Consortium Extended Range Cruise Missiles:

With the introduction of heavy capital missiles by the Trans-Galactic Empire, the Consortium had concerns about being able to match them. Now, Consortium warships generally have far better point defense which can partially mitigate the issue but still there were serious concerns.

The leadership did not want to have to refit the capital missile launcher on all of their warships however so started looking for a new missile which could mitigate the problem. Various ideas were considered with the eventual development of an extended range capital / cruise missile through the effective grafting of a long range missile onto a capital missile.

In effect, the long range missile replaces the capital missile’s warhead. There was an effort made to miniaturize them however so that the new missile could be fired from a standard cruise missile launcher. The resulting missile is a few centimeters longer and wider however but still can be fired from the standard Consortium missile launchers although there needs to be some minor modification to the launchers themselves.

Similar to the heavy capital missiles, the extended range Consortium missiles can activate the drive of the second part of the missile as soon as the first stage burns out or can wait in order to extend the range. While powered down, the missile is vulnerable to easier destruction however is also much harder to detect than when it is powered.

One issue with these missiles has been developing warheads and a whole new generation of light warheads were developed for these missiles. This includes a new lighter X-Ray laser warhead. Instead of firing ten lasers, the warhead fires four lasers when it activates. Others include a new fusion warhead more powerful than the original fusion warheads. There is a new probe missile under development with a sensor suite miniaturized for the smaller missile warhead. While it has similar sensor ranges to the standard cruise missile type, the system’s duration is reduced by around a third. There are plans for a gravity warhead but development has not yet begun. Currently there are no plans to develop and anti-matter warhead for these new missiles. Otherwise standard long range missile types are available including decoy and jamming types.

These missiles are only presently available in limited numbers. These missiles are currently extremely expensive, approximately twice that of normal cruise missiles. Eventually the hope is that costs are reduced to only twenty-five to fifty percent greater than normal cruise missiles. The Consortium also has no plans to share these missiles although both the Human Alliance and Wolfen fleets are looking towards trying to duplicate these missiles.

The eventual plan is for most warships to carry about twenty to twenty five percent of their missiles as extended range missiles. Some military officers however would prefer to carry sixty to seventy-five percent of these new missiles when patrolling near Trans-Galactic Empire borders.

All of these extended range cruise missiles are considered “Brilliant” missiles (See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details.) Unlike standard cruise missiles, the final stage of the missile does not have penalties to strike small targets such as fighters, missiles, robots, and power armors.

Range:

Stage One powered range is 8,000 miles (12,875 km) in an atmosphere and 4,000,000 miles (6,437,376 km/ 21.5 light seconds) in space.

Stage Two powered range is 3,400 miles (5,470 km) in an atmosphere and 1,800,000 miles (2,897,000 km/9.7 light seconds) in space.

Warheads:

High Density Fusion Warhead: This warhead creates fusion at a much higher density than previous fusion warheads, giving it similar effectiveness to fusion cruise missile warheads. Inflicts 3D6x100 and has a blast radius of 200 feet (61 meters).

X-Ray Laser Warhead: Unlike a full size X-Ray laser warhead, this warhead creates only four beams. Each has a range of range of 4 miles (6.4 km) in an atmosphere and 40 miles (64 km) in space. They inflict 2D4x100 each, same as a standard X-Ray laser warhead. Fusion blast inflicts 1D4x100 with a blast radius of 60 feet (18.2 meters).

Sensor Probe Warhead: Instead of carrying any kind of standard warhead, these missile carry an advanced sensor suite considered to be the equal of those carried on a light space fighter including both active and passive sensor systems.

As with the standard sensor probe warhead, sensors continue to operate after the missile drives goes dead. This is however reduced compared to a standard cruise missile type. Running active sensor systems, this is limited to ten minutes. On pure passive however, this is extended to forty minutes before running out of power.

These missiles are fitted with advanced stealth systems. To further aid in the missile’s ability to evade detection, these missiles can be launched with no active power systems and no active emissions. As long as missile drives are not active, the missiles can generally only be detected at 10% normal RADAR range and 20% normal TADAR range.

Similar to most electronic warfare type missiles, these missiles are fitted with a self destruct package. When activated, the self destruct package inflicts 1D6x10 M.D.C. to anything in the missiles vicinity and all sensitive equipment on the missile will be destroyed.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune)

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