Missile

Missiles are projectiles designed to impact with or detonate near a target in order to inflict damage on it.

• Many types of missiles are available to the armed forces and the citizens of the Imperium and its neighbours.
• They are fired by a Missile Rack or Missile Bay.
• It is a GUW classed weapon.
• It may be a kind of Ship Equipment.

Library Data Referral Tree

Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information:
Military:

• Ordnance
  • Missile by Warhead
    • Antimatter Missile (AMM)
    • Kinetic Kill Missile (KKM)
    • Jump Breaker Missile
    • Nuclear Missile
    • Plasma Missile
  • Missile by Guidance Package
    • Dumb Missile
    • Programmed Missile
    • Guided Missile
    • Homing Missile
  • Missile by Robot quality
    • Dumb Missile
    • Standard Missile
    • Smart Missile
    • Bright Missile
  • Missile by Role
    • Anti-Shipping Missile (ASM)
    • Planetary Defense Missile (PDM)
    • Surface to Air Missile (SAM)
    • Tac Missile (TACM)
      • Anti-Flyer Missile (AFM)
      • Anti-Tank Missile (ATM)
    • Torpedo (TORP)

Description (Specifications)

A missile is a self-propelled weapon launched from a Missile Rack or Missile Launcher or a weapons Bay.

Missiles may carry any type of warhead or other payload. Missiles with only sensors are generally classed as drones

Missiles may be propelled using the same technologies as any other Aerospace Vessel. Generally high-speed technologies are preferred.

Missiles may take complex paths between the firing point and their target. These paths may be straight lines (Dumb Missiles); pre-programmed to follow a specific path or a specific set of guidance points (the missile is then a form of Robot with Flyer and Navigation/Astrogation skills); guided by commands from the firer (Guided Missiles); home-in on a specific emission or object (Homing Missile); or a combination of the above. Depending on the quality of the Robot installed in the missile, these combination missiles may be Dumb Missiles, Standard Missiles, Smart Missiles or Bright Missiles.

Large Missiles are often referred to as torpedoes.

A missile in flight may produce noise, it may generate a visible trail, and may be hot. The impact of the weapon is invariably noisy, bright and hot. A turret or bay-launched shipboard missile is approximately size 4 or 5, generally equivalent to the size of a human.

• 1 dTon of volume can contain 20 standard sized ship-missiles. Each missile has a mass of about 675 kilogrammes^a including storage case.

^a: Varies by Technology Level of the drive, the type of payload and guidance package

Image Repository

No information yet available.

Sizes

Ground Combat Missiles may be of any size. Their missile racks are built to match, or are simple launch rails

Standard space combat missiles fall into two size categories:

• Weapon Socket: Smaller missiles designed to be launched from Missile Racks. They have a maximum weight of 50 kg and can cost up to Cr50,000 each, though more basic models are substantially cheaper. The standard anti ship missile is 150.0 mm in diameter.
• Weapon Bay: Larger missiles designed to be launched from missile bays. Many of them range to 450.0 mm to 600.0 mm or larger.

Missile Components

Missile systems are made up of three major sub-systems: the launcher, the delivery sub-system, and the warhead.

Missile Components
Component	Remarks
Launcher Subsystem	The launcher is usually little more than a simple rack which holds the missile within its container until launch. Most designs use compressed gases, contained in small tanks located within the base of the missile tube, to push the missile a meter or so clear of the rack while the rocket motor is igniting. The rack is connected to the Gunner's control panel.
Delivery Subsystem	Once fired, the delivery sub-system takes over, steering the missile towards the target. It is made up of the propulsion system, the guidance controls, and the detonation controls for the warhead. The propulsion system is typically liquid or solid fuel thrusters or a gravitic drive. The guidance can be controlled directly by the operator via a radio communicator, it can be based around RADAR or other active sensor systems, or it can be homing (by infrared seeking, mass seeking, neutrino seeking, or similar). Detonation is controlled by a trigger: detonation systems include contact, proximity, intelligent, and command.
Warhead Subsystem	Missile warheads fall into three broad categories: Conventional, Unconventional and Nuclear. Conventional Warheads include standard high-explosive (HE) and focused force (high-explosive shaped charge); these generally cause surface damage but can also inflict critical hits. Unconventional Warheads include non-explosive or even non-weapon payloads. Examples include illumination or signal missiles, message torpedoes, and remote sensor drones. Nuclear Warheads include fission, fusion, and enhanced radiation devices: these cause surface damage and radiation effects but can also inflict critical hits. Nuclear warheads are available in yields of between 0.1 kilotons and 10 kilotons. Note that under the Imperial Rules of War, nuclear weapons are reserved for use by Imperial forces only.

History & Background (Dossier)

Shipboard missiles have been in use since the earliest days of Vilani interstellar travel and remain as a standard weapon system. A huge range of designs are available from weapons dealers across Charted Space. Low population and Non-industrial worlds, for various reasons, cannot locally manufacture missile components: they must be imported, inflating their prices.

Anti-Shipping Missiles are mass produced from standardized components and assembled in starport armories ready for sale. Custom designs of missile can be specified if desired. Some components (specifically warheads) may not be available due to local law level restrictions.

AI Guidance Technologies

1. TL:1-9 Guided Weapons (Dumb, Standard or Smart Weapons)
2. TL:10-18 Bright Computers
3. TL:19-27 Brilliant Computers
4. TL:28-30 & TL:31-33 Beyond Brilliant

Class Naming Practice/s & Peculiarities

Different designs are known by many different names but all have very similar performance characteristics and capabilities. All variants are designed to fit within a standard launch tube, enabling them to be used with standard missile racks.

Selected Variant Types & Classes

GUW Weapon - Missile:

• Type ASM class Anti-Shipping Missile
  • Anti-Shipping Missile.

References & Contributors (Sources)

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• This article is an amalgamation of many different materials published since 1977.
• Marc Miller. Starships (Game Designers Workshop, 1977), TBD. (Classic Traveller Book 2)
• Marc Miller, Frank Chadwick, John Harshman. High Guard (Game Designers Workshop, 1980), TBD. (Classic Traveller Book 5)
• Loren Wiseman. Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society 21 (Game Designers Workshop, 1984), TBD.
• Marc Miller. Missiles in Traveller (Game Designers Workshop, 1984), TBD. (Classic Traveller Special Supplement 3)
• Mike Jackson. Third Imperium 04 (Galaxy Games, 1986), TBD.
• Marc Miller. Referee's Manual (Game Designers Workshop, 1987), TBD.
• Rob Caswell, William W. Connors, Joe Fugate, Gary L. Thomas. Starship Operator's Manual (Digest Group Publications, 1988), TBD.
• Rob Caswell. "MT-112A TAC Missile." MegaTraveller Journal 3 (1992): TBD.
• Frank Chadwick. Battle Rider (Game Designers Workshop, 1993), TBD.
• Frank Chadwick. Striker II (Game Designers Workshop, 1994), TBD.
• Dave Nilsen. Reformation Coalition Equipment Guide (Game Designers Workshop, 1994), TBD.
• Gareth Hanrahan, Dom Mooney. High Guard (Mongoose Publishing, 2008), TBD.
• Marc Miller. T5 Core Rules (Far Future Enterprises, 2013), TBD.
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science