NI - New Isreali Defense Fleet
Tzi Hagana l'Yisrael

This information was originally posted at http://nift.firedrake.org/Alpha/NIAlpha.html

Some stats have been tweeked a bit to correct some discrepencies.

From its founding, the New Israeli military has been an integral part in the colonies' society. In a culture based on survival, and with known and active enemies, strength of arms is a fundamental need. The New Israeli navy of 2194 is newer and more cohesive than ever before. In the wake of the Homeland War, which destroyed most of the extant fleet in 2173, New Israel embarked on a massive program of rebuilding and refitting, the pace of which only increased with the rise of the Intersentient (Xeno) War. The navy is part of the unified Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) - or Tzi Hagana L'Israel (Defense fleet/navy of Israel - abbreviated the same way as Old Israel's defense forces as Tzahal - same as ground forces). Military ships are designated as Anyat Tzva'i Israeli (Israeli Military Ship - ATI, or Aleph Taf Yud ), while civilian ships are Anyat Israeli (AI, or Aleph Yud)

Before the Homeland war, the fleet was comprised largely of purchased, retired, or salvaged NAC, NSL, and sometimes FSE ships, plus a number of smaller native ships resulting from Israeli-Japanese cooperative design efforts. This diversity of ships rarely fit into cohesive groups. The current fleet is entirely native and purpose built. Organization is geared primarily towards the defense of the three New Israeli systems and their major population centers. Each system has a dedicated defense fleet, with the home fleet at Epsilon Indi being the strongest. "Deep range" fleets, some carrier- and some cruiser-based, usually reside in-system unless called out for specific duties, which can include convoy escort, exploration, retaliation, mercenary function, etc. Hunter-Killer groups are usually looking for trouble between systems or in outlying routes, especially near Sayeed Kalifate and ESU space. The intelligence wing operates a small number of fast surveillance and spy ships. Customs and local policing duties are performed by Shlishim (triads, or triplets) of Corvettes acting in similar roles as the old wet-navy coast-guards. Reserve forces are small, mainly retired and obsolete vessels that pre-date or survived the Homeland War and were not refitted. As the last of the newly constructed ships come on line, more of the surviving older ships will be retired. New Israel is pioneering the Stealth hull at its black research facility, the Midbar Ghostworks, and the low-profile, sensor-resistant hull materials may see active use in the fleet if the admiralty approves of its performance.

NI Public Beta-Test

The systems and ship designs for the NI indicated below are beta-test versions and any final version that would appear in Fleet Book 3 may be different. Please use these new systems and designs in your battles and your feedback is appreciated.

New Systems of note:

LRPT (Long Range Pulse Torpedo)

Identical to a standard pulse torpedo in weapon mechanics, but with longer range. This heavy weapon is currently experimental in several fleets.

The Long range Pulse Torp has Mass 8 and Cost 24. Extra arcs are Mass 2 and Cost 6 each. It is fired just like a standard pulse torp, but its Range bands are 9mu each

Graser

The Graser (Gamma-Ray Laser), this is the primary heavy armament of the UNSC's large ships, and some NI capitals have been refitted to use them as "spinal" type weapons. See the UNSC Preview Page for stats.

Variable Hull Rows

Not all ships have the same hull integrity, not just with regard to how much mass they put into their hull, but also how well this stands up in a fight before systems start being effected. See the UNSC Preview Page for details on variable hulls. New Israeli ships have 3-row hulls

• Stealth Hull costs +2 NPV per Hull or Armor box per level of Stealth. Examples: a 2 Armor, 10 Hull ship has +24 NPV for Stealth Level 1, and + 48 NPV for Stealth Level 2.

• Stealth ships require fire control to be used in "passive mode", limiting maximum firing range to 24 MU regardless of weapons. Example: Outgoing P-torps still have 6 MU range bands, though only 4 of them, with to-hits of 2+ (0-6 MU) to 5+ (18-24 MU). A stealth ship may fire weapons weapons that can reach past 24 MU at that longer range, but the effects of stealth are invalidated for the remainder of the turn after firing.

• Stealth Level 1 is lost after 50% hull damage, rounded up to the nearest threshold (i.e. Threshold # 2, 2, 3, or 3 on a 3, 4, 5, or 6-row hull respectively.

• Stealth Level 2 is reduced to Level 1 after 33 % damage (Thresh 1, 1, 2, or 2), and lost completely after 67% damage (Thresh 2, 3, 4, or 4)

• Lost stealth abilities cannot be repaired on the time scale of the individual scenario.

Sa'ar class Corvette
FT-1503
Sa'ar = Storm
TMF: 14
NPV / CPV: 51 /  39
Hull: 4 (2/1/1) 1 Crew
Armor: 1
Main Drive: 6
FTL
1 Fire Control
1 PDS
1 Class 2 Beam Battery (all arcs)

Nitznutz class Spyship
FT-1503
Nitznutz = Glint
TMF: 14
NPV / CPV: 70 / 58
Hull: 2 (1/1/0) 1 Crew
Main Drive: 13
FTL
1 Superior Sensors

NOTES: Introduced in 2179. Nitznutz in 2181.