Ablative hull armor

Ablative hull armor is a Starfleet starship defense technology developed sometime between 2378 and 2404.

Though designed specifically to defend against the Borg, it was shown to be highly effective against other types of weapons fire. With armor deployed, Admiral Janeway's shuttlecraft was able to withstand disruptor fire from a 25th century version of a Klingon Negh'Var-type heavy cruiser without any loss in armor integrity.

The armor is deployed via hull-mounted ablative armor generators. Though phasers cannot be utilized while ablative armor is deployed, apertures at torpedo launchers allow for the use of torpedoes.

The Star Triangle Advanced Guard has improved this technology so that it can be used with standard shields and Phaser arrays. This is achieved through the use of additional power systems, and a selective deacrivation system similar to the one which allows phasers to be fired through conventional shields.