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Operation Ark's mission plan Apr 2009
A comparative look at the BC(P) vs BC(L) Apr 2009
Where is the RMMC boot camp located? Apr 2009
Do you plan ahead for which characters die? Apr 2009
Elizabeth III is <em>not </em>an irrational nut-job Apr 2009
Order of Battle: Third Clash - The Great Visit Reserve Apr 2009
Wealth and opportunities in the Solarian League Apr 2009
More on the Keyhole platforms Mar 2009
How much has the Maya Sector's military capability improved? Mar 2009
The Mesan Spider Drive Mar 2009

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Pearls of Weber

A collection of posts by David Weber containing background information for his stories, collected and generously made available Joe Buckley.

Hardening shipkiller missile drives

  • Series: Honorverse
  • Date: June 10, 2005

A suggestion has been made that it would make sense to put drives into shipkiller missiles of sufficient power to make them immune to wedge kill by a counter-missile. Is this practical? Could it be done as the final stage of a MDM?

 

No, it isn't. And it won't be -- ever. I believe we've had this discussion before. You cannot -- not "it would be hard," not "only possible with great difficulty," but cannot -- build a missile drive sufficiently powerful to take out another missile (or counter-missile) drive without being taken out itself. End of story. The physical size constraints make it impossible. That's why counter-missiles have used their impeller wedges as their primary missile-killing weapon for so long.