Star Trek: 10 Devices That Every Starfleet Ship Has

All Federation starships are equipped with defensive weapons in the event of an attack. The two main weapons used by the fleet are phasers and photon torpedoes.

The ship's phasers are highly accurate energy weapons. Many newer ships have "phaser strips," 360-degree phaser arrays that can fire in practically any direction. They use an extremely concentrated burst of energy that is capable of cutting straight through a ship's hull in seconds (provided the shields aren't raised).

Photon torpedoes are far more devastating, utilizing the explosion created by a matter-antimatter reaction. Unfortunately they lose accuracy both because they travel so slow compared to a phaser (which moves at lightspeed) and because most ship's torpedo launchers are only effective from directly in front of, or directly behind the target.

By the time of first Contact, Photon torpedoes were beginning to be phased out in favour of the much more powerful quantum torpedoes. Photons still continue to be used for many years afterwards, though.