had been constructed. It was designated the Starfleet/Pulse Phaser Unit-1 (S/PPU-1).

Because of its size, the S/PPU-1 was difficult to incorporate into existing space frames. To get around this issue, it was encased in a standard mission pod and attached to those vessels with the required hardpoints. Experiments and field tests revealed that cooling the unit was more difficult than anticipated; however this was resolved in early 2371 with the advent of rapid-discharge EPS capacitance banks. This, in combination with the miniaturization of key components through improved manufacturing processes, allowed for a significant reduction in size. The final product was the S/PPU-8, which was classified as a Type XII in Starfleet's phaser type scale and served as the primary directed energy weapon of the *Defiant*-class.

## Appendices

### Connections

**Propulsion systems:** Impulse • Quantum slipstream • Subspace conduit • Warp

**Science and remote sensing systems:** Sensor

**Tactical systems:** Deflector shield • Disruptor • Dynamic Tactical System • Launch tube • Phaser (array • bank • cannon • **pulse cannon** • turret)

**Utility systems:** Emergency holographic program • Modular Rapid Deployment System

**Mission pods:** Equipment pod • Habitation pod • Tactical pod (Weapon pod) • Transport pod

**Leadership:** Commander-in-chief • Joint Chiefs • Chief of Starfleet External Affairs • Chief of Starfleet Operations • Chief of Starfleet Research and Exploration • Chief of Starfleet Tactical

**Agencies:** Operations (Engineering • Judicial • Materiel Supply • Mission Operations • Personnel Management • Records Service • Shipyards Operations • Starbase Operations) • Research & Exploration (Science • Medical) • External Affairs • Tactical (Intelligence • Security • MACO)

**Notable units:** Ktarn Fleet • Task Force 77

**Facilities:** Deep Space K-7 • Deep Space K-13 • Deep Space 9 • Masamichi Array • Starbase 45-Keepsake • Starbase 82-Maat • Starbase 234-Beskerm • Starbase 247-Vershina

**Agencies:** Starfleet • Diplomatic Corps • Department of Temporal Investigations • Federation Security Agency

**Facilities:** 40 Eridani A Starfleet Construction Yards • Antares Ship Yards • Beta Antares Ship Yards • Copernicus Ship Yards • Laikan Starfleet Shipyards • McKinley Station • Memory Project • New Aberdeen Shipyards • Proxima Maintenance Yards • Salazaar Shipyards • San Francisco Fleet Yards • TL-9139 Starfleet Maintenance Yards • Tranquility Base • Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards

### Sources consulted

* Phaser cannon article at *Memory Alpha*.
* Pulse cannon article at *Memory Alpha*.
* Pulse phaser article at *Memory Beta*.
* Phaser cannon article at *Memory Beta*.
* *Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual*.