In order to allow for continued expansion in a time of war, the Cardassian Union required large numbers of heavy capital ships to wage war on the Federation and Klingon Empire. This left few capable ships with which to patrol the relatively unthreatened border sectors of Cardassian space. The new Lakat class cruiser was hastily designed and produced to fill the gap between small short range patrol craft and the larger warships that necessarily had to be redeployed to frontline sectors.  These ships have spartan interiors with few comforts, as the major design factors were speed of production and efficient use of the limited resources possesed by the Cardassians at the time. The Lakat has since remained in service, and for a brief period following the end of the Dominion War, the Lakat was the most prolific military vessel in Cardassian space, owing solely to it's design heritige of easy, inexpensive mass production.  Class: Light Cruiser (CL)