KZT Triple X

The KZT Intercontinental Triple X Deletion Missile , normally addressed as KZT Triple X and abbreviated to XXX is the largest, most powerful, most lethal, and costliest Deletion Missile that exists. Only ten have ever been built, seven of these belonging to the USA, two belonging to UnitedTerra and none (formerly three) belonging to Major Sheep (he tried to delete the USA with one and the others were given back to USA when Duck Island annexed Bleat). Only two were ever used in warfare (when the USA attempted to delete Snowzerland and when Major Sheep launched one in the Eastshield Missile Crisis) with both launches unsuccessful.

The only time a XXX missile has been readied but not launched was the Great Darktonian Pie War.

These missiles must be launched from specialized computers and professional missile drivers - currently, PASA's rocket launchpads are the only launch platforms that are cleared to launch XXX missiles, and the preparation of launching one can take up to 45 days. Since almost none of the missile is recovered from launch, the XXX missile is only ever used as a last resort. The XXX missile uses Ditto Plus and silicooxysilicate in its Deletion Flux Crystal to destroy targets.

The XXX missile was intended to have a successor, the KZT Triple Z missile, or the 'Devastator' missile (named for its codesign.) However, the project was scrapped after it was deemed unfeasible to produce.

Description
XXX missiles are famous for their appearance, differing from all other types of deletion missiles. They are around 390ft (118m) tall, and colored jet black with alternating red and yellow bands from top to bottom. The exact reasoning behind the black, red, and yellow coloration has never been explicitly divulged by PASA, but most penguins speculate that the black coloration absorbs heat while the missile is launched, reducing the risk of mission failure. The tops of the missiles are enclosed in a large, bulging fairing, which protects the warhead on its short ride to the atmosphere.

Construction
Since XXX missiles are so big, they require more than one stage to exit the planet's atmosphere. XXX missiles consist of four stages - a first stage rocket booster, a second stage engine, a third stage rotary motor-engine mechanism, and an engine directly attached to the stage in front of the warhead and Deletion Crystal itself (which is another stage). The warhead is surrounded by five metal panels. Alongside this, the missile also comes with radar chaff and jammers in order to evade detection, a parachute, an electric motor for precise aiming, and a navigation system (Reaction Control System). The exact construction process is not known, and is classified to all but the specialized Lichenblossom factories. However, the warhead's Deletion Flux Crystal is a large mass of >97.6% purity Ditto Plus, and the Deletion Flux Crystal must be transported in a zero-pressure, nonflammable environment. The Flux Crystal is also surrounded by a small amount of Ditto A and Ditto B liquid.

First stage
The first stage of the XXX missile is the largest stage of the rocket itself. It has three main booster engines which can gimbal up to 25˚ to provide thrust and trajectory support. It provides approximately 60% of the velocity and altitude needed for the missile to enter space. The first stage has three chambers inside it which are connected to the engines - a chamber holding Ditto Plus, a chamber holding oxygen, and a chamber holding kerosene. The three chambers are separated from each other so the propellant is never mixed, which could lead to an explosion. At around 115 seconds into the launch, the first stage is depleted of fuel and is ejected to burn up in the atmosphere below.

Second stage
The second stage of the XXX missile takes over at 115 seconds into the launch and serves to propel the missile into space. It has two static engines and provides approximattely 40% of the velocity and altitude needed to enter space. As opposed to the first stage, the second stage burns Ditto Plus and kerosene.

Launch and Impact
XXX missiles must be launched in a ballistic trajectory that leaves Earth's atmosphere at an angle of forty-nine degrees, which allows the missile a margin of error but also ensures it will exit Earth's atmosphere. At around 115 seconds into the launch, the first stage is ejected from the rocket and the second stage ignites. The first stage burns up in the atmosphere, while the second stage engine allows the missile into space. Around this stage, the missile is vulnerable to being shot down from enemy forces (the XXX missiles launched by Major Sheep and the USA were both intercepted and destroyed at this stage.) At around 450 seconds, the second stage is ejected and falls away to become space junk, while the warhead's onboard computer powers up, and the third engine of the XXX missile ignites along with the Reaction Control System, and the missile's computer reorients it or performs the necessary trajectory corrections so that the missile will hit its target

Once the third stage has ignited, there is no way to stop the missile from reaching its intended target (no ballistic destruction mechanisms exist for an altitude of the XXX missile). The warhead is surrounded by five metal panels that deploy in a circular pattern to confuse enemy sensors, along with chaff that also adds to the confusion that there could have been multiple warheads to hit the target. Once the trajectory is finalized, the third stage is ejected, which then leaves the warhead as the only remaining part of the missile.

