Hyper Velocity Missile

An HVM, or hyper velocity missile, is an incredibly powerful missile used by the Terran Federation, among others. The missile can be deployed by a hand held launcher or by various vehicles. It is one of the fastest ground based weapons besides light-speed lasers. The missile travels at an incredible 10% of light speed although most shipboard weapons, like Standard missiles, travel at .6c or higher. Normally, a weapon travelling at that velocity would burn up from the friction, but the HVM projects a drive field across the flight path for an inperciptible fraction of a second, thus neutralizing the friction. Because it travels at such speeds, there is no need for a warhead and it is a purely kinetic weapon. Also because it travels at such speeds, there is no need for an onboard guidance system. If the initial guidance is right, then nothing ground based could dodge one. The HVM was first deployed around 2210, during ISW-3. 150 years later, during ISW-4, the Star Union upgraded HVM technology. With their help, the Terran Federation created the K.I.S.S. which was a larger version of an HVM that was deployed from orbit.