Shiva-class nuclear missile

The Shiva-class nuclear warhead is a United Nations Space Command weapon.

It is a ship-mounted nuclear weapon of varying pay load, assumable to be anywhere from 20 to 80 Megatons. Used by UNSC capital ships, it can also be fitted on Longsword interceptors for a low-profile insertion. They can be fitted with guidance computers for increased accuracy. It should be noted that Covenant capital ship shields have enough power to absorb a full thermonuclear blast far away but not directly. If the warhead detonates inside the shield, the effect of the blast is multiplied tremendously.