{"data":{"id":20111,"title":"Whitley's Guide - Cutlass Red","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/comm-link\/spectrum-dispatch\/20111-Whitleys-Guide-Cutlass-Red","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-links\/20111","api_public_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/comm-links\/20111","channel":"Undefined","category":"Undefined","series":"News Update","images":[{"id":26463,"name":"source.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/media.robertsspaceindustries.com\/weozjmuuh3hwh\/source.jpg","alt":"","size":843046,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2019-09-19T15:49:32+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/26463","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/26463\/similar"},{"id":27892,"name":"source.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/media.robertsspaceindustries.com\/w3o9r4zgppm77\/source.jpg","alt":"","size":900916,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2021-09-06T14:48:40+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/27892","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/27892\/similar"}],"images_count":8,"translations":{"en_EN":"This article originally appeared in Jump Point 8.2.\nDrake Interplanetary Cutlass Red\nTHE BIRTH OF A VARIANT\u2026 AGAIN\nIn 2845, Drake Interplanetary put itself on the map with the introduction of what was then referred to as the AS-1 Cutlass. Following the base model\u2019s unexpected success, Drake earned the undesired reputation as a manufacturer of spacecraft favored by outlaws and pirates. The company initially addressed these concerns with the launch of the Cutlass Blue in 2860. The Blue was a modification of the base Cutlass to appeal to law enforcement agencies. While the launch of the Blue failed to stifle all criticism, it did manage to successfully generate reasonable doubt among consumers and provide Drake\u2019s defenders sufficient ammunition to engage detractors.\n\nThe latter group\u2019s argument was again brought into the mainstream following the release of a 2875 documentary, Bent Cutlass, that claimed that Drake had knowingly ignored background check flags when selling ships. The documentary detailed an incident when twelve Cutlasses were sold to an intermediary who later transferred them to an outlaw organization for use in a raid that left 122 dead on an orbital outpost. Facing renewed criticism, the company decided to attempt to repeat their past success introducing what executives termed an \u201cinfallible\u201d Cutlass variant. But the Cutlass Red\u2019s road to acceptance was rockier than the Blue as the initial marketing campaign fell comparatively flat. Drake enlisted actor Don Shadow (then starring as Doctor W. Robin Simkins on the top-rated Spectrum drama Situation? Emergency!) as the spacecraft\u2019s official spokesperson. In an uncharacteristic series of advertisements, Shadow addressed the audience directly and invited them to sit down with him for a \u201cvery serious conversation\u201d in which he extolled the new Cutlass model\u2019s virtues. \u201cAsk yourself, do you want to put your life in the hands of an inferior scanner array?\u201d. He then informed viewers that they could request prepared correspondence to petition their local emergency services organizations to purchase the spacecraft. The ads did not feature the ship itself and were widely panned as disingenuous by audiences. Aerospace analysts and mainstream comedians alike had a field day with the Cutlass Red before it had even taken flight.\n\nINTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS\nAs with the Cutlass Blue, Drake invested a great deal into developing the Red as a bespoke spacecraft. However cynical the inspiration behind the ship\u2019s development, the team actually charged with making the project a reality was dedicated to building a spaceborne ambulance that would improve and extend the current standard of care. Like the Blue, the Red would have its own assembly line producing a significantly altered fuselage. The idea of turning a militaristic spacecraft into a hospital support ship greatly appealed to the war-weary Drake development team and slots on the Cutlass Red program were highly sought after. Early on, designers identified that the Cutlass Red could combine two previously unrelated roles: ambulance-style supported patient transport and search and rescue. The latter role, previously the domain of military-sponsored heavy equipment, was becoming increasingly necessary as the technology to make survival in a spacewreck or other catastrophe was improving greatly across the latter half of the 29th century. With more and more crews able to survive the destruction of their spacecraft (and a corresponding increase in space combat occurring on the edges of the Empire), the Cutlass Red was seen as a design with a strong raison d\u2019\u00eatre.