ASat Ordinance

ASat (short for Anti-Satellite) ordinace is a class of rocket-propelled explosive device designed specifically to destroy skystations, slow-moving airships, and other vehicles or pieces of infrastructure located in inflection layers.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

ASat ordinance, by it's nature, requires a degree of forewarning to deploy; this forewarning is generally provided by espionage operations, scout craft, and inter-space telescopy installations coordinating with one another and the ASat bombers via encrypted RadNet broadcast. Once a target's identity, location, and vector are identified, an ASat missile is launched against the target. The weapon is deployed by a fighter or bomber utilizing a technique similar to toss bombing, where the speed and vector of the vehicle itself serve to aid the weapon in reaching it's target.
A unit of ASat ordinance is comprised of a dumb-fire or radio-controlled rocket tipped with an explosive-driven fletchet payload. The rocket carries the payload up into the inflection layer, where it detonates based on a timer, altimeter, or remote trigger. When the payload detonates, it sends a conical shower of high-velocity fletchets into the targeted vehicle or structure, penetrating it in the hopes of crippling it (via the profuse perforation of its lifting gas envelopes), killing the crew aboard, or even destroying it outright (via contact with the fuel supply or dieseltech systems, which might cause a runaway condition).

Significance

Though ASats are not common as of the year 10,000 AR, most modern militaries employ evasive maneuvers, decoys, and other techniques to confound ASat firing solutions when approaching an active front of the War of Reunification.

Item type

Weapon, Explosive

Rarity

ASat ordinance is seldom actually used against skystations, as militaries typically attempt to capture these important pieces of orbital infrastructure. ASat ordinance is also expensive enough that it is generally kept in reserve for situations where large groups of valuable enemy vehicles are crossing all at once, making them generally rare to see even in normal circumstances.