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Shipbuilding times Dec 2004
Fleet strengths as of 1920 PD Dec 2004
Erewhon's 'betrayal' of the Manticoran Alliance Dec 2004
Fleet strengths as of 1905 PD Dec 2004
Construction time for the first-flight <em>Harringtons</em> Dec 2004
Fire control uplink flexibility Dec 2004
FTL fire control Jun 2005
Manpower's optimism in it's covert operations Jun 2005
Planning for Manpower & Mesa Jun 2005
Coast Guard equivalent Jun 2005

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Pearls of Weber

A collection of posts by David Weber containing background information for his stories, collected and generously made available Joe Buckley.

Single-drive fusion-powered missiles

  • Series: Honorverse
  • Date: November 14, 2004

Is anyone going to build a single-drive missile with a fusion power plant?

Almost certainly not. A fusion plant is larger than the capacitors required to store the energy required by a single-drive missile. It's smaller than the multiple capacitors required to power the multiple drive systems of an MDM. In addition, adding the necessary hardware to kickstart the fusion plant before launch would require a substantial up-sizing of the launchers firing them. The only real argument in favor of putting a fusion plant aboard a single-drive missile would be that it would provide both the power density and the endurance required to take full advantage of the EW capabilities provided by Ghost Rider. That isn't a minor consideration, but for a ship which would be firing single-drive missiles, that's not likely to be as significant a concern. Those vessels are going to be smaller and less capable, whatever they do. If the idea is that somehow switching to a fusion-plant drive and single-drive missile would produce a smaller single-drive weapon, that wouldn't happen.