HCS sources have confirmed the Clones are working on an interstellar missile similar in concept to the DDS' LRM. The Clone missile would not use transphasic technologies but would have a range of warheads including nuclear and be able to travel a number of light years. The actual range is unknown but it is thought the design brief calls for a missile that can be launched on Cloneworld and be able to hit targets in the Proximan and Terran systems.
The Clone missile will be a two-stage device, the first launcher stage will be the same as the forthcoming Gale-III/SeaGale ballistic missiles. This will mean the missile is launchable from Gale silos and the future HCSN SSBNs however most will be deployed on road-mobile launchers. The booster stage will get the combat stage into orbit. This will then detach and begin it's journey to the target. The combat stage will be an unmanned space craft and will be use some components from the HCS Nybble space UCV.
The missile will use stellar guidance to get to it's target planet. Hitting a meaningful target on the planet is more problematical. A fairly good degree of accuracy can be gained from calculating the target planet's spin over time and thus guessing where the targets (such as DDS GHQ) will be however it is thought the HCS will use ships in the target planet's system to update the targeting information in the terminal phase.
What will shock the DDS is the advanced nature of the project. A Gale test earlier in the year was at first thought, by DDS observers, to have been a failure as the missile had gone straight upwards and had been destroyed in LEO. Now it appears this was the first test of the booster stage. Tests of the combat stage are thought due to begin in 2110 with the missile perhaps becoming active by 2114. This is earlier than the planned arrival into service of the LRM which has a vague arrival date of "2115 to 2120". The Clone system may now prompt the DDS to speed up development.
