Earth - X-18 Missile

X-18 'Jericho' Missile

The X-18, code name 'Jericho' missile, is an experimental missile design based on the observations and recommendations of EFSN admiral [REDACTED] after the second battle of Alpha Centauri, and has become the EFSN's answer to the UISN coming back from its ashes, and the strategic defeat at the third battle of Alpha Centauri.

The Jericho missile is a radical departure from all previous missile design. In effect, it is an entirely new branch. It is 80 meters long and 30 tall, and looks like a giant slug of metal, requiring a dedicated launcher to fire. It is approximately thirty times more massive than the X-16 'Trebuchet', and four times as massive as the VVM-96 'Eradicator'

What makes it so different from other missiles is its payload and power source. The Jericho does not rely on fusion power. It uses antimatter. Antimatter, has, ton for ton, an energy density a hundred times higher than the most efficient fusion reaction theoretically possible. In effect, each gram of antimatter is worth a kilogram of EFSN fusion fuel.

The antimatter fueling the warhead, combined with the missile's sheer size means that the Jericho does not pack a megaton, or gigaton range warhead. Instead the Jericho carries 420 tons of antimatter, with an energy release equivalent to 9 teratons of TNT, thirty thousand times more powerful than the biggest warhead the X-16 can carry. With a warhead this powerful, the accompanying laser rods are superfluous, ANYTHING within its area of effect, even the mightiest of capital ships, would be instantly reduced to atoms. As an added bonus, the missile is simply not as vulnerable as most missile during the terminal acquisition phase. As long as the missile gets in range, even destroying it will cause the missile's payload to detonate, as antimatter breaches containment and meets the plasma or debris cloud of the missile itself.