12.1.11

Fast Fleet Tanker receives initial funding

The Fast Fleet Tanker (FFT) project has been granted initial funding. This project is intended to produce a small fleet of high performance fleet supply ships that can keep up with the current generation of DDS warship. A speed of 800c has been specified for the FFT though it would also receive worm drive at some stage.

The DDS have estimated they would require a fleet of around 8 FFTs to supplement the existing Extender 73A fleet. No delivery estimate has yet been made but DDS sources say a 2114 timeframe is likely.
  • The Aritans are to buy the DDS' remaining Kalahati Tuuls. 5 Kingfisher 39Bs and both Experiment 96Xs are to be sold "as-is" (though presumably after the removal of sensitive technology like TPM-2) to the Aritans at the conclusion of the war. The Aritans are likely to pay around 20 million zarks per ship. The Aritans will be buying the ships themselves though the Dinos will fund any needed upgrades. The Aritans are also negotiating for the sale of a Pentekonter-E to join the one they currently have (which the Dinos have helped the Aritans buy fully from the Articans). It is likely this will be tied up in the same deal. These ship procurements are the key parts of a 500 million zark investment in the Aritan military announced by their government to restore their forces following the war and to get the Aritans back to playing their desired role in the DTA.
  • The Dinos have begun producing Ferret-Gs for export, as co-designers of the UCV with the DDS and the Starbotians they had full schematics though until now have not produced the type in bulk. A new factory will produce Ferrets with the Sirikwanese and Aritans, already possessing DDS built Ferrets, likely to be the first recipients. 
  • The DDS are preparing for a new offensive on Delta 9 according to reports with the aim of finally defeating the ABBO presence on the planet.