The UNN railgun platform is a model of orbital defense satellite purposed for first strike operations. It also can protect Earth from outside attack. It is one of the United Nations Navy's most powerful and accurate weapons.
Specs
Railguns are large, powerful mass drivers, cannons that use electroconductive rails and the Lorentz Effect to accelerate a dense metal slug at very high speeds, relying on mass and sheer speed to punch clean through their targets, rather than warheads like with missiles. These weapons require significant power (presumably supplied by a fusion power-plant) to fire and must charge briefly before firing.
The entire weapons platform is 81 meters long, almost twice the overall length of a Martian Corvette-class light frigate, with the visible barrel taking up two-thirds of the satellite's total length. This cannon is the peak of the UNN's railgun armament, able to accurately hit ships at up to 2 AU's away and leaving even vessels with missile armaments unprotected.
At the rear end of the platform is a number of thruster modules designed to compensate for the cannon's recoil as well as adjusting its orbit, avoiding atmospheric drag and the railgun recoil. RCS thrusters are positioned across the chassis to turn and aim the weapon while also used to help move it around.
Seemingly automatically operated and remotely fed firing solutions from a command station, the satellite is built to be compact, being not much larger than a Truman-class's Farren-Pattern railgun turret. Without the need for rooms to carry a crew or supplies, it simply houses a reactor, a control unit, and a magazine.
History and appearances
UN-MCR War
- Main article: Nuclear strike on earth
During the war, UN Watchtower satellites detected 5 MCRN Stealth C ballistic missile platforms and sent this information back to the UN Security Council. The UN Security Council ordered a simultaneous strike on all five of the platforms with five railgun platforms that were in the geosynchronous orbit of Earth, in order to eliminate the first-strike capability of the MCR. Four out of five took out their targets, but the fifth railgun stalled momentarily due to an error activating its reactor. It could not destroy the final platform before it launched a burst missile, launching 20 nuclear tipped warheads dubbed "Planet Busters", with UNN defences taking out all but one of the them.
The sole Planet Buster that evaded Earth's defences detonated near Goias Maior in Amazonia, killing approximately 2 million people.[1]
- Main article: Bombardment of Earth
The asteroids flung at Earth by Marco Inaros and coated in MCRN stealth composites were able to avert detection by the Sentinel satellite system. Thus, the UN was unaware of the threat and unable to prevent the impact of three asteroids on Earth, killing billions of people and severely damaging Earth's biosphere. When the truth about the impacts was revealed, the Watchtower satellites were subsequently linked to the Sentinel satellites, therefore allowing all Earth defences to recognize and track the asteroids, intercepting the three remaining stealth coated rocks.[2]
Media
Trivia
- It is unknown if the platform is equipped with PDCs or other such countermeasures to defend against close combatants or incoming ordnance. They may simply be supported by Earth-stationed UNN warships.
- It is unspecified as to how these weapons can accelerate the round as incredibly fast as they do, being the same length (if not a little smaller) than a Truman-class's turreted railgun.
References
- ↑ The Expanse TV series - Season 3, Episode 3: "Assured Destruction"
- ↑ The Expanse TV series - Season 5, Episode 4: "Gaugamela"