Recently AP, in a move which some say is beyond his brief of Acting Commander, has presented a serious of proposals for the future development of the DDS fleet. He wants the fleet to develop along a hi-lo mix scheme with a high end of Panther and Solaris destroyers and a low end of Isometric and later Rome based frigates. Heavy frigates are to go with the frigate fleet restricted to patrol and support duties with the battle fleet to consist of cruisers and destroyers only.
It is an interesting idea and the opportunity of the war with many ships needed to be replaced will help the DDS in facilitating these changes if they decide to go ahead with it (as they likely will). The thinking the DDS are moving to is that their fleet should consist of a core of powerful ships with a large pool of less powerful ships for the day to day patroling of DDS space.
Its similar thinking to the HCS with their recent moves to question the Thresher ST. It is likely the Clones will cancel that ship and instead use the money to buy more Sharks. Both the DDS and HCS are looking into simplifying their fleet line-ups with a smaller number of ship classes in more clearly defined roles. Ships which blur the lines like the SOT and the Thresher are now being looked at as a luxury neither arm can afford or indeed need.
One reason for both decisions is that the classic role of these heavy frigates in supporting the battle fleet is going and is being replaced by the small warfighter concept. Advances in technology will soon make small cheap ships with heavy firepower and superluminal capabilities a reality. Both sides are advancing towards this goal but in different directions, the DDS with their Ferret and the HCS with their Nybble NL. I think the eventual warfighter ship will be a convergence of the two. A small fast nimble ship, probably unmanned, with superluminal capabilities and enough firepower to support the battle fleet.
By the mid part of this decade we could see such a warfighter in both fleets. Watch this space for the Ferret-X which is currently in development. Officially its a beefed up Ferret with optional superluminal drive but i suspect it will be much more than that. Rumours from the HCS Sprite project also indicate the age of the warfighter could be soon upon us.
