The DDS have issued a press statement saying that they are planning to field a superluminal capable UCV by the end of the decade. The Stoat UCV will be a long-range scout with a secondary deep strike role. The ship will be fitted with a Gluon TM-07 (the engine powering the Panther) and should be capable of around 600c. It will be able to fire TPM-2s and MRMs.
The DDS said that Stoats could be placed in "areas of tension" and stay cloaked until needed. The DDS said Stoats will be able to operate for 5 years between refuelling, the ship staying cloaked for extended periods. Now this has required new technology from the DDS to keep a ship cloaked for an extended period.
Typically cloaking devices are only good for around a week before the field starts to destabilise and needs to be reset. The Stoat will be equipped with 3 cloaking devices. A new technique called Cloak Overlaying has been developed by DDS Research to allow the ship to switch from one cloaking device to another without any tell-tale brief period when the field is off.
The Stoat is likely to be larger than the HCS superluminal UCV project the Nybble which is said to be Coril sized. One source says the Stoat could be "half the size of a Panther".
Meanwhile the DDS/Dino/Starbot Ferret UCV is progressing well with it's final pre-production testing. Ferret-X M05 is being tested alongside manned DDS assets. One problem discovered is the collision avoidance system. In a test the Ferret did not avoid a simulated meteorite and would have been destroyed.
