Archives

Title Posted
Drive field requirement for warp transit Oct 2002
Warp point denial I Oct 2002
Warp point denial II Oct 2002
<em>The Great Vanishing Crucian Mystery</em> Oct 2002
The Terran Federation - partial (high resolution - 157KB) Oct 2002
ISW 4: The Arachnid War (1) (low resolution - 27KB) Oct 2002
Mother's recall of surviving Battle Fleet units Oct 2002
Upgrading <em>Dahak </em>to a hyperdrive Oct 2002
Honor Harrington series timeline Oct 2002

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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."