\n\nDrake assigned a full development team to each role and developed a mediating process for interfacing the two roles into a single ship. Each group was ordered and budgeted to develop a single keystone innovation that would help the Red stand apart on a professional level. The ambulance team opted to partner with AutoDoc for the development of a bespoke medical bed that would fit into the extended rear cabin (a recalled Blue being used for early fast prototyping). The search and rescue team decided to focus on software, assembling an electronics sub-division to develop the now familiar Nav-E7 Long Range scanner system. The Nav-E7 would give the Red a unique edge in identifying and safely maneuvering around patients in three-dimensional space. The new electronics team, which would end up developing everything from the Dragonfly\u2019s bespoke ground interface to the Herald\u2019s protected computer core, managed to advance scanner clarity 23% from the industry standard using available components alone. Both role-specific projects proceeded extremely well and, because they focused on building out different areas of the ships, needed little mediation when adapted to the final hull design. In all, conversion of the Cutlass Blue into the Cutlass Red proof-of-concept took only eleven months, with a fully constructed Red production prototype flying its first round of space trials in September 2876.\n\nUNEXPECTED SUCCESS\nThen, in another example of Drake\u2019s extraordinary luck, laughter turned to applause within days of the Cutlass Red\u2019s first sale. In spite of the failed marketing campaign and overall negative perception of the project, Drake opted to continue with the planned launch in April 2877, believing that the investment could easily be made up due to the Cutlass Red\u2019s practical superiority in its role. With little event surrounding the initial release, first month sales were limited. Then, galactic events shifted unexpectedly in Drake\u2019s favor when a cruise liner collided with a customs weigh station in the Corel System, penetrating both ships\u2019 hulls and setting off a case of improperly stored explosives aboard the station that caused significant further damage. Dozens were killed immediately and hundreds were left stranded. The ensuing explosion destroyed the station\u2019s vacuum hangars, emergency spacecraft, and medical supplies, forcing emergency services on Lo to put together a makeshift response themselves. The centerpiece of that response became a flight of thirty-six brand-new Cutlass Red spacecraft that had just arrived for sale. Local forces deputized the ships and crewed them with anyone available to help. The familiar Cutlass controls allowed local pilots to make easy use of the Reds during the emergency. The situation was tailor made for Spectrum stories with the force of newly painted, bright red Cutlasses riding to the rescue and ultimately stabilizing and transporting back and forth dozens of patients who would otherwise have been lost.\n\nDrake marketing knew to capitalize on the situation, ensuring that footage of the rescue appeared whenever possible. Gone immediately were the concerns that the Cutlass Red was a cynical public-relations ploy replaced with the understanding that it truly was the next evolution of medical support spacecraft. So rapid and so significant was the Cutlass Red\u2019s turn to favor that actor Shadow credited the spacecraft as part of the reason for his move from Spectrum series to successful film roles. Inside the company, there was both a palpable sense of relief and a true sense that the Cutlass team had done something important.