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Valiant was a name given to at least two Human military fighter carriers. One was a large Earthbound flying aircraft carrier used by UNIT during the early 21st century. (DW: The Sound of Drums, The Poison Sky, and others) The other was a space-based fighter carrier from the very late 2190s that patrolled the reaches of the Solar System to prevent incursions by Andosian pirates and other non-Human threats. (BFA: The Nowhere Place)
21st century
Every detail of the 21st century Valiant was designed by "Harold Saxon", and it was used for the first Human contact with the Toclafane. (DW: The Sound of Drums) The Doctor, Martha Jones and Jack Harkness teleported onboard using Jack's Vortex manipulator at the co- ordinates 58.2 North 10.2 East.
In the following year in an erased timeline, the Valiant formed the base of operations for the Master. The Jones family (with the exception of Martha Jones, who had escaped and Leo Jones) and Captain Jack Harkness were imprisoned on the ship, as was the Doctor. It also held the paradox machine inside the Doctor's TARDIS. When the timeline was erased, the Valiant was the only point in space and time not to revert, instead moving directly through time, due to it being the "eye of the storm", that is, of the paradox machine. (DW: Last of the Time Lords)
The Valiant was fitted with a mounted energy weapon almost identical to the gun used to destory the Sycorax meaning the technology could have been salvaged from the remains of the Torchwood Institute. During the Sontaran invasion of Earth in 2009 Colonel Mace called in the Valiant which was referred to as Hawk Major. The powerful turbines were used to clear the Sontaran's fog away from the ATMOS factory and the energy weapon was used to blast apart the factory, killing many Sontarans. It is unknown if the weapon was installed after the Master's defeat or if Harry Saxon himself had it incorporated into the initial design.
The Valiant was eventually destroyed (or at least badly damaged) when the New Dalek Empire attacked Earth following its transportation to the Medusa Cascade. A massive invasion force of Daleks swarmed the ship, seemingly destroying it with their laser guns. (DW: The Stolen Earth)
- Over the comms system Jack Harkness heard a soldier reporting that the shields were down which could mean that the Valiant also had some kind of protective force-shield.
Propulsion
The Valiant used what appeared to be large Turbofan engines.
The Valiant seems to be able to rotate these engines to lower itself toward the ground as seen in (DW: The Poison Sky) As it was designed by the Master, it was more advanced than any current Earth vehicle due to the fact that it has been previously mentioned to have had the reverse-engineered Jathaa sunglider technology built into it. As a back-up it could have some alternative form of travel, like Anti-gravity propulsion. All of which allow it to not only hover high in up in the Earth's atmosphere but to move across the globe to any destination deemed necessary.
Weapons
It is unknown what sort of weapons the Valiant utilises, Apart from the reverse-engineered Jathaa Sunglider weapon. It could possibly feature a series of CIWS turrets and short range missiles, but as a United Nations ship it might not as it is stated to be neutral territory (DW: The Sound of Drums)
- The Valiant's design was very similar to that of Cloudbase, the headquarters of Spectrum from Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and to Helicarriers used by the fictional Marvel Comics organization SHIELD. The Valiant's weapon system looks like the one that was salvaged from a Jathaa sunglider and the Death Star's planetkilling weapon system from Star Wars. A similar-looking vessel, commanded by an elite British air corps, also appears in the fantasy film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
22nd century
The 22nd century Valiant was a response to a decade-long problem Earth was having with alien raiding parties — principally Andosian pirates — that were attacking Human shipping lanes. Consequent to this assignment, it patrolled the outer Solar System, near Pluto. It was commanded by Captain Tanya Oswin, and carried a full compliment of Damocles-class fighters.
On 16th January 2197, the Doctor and Evelyn Smythe materialized on Valiant. There, they discovered that some of its crewmembers were hearing a mysterious bell, just as they had in the TARDIS. They quickly ran afoul of Captain Oswin in trying to investigate the incongruous sound.
The Doctor and Evelyn soon discovered that the ship's cargo hold had a mysterious, ancient door in its cargo hold, which led out into open space. The bell seemed to be a kind of "siren call" which led the crewmembers that heard it through the door and out to their deaths.
Immediately sensing the grave danger this door posed, Captain Oswin sent a distress call back to Earth, but could not hope that backup would arrive any sooner than about two months. This suggested that Valiant was likely not a faster-than-light ship
- As described in the audio play, this ship had much in common with the Battlestar claass of ship from Battlestar Galactica. The fact that Human ships would take so long to go from Earth to Pluto seems at variance with The Waters of Mars, which plainly establishes that Humans developed faster-than-light capability in the late 21st century.