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This advanced armour was created for the purpose of the new Operation Phoenix ships and to be retrofitted onto existing ships. This sophisticated armour provides the maximum possible strength against numerous weapons. The armour consists of the Carbon Nanotubule shell and the Carbon Fibre hull re-enforcement. This hull not only withstands more stress than previous hulls, but shrugs off many different weapons types without damage.
The powerful carbon nanotubule shell is the key to this armour system. It provides both a nearly unbreakable armour, able to absorb huge amounts of impact and bounce right back. The long molecules provide instantaneous heat dissipation across the entire hull. Using the energy absorption system, this system can withstand attacks from weapons previously deadly to any other type of hull. This system also has some capacity for self-regeneration to provide long lasting and effective armour by feeding chains through damaged ones. Simple repairbots can quickly repair any damage in the nanotubule mesh using the same mechanism used to produce the mesh.
Since any kinetic energy is instantaneously dispersed across the entire hull by the long molecules, its damage is dampened. This not only makes the nanotubule mesh less vulnerable, but protects lower layers of the hull as they are heated more evenly.
This extremely conductive hull is mounted atop a strong, yet lightweight carbon fibre shell. This stiff structure backs the flexible nanotubule mesh and provides structural integrity for the ship. It also has little conductivity, making it invisible to EM sensors and a good insulator, keeping heat in the outer hull and away from internal systems. The Carbon Fibre material also expands and contracts very well under rapid kinetic changes, allowing it to take huge amounts of energy without damage. This hull can take stress from many directions, and although lighter, it is considerably stronger than aluminum or other metal hull designs.
The Energy Absorption System couples with the nanotubule mesh to provide unprecedented protection levels. This system circulates heavy supercooled molecules through the nanotubules. These molecules absorb neutrons, anti-neutrons and ionizing radiation and are either ejected or re-circulated. The supercooled kinetic energy keeps the hull cool so that kinetic weapon damage is significantly decreased. This provides the hull to survive with little damage from plasma, ion, neutron/anti-neutron, laser weapons and many other types. This system also takes kinetic energy from the coolant compounds and uses it to generate additional power for the ships systems - allowing it to gain from attacks (Energy Reflex System).
Since the heavy molecules are MUCH bigger targets than the small carbon molecules, they are much more likely to be hit with neutrons, anti-neutrons and ionizing radiation. These molecules can then be processed internally and either put back into circulation or ejected if unrepairable.
Optionally, these hull designs can implement an optical stealth coating. This hull lies above the nanotubule layer and acts to make the ship visually undetectable for battle situations. The layer consists of thousands of glass beads tied together. Each bead has dozens of optical fibres connected to it. These fibres are then hooked up to an adjacent bead. This allows light rays to pass through the ship and to the other side. While the resolution of the hull patterns may not be infinite, the flaws would be minuscule and hard to detect from any range. This allows properly equipped ships to sneak up on targets and attack undetected. While this is coating will rapidly be damaged, it allows the ship to sneak up and attack before it is detected. Combined with the ETS system, this stealth mechanism makes equipped ships nearly undetectable to electromagnetic, gravimetric and visual sensor systems.