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.