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The Mesan Navy Jun 2005
White Haven's double-transit to Basilisk Jun 2005
Shipkiller missile evasive maneuvers Jun 2005
Cathy Montaigne's wealth Jun 2005
Heavy attack craft (HAC) Jun 2005
Heavy spinal-armed units Jun 2005
Non-hyper-capable units Jun 2005
Grav pulse comm intercepts Jun 2005
Hardening shipkiller missile drives Jun 2005
Grayson inheritance laws 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.

Missile orientation during flight

  • Series: Honorverse
  • Date: October 22, 2002

Missiles in the Harrington universe are virtually all seeking weapons. Their sensor heads are required to maintain lock on their targets (at least once they are beyond effective, real-time telemetry control from the ship which launched them). This means that they keep the throats of their wedges oriented on their targets, which is why it is possible for point defense lasers to kill them at extended ranges. There is no sidewall or wedge protecting them from the fire or the ship they are attacking; their wedges do, however, protect them from the defensive fire of other ships which might attempt to engage them from "above" or "below."