To economize fuel consumption and increase engine capacity, the techs stripped off hugh amounts of superstructure. They also added two massive solar dorsal fins to increase the ship's maneuverability.

In addition, huge portions of the ship have been retooled to replace human crew with automation. The original Imperial Dreadnaught required a crew of 16,00 in order to operate, far more than any other war vessel of comparable size. This is simply not practical for the Alliance, who has a much smaller manpower pool to draw from than does the Navy, and an infinitely smaller pool of trained crew. Once the Alliance techs were through with the ship, it required a little less than one third the original complement to operate.

Unlike its Imperial predecessor, the Assault Frigate has no docking bays or landing platforms, but there are twenty umbilical docking fixtures along the ship's surface. Several of these are large enough to dock a standard Rebel transport, while the rest are better suited to starfighters and stock light freighters. The ship cannot carry docked craft through hyperspace.

In addition, each Assault Frigate carries a modified Imperial assault shuttle "piggy-back" atop its superstructure. The Frigates are able to carry these vessels through hyperspace.

Because of the exhaustive and expensive re-fit, there are very few Assault Frigates currently employed by the Alliance. Those that are in service are extremely effective, however, and as time permits, more will be added.