Barracuda

Description
The Barracuda missile was developed by the First Star League. Since the capital-scale direct fire weapons used on Star League WarShips were so inefficient at intercepting smaller targets, the Star League Defense Force Navy turned to missiles to defend against them. Unrestricted by the small size mandated by 'Mech and AeroSpace Fighters, engineers and scientists made huge strides in missile targeting and effectiveness. These missiles were very effective at destroying small craft. The Barracuda was particularly effective at destroying fighters, trading away damage potential for a sensor and guidance package that almost guaranteed a hit. After the fall of the Star League and the loss of WarShips, the Barracuda and its sister missiles were lost. The Federated Commonwealth restarted production during the Clan Invasion alongside the production of new WarShips.

A special teleoperated version of the Barracuda, designated Barracuda-T, was developed in 3056 by the Draconis Combine Admiralty to overcome two problems with the original Barracuda missile: its expendable nature and the guidance package. If the Barracuda missed its target, it would simply self-destruct. Though this prevented navigation hazards, it was still wasteful, particularly with the primitive guidance packages the post Succession Wars era Successor States could manufacture. The easiest way to solve the problem was to remove the guidance package and install communications links that would allow friendly operators to guide the missile like a remote-controlled AeroSpace Fighter. Though the Barracuda-T lost the ability to attack small craft, the ability to manually guide the missile and change targets more than made up for it.

Capital Missiles like the Barracuda are popular for Pocket WarShips because they are the only capital scale weapon system that can fit on a DropShip sized platform.

Models
The Barracuda missile system only has one model, produced on the following planets: