Directorate Officer
Carwennan-class Missile
Image Source: I modified image from Raytheon of its RIM-161 anti-ballistic missile
Intent: Anti-subcapital ship missile / Long-range precision light torpedo
Development Thread: If necessary
Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
Model: Carwennan-class Missile
Affiliation: Galactic Republic and allied governments
Modularity: No
Production: Minor Production
Material: Plasteel fuselage, chemical propellant, shaped proton warhead, various avionics
Classification: Anti-ship Warhead
Size: Ship-Mounted
Length: 4 meters (2 meters once first stage departs)
Weight: 500kg
Ammunition Type: Missile
Ammunition Capacity: 1 Shaped Proton Charge warhead
Effective Range: 3000 km (via 1 stage rocket), 6 km (on 2nd stage rocket carrying warhead)
Velocity: 20,000 km/h (stage 1 rocket), 10,000 km/h (2nd stage rocket carrying warhead)
Rate of Fire: Single
Strengths:
-extended range compared to normal missile weapons
-Competitive accuracy compared to existing weapons
-Excellent armor penetration
Weaknesses:
-bulky for firepower (takes up more space compared to warheads with often heavier warheads, but shorter range)
-Delayed action (not nearly instantaneous, like similarly long-ranged Energy Torpedoes)
-Not effective against agile starships (ex. interceptors, superiority fighters, etc)
-small blast radius
Description: The Carwennan is a two-stage missile designed to deliver a shaped proton warhead to distant targets to within 5 meters of the target site (sensor jamming reduces it to around 7 meters). Originally, the Carwennan was designed to strike at starbomber formations before they could begin making attack runs on the missile’s ship. It can also be used to attack capital ships at range. In that role, it is not as powerful as other capital-grade missiles in terms of blast radius, but it does have focused firepower combined with reasonably good accuracy, which leads to its use to attack certain subsystems that are at least several meters across , such as engine blocks, capital-weapon turrets, etc.
The first stage of the missile is designed to efficiently (not necessarily quickly) take the warhead to cover the most distant with its limited fuel, putting it on a general trajectory towards the target. When the fuel runs out, it breaks off of the warhead to flow away as space junk. The warhead continues to drift towards it target on pure inertia until it is in effective range of the missile’s last rocket engine. During this stage, the warhead is particularly stealthy as there is little aside from the power its passive sensors are using to show up on opposing sensors. When the passive sensor detects the target to be in firing range, the missile reorients itself toward the target, and then engages its last rocket. The missile rapidly accelerates towards the target at high speed over a relatively short distance.
This sprinting action does not make the missile very maneuverable, making it useless against most rapidly moving starfighters. But it’s sudden reappearance and quick speed does particularly lend itself to attacking larger starbombers, gunships, shuttles, and other subcapital ships which are not as maneuverable or fast to escape the missile. The warhead itself is as powerful as the typical starfighter-launched heavy rocket, making it powerful enough to generally destroy or severely damage such craft in a single hit if the missile directly hits. Near misses (explosions by, but not on the ship) typically jostle the craft around and damage its shields slightly, but will rarely cause significant damage to the vessel because of the warhead’s shaped explosive charge focuses much of the blast energy away from the missed target. On the plus side, this focusing almost always allows the brunt of the warhead to pierce through most energy shields to attack the vessel itself.
Employed against a capital ship, the same shaped warhead allows the vessel highly focused penetration to disable or destroy the ship’s subsystems. The warhead itself is shaped proton charge, almost exactly a scaled up version of the shaped proton charge of the Merr-Sonn 7-PrG proton grenades used thousands of years ago to destroy the Death Star II’s protective shield generator on the moon of Endor. Like that weapon, the blast is focused to allow it to better pierce armor through one direction at the expense of blast radius. Also like that weapon, it releases a small electronic pulse in the area of the detonation, which often causes brief system malfunctions in the area (lasting no more than 2 seconds) but also damages nearby droids and other electronics (if not already malfunctioning from the blast and shrapnel damage from the explosion).
Despite its strengths, it is not without its drawbacks. It is a relatively large warhead, which not only takes up a lot space, but also means that it most use its own specific launcher, which is considered to be a large missile launcher, like Assault Concussion missile launchers or large Energy Torpedo Launchers. Many tacticians note that the missile’s role is already filled by heavier Starfighters, which can perform the same task by equipping with heavy rockets (which are only slightly less powerful than the Carwennan’s warhead) and are not one-use items. The same tacticians wonder if the efficiency of the Carwennan makes up for the utility that simply carrying more starfighters would achieve. In the end, it is likely going to be bureaucratic battle between Starfighter pilots and their advocates on one side, and naval officers and their advocates on another. However, the weapon's secretive designers have been strangely silent on the debate, preferring to let the subcontractors who actually build the weapons to make their case for them.
Image Source: I modified image from Raytheon of its RIM-161 anti-ballistic missile
Intent: Anti-subcapital ship missile / Long-range precision light torpedo
Development Thread: If necessary
Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
Model: Carwennan-class Missile
Affiliation: Galactic Republic and allied governments
Modularity: No
Production: Minor Production
Material: Plasteel fuselage, chemical propellant, shaped proton warhead, various avionics
Classification: Anti-ship Warhead
Size: Ship-Mounted
Length: 4 meters (2 meters once first stage departs)
Weight: 500kg
Ammunition Type: Missile
Ammunition Capacity: 1 Shaped Proton Charge warhead
Effective Range: 3000 km (via 1 stage rocket), 6 km (on 2nd stage rocket carrying warhead)
Velocity: 20,000 km/h (stage 1 rocket), 10,000 km/h (2nd stage rocket carrying warhead)
Rate of Fire: Single
Strengths:
-extended range compared to normal missile weapons
-Competitive accuracy compared to existing weapons
-Excellent armor penetration
Weaknesses:
-bulky for firepower (takes up more space compared to warheads with often heavier warheads, but shorter range)
-Delayed action (not nearly instantaneous, like similarly long-ranged Energy Torpedoes)
-Not effective against agile starships (ex. interceptors, superiority fighters, etc)
-small blast radius
Description: The Carwennan is a two-stage missile designed to deliver a shaped proton warhead to distant targets to within 5 meters of the target site (sensor jamming reduces it to around 7 meters). Originally, the Carwennan was designed to strike at starbomber formations before they could begin making attack runs on the missile’s ship. It can also be used to attack capital ships at range. In that role, it is not as powerful as other capital-grade missiles in terms of blast radius, but it does have focused firepower combined with reasonably good accuracy, which leads to its use to attack certain subsystems that are at least several meters across , such as engine blocks, capital-weapon turrets, etc.
The first stage of the missile is designed to efficiently (not necessarily quickly) take the warhead to cover the most distant with its limited fuel, putting it on a general trajectory towards the target. When the fuel runs out, it breaks off of the warhead to flow away as space junk. The warhead continues to drift towards it target on pure inertia until it is in effective range of the missile’s last rocket engine. During this stage, the warhead is particularly stealthy as there is little aside from the power its passive sensors are using to show up on opposing sensors. When the passive sensor detects the target to be in firing range, the missile reorients itself toward the target, and then engages its last rocket. The missile rapidly accelerates towards the target at high speed over a relatively short distance.
This sprinting action does not make the missile very maneuverable, making it useless against most rapidly moving starfighters. But it’s sudden reappearance and quick speed does particularly lend itself to attacking larger starbombers, gunships, shuttles, and other subcapital ships which are not as maneuverable or fast to escape the missile. The warhead itself is as powerful as the typical starfighter-launched heavy rocket, making it powerful enough to generally destroy or severely damage such craft in a single hit if the missile directly hits. Near misses (explosions by, but not on the ship) typically jostle the craft around and damage its shields slightly, but will rarely cause significant damage to the vessel because of the warhead’s shaped explosive charge focuses much of the blast energy away from the missed target. On the plus side, this focusing almost always allows the brunt of the warhead to pierce through most energy shields to attack the vessel itself.
Employed against a capital ship, the same shaped warhead allows the vessel highly focused penetration to disable or destroy the ship’s subsystems. The warhead itself is shaped proton charge, almost exactly a scaled up version of the shaped proton charge of the Merr-Sonn 7-PrG proton grenades used thousands of years ago to destroy the Death Star II’s protective shield generator on the moon of Endor. Like that weapon, the blast is focused to allow it to better pierce armor through one direction at the expense of blast radius. Also like that weapon, it releases a small electronic pulse in the area of the detonation, which often causes brief system malfunctions in the area (lasting no more than 2 seconds) but also damages nearby droids and other electronics (if not already malfunctioning from the blast and shrapnel damage from the explosion).
Despite its strengths, it is not without its drawbacks. It is a relatively large warhead, which not only takes up a lot space, but also means that it most use its own specific launcher, which is considered to be a large missile launcher, like Assault Concussion missile launchers or large Energy Torpedo Launchers. Many tacticians note that the missile’s role is already filled by heavier Starfighters, which can perform the same task by equipping with heavy rockets (which are only slightly less powerful than the Carwennan’s warhead) and are not one-use items. The same tacticians wonder if the efficiency of the Carwennan makes up for the utility that simply carrying more starfighters would achieve. In the end, it is likely going to be bureaucratic battle between Starfighter pilots and their advocates on one side, and naval officers and their advocates on another. However, the weapon's secretive designers have been strangely silent on the debate, preferring to let the subcontractors who actually build the weapons to make their case for them.
