Blackbird

"Blackbird Commissioning" (Flight of the Phoenix) (c) Universal

The Blackbird is a prototype Colonial stealth fighter craft constructed by Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol, his deck crews, and other members of Galactica. This craft was meant to supplement the Viper, given the issues in maintaining the remaining craft aboard the battlestar. Chief Tyrol had originally intended just to build a standard Viper but ended up building a ship that was of more value to Galactica than another Viper.

Design and Technology

The Blackbird is designed to use the Viper launch tubes, and therefore shares the same general shape. It is built more for speed than for maneuverability. If it is armed, it likely fires the same ammunition as typical Vipers, though this has not yet been demonstrated.

It does not use metal for its skin since this metal was reserved for Viper repairs. Instead, on Karl Agathon's suggestion, the Blackbird uses a carbon composite material, which makes it largely invisible to DRADIS scanning.

Along with the usual RCS mechanisms for directional control, the Blackbird is powered by obsolete DDG-62 engines (designed by Laird, a civilian aeronautical engineer) that came from the flight deck of a Colonial fleet ship named Baah Pakal. One must speculate that since a typical Viper's engines are vulnerable to heat-seeking missiles (Mini-Series), these must be as well. This would compromise its stealth features during powered flight. (This is less of a disadvantage in space than in atmospheric flight; a spacecraft's inertia is not affected by gravity, friction, and other factors an atmospheric-bound craft would be, and thus can fly indefinitely without firing its engines.)

A close-up of the cursive on the side of the Blackbird. (C. Universal Studios)

The "Laura"

The first prototype was dubbed "Laura", in honor of President Laura Roslin. It was piloted for the first time by Kara Thrace.

Here is a breakdown of the people who aided CPO Galen Tyrol in its construction:

• Anastasia Dualla, troubleshooting of communication systems
• Cally
• Jammer
• Seelix
• Karl Agathon, suggested the use of carbon composite materials for the Blackbird's skin
• Saul Tigh, offered the DDG-62 engines
• Lee Adama

Colonel Tigh's was originally vocal in his belief that the project was a waste of time, but later provided assistance in procuring the DDG-62 engines. Others among Tyrol's own deck crew also at first believed the project to be a waste of time, which was mostly noted through their initial reactions to Tyrol's proposal. However, Commander William Adama believed that the project offered hope and purpose, therefore permitting it to continue despite the crisis with the Cylon logic bomb that infected the Galactica's systems (Flight of the Phoenix).

Notes

• The Blackbird may be capable of making FTL Jumps. While this has not been demonstrated as yet in the ship's debut episodes, the possibility is likely as Kara Thrace "acquired" the Blackbird to do her own recon of a mysterious Cylon fleet while Lee Adama and the Pegasus CAG flew a Raptor, the only small Colonial military vessel known to have FTL ability, to scout for the Cylon fleet ("Pegasus"). Since an attack would be very likely if the Cylon fleet were in sublight range, only an FTL-capable craft could make the trip. Else, the Blackbird is very fast and fuel-conservative, and could make the trip (albeit in a longer time) without the need for FTL engines. If the Blackbird is FTL-capable, there may have been enough room to add an unused FTL drive from a scrapped Raptor, perhaps the one from the destroyed Raptor that crash-landed on Kobol from "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I."
• Carbon composites are a family of materials used in lightweight or high-temperature-resistant construction, of which a type is used in the nose and leading edges of the wings of NASA's Space Shuttle Orbiter. Carbon composites are somewhat fragile, so impacts (even one from a champagne bottle, which Laura Roslin jokingly attempted to do as she christened the ship) may cause the material to splinter or break. It was damage to this material that caused the destruction of Space Shuttle Columbia on STS-107.
• Executive Producer David Eick stated in his video blog that the Blackbird is "not a Viper", so it is not classed as a modified Viper model ("Viper Mark VIII", etc), but is an entirely distinct craft.
• The fighter's nickname creates a curious comparison with her namesake, Laura Roslin. The frail, but influential President Roslin and her rapid, secretive actions in her quest for Earth's location (including diverting Lt. Thrace from her original mission to destroy the Kobol basestar) as well as her savvy political work in "Colonial Day", are humorously similar in perspective to the abilities of "Laura", a structually weak, but highly agile and initially underestimated stealth fighter. Like President Roslin (the only known surviving official of the pre-holocaust Colonial government), the Blackbird is a unique commodity.