BattleMech Weapons

Missiles:
Unguided Messengers of Death

by Precentor Janos Abu Hassan

Missiles used in'Mech warfare in the 31 St century have come full circle from the weapons they once were centuries ago. They were employed in numerous wars prior to the 20th Century when they were little more than tubes filled with black powder launched in the general direction of an enemy in the hope that a hit might be scored. In the latter half of the 20th Century, missiles became extremely complex and sophisticated weapons. There were missiles which were, in effect, computer- or remote-piloted drones with ranges of thousands of kilometers; missiles which could be directed to their target by the target's infrared signature; missiles homing on the target's characteristic shape or silhouette; missiles guided by radar, by magnetic fields, by reflected laser beams directed by spotter teams or aircraft, or by impulses transmitted along a thread-thin wire from a human keeping the target in the launcher's sights.

By the mid-21st century, it was clear that such sophisticated missiles were far too expensive and complex for the grinding horror of the modern battlefield. Electronics would always break down, become contaminated by dust, mud, or blood, or be broken by clumsy or ill-trained technicians. Time after time, it was found that the failure of a tiny, half-C-bill circuit switch or capacitor had rendered a multi-million C-bill weapon useless. When the weapons did work, they faced a growing array of sophisticated counter-weapons, radio jamming, and electronic warfare measures.

Gradually, missiles became simpler, ratherthan more complex. By the time of the First Successor State War, missiles were once again little more than unguided rockets, cheap enough to be manufactured and fired in large batches in the hope of overwhelming the target's defenses, and simple enough that there was no way to jam or intercept them.

Modern battlefield missiles are of two general types: Long-Ranged Missiles (LRMs) and Short-Ranged Missiles (SRMs). The basic difference between the two lies in the fact that LRMs are indirectfire weapons, designed to be lobbed in an arc against their target, rather than being fired directly at them. For this reason, the accuracy of LRM fire is severely hampered at ranges much less than 180 meters.

The effective range of SRMs is generally listed as less than 300 meters, while LRMs can be lobbed accurately only a little more than twice that distance. In fact, both types of missiles can travel considerably farther than the stated range figures, but hitting something as small and as fast as a BattleMech becomes a significant problem at greater ranges. In fact, BattleMechs equipped with certain types of broad-scanning projectile-warning radar can detect flights of enemy missiles and warn MechWarrior pilots via neurohelmet link. At ranges of more than 600 meters, avoiding incoming missiles becomes almost automatic, though there is some danger of hits due to the scattering of the missile swarm.

Another principal difference in the two missile types is in the size and punch of their respective warheads. An SRM is designed to burn all of its fuel in a short, intense burst, propelling a larger warhead a shorter distance than the LRM, which uses a sustained burning of more fuel to boost a smaller warhead a longer distance. The larger warheads on SRMs, usually cyclomate CX-12 or high-velocity plastique rated at the destructive power of approximately .25 kilo of TNT, are twice as destructive as the smaller, lighter LRMs.

BattleMech Weapons Crisis of Range and Accuracy

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