Hmm, just plugging the drive performance numbers into my spreadsheet (and ignoring control issues for the moment.) To get 5 million km on a single stage, at the current CM accel rate of 130,000g, would require stretching the node endurance from 75 seconds (Mk31) to basically 90 seconds.crewdude48 wrote:Personally, I suspect that it would be possible, using current Manticoran tech, to extend the ranges of CMs to upwards of 5 Mkm without to much more work or upsizing them to badly, and with out the need to initialize a second wedge. However, at that point (again according to David Weber) the light speed delay of information from the ship to the missile will be just too long for the missile to be effective enough to bother using.
We don't have any confirmed details of a single drive missile with that long a full powered endurance. Though the engagement range with a Mk14 ERM in WoH make me suspect that it might have a 90s/270s drive.
Another way to get to 5 million km would be to increase accel to around 180,000g. Or, less desirably, CMs drives can possible be stepped down to half accel for triple endurance (like normal missile drives); in which case only 125s @ 65,000g gives you 5 million km.