\n\nTHE NEXT GENERATION\nFollowing the Corel customs rescue, sales of the Cutlass Red doubled month over month for two years. Drake was forced to move from a single production line to a dedicated factory building only Cutlass Reds (since 2915 it has constructed both the Cutlass Red and some Caterpillar components). Even more important has been the long-term impact of the Cutlass ambulance concept on both aerospace design and emergency services. While the initial metrics for the Red were based only on the need to use a similar internal layout to the existing Blue, its rise in importance has led to countless third-party adaptations, including specialized medical components and massive designs like the optional boat decks of the Endeavour-class research ships. The bed-and-work-area designed into the Cutlass Red has become an industry standard unit that has gone on to define everything from loading decks to scanner mounts on a dozen different manufacturers\u2019 spacecraft.\n\nFor the Cutlass team at Drake, the ultimate mark of its success occurred in 2895 when the United Empire of Earth purchased an order of three hundred Cutlass Reds for use as fleet support. Though a minor order in the scheme of things, the idea that the same UEEN that once turned down the Cutlass Black and forced Drake to \u2018go their own way\u2019 would purchase Cutlass Reds directly was seen as an indication that the project had true merit. The Navy has continued to buy small numbers of Cutlasses in the years since, outfitting many planet-side military hospitals with the ships in an attempt to maintain the same standard as civilian agencies; they have as of yet refused to contract a hardened militarized version for frontline service, favoring the larger (and more expensive) RSI Apollo instead.","de_DE":"Dieser Artikel erschien urspr\u00fcnglich in Jump Point 8.2.\nDrake Interplanetary Cutlass Rot\nDIE GEBURT EINER VARIANTE... MAL WIEDER\nIm Jahr 2845 machte Drake Interplanetary mit der Einf\u00fchrung des so genannten AS-1 Cutlass auf sich aufmerksam. Nach dem unerwarteten Erfolg des Basismodells erwarb Drake den unerw\u00fcnschten Ruf eines Herstellers von Raumschiffen, die von Ge\u00e4chteten und Piraten bevorzugt wurden. Diesen Bedenken begegnete das Unternehmen zun\u00e4chst mit der Einf\u00fchrung der Cutlass Blue im Jahr 2860. Die Blue war eine Modifikation der Basis-Cutlass, die sich an Strafverfolgungsbeh\u00f6rden richtete. Die Markteinf\u00fchrung der Blue konnte zwar nicht alle Kritik im Keim ersticken, aber es gelang ihr, bei den Verbrauchern begr\u00fcndete Zweifel zu wecken und den Verteidigern von Drake gen\u00fcgend Munition zu liefern, um die Kritiker zu bek\u00e4mpfen.\n\nDas Argument der letztgenannten Gruppe wurde nach der Ver\u00f6ffentlichung des Dokumentarfilms Bent Cutlass (2875), in dem behauptet wurde, dass Drake beim Verkauf von Schiffen wissentlich die Flaggen f\u00fcr Hintergrund\u00fcberpr\u00fcfungen ignoriert hatte, wieder in den Vordergrund ger\u00fcckt. In dem Dokumentarfilm wurde ein Vorfall geschildert, bei dem zw\u00f6lf Entermesser an einen Mittelsmann verkauft wurden, der sie sp\u00e4ter an eine gesetzlose Organisation weitergab, die sie bei einem \u00dcberfall auf einen Au\u00dfenposten im Orbit einsetzte, bei dem 122 Menschen starben. Angesichts der erneuten Kritik beschloss das Unternehmen, den Erfolg der Vergangenheit zu wiederholen und eine \"unfehlbare\" Cutlass-Variante auf den Markt zu bringen, wie die Verantwortlichen es nannten. Doch der Weg zur Akzeptanz des Cutlass Red war steiniger als der des Blue, da die anf\u00e4ngliche Marketingkampagne vergleichsweise flach verlief. Drake engagierte den Schauspieler Don Shadow (damals in der Rolle des Dr. W. Robin Simkins in der Spectrum-Serie Situation? Emergency!) als offiziellen Sprecher f\u00fcr das Raumschiff. In einer untypischen Reihe von Werbespots sprach Shadow das Publikum direkt an und lud es ein, sich mit ihm zu einem \"sehr ernsten Gespr\u00e4ch\" zusammenzusetzen, in dem er die Vorz\u00fcge des neuen Cutlass-Modells anpries. \"Frag dich selbst, ob du dein Leben in die H\u00e4nde eines minderwertigen Scanner-Arrays legen willst\". Dann informierte er die Zuschauer dar\u00fcber, dass sie vorbereitete Briefe anfordern k\u00f6nnen, um ihre \u00f6rtlichen Rettungsdienste zum Kauf des Raumschiffs aufzufordern. Die Spots zeigten nicht das Raumschiff selbst und wurden von vielen Zuschauern als unaufrichtig kritisiert. Luft- und Raumfahrtanalysten und Mainstream-Comedians machten sich \u00fcber die Cutlass Red lustig, noch bevor sie \u00fcberhaupt in die Luft gegangen war.