K-F Boom

The Kearny-Fuchida Drive Boom is a piece of aerospace related equipment that is used to allow any vessel attached to a JumpShip hardpoint to safely be carried through hyperspace. Its invention spawned the JumpShip/DropShip duology and rendered DropShuttles obsolete.

Equipment Description

Kearny-Fuchida Field Conducting (KFFC) Booms, also known as the K-F Boom, are a defining part of a DropShip's construction and an integral part of their Docking Collar. (K-F Booms may also be found on some non-DropShips, such as semi-mobile Space Stations.)

The K-F Boom is the technology that extends the JumpShip's K-F field to an attached DropShip. This allows JumpShips to carry docked DropShips, without needing to house them in internal bays as had previously been the common practice with DropShuttles. Essentially the ship with the K-F Boom plugs into the JumpShip's computer and K-F drive so that it can account for the DropShip's size and mass when jumping.

The prototype K-F boom was introduced in 2458 in the Terran Hegemony, and reached standard production in 2470.

For what seem to be technical reasons rooted in Kearny-Fuchida theory, DropShips cannot exceed 100,000 tons in mass. It has been noted, though, that DropShips or other structures which exceed the 100,000 ton limit might as well be equipped with their own K-F Drive. This is due to the cost of the K-F Boom for larger vehicles that would make it economically unfeasible.

Notes

The K-F Boom is only mentioned in scattered references throughout the first three core rulebooks.

Bibliography

• Experimental Technical Readout: Primitives, Volume 3
• Interstellar Operations: Alternate Eras
• Tactical Operations
• TechManual
• Strategic Operations