In the 1990s and 2000s the MDF faced a serious issue, home policing and fast reactionary interplanetary forces on the waves. Although the Ho’Nok Class Carriers were a vital and important piece in their military to project power and provide a critical asset on the seas, they were simply too big, yes they would fit on a Type 200 Class Transport, but just barely, and only one could be carried at a time in each and have no room for any other vessels. What was needed was a smaller ship that could be produced in higher numbers, fit in less space, and be able to be moved from planet to planet at a moment's notice. Enter the LACS Program, or Light Aircraft Carrying Ship Program, a call went out to any and all Mai’No’Tian design firms, Bureaus, and Companies. Design a ship that can meet that goal, the design requirements were quite vague to say the least which may have helped, giving rise to odd ideas and possible out of the box solutions, such as a repurposed container ship that could launch aircraft vertically before closing off the deck to recover them, or a ship with a swing arm that would hold the aircraft as it throttled up, was electromagnetically launched, and then land vertically on a small pad. However these designs were soon rejected as the Department of the Navy already had ideas in mind with needed requirements which it put out in October of 2003 in DNSR-167 (Department of the Navy Ship Requirements 167)

1: Arm, Fuel, Launch, Operate, and Recover both the KN-220 and KN-570 aircraft
2: Carry at least 5 of each or 15 of one type
3: Must not force the aircraft to be too heavily modified to fit, operate, takeoff, and land from the ship
4: Must be able to fit 4 of the ships within a Type 200 Transport with no disassembly or overly tight spaces.

These were simple yet high tasks, for many designs the first 3 requirements were almost laughably easy, but it was this 4th requirement that strung up most designs, with many only able to fit 2 or at most 3 vessels inside with how long they were or their height causing an off balance. Then in came an unsuspecting contender, Thoroughbred Shipyards out of Xi’Hi’Kin. With a relatively bland design, and unsurprising hull the ship felt bland and unexciting, with a starboard and stern mounted island, port slanted deck and 3 elevators, 2 starboard 1 port, it looked almost like a scaled down version of the Ho’Noks, but almost a quarter of the volume at a length of 179 meters, a width of 51 meters, and a keel to mast of 39 meters it provided excellent stability and met all the requirements with already existing technology that was combat proven. One oddity compared to other ships in service was the use of standard propellers and rudders over hydrojets as its source of motion, this is do to the large internal volume that hydrojets take up compared to propellers of the same ability along with reducing the complexity of the design, and on an already cramped ship this extra space was much appreciated. The Department of the Navy ordered 3 ships in May of 2008 for small scale trials and testing with the first ship being delivered in August of 2016. Although it meets all the requirements of DNSR-167, with its size, it came at a heavy cost, the small ship could only dedicate so much room to aircraft and their facilities, cutting into the available room for crew, storage, and vital equipment. This led to much less favorable conditions and close tight spaces both for crew and the aircraft working from it, barely clearing the elevators and barely missing the island on landings. The tight space makes repairs in certain areas nigh impossible and the ship has a lower readiness rate compared to the rest of the fleet. All of these issues have lead the Defenders to be dubbed “The Sardine Can” after the famous Earth saying, and dubbed “The Most Hated Ship in the Navy”. However these were all taken into consideration when DNSR-167 was released with the idea being that the ships would be for the beginning to provide air cover or air support during the initial stages of planetary landings and to work closer to shore locations with its more shallow draft. But many seem skeptical of its effectiveness with only 10 aircraft, limited anti-aircraft defenses and only 2 meter less draft. It seems almost backwards to use it when a single Ho’Nok is much more capable with its 110 aircraft, much heavier armament, larger crew, and higher survivability. A modification program to make the ship more livable is rumored to be floating around the Naval Chain of Command, but no official plan has been released. During the Mitigal Invasion the Defenders did not see action at the beginning as planned with orbital dominance and naval superiority quickly gained by the more conventional ships, instead the Defenders often would be stationed off of port cities or near large river deltas and coastal fighting to provide a mobile air station for airstrikes and support along with boosting area air defense. Currently there are 24 ships in the class.

Defender (CVNE-01)
Guardian (CVNE-02)
Escort (CVNE-03)
Advocate (CVNE-04)
Proponent (CVNE-05)
Steward (CVNE-06)
Apostle (CVNE-07)
Custodian (CVNE-08)
Adherent (CVNE-09)
Janissary (CVNE-10)
Disciple (CVNE-11)
Exponent (CVNE-12)
Preserver (CVNE-13)
Warder (CVNE-14)
Sentry (CVNE-15)
Chaperone (CVNE-16)
Protector (CVNE-17)
Apologist (CVNE-18)
Ombudsman (CVNE-19)
Bodyguard (CVNE-20)
Duenna (CVNE-21)
Companion (CVNE-22)
Patron (CVNE-23)
Supervisor (CVNE-24)

Length: 179 Meters
Width: 51 Meters
Height (Keel to Mast): 39 Meters
Freeboard: 31 Meters
Displacement: 60,000 Tonnes
Speed: 30 Knots
Range: Unlimited (20 Year Fuel Supply)
Air Wing: 5x KN-220 Din’Hau ATF 5x KN-570 ATSA Stukas
A-A Defense: 100x Mk.16 SAMs in 5 20 Tube Launchers, 6x Mk.19 AMD/CIWS in 3 Dual Turrets, 2x Mk.9 CILWS, 80x Mk.12 ECFDL in 8 10 Tube Launchers