captinjoehenry wrote:So far the argument that the fairing/covers are there primarily for weapon handling makes the most sense. If that is the case I would assume that the fairings/covers are probably jetisoned once the missile gets far enough from the launching ship as if it needs some sort of sensor cover it would be cheapest to use a wipple shield for shielding while the missile is in a balistic phase of flight.
No. Fairings aren't jettisoned until the few seconds before release of the laserheads, which itself is only a few seconds (maybe less) before detonation of the warhead.
http://youtu.be/byq68MjOlJUKeep in mind, this is a very old video I did several years ago, and looks like crap, not to mention, the wedge is very much *not* in scale (nor at the right angle). The timing is not correct either. Still, it gives you the general idea.
Finally, people expect to see missiles that look like what they expect missiles to look like. In the end, it all comes down to aesthetics, and making things look somewhat recognizable. One can argue all day long that missiles (in space) don't have to be cylindrical, or have a skin, or not have fairings, but until people can get past their prejudices over how things *could* look, we have missiles that look like any other missile we can think of.
It's science fiction. It's David's universe. He has approved this design. It's the design we go with.
Discuss away, but don't expect changes.
