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On Thu, 10/22/15, Bruce Johnson <xxxxxx@Pharmacy.Arizona.EDU> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [TML] High Guard missile bay launch
 To: "xxxxxx@simplelists.com" <xxxxxx@simplelists.com>
 Date: Thursday, October 22, 2015, 2:50 PM

 > On
 Oct 22, 2015, at 1:58 PM, Grimmund <xxxxxx@gmail.com>
 wrote:
 >
 >
 > On Thu, Oct 22, 2015 at 12:07 PM, Greg
 Nokes <xxxxxx@nokes.name>
 wrote:
 > I’ve always assumed that there
 was a small railgun or coil gun that would “toss” the
 projectile away from the launcher, The projectile would then
 orient to the target and burn away.
 > 

 > Way too much work and fragility for
 not enough return.  You can soft launch with compressed
 non-flamible gas.
 > 

 Given the standard missile is
 about the size of 6 or 7 rolls of toilet paper stacked on
 top of each other and 100 lbs, (Per CT missiles special
 supplement the standard missile is 15 x100 cm and 50 kg.) a
 frikken’ bungee cord would practically do the job.

 Of course, this begs the
 question of how a missile half the size of a gorram
 sidewinder can pack enough chemical energy in it to do up to
 6000 seconds of 6g acceleration into a tube only slightly
 larger than some Estes model rockets….let alone pack
 enough punch at the other end to go through the average
 automobile, let alone starship armor.

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I recall reading an article about about how, when a missile turret mounted on a FreeTrader needed to  be reloaded, a crewman had to haul the reloads from a storage location (hold?). I guess that explains the 50kg but it would still be a strenuous task.

As far as the out-size 'punch' goes;
Isn't it wonderful/amazing how much conventional munitions tech will advance in thousands & thousands of years?  ;-)

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