We see examples of this in today's military, even the U.S. uses European harrier jets and such. Wouldn't you think the feds would be using designs by other races? maybe selling surplus mirandas to the klingons or ferengi?
Why would they if they don't have to? The Federation seems content (and quite able) to build new starship designs of their own rather than borrow ones from other nations. But apparently the Romulans did use at least one Klingon design during their short-lived alliance in TOS. It may have been because the D7 battlecruiser was considered a match for a Constitution-class starship perhaps...
I was saying perhaps it would have been more "resource efficient" (seeing as they don't buy things so it couldn't be cheaper) to trade with other races for ships to fill certain roles then to waste research and development on "our own version of something the other guy already has"
In the old FASAverse, the powers did have a handful of ships captured from their rivals, and the Orions had also a number of captured ships - primarily Klingon. The Romulans and Klingons had a stronger technology exchange, although their political rivalries still got in the way. There are also a number of ships that were decommissioned and sold on the civilian market, presumably downgraded of their sensitive equipment. So I suppose it's theoretically possible that some of those could have been bought by a separate government in time.
The Federation is made up of different races with different ideas on how a ship should look right? The Oberth class is one of those that is strange enough to have possibly been designed by other races. Think of other ships that don't fit the typical "saucer connected by a neck to an engineering hull with nacelles on pylons" that is typical with many trek designs. It is possible that Ships like the Defiant, Saber Class, Steamrunner Class and Akira Class had other races input.
I'd say the Galaxy-class could also be put on that list; out of all the Enterprise's so far, it's the most unusual looking.
...Also, while the titular ship of Star Trek:Enterprise looks completely unlike her Vulcan counterparts, she was supposedly designed with Vulcan help. For all we know, the traditional "Starfleet look" of saucer hulls is actually a Vulcan invention, while two nacelles is a generic way to get warp (also popular with e.g. Klingons, Romulans and Orions) and rarely worth swapping for Vulcan or Ferengi style configurations. Alternately, we could claim that Archer's Enterprise was built with Andorian or Tellarite know-how, specifically so that Earthlings could thumb their noses at Vulcans. That would be something of a conspiracy theory, though, as Archer himself didn't appear versed in Andorians or Tellarites. But choose some other race eager to trade with the primitive Earthlings in the early 22nd century, exchanging worthless baubles such as starship designs for priceless treasures from the natives such as local booze. Personally, though, I rather disliked the ENT idea that ships of the classic Starfleet silhouette would have been introduced before the Federation was. I'd much rather have seen them as the result of cooperation between different cultures. With their multiple haphazardly connected components, they do look as if designed by a committee! Timo Saloniemi
That's something that really bugs me about Enterprise, I always saw Starfleet vessels as Federation starships, in the sense that they're the combination of technologies and stylings from across the member worlds. Now thanks to that series all I'm reminded of is an Earth ship.
I have one of those Star Trek Tactics Saber class ships and the more I look at it and My Galor Class Micro Machine, The more they look related design-wise
Maybe Starfleet ships are specifically designed to be flexible enough to accommodate any of the races in the Federation. Maybe it's too dark on Klingon ships for Bolian officers to see. Maybe a Tellarite's fingers are too fat to press Vulcan buttons. That sort of thing.
What makes you think they're NOT? Not that we'll ever know for sure, but it's pretty likely the Type-7 shuttlecraft is some kind of high-performance design built by some other Federation member to Starfleet's specifications. The Earth-built shuttle design is usually boxier with that characteristic rear hatch.
I've always viewed Starfleet as an amalgam of cutting edge tech from all the relevant species in the Federation. A species who just joined the Federation because they just gained warp technology probably isn't going to offer much technologically speaking, but the Vulcans, the Andorians? Sure.
FASA had a couple of classes (Loknar, Thufir, Andor, and the Sphinx shuttle) which were said to have been primarily designed by Andorian engineers, and to make up part of the "Blue Fleet" (ships primarily crewed by Andorians). Nothing was specified though as to what made the class features Andorian as opposed to typical Federation, though.
Fully agree, I think a whole lot of tech within the Federation is non human. However it might not always reflect in the exterior design, in that perspective Trek designers always have been working with the saucer/engineering/nacelles kind of setup. I think that is ok for Hero ships, but the somewhat obscure ships certainly could have different shapes. I'm working on a Vulcan/Andorian hybrid myself. (USS Demeter) it's on hold for a couple of months, because I gave priority to a Voyager refit that I hope to complete around June.
Lightbulbs can be changed. Control panels can be re-fit. the ship itself would be just fine. Would love to see one of thoe vulcan ships from ENT done up in a Starfleet paint-scheme.
As appealing as that might be to you, I imagine that most Vulcans would disagree. For purely logical reasons of course... In related news... I found this randomly on teh internets several months ago.
^^ Thats Forbin's Peregrin, its not an alien ship but a technological adventure by the Feds giving the Romulan BOP's config a try. http://www.inpayne.com/models/kitbash/trekpage_peregrine.html
I always the the Klingon BOP, Galor class, and D,Deridex Warbird would look good in federation Liveries.
...Conversely, it might have been fun to see more liveries for the Federation. Vulcans could have painted "their" Nebula class ships red; Andorians could have had cool turquoise finish to their Akiras; Medusan Excelsiors would have made the enemy go mad at first sight; and so would the Mirandas painted in the psychedelic colors of Tiburon! Timo Saloniemi