Whoa, looks like I missed your 12/27 post somehow...sorry for the delay, here's the next draft: Titan Heavy Missile
At the height of the Cold War, scientists from both NATO and the Warsaw Pact were frantically trying to give their side an edge in what promised to be an epic war. However, when tensions ceased with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the designs for a new generation of long-range Air-to-Air missile were locked away in the vaults of the CIA, and forgotten.
The blueprints remained there for decades, until the first UFO's were sighted, and the call went out for an international combat force to defend humanity from the alien menace. In desperation, the world's leading nations combined their latest technological developments in order to ensure this force was as well-prepared as possible. As the search began, an industrious staff member of the CIA chanced upon a discarded design for a missile of unparalleled destructive potential. Although skeptical, he sent it to the Council of Funding Nations. As analysts from around the globe pored over the designs, word reached the Council that Earth's engineers had found a winner. The new missile was quickly brought into use, where it clearly outperformed every other long-range missile being used. Now accepted as the elite long-range Air-to-Air weapon, Titan Heavy Missile is indeed a force with which to be reckoned. Its warhead is based on acetone peroxide, an extremely volatile substance, and is armed with a proximity detonator. As the launching craft locks onto a target and fires, the missile's own navigational system detects the unique electromagnetic signature of the target. Within milliseconds, everything from the target's speed to how much light it reflects is processed by the projectile's onboard computer, and this information is constantly checked and updated to ensure the missile stays on course with the target. Once the target is within the missile’s blast radius, a number of shaped charges explode in unison with the main warhead, propelling the Titan’s destructive force towards the target at velocities exceeding Mach 4. This design, coupled with the Titan’s revolutionary propulsion system, allows it to reach targets far out of range of any other weapon in the X-Com arsenal, while retaining its power even at the end of its flight. The vast range and potential of this weapon, however, come with a downside: Due to the complexity of the missile, its weight is exceptionally high. As a result of this, each weapon hardpoint of an aircraft can only be armed with two such missiles at a time. This makes the Titan impractical for prolonged encounters. Despite this disadvantage, the Titan is an invaluable addition to the fight against the alien menace.