\n\nINTERNE ENTWICKLUNGEN\nWie bei der Cutlass Blue investierte Drake viel in die Entwicklung der Red als ma\u00dfgeschneidertes Raumschiff. So zynisch die Inspiration hinter der Entwicklung des Schiffes auch sein mochte, das Team, das mit der Verwirklichung des Projekts betraut war, hatte sich dem Ziel verschrieben, einen weltraumgest\u00fctzten Krankenwagen zu bauen, der den derzeitigen Standard der medizinischen Versorgung verbessern und erweitern w\u00fcrde. Wie die Blue sollte auch die Red \u00fcber ein eigenes Flie\u00dfband verf\u00fcgen, das einen deutlich ver\u00e4nderten Rumpf herstellt. Die Idee, ein militaristisches Raumschiff in ein Lazarettschiff zu verwandeln, gefiel dem kriegsm\u00fcden Drake-Entwicklungsteam sehr und die Pl\u00e4tze f\u00fcr das Cutlass Red-Programm waren hei\u00df begehrt. Schon fr\u00fch erkannten die Konstrukteure, dass die Cutlass Red zwei bisher nicht miteinander verkn\u00fcpfte Aufgaben miteinander verbinden konnte: den Transport von Patienten im Stil eines Krankenwagens und die Suche und Rettung. Letzteres war bisher eine Dom\u00e4ne des Milit\u00e4rs und wurde immer notwendiger, da sich die Technologie f\u00fcr das \u00dcberleben in einem Weltraumwrack oder einer anderen Katastrophe in der zweiten H\u00e4lfte des 29. Jahrhunderts stark verbesserte. Da immer mehr Besatzungen in der Lage waren, die Zerst\u00f6rung ihres Raumschiffs zu \u00fcberleben (und die Zahl der Weltraumk\u00e4mpfe an den R\u00e4ndern des Imperiums entsprechend zunahm), wurde die Cutlass Red als ein Design mit einer starken Daseinsberechtigung angesehen.\n\nDrake wies jeder Rolle ein komplettes Entwicklungsteam zu und entwickelte einen Vermittlungsprozess, um die beiden Rollen zu einem einzigen Schiff zusammenzuf\u00fcgen. Jede Gruppe erhielt den Auftrag und das Budget, eine einzige Schl\u00fcsselinnovation zu entwickeln, mit der sich die Red auf professioneller Ebene abheben w\u00fcrde. Das Ambulanzteam entschied sich f\u00fcr eine Partnerschaft mit AutoDoc, um ein ma\u00dfgeschneidertes medizinisches Bett zu entwickeln, das in die verl\u00e4ngerte Heckkabine passt (ein zur\u00fcckgerufenes Blue wurde f\u00fcr ein schnelles Prototyping verwendet). Das Such- und Rettungsteam beschloss, sich auf die Software zu konzentrieren, und stellte eine Unterabteilung f\u00fcr Elektronik zusammen, um das inzwischen bekannte Nav-E7-Langstrecken-Scannersystem zu entwickeln. Das Nav-E7 w\u00fcrde den Roten einen einzigartigen Vorteil bei der Identifizierung und sicheren Man\u00f6vrierung um Patienten im dreidimensionalen Raum verschaffen. Das neue Elektronikteam, das von der ma\u00dfgeschneiderten Bodenschnittstelle des Dragonfly bis hin zum gesch\u00fctzten Computerkern des Herald alles entwickelte, schaffte es, die Klarheit des Scanners allein mit den verf\u00fcgbaren Komponenten um 23 % gegen\u00fcber dem Industriestandard zu verbessern. Beide rollenspezifischen Projekte verliefen \u00e4u\u00dferst erfolgreich, und da sie sich auf den Ausbau verschiedener Bereiche der Schiffe konzentrierten, waren bei der Anpassung an das endg\u00fcltige Rumpfdesign nur wenige Eingriffe erforderlich. Insgesamt dauerte die Umwandlung der Cutlass Blue in die Cutlass Red Proof-of-Concept nur elf Monate, und im September 2876 flog ein vollst\u00e4ndig konstruierter Red-Produktionsprototyp seine erste Runde von Weltraumtests.\n\nUNERWARTETER ERFOLG\nEin weiteres Beispiel f\u00fcr Drakes au\u00dfergew\u00f6hnliches Gl\u00fcck: Schon wenige Tage nach dem ersten Verkauf der Cutlass Red wurde aus Lachen Applaus. Trotz der fehlgeschlagenen Marketingkampagne und der insgesamt negativen Wahrnehmung des Projekts entschied sich Drake, den geplanten Start im April 2877 fortzusetzen, da er der Meinung war, dass die Investition aufgrund der praktischen \u00dcberlegenheit der Cutlass Red in ihrer Rolle leicht wieder wettgemacht werden k\u00f6nnte. Da es kaum Ereignisse rund um die Markteinf\u00fchrung gab, hielten sich die Verk\u00e4ufe im ersten Monat in Grenzen. Dann \u00fcberschlugen sich die galaktischen Ereignisse unerwartet zu Drakes Gunsten, als ein Kreuzfahrtschiff mit einer Zollw\u00e4gestation im Corel-System kollidierte, den Rumpf beider Schiffe durchschlug und eine Kiste mit unsachgem\u00e4\u00df gelagertem Sprengstoff an Bord der Station ausl\u00f6ste, was zu erheblichen weiteren