The Bulldog-class was designed to engage and destroy enemy ships smaller than a cruiser or indeed any Imperial ship with only turret weapons. With their impressive stealth, heavy armor, fast drives, and heavy close range weapons they are designed to take an enemy by surprise, get in close, stay close and finish them off quickly.
A single Bulldog is more than a match for an Imperial Patrol Cruiser being able to destroy one in under 20 minutes, despite it being a fraction of its size. It has even been known to win battles against the much larger Shamshir Destroyer Escort though normally they hunt larger prey in packs.
The standard tactic is to take out the enemies turrets with pinpoint laser fire while inflicting heavy damage with the fusion guns. Bulldogs are carried either as "Riders" on the outside of larger jump capable craft or in the hangar bays of carriers or battleships. Their spartan accommodation makes them unpleasant to work in for more than a few hours at a time. However their survivability compared to other fighters and the craft's ability to take down much bigger prey make them sought after assignments for flight crews.
Hull: 70-ton Cylinder Unstreamlined Hull, dDR 230 armor, Stealth
Systems: 26 Maneuver Drive, Large Cockpit, Model-5 Sensors (Scan 22), 34 Fusion Power (680 MW), 0.5 Bunkroom (5 bunks), 0.5 Cargo (spares), 1 Light Turret (3 beam lasers), 1 Heavy Turret (2 Fusion Guns), 0.5 empty space (for 2 gunner workstations & access space)
Statistics: Emass 860, Lmass 860, Cost M$ 110, SM 7, ASig -0, Hull dHP 48, Life Support 0, sAccel 6.0 G
Crew 4 to 7: 2 Command, 2 Gunners. Up to 3 Engineers are carried on longer missions.