Scythe Cruise Missile

The Scythe Cruise Missile is a design based heavily on that of the Imperial Army's own Manticore missile, used as both artillery and air defence by those mortal forces. While major parts were replaced or redesigned, such as the outer shell and engine, the greatest upgrades lie in the extended range and targeting system. This provides the Sky Reavers with a long-range, pinpoint-accurate weapon that can easily traverse the void, in atmosphere and any elevation in between.

In the same vein as the Dominae Missile, the Scythe saw it's initial start with the Sky Reavers, but unlike it's air-to-air cousin remained exclusive to their arsenal for many years, even after the end of the Great Crusade. It was only brought up to a Martian council after the Second Ruin, with the legion willingly sharing the design after the extensive damage done to the Imperium thanks to the awakened Necrons. It would still take several centuries for the Priests of Mars to recreate the technology on a scale large enough to manufacture for multiple legions, having to make some compromises in the process.

Description
With a long cylindrical sleek form with a rectangular air intake smoothly linking to the rear of the missile and terminating in an eagles-head tip, the Scythe provides long-range, high accuracy strike capability whether placed on a naval platform or a static missile silo. At just over 6.5 metres in length and weighing up to 2.5 tonnes the missile is equipped with a hydrogen jet system to power it to targets at speeds in excess of Mach 2.

The extended range of the missile is down to the difference in engine and the type of fuel required, with the Hydrogen Jet being sustained by a canister containing metallic hydrogen. This hydrogen is released and controlled through pulsing a high-energy laser, the resulting power from this reaction generates a considerable amount of energy which is used to launch the missile at incredible speeds while only using a fraction of it's fuel supply.

It's Medusan control unit links several servitor brains with engrammatic programming based on that used in the Legio Cybernetica to take care of the targeting and mid-mission decision making, with various attack patterns and evasion methods also imprinted on the programming. While extremely effective at it's job the Mechanicus attempted to add in a failsafe, to save the loss of such a complex and ancient system with every missile attack. Each control unit is housed in a reinforced adamantium box which can be jettisoned close to impact, to ensure the target is still hit a single servitor brain is left to control the final approach of the missile while the main Medusan control unit is launched from the missile. Often following an attack enemies would think these boxes to be unexploded ordnance and would give it a wide berth. The collection of these units is considered secondary only to the main battlefield objective, as Mechanicus forces send out recovery squads of Skitarii and Cybernetic Engiseers to retrieve it at all costs.

The warhead mounting system allows for multiple kinds of munitions to be placed within the nose of the missile, and covered by the protective cowling. Being able to swap these warheads with relative ease also allows for mission-specific profiles to be achieved with little effort, meaning a commander can tailor the missiles to any scenario.

Static Launchers
The missile, while most notably used onboard XIIIth Legion escorts, can also be used as a form of defensive measure. The vertical cells the Scythe comes in can be installed into fortresses or mounted onto specialised artillery platforms that can house up to 4 of them at once. While it cannot provide a sustained defence, it does give a defender the ability to strike out beyond the range of most of his guns and destroy strategic targets in a besieger's encampment. Vital siege engines, enemy supply depots and even command tents are all within reach of the Scythe's range, making sure no enemy of the Imperium can ever feel safe.

Warhead Variants
With the Warhead section of the Scythe designed to accept different types of warhead to allow maximum strategic potential, though the warheads must be pre-loaded onto corvettes, ships and static defences. Should a missile need to have it's warhead refitted it must go through an extensive process to do so.

Plasma Warhead
This is the standard armament for the Scythe Cruise Missile, it is especially effective against armoured formations and defence installations.

Graviton Warhead
An especially good weapon against large, lightly armoured armies and as a siege weapon against fortifications.

Melta Warhead
While a much smaller blast it is far more potent, able to turn fortress walls to slag, even known to have scored a few titan-kills.

High Explosive Warhead
While a lesser armament in it's potency it is highly effective against armies out in the open, able to carve chunks out of infantry formations and leave them reeling.

Atomic Warhead
A rare sight and even more rarely used, the atomic warhead is reserved for extremely dire situations when the collateral damage caused by one is deemed to be acceptable if it means victory against a foe.

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