Phaser cannon
A phaser cannon was a type of directed energy cannon weapon, a powerful phaser bank, used by at least the , the Terran Rebellion, and Species 6339. It has been utilized as a ground vehicle mounted turret gun and an embedded starship-mounted weapon system. (; ; ; )

Ship-mounted phaser cannon

The starship-mounted Federation cannon was classified as an optronically targeted phaser. () Phaser cannons existed as early as the 23rd century, when the  starship  was equipped with multiple phaser cannons. () In the 24th century, they were part of the  starship. () In the mirror universe, the Defiant phaser cannons were called multi-targeting phaser banks by the Klingons. ()

The four cannons of the Defiant-class were usually seen firing phaser bolts simultaneously in short rapid-fire bursts and in only one direction. The cannons could also fire beams. () Against Jem'Hadar fighters, the combined firepower of the four phaser cannons of the Defiant had similar firepower to the two wing-mounted disruptor cannons of a Klingon Bird-of-Prey. ()

Systems

On the Defiant-class, the plasma conduit was run through the primary phaser coupling to almost double the power of the phaser cannons. On most Federation ships, this would have significantly reduced warp drive efficiency. () Phaser safeties were engaged before the weapons array was brought on-line and the phaser cannons charged to full power. () When the cannons were charged, fifteen-percent plasma was bled to the phaser matrix. () There was also a separate phaser generator from the emitters. () There were also phaser reserves that could be emptied, for example to strengthen structural integrity. () There was a thirty-inch-long power cell in the phaser array on the Defiant-class starships that was easily used up and needed to be replaced. () 

{{bginfo|A power cell was sold in the It's A Wrap! sale and auction. }}

With extensive modifications, involving shunting the primary phaser relay through the warp drive, and bypassing the plasma emitter from the emitter coupling servos to avert an overload, phaser cannon array could be modified to emit a phaser beam wide enough to encompass an entire comet and vaporize it evenly from a distance of ten kilometers. ()

In 2373, the throughput reading of the phaser relay on the Defiant was 148.7. Lieutenant Commander Worf and Ensign Nog attempted to increase the relay efficiency. This process involved recalibrating the emitter stage after the interface program was initialized and prefire chamber charged. ()

Other species phaser cannons
Species 6339 utilized phaser cannon technology. One of their vessels, commanded by Ven, encountered by the  in 2375, was found to possess twenty-two phaser cannons on the aft section alone. ()

Ground vehicle-mounted phaser cannon

Starfleet ground vehicles could be equipped with a personnel-operated phaser cannon. The Argo shuttlecraft, attached to the , was equipped with a buggy which was armed with such a device. ()

Appendices
See also
 Optronic weapons array
 Phaser pulse
 Photon pulse
 Proximity blast
 Pulse cannon
 Tetryon pulse launcher

Background information
The use of the term "phaser cannon" was used on a computer screen in  (used along with a cut-away graphic that first appeared in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, p. 133) and in dialogue in .

It was a common interpretation that the Federation phaser cannon was developed by Starfleet specifically as a weapon against the Borg. According to , the Defiant-class was designed only for the one purpose, to fight and defeat the Borg, and, prior to the phaser cannons being referenced in the episode "Brother", it was often presumed that the first ship type to carry phaser cannons was the Defiant-class. 

The script of  called the weapon a  phaser.  There is, however, no evidence of any rotating barrels or emitters. On screen, in the dialogue, the Defiant cannons were always called simply "phaser banks" in such episodes as , etc., or just the "phaser array" in . The four cannon simultaneous phaser volley of fifteen shots (sixty bolts total) was called "a standard burst" in "Destiny".

The term "phaser bolt" was used in the scripts of   and .  Visual effects have shown firing rates from four, in , to twelve rounds per second, in such episodes as  and . Cannons have also been seen firing sequentially in pairs (first lower, then upper, ...) when the Defiant assaulted the last ships standing in its way in the Dominion fleet in .

