Sea Lance (missile)

A North Point Sea Command Wentworth Hornet carrying the Sea Lance SLAM-ER variant during a test flight over the Bellona Reefs Missile Test Range in North Point

The Sea Lance is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile system, developed and manufactured by Rotara in North Point. The missile uses active radar homing, and a low-level, sea-skimming cruise trajectory to improve survivability and lethality. The Sea Lance is the primary anti-ship missile used by the military of North Point. The missile can be launched from a variety of platforms, which include:

• Fixed-wing aircraft (the AGM-94, without the solid-fuel rocket booster)
• Surface ships (the RGM-94, fitted with a solid-fuel rocket booster that detaches when expended, allowing the missile's main turbojet to maintain flight)
• Submarines (the UGM-94, fitted with a solid-fuel rocket booster and encapsulated in a container to enable submerged launch through a torpedo tube);
• Coastal defense batteries, from which it would be fired with a solid-fuel rocket booster.

An improved variant, known as the AGM-94K SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response), has been developed and is entering service with the North Point Flying Corps and North Point Sea Command. It is capable of attacking land and sea targets at medium-to-long ranges (155 nautical miles/250 km maximum). The SLAM-ER relies on the Globalstar System and infrared imaging for its navigation and control, and it can strike both moving and stationary targets.

Design

A lot of smart people put forth competing designs for the best way to attach a large explosive to a rocket and have it find and blow up an enemy ship.

Operational history

The Sea Lance was first installed aboard the strike craft NPS Eversole as the test ship in 1978. Both of the missiles fitted to the Eversole were lost when the ship mysteriously disappeared later that year. By 1980, the design had been proven on a variety of other ships, none of which disappeared under mysterious circumstances, putting to rest the surprisingly widely-held theory that the firing of a Sea Lance's then-advanced turbojet engine would cause a rip in space time to appear and suck the firing ship into another dimension. By 1982 the ship-launched variant was fitted to many of the North Point Sea Command's surface vessels. Air- and submarine-launched variants appeared shortly thereafter, with the missile becoming a key part of North Point's defense from seaborne incursion.

The effectiveness of the design was proven during the Diamond Atoll Confrontation, where several dozen were fired by the North Point Security Forces against Valmiran naval units. Two Valmiran Navy destroyers and one merchant vessel were sunk by missile hits.

North Point forces deployed in Questers during the Questarian Rebellion made extensive use of both the standard Sea Lance as well as the SLAM-ER variant. In-country stocks of the AGM-94D model were so depleted during the maritime strike sorties of Operation Hard Tack that North Point began using existing stocks of Questarian Harpoon missiles. Several squadrons of Shrike and F2 strike aircraft had their targeting systems updated to fire the Harpoon and were never switched back, even with the close of hostilities in late 2013.

The North Point Security Forces are in the process of retiring all non-SLAM-ER Sea Lance missiles.

Operators

• North Point
  • North Point Sea Command
    • Soldier-class strike craft
    • Challenger-class corvette
    • Daring-class frigate
    • Ardent-class destroyer
    • Association-class destroyer
    • Endeavour-class large cruiser
    • Vanguard-class submarine
    • Affirmation-class submarine
    • Wentworth Hornet
    • MGI Polaris
    • Mishima US-2
  • North Point Flying Corps
    • MacMillan F-2
    • Wentworth Shrike
• Template:Country data Chevrokia
  • Commonwealth Navy
    • Herjár-class frigate
    • Fálk-class corvette
    • Æðrulaus-class patrol boat
    • Brynhildur-class submarine
    • OF.79/05 Alsviður
    • SpF.75/90 Tyrningur
    • VF.85/07 Huginn

General characteristics

• Primary function: Air-, surface-, or submarine-launched anti-surface (anti-ship) missile
• Contractor: The Rotara Company
• Power plant: Rotodyne CAE J402 turbojet, with a solid-fuel rocket booster for surface and submarine launches
• Length:
  • Air-launched: 4.2 metres (14 ft)
  • Surface and submarine-launched: 5.0 metres (16.4 ft)
• Weight:
  • Air-launched: 670 kilograms (1,480 lb)
  • Submarine or ship launched from box or canister launcher: 781 kilograms (1,722 lb)
• Diameter: 340 millimetres (13 in)
• Wing span: 920 millimetres (36 in)
• Maximum altitude: 910 metres (2,990 ft) with booster fins and wings
• Range: Over-the-horizon (approx 50 nautical miles)
  • AGM-94D (Block 1D): 220km (120mi)
  • RGM/UGM-94D (Block 1D): 150km (75mi)
• Speed: High subsonic, around 850km/h (460 knots, 240m/s, or 530mph)
• Guidance: Sea-skimming cruise monitored by radar altimeter, active radar terminal homing
• Warhead: 225 kilograms (496 lb), penetration high-explosive blast
• Unit cost: $1,457,201
• Date deployed:
  • Ship-launched (RGM-94A): 1978
  • Air-launched (AGM-94A): 1979
  • Submarine-launched (UGM-94A): 1981