Sch\u00e4den f\u00fchrte. Dutzende wurden sofort get\u00f6tet und Hunderte sa\u00dfen fest. Die darauf folgende Explosion zerst\u00f6rte die Vakuum-Hangars der Station, die Notfall-Raumschiffe und die medizinischen Vorr\u00e4te, so dass die Rettungsdienste auf Lo gezwungen waren, selbst eine provisorische L\u00f6sung zu finden. Das Herzst\u00fcck dieser Hilfe war ein Flug von sechsunddrei\u00dfig brandneuen Cutlass Red-Raumschiffen, die gerade zum Verkauf gekommen waren. Lokale Kr\u00e4fte stellten die Schiffe zur Verf\u00fcgung und besetzten sie mit jedem, der helfen konnte. Dank der vertrauten Cutlass-Steuerung konnten die lokalen Piloten die Reds w\u00e4hrend des Notfalls problemlos nutzen. Die Situation war wie geschaffen f\u00fcr Spectrum-Geschichten, denn die neu lackierten, leuchtend roten Cutlasses eilten zur Rettung, stabilisierten und transportierten Dutzende von Patienten, die sonst verloren gewesen w\u00e4ren, hin und her.\n\nDas Marketing von Drake wusste die Situation zu nutzen und sorgte daf\u00fcr, dass die Rettungsaktion so oft wie m\u00f6glich gezeigt wurde. Die Bef\u00fcrchtungen, dass es sich bei der Cutlass Red um einen zynischen PR-Trick handelte, waren sofort verflogen, und man erkannte, dass es sich um die n\u00e4chste Generation medizinischer Raumfahrzeuge handelte. Die Cutlass Red wurde so schnell und so bedeutend, dass der Schauspieler Shadow das Raumschiff als einen der Gr\u00fcnde f\u00fcr seinen Wechsel von der Spectrum-Serie zu erfolgreichen Filmrollen nannte. In der Firma herrschte sowohl ein Gef\u00fchl der Erleichterung als auch ein echtes Gef\u00fchl, dass das Cutlass-Team etwas Wichtiges geleistet hatte.\n\nDIE N\u00c4CHSTE GENERATION\nNach der Rettung durch Corel Customs verdoppelte sich der Absatz des Cutlass Red zwei Jahre lang Monat f\u00fcr Monat. Drake war gezwungen, von einer einzigen Produktionslinie auf eine spezielle Fabrik umzustellen, die nur Cutlass Reds herstellt (seit 2915 werden dort sowohl die Cutlass Red als auch einige Caterpillar-Komponenten gebaut). Noch wichtiger waren die langfristigen Auswirkungen des Cutlass-Krankenwagenkonzepts auf die Luft- und Raumfahrt und die Rettungsdienste. W\u00e4hrend die anf\u00e4nglichen Ma\u00dfst\u00e4be f\u00fcr den Red nur auf der Notwendigkeit beruhten, ein \u00e4hnliches internes Layout wie der bestehende Blue zu verwenden, hat sein Bedeutungszuwachs zu zahllosen Anpassungen durch Dritte gef\u00fchrt, darunter spezialisierte medizinische Komponenten und massive Konstruktionen wie die optionalen Bootsdecks der Forschungsschiffe der Endeavour-Klasse. Der Bett- und Arbeitsbereich der Cutlass Red ist zu einem Industriestandard geworden, der von Ladedecks bis hin zu Scannerhalterungen in einem Dutzend Raumschiffen verschiedener Hersteller zum Einsatz kommt.\n\nF\u00fcr das Cutlass-Team bei Drake war der ultimative Erfolg im Jahr 2895 zu verzeichnen, als das Vereinigte Imperium der Erde dreihundert Cutlass Reds f\u00fcr den Einsatz in der Flotte bestellte. Obwohl es sich nur um einen kleinen Auftrag handelte, wurde die Tatsache, dass dieselbe UEEN, die die Cutlass Black abgelehnt und Drake gezwungen hatte, ihren eigenen Weg zu gehen, die Cutlass Reds direkt kaufte, als Zeichen daf\u00fcr gewertet, dass sich das Projekt wirklich gelohnt hatte. Die Marine hat in den folgenden Jahren weiterhin eine kleine Anzahl von Cutlasses gekauft und viele Milit\u00e4rhospit\u00e4ler auf dem Planeten mit den Schiffen ausgestattet, um den gleichen Standard wie die zivilen Beh\u00f6rden zu halten; sie hat sich jedoch bisher geweigert, eine geh\u00e4rtete, militarisierte Version f\u00fcr den Einsatz an der Front in Auftrag zu geben und stattdessen die gr\u00f6\u00dfere (und teurere) RSI Apollo bevorzugt.","zh_CN":"This article originally appeared in Jump Point 8.2.\nDrake Interplanetary Cutlass Red\nTHE BIRTH OF A VARIANT\u2026 AGAIN\nIn 2845, Drake Interplanetary put itself on the map with the introduction of what was then referred to as the AS-1 Cutlass. Following the base model\u2019s unexpected success, Drake earned the undesired reputation as a manufacturer of spacecraft favored by outlaws and pirates. The company initially addressed these concerns with the launch of the Cutlass Blue in 2860. The Blue was a modification of the base Cutlass to appeal to law enforcement agencies. While the launch of the Blue failed to stifle all criticism, it did manage to successfully generate reasonable doubt among consumers and provide Drake\u2019s defenders sufficient ammunition to engage detractors.