Role: Anti-Fighter
Cost: 700 RU
Attack: 50
Speed: 161
Hit Points: 16,000
Crew Compliment: 25 (active duty)
Armament: Kinetic Burst Cannon Turret x 2
Weapon Locations: Top and Bottom
Rate of Fire: Medium
Weapon Range: Short/Medium
Coverage: High
Propulsion: Frigate-class Ion Drive
Powerplant: Standard Fusion
Speed: Medium
Primary Role: Corvette Killer
Secondary Role: Frigate Killer

Upgrades:
Lvl 1 Flak Frigate Hull
Lvl 1 Flak Frigate Engines

Description: Advanced Anti-Fighter Frigate equipped with powerful Flak Turrets.

Strong vs: Fighters
Weak vs: Capital Ships

Prerequisites: Frigate Facility and Advanced Research Module

The typical ship-of-the-line used as a picket ship in defensive operations and the workhorse of any assault. The Hiigaran Flak Frigate combines adequate speed, armor, and firepower to deal with almost any situation. Alone, it is vulnerable to Fighters and other Frigates. In a Squadron or Strike Force, it is more then a match for Corvettes, Fighters, and even heavier Capital Ships.

Workhorse of the Hiigaran Fleet used in defensive maneuvers and harrying enemy strike craft. The Hiigaran Assault Frigate combines adequate speed, armor and firepower to deal with multiple enemy squadrons.

A typical ship-of-the-line used as a picket ship in defensive operations and the workhorse of any assault. The Hiigaran Assault Frigate combines adequate speed, armour and firepower to deal with almost any siutation. Alone, the Assault Frigate is vulnerable to Fighters and other Frigates. In a Squadron or Combined Force, it is more than a match for Corvettes, Fighters and even heavier Capital Ships.

"The Assault Frigate is the workhorse of the Hiigaran Space Defense Fleet. Designed primarily for defense against smaller strike craft, it provides a pivotal role in the assembly of effective strike groups. Boasting a crew complement of 25, it is outfitted with twin Kinetic Burst Cannons on its outer hull. Shown here in its space trials in the [Sarom] testing range, the Assault Frigate adeptly demonstrates sufficient firepower to defend against even the most robust hostiles. Most effective in large groups, the Assault Frigate is designed to be the mainstay of our fleet for years to come." - Alan Dilks, Artist, narrating the IGN video clip

"This is a fleet of frigates; you have the Ion Beam Frigate, which everyone remembers from Homeworld, and the Assault Frigate, which is your… another workhorse of the frigate family. Working in conjunction, the frigates make very effective anti-frigate and anti-capital ship groups. An Assault Frigate has projectile weapons, yeah… and turrets that move and track incoming targets. It’s effective anti-fighter… while the Ion Frigate is more anti-capital ship. So if you put these two groups together, these two types of ships together, they’re going to have a defense against fighters, and a defense against capital ships." - Dan Irish, Executive Producer

This frigate-sized vessel first appeared in the HW2 E3 poster that was released back in August of 2001. It has since been officially identified as a Hiigaran Assault Frigate. Recent screenshots refer to it as a "Flak Frigate," and it is named that in the demo. The Anark 3D ship viewer claims that Pulsars are an upgrade on the Assault Frigate, but this is not true.

The Burst Cannon is an area-effect weapon, that fires a burst of "flak" that is very effective against enemy strike craft, even though it is armed with only two turrets.

I had thought that the prongs in front might be bomb or missile launchers or equivalent, but this turns out not to be the case. Thus the name change from "Assault Frigate" to "Flak Frigate" is quite appropriate.