Although the impostors in  displayed phaser cannons as a weapon system on the , there is no evidence that phaser cannons actually were part of the armaments of Voyager. The same graphic also appeared on Voyagers weapon manifest in the episode , but was presumably intended as a generic weapon graphic.

The turret gun of the Argo buggy in  was identified as a phaser cannon in the script of the film.  24th-century phaser rifles have also been shown to have a similar phaser bolt firing capability in , etc. Though not seen on screen, the user end of the phaser cannon contained a tactical LCARS display. This was shown in the It's A Wrap! sale and auction.  According to the apocryphal Starfleet Operations Manual, the tetryon pulse launcher, mentioned but not seen on screen in , was a similar hand-held version of the phaser cannon.

In the first draft of the script of , the  was also intended to have port and starboard batteries of rapid-fire phasers resembling gatling guns in their effect. They were able to destroy a Borg cube before the Borg ships adapted their shields to the cannons. 

In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, the Defiants phaser cannons are called "pulse phasers" or "pulse phaser cannons." The weapon combines several new technologies, such as nearly flawless emitter crystals, rapid discharge EPS capacitance banks and high-speed beam-focusing coils. The pulses are structured like a layered onion. As a result, the target contact is more difficult to disperse than a standard phaser beam. On the Defiant, the EPS weapon-power conduits have been truncated to provide a near-zero lagtime between activation command and beam launch. (pp. 123, 132, 133)  starships were also armed with two pulse phaser cannons. (p. 154) Star Trek: Starship Spotter identifies the classification of the cannons as Type XII phasers.

In the script of , when Captain  is recruiting  to join Starfleet, he comments on the cadets who fought with Kirk in the Shipyard Bar, that "they'll run home to momma the minute they're looking down the barrel of a Klingon phaser cannon." This suggests Klingons were using phaser cannons during the mid-23rd century of the alternate reality. 

The ships in  have what appear to be phaser cannons; in a sense, they fire in a series of bursts. It isn't until Season 2 that the weapons take on their beam-like firing pattern with their signature sound effect.

Apocrypha
According to the Pocket Books novelization , by Diane Carey, the phaser cannon is called a triple-redundant interlocking phaser array. According to the novel A Sea of Troubles, the Miranda-class starship  was upgraded with Defiant-class type pulse phasers. According to the novel Gods of Night, the  starships were armed with Mark XII phaser cannons.

The , a prototype starship featured in the  calendar, also features rapid-fire pulse phasers in its arsenal, according to its designer, Mark Rademaker. 

The video game manual for Star Trek: Starfleet Command III describes the phaser cannon in great detail:

"The Pulse Phaser is an advanced heavy weapon designed for a high rate of fire and a high damage yield… The Pulse Phaser was developed by Starfleet as a weapon to combat future Borg incursions and was first fitted onto the prototype USS Defiant. The device functions similarly to a standard Phaser, but without a continuous beam. The energy emissions are instead stored in a magnetic field, allowing them to coalesce and agitate to higher energy states. The field is then redirected, forcing the burst of Phaser energy toward the target. This process is repeated rapidly using multiple magnetic field generators, and the result is a stream of phased energy projectiles. Although the range of such a weapon is much less than the standard Phaser due to rapid dissipation, from close range the pulse Phaser can do more damage than most Phaser types. The weapon has since been adapted to function on most Federation ships."

According to the video game Star Trek: Elite Force II, the  USS Enterprise-E was also armed with a backup auxiliary twin pulse phaser cannon that was embedded into the primary hull. The cannon turret was capable of being manually operated by personnel in EVA suits.

The video game Star Trek: Armada II also describes the phaser cannon as a pulse phaser on board Defiant-class ships, the Defiant-class variant  ships,  ships, Federation starbases, and pulse phaser turrets. The Klingon  scoutships were also armed with this weapon. According to the Star Trek Online'' video game, by the 25th century phaser cannons have become standard armament on many Starfleet ships.

de:Pulsphaser

External link

Directed energy weapons