Harpoon Torpedo

The Harpoon Torpedo is a Starship Weapon developed initially by one of the Alliance member worlds in the second century of the Sixth Age. It was widely copied and adopted by the Alliance and even produced by the Gudersnipe Foundation. It is a rare example of a weapon system licensed by the Foundation instead of from it.

Description

Also known as a torpedo-launched missile, the Harpoon is a projectile weapon fitted with a warhead and two-stage fusion engine. Launched from a torpedo tube, the first stage reached maximum velocity, then acquires a target, solves a shooting solution, and ignites the second-stage. The second stage then accelerates to as much as 80 PSL+ on its way to a target. The two-stage design requires the use of a smaller warhead, hence the colloquial name (the second stage is, quite frequently, a standard missile). This gives it considerably greater range and great utility, if decreased lethality.

Usage

The purpose of the Harpoon is threefold: increased range, decreased interception, effective stand-off usage.

• Range - By providing the weapon with two independent motors, the total range is roughly 185% of a typical torpedo. As torpedoes are often the longest-ranged weapons available to ships, this allows a vessel carrying Harpoons to engage well outside of normal combat radius. It is also a highly effective pursuit weapon, often the deciding factor in stern-chase scenarios.

• Interception - most sensor systems have an extremely difficult time accurately identifying targets at over 70% of the speed of light. Once the second stage goes active (usually outside of the target's own effective range) the projectile becomes impossible to track. Though its position can usually be predicted, this is still enough to thwart most counter measures. Countermeasure and other defensive systems typically rely on shooting down or otherwise intercepting the weapon, which cannot be done past 70PSL. However, approaching 80PSL+, the missile starts to reach speeds akin to those of compressed energy weapons, and can sometimes be blocked by shields.

• Stand-Off - during the Kamian Succession Wars especially, a great number of civilian ships needed to be outfitted with weapons. Since these lacked armor or other defensive measures, a long-range weapon like the Harpoon was the ideal answer. It allowed them to attack from much greater distances than typical warships, which did not often carry Harpoons. Related to this, civilian and merchant mariner vessels often lacked the sophisticated sensors required for targeting systems, all of which could be built into the Harpoon.

Operators

The Achilles' heel of the Harpoon was its payload, which rendered it ineffective against armored battleships unless fired in large numbers. This was especially true for the Kamian capitol and dreadnought fleets, which could nullify attacks from Harpoons even with their shields down. Foundation capitols had a similar level of invulnerability, making the Harpoon all but useless as a main-battle weapon. Cutters would occasionally carry them as their increased range made them exceptionally useful against patrol craft, that could sometimes be taken out with a Harpoon before they could get a signal off. Standard practice for cutters running point was to keep two Harpoons loaded in the forward tubes "ready in all respects" at all times.

Fast Attack and Fast-Attack Stealth Ship would also sometimes carry Harpoons, again for the great range and utility against small, lightly-armed vessels. Stealth ships in particular preferred them, as they could be fired from distances where the attacking ship escaped all detection.

The civilian market saw the highest usage of Harpoons, much to the chagrin of the Gudersnipe Foundation, who did not prefer Nuclear Ordnance in the hands of ordinary people. The Terse Period demonstrated the problem, and in fact space pirates were very fond of the weapon throughout the war. Unfortunately, the need to have an effective weapon available for defensive purposes outweighed the potential risks, and even N2-equipped Harpoons were sold in large quantities on the civilian market. It is worth noting that a terrorist attacking a ground target could do about as much damage with the fission motor from a standard kinetic missile as an N2 detonated at ground level, so the proliferation concerns were minor.

Variants

The initial design for the Harpoon was created by one of the Alliance member worlds, and was in production before the war. The arms company responsible even produced a design compatible with launchers standard across much of the known worlds. The original design was fitted with a kinetic impactor-type warhead, but N1.5 munitions were quickly developed by many government operators. When hostilities began, the Foundation saw the utility of the weapon, and licensed it for production and immediately fitted the then-novel N2 warhead and proximity fuses.

Eventually, the patent held by the original designer expired, and the Foundation produced a new design under the principles of Grand Standardization, which included more widely-available components and an improved targeting system. The new variant came standard with a 10-megaton fixed-yield warhead.