Virulent Class

The Dominion was not prepared for a defensive war when they invaded the Alpha Quadrant; the Founders thought that the war would be quick and decisive, with few losses to Dominion holdings. While the war did seem one sided as it began, the Dominion had underestimated the Allies' ability to effect hit and run raids on Dominion shipyards and orbital bases. Learning from that misconception and the effectiveness of the Federation's own minefields, the Dominion realized the necessity of a defensive minelayer.

With the isolation from its shipyards in the Gamma Quadrant, the Dominion needed a quick fix to fill the hole in their defensive perimeters. The result was the Virulent Minelayer, essentially an Attack Fighter with a mine replicator shoved in between the command section and the "tail." The makeshift nature of the Virulent's mine replicator limits its effectiveness;
it slowly replicates mines one at a time, but makes up for that in the high speed and maneuverability native to the engines of the Jem'Hadar Attack Figher.