Just before re-entering the atmosphere, the payload fairing is ejected, leaving the warhead and metal body as the only remaining part of the missile. The warhead is equipped with rotary fins and a small-range engine to find its intended target. Soon after the ejection of the payload fairing, the computers calculate the voltage needed to shock the Deletion Flux Crystal - which determines the total area of land that will be deleted after the destruction of the warhead. The warhead propels itself to 500m above its intended target, which executes the final sequence of events from launch to impact. At 500m above the intended target (measured with a built-in altimeter) the warhead computer delivers a controlled electric shock to the Ditto Plus warhead (the shock voltage is dependent on the amount of land that needs to be deleted), destroying the Deletion Flux Crystal and deleting any land specified within the boundaries of the missile.

XXX missiles can weigh upwards of 500 tons, and delete areas up to 2500 square kilometers in width, along with burning more than 100,000 liters (26,400 gal) of fuel from ascent to impact.

Recovery
Because barely any of the XXX missile survives the launch procedure (the second stage is ejected in orbit, the first stage and third stages burn up in the atmosphere at launch and targeting phases, respectively, and the fourth stage is destroyed along with the warhead once the computer delivers its electric shock), along with the astronomical costs that come with fueling, construction, launch, and self-destruction of the missile, XXX missiles are not considered cost-sustainable by any means - nations primarily possess them for their own deterrence and the consequences that come with them.

Trivia

 * XXX missiles are not classified at all (besides their purchasing prices, selling prices, and location), at the recommendations of The Defenders and Team Corvus. Their more intelligent members (namely Doctor Logic and Fourth Wall Corvus) pointed out that the knowledge of nukes being armed and ready deters enemies from war much more effectively than force. It's simple pacifying intimidation, they stated.
 * XXX missiles, unlike their brethren, are adjustable. The missile driver can, before launch, tell the missile's internal computer how much voltage it should shock the warhead with, and thus, how much area will be deleted.
 * The only times an XXX missile has actually been used is during the Great Snowzerland War V, when the USA attempted to delete Snowzerland, and during the Eastshield Missile Crisis, when Major Sheep attempted to delete the USA. Both of these missiles were shot down and detonated early, causing minimal damage.
 * NASA currently does not know of the missile's existence. If they did, this would go kablooka.
 * XXX missiles are decorated with a bunch of bizarre phrases, including, but not limited to, "E.T. GO HOME!", "TEH NUKE", "FEAR ME", "JO MOMMA" and "YOUR TAX MONEY AT WORK". It is unknown why this is the case or if it is just satire behind the workers at Lichenblossom (the latter is more likely.)
 * A XXX missile was set for an emergency launch during the Great Darktonian Pie War due to the threat of the Maledict. The launching process was rushed and planned to begin in three hours, and even if the missile was able to delete the Maledict, it would also wipe out the nearby South Pole City and a sizable chunk of Antarctica as a whole. In response, the Good Guys began their own operation to defeat the Maledict before the XXX was launched; though the Maledict managed to overpower them, Mayor McFlapp brought in a weaker standard Deletion Missile, which, thanks to the Good Guys weakening it beforehand, was able to delete the Maledict form and most of Darktan's powers. This incident marks the only time that a missile has been readied, but not launched.
 * The KZT Triple Z Missile (also known as a ZZZ missile or a ZZZ Devastator) was a proposed missile that would have five stages and be able to delete more than one million square kilometers of land - it was intended as the successor to the Triple X missile. However, such a missile would also require a highly unstable amount of Deletion Flux Crystal, and although a single missile was planned and partially constructed (callsign "Devastator"), there were no plans to use the missile in warfare, nor adapt the stage to fit any existing PASA rocket programs.

Internal Links

 * Deletion Missile
 * Deletion Slicer Missile
 * Heat Missile
 * Explorer's Space Diplomacy Signing