\n\nThe latter group\u2019s argument was again brought into the mainstream following the release of a 2875 documentary, Bent Cutlass, that claimed that Drake had knowingly ignored background check flags when selling ships. The documentary detailed an incident when twelve Cutlasses were sold to an intermediary who later transferred them to an outlaw organization for use in a raid that left 122 dead on an orbital outpost. Facing renewed criticism, the company decided to attempt to repeat their past success introducing what executives termed an \u201cinfallible\u201d Cutlass variant. But the Cutlass Red\u2019s road to acceptance was rockier than the Blue as the initial marketing campaign fell comparatively flat. Drake enlisted actor Don Shadow (then starring as Doctor W. Robin Simkins on the top-rated Spectrum drama Situation? Emergency!) as the spacecraft\u2019s official spokesperson. In an uncharacteristic series of advertisements, Shadow addressed the audience directly and invited them to sit down with him for a \u201cvery serious conversation\u201d in which he extolled the new Cutlass model\u2019s virtues. \u201cAsk yourself, do you want to put your life in the hands of an inferior scanner array?\u201d. He then informed viewers that they could request prepared correspondence to petition their local emergency services organizations to purchase the spacecraft. The ads did not feature the ship itself and were widely panned as disingenuous by audiences. Aerospace analysts and mainstream comedians alike had a field day with the Cutlass Red before it had even taken flight.\n\nINTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS\nAs with the Cutlass Blue, Drake invested a great deal into developing the Red as a bespoke spacecraft. However cynical the inspiration behind the ship\u2019s development, the team actually charged with making the project a reality was dedicated to building a spaceborne ambulance that would improve and extend the current standard of care. Like the Blue, the Red would have its own assembly line producing a significantly altered fuselage. The idea of turning a militaristic spacecraft into a hospital support ship greatly appealed to the war-weary Drake development team and slots on the Cutlass Red program were highly sought after. Early on, designers identified that the Cutlass Red could combine two previously unrelated roles: ambulance-style supported patient transport and search and rescue. The latter role, previously the domain of military-sponsored heavy equipment, was becoming increasingly necessary as the technology to make survival in a spacewreck or other catastrophe was improving greatly across the latter half of the 29th century. With more and more crews able to survive the destruction of their spacecraft (and a corresponding increase in space combat occurring on the edges of the Empire), the Cutlass Red was seen as a design with a strong raison d\u2019\u00eatre.\n\nDrake assigned a full development team to each role and developed a mediating process for interfacing the two roles into a single ship. Each group was ordered and budgeted to develop a single keystone innovation that would help the Red stand apart on a professional level. The ambulance team opted to partner with AutoDoc for the development of a bespoke medical bed that would fit into the extended rear cabin (a recalled Blue being used for early fast prototyping). The search and rescue team decided to focus on software, assembling an electronics sub-division to develop the now familiar Nav-E7 Long Range scanner system. The Nav-E7 would give the Red a unique edge in identifying and safely maneuvering around patients in three-dimensional space. The new electronics team, which would end up developing everything from the Dragonfly\u2019s bespoke ground interface to the Herald\u2019s protected computer core, managed to advance scanner clarity 23% from the industry standard using available components alone. Both role-specific projects proceeded extremely well and, because they focused on building out different areas of the ships, needed little mediation when adapted to the final hull design. In all, conversion of the Cutlass Blue into the Cutlass Red proof-of-concept took only eleven months, with a fully constructed Red production prototype flying its first round of space trials in September 2876.