Cataphract

The Cataphract was a crude attempt by the Mesan Alignment to duplicate the multi-drive missiles in use by the Star Empire of Manticore and the Republic of Haven. 
== Specifications ==
Based on Solarian shipkillers, the Cataphract was essentially a single drive missile with the addition of an anti-missile drive to the final stage. The resulting missiles were twenty percent longer than standard size of the shipkillers they were based on and had half the lasing rods and less powerful seekers, ECM, and penaids. The tradeoff in power gave them a powered range from rest of almost 16.6 million kilometers. (, )
== Production ==
The official supplier of the Cataphract was the Solarian corporation Technodyne Industries.While Technodyne was the official supplier of record for the Cataphracts, Fleet Admiral Massimo Filareta of the Solarian League Navy suspected that they were supplied by someone else as ammunition ships supplying his Eleventh Fleet came from Mesa rather than Yildun. ()
Production of Cataphracts was initially believed to be based solely at Technodyne's facilities in Yildun and Sol, but it was later revealed that production of the Cataphract truly began in the Mesan Alignment's Galton System before its introduction to Solarian service. ()
== Variants ==
The first generation of Cataphract came in three variants:
*The A variant - based on the Solarian League Navy Spatha destroyer/light cruiser missile - was capable of being launched from heavy cruisers and battlecruisers.
*The B variant - based on the SLN Javelin heavy cruiser/battlecruiser missile - was capable of being launched from superdreadnoughts.
*The C variantIn 1922 PD, a Flight Two version of the C variant demonstrated an almost 20% increase in powered range and a marginally improved warhead. - based on the SLN Trebuchet capital missile was only capable of being launched from missile pods. ()
The longer range second generation of Cataphract was only capable of being launched from missile pods. ()
== References ==
Category:Space Weapons Technology
Category:Missile Types