Professor Wayne King-Meiouf of the University of ProximaThe DDS C-projects are all very known, a new scheme bought in by the DDS in the late 2100s to better manage new ship projects and improve management of the process. As yet though no C-project has resulted in an actual ship being built though both the Corkscrew and Carbon projects should change that.
However there is another set of projects that are not well known at all, projects which are not classed as secret but are kept under wraps by DDS Research and are seldom mentioned in public documents. These are more abstract ideas, earlier concepts if you will. Consider the C-project a fleshed out concept, an A-project is the initial sketch.
Some A-projects have progressed to C-status though most (and there are said to have been over 50 to date) never get any further than a few briefings and discussion fora. Some A-projects can be combined into a C-project. The cancelled Chrysalis cruiser for example took elements from the Acorn project for a ship with a detachable large UCV and the Apex project for a large combatant.
Dr Forbidden told me recently that A-projects are not intended for the public domain mostly because they are often the DDS thinking aloud about a ship concept. He did give me permission to write this introduction into the world of the A-project and kindly allowed me to mention a few projects of interest (maybe because he is keen on them progressing to C-status and getting some development funding!)
Albany is a new concept in DDS warship design, a "multi-battlesphere combat vehicle". It is a spacecraft that can also operate in the atmosphere of a planet and even has a limited ground capability. As such it can be considered to be an equivalent in concept at least to the Dinomark XT. Albany would be bigger though, maybe around Rome size and would be intended to support amphibious operations.
Adder is nothing less than a replacement for the entire DDS transport fleet! Adder is a modular transport design which can be easily changed with the correct modules to perform cargo transport, passenger transport, oiler even humanitarian duties.
Finally August is a design for a small space fighter. A similiar idea to the Dinomark XA perhaps, August would be a 4-5 man ship with full superluminal capabilities and heavy firepower. August would be intended for space combat and special operations where a full-size ship would be unneeded and indeed too much to risk.
I'd personally like to see all 3 ideas developed fully, Albany sounds very interesting and would fill a bit of a gap in the DDS' amphibious and ground attack capabilities. August is where the galaxy is going in spaceship design with ever greater automation and shrinking size of technology resulting in smaller ships. Adder is the longest term project but by the 2130s the DDS need to start replacing their SUP based fleet and something like Adder could be the way the DDS will go.
