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Deflector Shield Adaptations

The deflector shield system is the primary defensive system on all classes of starships. It is a series of powerful deflector shields that protect both the spacecraft and its crew from both natural and artificial hazards.

The shields of the Akira Class starships operate using a nutational device known as the Nutational Shield 3.8. Every few seconds, the shield modulations changes. This greatly affects the shield efficiency of these ships.

These auto-modulating shields are designed to immediately adapt to the characteristics of incoming fire. The system relies on advanced computational algorithms spread across the entire shield generator network. Working together, generators can monitor and analyse the smallest of variances across the entire grid and, using this information, hypothesise the correct new frequency modulation to tune the shields to. The process takes approximately 0.3 microseconds.

The Akira Class starships are also equipped with a metaphasic shield, which allows the ships to remain in a sun's corona for periods of up to 28 hours. The metaphasic shield allows the Akira Class vessels to study a sun's corona very thoroughly.

Ablative Shielding

The Akira Class is equipped with the new impact-sensitive ablative shielding, recently upgraded to improve system endurance. This system is comprised of 97 small emitters placed over the outer hull which focus secondary energy at the point of impact of a foreign object. When a hostile energy burst is detected approaching an area of the hull, the emitters and sensor systems calculate the point of impact and focus resistant energy in that location, effectively increasing shield strength at that point by approximately 175% and reducing the force of impact by nearly 64%. The system is able to handle up to 8 simultaneous hits for up to three minutes, after which the system has shown to loose effectiveness in computer models. The system has shown to be only partially effective against torpedo-type weapons, reducing the yield of these weapons to approximately 78% of maximum.

Ablative Armor

Ablative armor is an additional reactive plating that was a top-secret technology in development by Starfleet during the Borg defensive weapons project of 2366, along with pulse phaser cannons and quantum torpedoes. Ablative armor was designed to boil away at a controlled rate under energy blasts, providing an additional layer of defense for starships if their shields failed.

It should be noted, however, that the armor is not a hull replacement, but a supplement and must be replaced over time due to the boiling away process.
Ablative armor imposes a counterforce to incoming weapon fire. The armor works by first dispersing incoming beam energy across the hull of the ship where, after reaching an undisclosed threshold, causes part of the armor to boil away, taking with it a large fraction of that energy. The effect also creates a modest vapor cloud, which effectively disperses the incoming beam further, causing it to do less direct damage to the hull.
The USS Defiant was the first vessel in service equipped with all-around ablative armor. It provided exceptional defense against the Borg in the Battle of Sector 001 where this armor was impervious to Borg's cutting beam. At the time, the technology was so classified that Starfleet Operations was unaware that the Defiant had been thus equipped until 2372. By 2374, ablative armor had been installed on other advanced ships, such as the USS Prometheus, and the Sovereign class ships.

The long-range tactical vessels of the Borg Collective are equipped with ablative armor.