The transphasic torpedo was a very powerful weapon brought back in time from the early 25th century by Admiral Janeway. These torpedoes were designed specifically for use against the Borg and a single transphasic torpedo is capable of destroying a Borg Cube. (VOY episode: "Endgame")

The transphasic torpedoes work by delivering a subspace compression pulse existing in an asymmetric superposition of phase states. If one subcomponent of the pulse is blocked by shielding, enough others will still succeed in penetrating to the target to ensure that the majority of the pulse is still delivered. Each torpedo's transphasic configuration is different, randomly generated by a dissonant feedback effect, so there is no way for the Borg to predict the configuration of its phase states in order to shield against them. (TNG novel: Greater Than the Sum).

In 2381, the USS Enterprise-E was the only vessel that had been fitted with transphasic torpedoes. During the Borg sieges in February of this year, Captain Jean-Luc Picard recommended that the whole fleet be outfitted with the devices, to give the fleet a better chance of survival. He was over-ruled by Admiral Alynna Nechayev, who feared that the more the weapons were used, the more opportunity it gave the Borg to adapt. (ST - Destiny novel: Gods of Night)

Once the Borg invasion began, the Enterprise and Starfleet Command distributed the torpedo's specifications to every vessel they could. Starfleet also provided the technology to the Klingon Defense Force. By the conclusion of the Borg conflict, the Borg ships had adapted to transphasic torpedoes before the invasion could be stopped. (ST - Destiny novel: Lost Souls)

It was noted by engineers that the transphasic technology used in the torpedoes could be adapted to other parts of vessels' tactical systems. Using the principles in shielding caused a power drain, cutting warp speed (down to 9.1 on Sovereign-class ships), had the potential to quickly burn out shield emitters, and the Borg would be able to utilize wide-dispersal firing patterns to counter. The same principles could not be applied to phaser systems without an iron-60 crystal matrix to handle the strain, but it wouldn't output at sufficiently high energy levels to be effective. (ST - Destiny novel: Gods of Night)

25th centuryEdit

Transphasic torpedoes are regularly used in combat (even against non-Borg vessels), particularly by the Breen, who have developed a "cluster torpedo" that deploys a large transphasic mine net on impact. Though not nearly as deadly as when used in the 24th century, the torpedo shield-penetrating capabilities are useful for inflicting damage against targets with shields that are difficult to overwhelm via normal means. (STO mission: "[[]]"^{[citation needed]})

External linkEdit

• Transphasic torpedo article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.