Artemis' Arrow Missile

The Artemis' Arrow, officially designated as the the SGM-101 and alternatively known by its nickname Blaze Rod, is a advanced long-range, ship-launched, loitering land attack missile. Designed to be launched from the vertical launch cell of a ship in orbit, it would fly towards its designated target and position itself directly above the target just outside a planet's orbit before descending on its target. It uses pure kinetic energy for penetration and target destruction.

## Description

The SGM-101 Artemis' Arrow is a large, multistage, missile weighing 3. tonnes or 3,500 kg and is about 5m long. It is rather slim for a missile as to help resist against the heat from re-entry as well as gain higher speeds for penetration, as a result it resembles a rod. The core of the missile, the part intended to survive re-entry and hit the target, is made of pure tungsten and makes up the majority of the missile inside.

Designed primarily for bunker busting, it lacks a warhead unlike other missiles and relies entirely on kinetic energy gained during re-entry as its "warhead". A guidance computer is placed directly at the front. Its guidance computer is highly advanced and the most expensive component in the entire missile, and is also equipped with a powerful, advanced, camera. For maneuvering, the missile is equipped with 8 maneuver thrusters, with a pair on each side of the missile's body, and a RXE-C rocket engine at the back for thrust, this however is for the final stage of the missile of descending upon its target. Additionally, the missile is equipped with a maneuver thruster module at the end, capable of separation, with an additional 4 maneuver thrusters and a lesser version of the RXE rocket engine to reach its designated position above the target.

The first stage module resembles a large ring with 4 small thrusters on each side and a rocket engine within.

## Operation

The missile's guidance system requires three inputs before launch, one for the target and its coordinates, another for positioning above the target. Alternatively, the computer within can self-designate a appropiate position instead. Once inputted and launched, the missile heads towards the designated coordinates above its target using the first stage module. Once the computer detects its nears the designated position, the maneuver thrusters on the first stage module along with the main body's maneuver thrusters kick into action and rapidly changes the missile's direction facing towards the target as well as slowing the missile down. Once it is done, the first stage module is explosively separated away from the missile.

### Stand-by / Loitering stage

Once the first stage module is separated, the system switches to stand-by mode, alterantively called loitering mode, and maintains position directly above the target. Using the remaining maneuver thrusters, the missile attempts to maintain its position above the target right outside the planet's orbit, moving with the planet as it rotates. Simultaneously, the guidance system begins to search for its target coordinates using a powerful camera capable of seeing through most obstacles within an planet's atmosphere. Once found and locked, the missile awaits for the signal from its origin ship.

### Final stage

If the go signal is given, the missile enters its final stage and ignites its last rocket engine and rapidly starts descending. As it descends, it also uses gravity as an additional assist to gain speed, quickly gaining re-entry speeds. At a certain stage, once the impact is guranteed, the guidance system and computer is designed to effectively destroy itself from the heat generated during re-entry, and behind it is another arrow shaped head that will withstand the heat and penetrate and destroy the target.

If the no-go signal is given instead, the missile simply self-destructs with a powerful explosive charge near the guidance computer, powerful enough to effectively vaporise the guidance computer. This charge is inert and incapable of exploding unless the computer activates its igniters, this is intended to not interrupt the acceleration during re-entry if the go-signal is given.

## History

### Origin

The SGM-101 Artemis Arrow missile was developed in 2221 by Future Systems Command from the desire to both strategically and tactically destroy fortified positions or bases during a planetary invasion without risks. The main priority was the ability to destroy surface to orbital cannons and underground bases which required both high penetrating capabilities and explosive power. A pure kinetic energy based weapon was thus selected as it was capable of both.