Just like throwing away hyper-expensive aircraft, it's hard to throw away hyper-expensive ships.
To that end, HASF Terran Navy has taken into account all of the Mirage-class warships fielded by the NAU (all of them survived the war), and proceeded to upgrade them to fight in a 2050s battleground.
Internal Designation: Heavy Surface Combat Vessel
Classification: Cruiser
Displacement: 17,500 Tons
Number: 10 in 2054: Hull designation HSCV-1000 to HSCV-1009 Mirage, Ghost, Phantom, Specter, Revenant, Reaper, Nyx, Loki, Borei, and Hai-Long.
Purpose[]
The Invincible-class is designed to prowl the seas and eliminate unauthorized surface ships. It also carries good anti-air and anti-submarine weaponry to protect itself from non-ship threats as well.
Capacity[]
The Invincible-class can carry two AH-99 Tigersharks, complete with a fully operational hangar bay able to cram in both helicopters.
Sensors[]
The Invincible-class carries ten EADS SmRPnxG(Ship-mounted Radar Panel next Generation)-1200 X-, Ku- and L- band AESA panels wrapped around its bridge superstructure. While nowhere as effective as the lighthouses on top of Diego Garcia-class ships, they are still potent and able to provide the Invincible-class with excellent detection capabilities.
To detect underwater threats, the Invincible-class has a SAS (Synthetic Aperture Sonar) in its bow and can drop a towed SONAR array under the thermocline to find any submarines in the water.
Anti-Surface Weaponry[]
MAWS A-100 (2)[]
The MAWS A-100 100mm Railgun accelerates a sabot-fitted 30mm x 500mm Ferric-Tungsten round to 4000 meters per second, providing it with the kinetic punch to tear a hole in any ship 200 kilometers away, or airburst a ground target at the distance of 3000km. The gun is liquid-nitrogen cooled, hydraulic-clamped, and draws on a LFTR dedicated to the two railguns.
HSSW-1 (28)[]
HASF needed a new anti-ship missile to contend with ever-improving naval defense systems. After considering the AGM-306 of WW3, they developed an improved version. The Excalibur packs a rocket-boosted SCRamjet motor propelling a 1000lb Thermobaric-Thermite warhead protected by a tungsten kill cap at Mach 12 to a target 950 kilometers away. The whole thing is kept on course via an ECCM-assisted GPS and terminal Radar guidance. The Invincible-class mounts 28 of them on the sides of their two railgun turrets.
AASMLT-2 (28)[]
The Advanced Anti-Ship Missle-Launched Torpedo-2, is probably one of the most underhand offensive weapons ever. Looking just like a fellow Excalibur, the AASMLT carries a supercapitation torpedo to 510 kilometers, then fires its compressed gas charge that pushes the torpedo into the water, where it tears through the water at 200 knots on the final one-kilometer-long leg of the journey to the enemy warship. Most of the time, the ship never knows what hit it.
Anti-Aircraft Weaponry[]
SL-AAM-3 (360)[]
The AAM-3 is the deadliest air-to-air missile in the world- the SL-AAM-3 is only the surface-launched variant. Packing a STAR-48-boosted SCRamjet motor, it carries just its own guidance system (consisting of an ECCM-assisted GPS and terminal guidance Radar) and a thick tungsten kill-cap to slice effortlessly through any airborne target. It can reach speeds of Mach 20(14000mph, 6200 meters per second) as it strikes an aircraft 240 kilometers away. The surface launched variants differ from their air-launched brethren only in that they have compressed gas charges to launch them out of their launch tubes before their boosters ignite. The Invincible-class carries 128 of them on the sides of its bridge superstructure, and they are tuned to fire at ballistic missiles as well.
Anti-Submarine Weaponry[]
Onward come the Tigersharks!
Upgrades[]
AH-100 Firehawk (2)[]
The AH-99 is incredibly expensive, especially because it is nuclear powered. To get a helicopter that is much more expendable and therefore much better for anti-small boat engagement and scouting, two Firehawks can be allocated in place of one Tigershark. The AH-100 is a simple stealth-treated UCAV helicopter design, carrying a single AOS-20 or two Pilums or two Piranhas in its undercarriage weapons bay.
Protection[]
Passive[]
The Invincible-class has thick NGC plating on a hull that consists of a form of composite armor that flexes instead of shattering if pushed beyond its mechanical strength. Fully waterproof compartments and a massive array of firefighting and leak-fixing tools are spread all over the ship. Guided weapons can be jammed by the onboard Next Generation Naval Jammer or the chaff and flares dispenser.
With this much weaponry on a single platform, it's a good idea to be inconspicuous- the Russian Project 1374 Cruisers of WW3 were loud and protruding, which was the reason why none of them survived the war: everyone shot at it. Therefore, the Invincible-class is shaped to significantly reduce its RCS to the size of a speedboat, mainly to reduce the probability of lock-on by anti-ship missiles. It even has shrouded 18-fin counter-rotating propellers to make it even quieter than the Sea Stalker submarines fielded by the UEC.
Active[]
Aside from the ECM station and the chaff and flares launcher, the Invincible-class also carries a total of fourteen close defense systems.
ADWS (6)[]
The Area Denial Weapon System is a 65-barrel 260-round 35mm Metal Storm weapon system. In point defense mode, it is wired to the ship's main sensors as well as its independent a high-powered X/L-band AESA, and LADAR. It is capable of dumping all of its rounds in little more than half a second. Its 35mm rounds are fitted with pre-fragmented high explosive, which can disintegrate an incoming missile with a total of 388 5mm tungsten spheres each round. The ADWSs are mounted on the roof of the bridge superstructure, with one mounted beside the other, with the MAWS A-37 CIWS stuffed in between pairs.
MAWS A-37 CIWS (4)[]
Though using an anti-tank gun to shoot down missiles sounds like overkill (it is), the massive muzzle velocity of the MAWS A-37 (at a blinding 12km/s) makes it ideal for hitting fast-moving missiles. And if it can kill it tank, you bet that it can kill a missile. The CIWS turret packs in an A-37 with a LADAR and an independent a high-powered X/L-band AESA as fire control. The coil-CIWSs are mounted side-by-side on the roof of the bridge superstructure, in between pairs of ADWSs.
USDS (4)[]
The Underwater Ship Defense System is an internally-mounted 26-tube 180mm AALT-52 Piranha launcher, fire control suite included. The Advanced Air-Launched Torpedo-52 has a full-length hardened-steel case, SONAR and MAD guidance, and a 10lb Shape Charge to crack open a submarine's pressure hull. The torpedo propels itself through the water via two shrouded counter-rotating propellers, powered by supercapitators. The torpedo can strike a target 2.5 kilometers away at a speed of 75 knots. Two USDSs are mounted on both port and starboard.
Locomotion[]
The Invincible-class has two General Atomics AB3-U1B 4th generation Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor to power the ship. It provides the surface combatant with 1.5GW of power, which allows the ship to have all of its sensors lit, all weapons systems active, all defensive systems online, and the shrouded propellers at flank speed (60 knots). Best of all, it can run on recycled 3rd generation reactor waste and only needs a recharge every ten years.