Planetary Defense Missile
The Planetary defense missile (PDM) was originally designes as a two-stage medium-ramge air-defense missile, and was constructed to carry a conventionl nuclear warhead for use in the upper atmosphere against squadrons of attacking aircraft. In its present incarnation, the PDM uses a salvages TL-8 nuclear bomb pumped X-ray laser warhead fitted in the place of the conventional warhead, a process that added almost 3 meters to the length of the missile's second stage, and cut back its range to 221 kilometers.
The range of the solid-fuel engines is not important, as their function is purely to lift the warhead out of the atmosphere and point it in the general direction of the incoming target. Each missile locks on a radar guidance signal reflected off the targetby a ground station (usually, but not always, one connected with the battery that launched the missile).
Once out of the atmosphere, the nuclear-pumped X-ray laser warhead functions exactly like a standard space combat missile.