Aircraft Equipment/Proposed/Parachute-Mini-Monomolecular Blades Launcher (aka Hornet Swarm)

Parachute Blades

This conception was inspired by one of polish s-f writers, Andrzej Pilipiuk. If something very fast hits even a small stationary object, it can result in severe damage. Of course, alien crafts are armored, so some extra measures are required.

The proposition is to fill rockets with sharp, tiny objects equipped with a parachute, which will open automatically after mini-blades (hornets) are thrown in the sky in the explosion triggered remotely by Terran pilot.

The main advantage of this kind of weapon would be it's accuracy. Blades are really tiny (maybe ever so light, that they don't need a parachute) and spread over a large area, so it is very hard for alien pilots to spot and evade the swarm. Moreover, if carrier missiles are fired from behind, alien pilots may be fooled that they have evaded it, until it it explodes in front of them, spreading deadly blades. The Terran pilot wouldn't get hit by hornets, as he would quickly dive to avoid them.

The weapon would be the more effective, the faster UFO would fly. However, carrier slugs would require to be extra fast to get past alien craft, so earlier research on coil weapons would be required. An alternative: there could exist a weaker version, which could not catch up with faster UFOs and could only hit them, when attacking from front (Yet there exists this TR-20 now, some similarities can be seen).

The another advantage: this kind of weapon wouldn't damage particular systems very badly (but enough to cause their malfunction), so UFO recovery could bring more profits. This could also kill and injure aliens on board, making recovery missions easier.

Disadvantages of this weapon: first, producing large amount of monomolecular (kerr) mini-blades would cost much. Second: it would be very hard to take down larger or slower UFOs using only this weapon.