Raider (RDM)

Overview

The Raider is the promary aerospace attack craft used by the Cylons. Two variants are know to have been developed:

• The Piloted Raider
• The Automated Raider

Piloted Raider

Cylon Piloted Raider (credit: Small Artworks)

The piloted Raider was first encountered during the Cylon War. Piloted by a crew of three, it was armed with two forward-firing kenetic energy weapons and could carry missiles in bays within the wings and on racks mounted beneath the wings.

Oval in shape, the piloted Raider had two sublight engines for propulsion, but probably did not incoporate FTL technology.

The vehicle was both space and atmosphere-capable.

Notes

• Within fan circles, it has been hypothesised that the original Raider was in fact a Colonial vehicle designed to be flown by a human crew. However, with the development of the Cylon Centurion, they were crudely adapted to be flown by Cylons. Thus, their use during the Cylon War prompted the development of the Colonial Viper. Currently, there is nothing that is canon to support this.

Automated Raider

Cylon Automated Raider, captured by the Battlestar Galactica (credit: Sky One / Sci-Fi Channel)

The Automated Raider was first encountered more than 40 years after the Cylon War, when the Cylons launched their devastating surprise attack on the Twelve Colonies.

The vehicle is substantially different to the piloted Raider, comprising a small fuselage mounted between two large forward-curved wings.

The automated Raider was initially thought to be wholly mechanical in design, with a high-level AI controlling it. However, following the recovery of a Raider tat hade been forced down onto a planetoid during a firefight with Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (Act of Contrition), it was discovered the new Raider is in fact bio-mechanical in nature (You Can't Go home Again), incorporating a number of large organs ins its design, including an organic brain.

The automated Raider has a broad weapons capability:

• (Kinetic energy missiles carried in internal wing bays (Mini-Series)
• Nuclear missiles mounted on under-wing racks (Mini-Series)
• Twin kinetic energy weapon guns mounted under the leading edge of the wings (33 onwards)

During the Cylon attack, the new Raider was also capable of transmitting an electronic virus to any Colonial vessel utilising the Comand Navigation Pragram (CNP). The CNP have been compromised prior to the attack, and provided a back door by which integrated systems aboard Colonial vessels could be rendered inoperable, rendering the ship defenceless (Mini-Series).

The new model of Cylon Raider is also equipped with a small-scale FTL drive system (Mini-Series). Following tests on the Raider captured by the Galactica, this FTL system was found to be far more capable that Colonial FTL systems. Estimates showed that the drive could carry the Raider from somewhere near the vicinity of Kobol back to Caprica in a single jump (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I).

Like the previous model of Raider, it is atmosphere-capable (You Can't Go Home Again).

Overall, the new Raider is an agile fighter craft, far more manoeuvrable than it's piloted forebear, and able to match Colonial Vipers in combat.