The current Extender 73A oiler fleet is one of the most vital and hard-working parts of the fleet though their only drawback is a serious one. Only able to travel at 500c they are unable to keep up with fast fleet deployments. The DDS has looked at increasing this speed but even if the much strengthened SUP-AM backbone was used as in the Missileer 21B then the top speed would still be (at 725c) much less than ships like the Panther 35A are capable of.
Instead the DDS are to use the Velocity-N platform to produce a small fleet of fast fleet tankers able to cruise at over 900c. The as-yet unnamed Type 74A tanker will be a lot smaller than the Extender though will be able to supply small fast fleet deployments. Design is now underway and the first examples are expected to be ready within 12 months. The DDS will make a decision as to whether to proceed to build the new type following a specification evaluation within the next few weeks.