\n\nUNEXPECTED SUCCESS\nThen, in another example of Drake\u2019s extraordinary luck, laughter turned to applause within days of the Cutlass Red\u2019s first sale. In spite of the failed marketing campaign and overall negative perception of the project, Drake opted to continue with the planned launch in April 2877, believing that the investment could easily be made up due to the Cutlass Red\u2019s practical superiority in its role. With little event surrounding the initial release, first month sales were limited. Then, galactic events shifted unexpectedly in Drake\u2019s favor when a cruise liner collided with a customs weigh station in the Corel System, penetrating both ships\u2019 hulls and setting off a case of improperly stored explosives aboard the station that caused significant further damage. Dozens were killed immediately and hundreds were left stranded. The ensuing explosion destroyed the station\u2019s vacuum hangars, emergency spacecraft, and medical supplies, forcing emergency services on Lo to put together a makeshift response themselves. The centerpiece of that response became a flight of thirty-six brand-new Cutlass Red spacecraft that had just arrived for sale. Local forces deputized the ships and crewed them with anyone available to help. The familiar Cutlass controls allowed local pilots to make easy use of the Reds during the emergency. The situation was tailor made for Spectrum stories with the force of newly painted, bright red Cutlasses riding to the rescue and ultimately stabilizing and transporting back and forth dozens of patients who would otherwise have been lost.\n\nDrake marketing knew to capitalize on the situation, ensuring that footage of the rescue appeared whenever possible. Gone immediately were the concerns that the Cutlass Red was a cynical public-relations ploy replaced with the understanding that it truly was the next evolution of medical support spacecraft. So rapid and so significant was the Cutlass Red\u2019s turn to favor that actor Shadow credited the spacecraft as part of the reason for his move from Spectrum series to successful film roles. Inside the company, there was both a palpable sense of relief and a true sense that the Cutlass team had done something important.\n\nTHE NEXT GENERATION\nFollowing the Corel customs rescue, sales of the Cutlass Red doubled month over month for two years. Drake was forced to move from a single production line to a dedicated factory building only Cutlass Reds (since 2915 it has constructed both the Cutlass Red and some Caterpillar components). Even more important has been the long-term impact of the Cutlass ambulance concept on both aerospace design and emergency services. While the initial metrics for the Red were based only on the need to use a similar internal layout to the existing Blue, its rise in importance has led to countless third-party adaptations, including specialized medical components and massive designs like the optional boat decks of the Endeavour-class research ships. The bed-and-work-area designed into the Cutlass Red has become an industry standard unit that has gone on to define everything from loading decks to scanner mounts on a dozen different manufacturers\u2019 spacecraft.\n\nFor the Cutlass team at Drake, the ultimate mark of its success occurred in 2895 when the United Empire of Earth purchased an order of three hundred Cutlass Reds for use as fleet support. Though a minor order in the scheme of things, the idea that the same UEEN that once turned down the Cutlass Black and forced Drake to \u2018go their own way\u2019 would purchase Cutlass Reds directly was seen as an indication that the project had true merit. The Navy has continued to buy small numbers of Cutlasses in the years since, outfitting many planet-side military hospitals with the ships in an attempt to maintain the same standard as civilian agencies; they have as of yet refused to contract a hardened militarized version for frontline service, favoring the larger (and more expensive) RSI Apollo instead."},"links_count":0,"comment_count":10,"created_at":"2024-08-13T21:00:00+00:00","created_at_human":"1 year ago"},"meta":{"processed_at":"2026-05-08 02:37:21","valid_relations":["images","links"],"prev_id":20110,"next_id":20112}}