Defiance-class Aircraft Carrier

While most full warships in the Polarean Navy carry some sort of multirole drone complement sufficient to boost a ship's versatility and usability in a variety of fields, no Polarean warship can boast as impressive and as powerful a fleet of both autonomous and manned aircraft as the Defiance-class aircraft carrier. More specifically medium-heavy CATOBAR multirole carriers, they are the fourth-largest (and the newest) class of aircraft carriers in active service, following the American Ulysses S. Grant-class, the Eurasian Federation-class and the Chinese Type 005 carriers. Capable of coordinating, launching, landing and maintaining a sizable fleet of autonomous, remote and piloted aircraft, the five ships of the Defiance-class are powerful maritime air power assets, while also serving as excellent military and humanitarian support vessels. Large, but not excessively so, Defiance-class ships are capable of some measure of self-defense and battlefield maneuverability without necessarily requiring the aid of a close supporting flotilla.

As with all carriers, the power of the Defiance-class lies in its complement of aircraft. Composed of many types of fixed-wing aircraft and rotorcraft with adjustable levels of automation and computer autonomy, the class' air fleet can take on a variety of missions, including supply transport, anti-ship attack runs, combat air patrols, terrestrial close air support, AWACS duties, personnel transport, anti-submarine warfare, electronic warfare operations and more. The Defiance-class' large hangar size and ability to support conventional fixed-wing aircraft distinguishes it from most other Polarean warships- while most other warships of the Polarean Navy do host a complement of multirole autonomous aircraft to provide a degree of multirole versatility to all ships, only the Defiance-class can launch and recover full-size, fully-armed fixed-wing multirole aircraft like those found in terrestrial air forces. This capability allows the combat aircraft it launches to carry more munitions and fuel, able to carry out long-range and high-intensity missions other ships' air complements cannot; accordingly, larger non-combat aircraft can be carried by the Defiance-class with relative ease.

Despite their focus on air power, ships of the Defiance-class are not completely incapable of direct anti-ship attack; 22 vertical missile launch tubes are embedded in the ship's starboard stern, fitted with interchangeable adapters and cluster mounts to accommodate varying sizes of missiles, from high-speed anti-air interceptors to land-attack cruise missiles, though the latter is very unlikely to be placed onto the Defiance-class. Fitted to allow the Defiance-class to defend itself somewhat without escort, the volume taken up by the missile tubes necessitate a small sacrifice in potential hangar space. Outside of this odd carrier-mounted vertical launch system, the defense grid of the Defiance-class is made up of extensive electronic countermeasures along with several NMA-28 Mark 3 laser and NMA-20 autocannon/missile CIWS emplacements- an unusually heavy point defense load for a modern fleet carrier, the class' CIWS, ECM and missile loadout allows the ship to theoretically survive without the protection of an escort battlegroup (and to be designated as multirole), though such tactics are risky, inadvisable and have never been put into practice.

Like many of their fellow warships in the Polarean Navy, Defiance-class ships are installed with a naval operations assistant program designed to streamline and automate the operation, navigation, and maintenance of the vessel- on the Defiance-class, this program is named Signe, with a feminine appearance and voice.

Relatively recent in terms of modern naval design, Defiance-class vessels have never engaged in full-scale fleet battles; instead, experience with Defiance-class vessels has so far been gained in the form of limited peacekeeping expeditions, trade route patrols, anti-piracy operations and humanitarian support missions- ships of the class have proven themselves to be excellent military and civilian logistics vessels across the world. The lead ship of the class, the PFNS Defiance (R101), was commissioned in mid-2055 alongside her sister ship, the PFNS Valiance (R102), both built at PFNB Haakonsvern/Haakonsvern Fleet Yards. The latter three vessels of the class, the Warspite, the Brilliance and the Audacity, were commissioned at PFNB Portsmouth in 2056, bringing the number of Defiance-class vessels to a total of five:

• R101 PFNS Defiance, 2055

• R102 PFNS Valiance, 2055

• R103 PFNS Warspite, 2056

• R104 PFNS Brilliance, 2056

• R105 PFNS Audacity, 2056

In cultural depictions, the Defiance-class is usually seen as a type of cavalry/reinforcement character- much too large to be a protagonist's chosen vessel, and not large enough to capture audience imaginations like the supercarriers of the USN, EFN or PLAN do, the Defiance-class is typically seen at either the start or the end of an act, serving as the home base of a marine team or as the core of the heavy reinforcements called in to turn the tide of a decisive battle. Despite this typical background appearance, the Defiance-class features heavily in such works as the popular anti-war film Human Times and the 13 Days in Mumbai speculative-future book and movie series, becoming a reliable home for the main characters.