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Title Posted
Why did Pavel Young accept Harrington's challenge? Nov 2002
Balance of power in the Star Kingdom of Manticore Nov 2002
"Beached" or <em>half pay</em> officers Nov 2002
Manticoran Admiralty Nov 2002
Warship armor Nov 2002
Grav pulse comm and the detection of hyper footprints Nov 2002
Prolong Nov 2002
Grav pulse comm pulse generation Nov 2002
Grav pulse comm in hyper Nov 2002
Manticoran Peerage seating Nov 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."