  VERITAS is a proposed major ground-based gamma-ray observatory to be built at
the Whipple Observatory in southern Arizona, USA. It will consist of an array
of seven 10m imaging Cherenkov telescopes designed to conduct gamma-ray
observations in the energy range of 50 GeV - 50 TeV. A description of the
baseline VERITAS design and optimization criteria are presented. We provide
basic characteristics of the array performance for observations of point
sources, such as angular resolution, energy threshold, energy resolution, and
integral flux sensitivity. The limiting factors of the VERITAS performance are
discussed.
