Disruptor is the designation of several types of weapons in common use among many races in the galaxy including the Borg, Breen, Cardassians, Cravic, Dominion, Eminians, Federation, Ferengi, Gorn, Hirogen, Klingons, Lokirrim, Lysians, Pralor, Remans, Rigelians, Romulans and Vidiians.
The people of Eminiar VII employed sonic disruptor weapons based on projecting high intensity sound vibrations. (TOS: "A Taste of Armageddon")
Lysian destroyer starships were armed with a disruptor weapon system that had a capacity of 2.1 megajoules. (TNG: "Conundrum") This was an extremely weak ship-mounted weapon system, as even the Cardassian hand-held disruptor rifles, also known as phase disruptors, had an output rating of 4.7 megajoules. (DS9: "Return to Grace")
The Cardassian outpost on Korma used "system five" disruptors for its planetary defense weapons. Although never designed to operate aboard a moving spacecraft, one was modified to be used aboard the Cardassian military freighter Groumall in 2372. (DS9: "Return to Grace")
In 2374, disruptor bursts from Jem'Hadar soldiers left anti-coagulants in the systems of those attacked by such a weapon, usually causing their victims to suffer and die from the loss of blood. (DS9: "Change of Heart")
Romulan disruptors leave behind residual antiprotons when fired that remain for several hours. (TNG: "Face of the Enemy")
The Varon-T disruptors were banned in the Federation (TNG: "The Most Toys")
The Starfleet type 2 phasers also had a disruptor effect setting. The setting was one of the weapons maximum settings, also known as the disruptor-b setting. (TOS: "Obsession") By the 29th century, Federation Starfleet had began to use subatomic disruptors on timeships and temporal disruptor bombs as explosives. (VOY: "Future's End", "Relativity")
Types of disruptor weapons
- Disruptor array
- Disruptor bank
- Disruptor bomb
- Disruptor cannon
- Disruptor pistol
- Disruptor rifle
- Disruptor snare
- Neural disruptor
- Photonic disruptor
- Polaron disruptor
- Sonic disruptor
- Subatomic disruptor
- System-5 disruptor
- Temporal disruptor
- Type 3 disruptor
- Varon-T disruptor
Background
Similarities between Eminian sidearms and Klingon weapons of the same period can be explained as a result of the expedient modification and reuse of existing props to accommodate the limitations of television production budgets.
A Romulan disruptor was sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay [1] as well as a rare metal Kazon disruptor rifle. [2]