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Question: The heat of fusion drives for defense (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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If fusion drives are described as being hot enough to melt space ports if you point them the right way, why don't ships use them for self defense? Point them at a missile and melt/vaporize it before it can detonate? Melt PDC fire etc?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

While possible I think the relative acceleration and maneuverability of a ship constrained by human passengers compared to a missile means that you can point your drive plume at it but the missile will already be programmed to come in on an arc intended to avoid the plume and with its better maneuverability it will still be able to hit its target effectively.