The Model 553 4 Cell SHORAD Missile Turret External Mount
For’Sel Scrt ReindE skaI di’fens te’Et, Madel Faiv-Fifti-Ori ik’stenEl maunt:
Direct translation: Four cell Short range Sky Defence Turret, Model 553 External Mount

Produced as a plug and play air defence system for lighter armed transports and Sky ships. It was easily mounted and configured, with almost all needed components within the mount. While this made the system easily mounted on all manner of ships, it reduced the Systems effectiveness. It required manual Reloading, with 2 Missile Cassettes, by a crew who are forced to move externally.

Proponents of the design point to the fact that crew already were taking to the externals of Sky ships with shoulder fired AAM launchers. (One notably famous photo shows a crew member of the INS Galifrey, a Troop transport, during the 546 Newman’s Pass Crisis, dressed in bunker gear and wearing Mag boots, walking across the hull with an PSAM-3A Anti-air missile and a handgun.)

The system is also fairly cheap and simplistic, it’s sensor suit being adequate for targeting Fighter craft, and small Patrol Craft, but the low powered missiles made it ineffective against heavier ships, the Thermal Camera and Short range Radar limited in their range of detection, and the Cheap Active Homing radars are easily confused by Chaff and have a maximum of 8 second battery life. Overall the system fills the role of a cheap to mount and maintain Air defence system.