Scutum

Scutum
File:Scutum.png
Type	Strategic anti-ballistic missile
Service history
In service	1965 - present
Used by	Belisarian Community
Production history
Manufacturer	Arthuristan Dynamics
Specifications
Weight	Mark 1: 13 tonnes Mark 2: 21.7 tonnes
Length	17.05m
Diameter	Mark 1: 1.2m Mark 2: 1.28m
Blast yield	Mark 1: 5MT warhead Mark 2: Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle
Engine	three-stage solid propellant
Operational range	750km
Flight ceiling	600km
Guidance system	datalink

The Scutum system is the 'booster component' of the Belisaria Community's ballistic missile defence system. BC members first gained a measure of ABM capability through a modified version of the MIM-14 Nike Hercules, the original form of which was optimised for attacking large formations of strategic bombers. The Scutum, which was its replacement, was the Community's first dedicated ABM design, capable of lofting a very high-yield thermonuclear warhead to the edge of space and destroying all incoming targets within 50km.

The acquisition and guidance systems which support the missile were periodically upgraded in the decades since its entry into service as radar, solid state electronics and computing technology improved, although the rocketry hardware remained largely unchanged until recently, when guidance and warhead/decoy discernment technology was deemed to be sufficiently mature that Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicles began to replace nuclear warheads as the Scutum's primary payload.