Point-Defense

**Point-defense** is the defense of a single object or a limited area, e.g. a ship, building or an airfield, now usually against air attacks and guided missiles. Point-defense weapons have a smaller range in contrast to area-defense systems and are placed near or on the object to be protected.

## Overview

The idea of point-defense is for a weapons system to have a relatively limited range and to defend against attackers that have bypassed the longer-ranged weapons. This also relieves the longer-ranged guns and missiles the responsibility of covering a larger area. For example, on a World War II carrier, normally the five-inch naval guns would put up a barrage to deal with incoming bombers and kamikaze attacks. Then if the enemy got closer the 40 mm Bofors guns would begin firing. If the enemy got even closer then the final defense, the 20 mm guns would engage, along with any other weapons the defenders might have.

In modern times, point-defense has been largely been the role for advanced systems such as the Phalanx CIWS and surface-to-air missiles.

## Point-Defense in the New World

### Third Civilization Area and Outside the Civilized Areas

The idea of point-defense is quite lacking as the armies are mostly reliant on their major, long-range weapons to both attack and defend. This lack of point-defense was clearly shown during the war against the Louria Kingdom and the Japanese-Parpaldian War. Once their Wyvern and Land Dragon forces were destroyed, the armies lost not only their long-range attack capability, but also their point-defense as well. Since naval guns and magic cannons were slow to reload and inaccurate, they also failed in terms of point-defense.

### Mu

Despite having technology from WW1 to the 1930s, the nation of Mu does have some point-defense capability with their Marin fighters, their anti-aircraft guns and most recently, their prototype X Shinden Kai fighter. Although their anti-aircraft guns lack the same FCS as Japan's, they can still shoot down the enemy if the crews are trained enough or lucky enough. The X Shinden Kai became Mu's first point-interceptor by shooting down a lone Guti Maun bomber.

### Holy Milishial Empire

Although they were considered the 'strongest nation,' the Holy Milishial Empire's point-defense was just as lacking as Mu's when going up against the Gra Valkas Empire. This is due to their over-reliance on magic and their crude, reverse-engineered copies of Ravernal Empire technology. This made their weapons too slow to reload, highly inaccurate (due to the lack of FCS), and very inefficient.

The only example of a working and effective point-defense weapon is the Atrates Cannon, which is mounted on the Pal Chimera flying battleship. It is said to be as effective as the 1st generation model of the Phalanx CIWS. However, the Milishial engineers do not understand how it works, nor can they even make a crude copy of it.

### Gra Valkas Empire

The Gra Valkas Empire hails from a world that has the equivalent of World War II, so they have some considerable point-defense capability. Their main type of point-defense are in the form of naval guns, and anti-aircraft guns manned by gunner crews. This method is effective against all New World opponents, but cannot stop anti-ship missiles or jet aircraft. The only time they were able to stop a single Harpoon Missile was due to sheer luck.

### Japan

Japan has excellent point-defense capability due to advanced FCS and missile technology. The Kongō-Class Destroyer *Myokyu* displayed its anti-aircraft capability with its RIM-66 Standard Surface-to-Air Missile, Oto-breda 127/54 Compact Gun and the Phalanx CIWS. Japan also has a variety of fighters, anti-aircraft guns and surface to air missiles to ward off any potential attackers.