M58 Archer missile

The M58 Archer is a ship-to-ship missile carried by UNSC Navy warships for engaging enemy ships in space combat. UNSC ships usually carry large numbers of them, their sheer numbers making up for their underperformance against Covenant shield technology, though unprotected ships can be destroyed by Archer missile strikes to the hull and superstructure.

Design
Archer missiles are usually stored in pods of thirty, although destroyers and cruisers employ oversized missile pods to carry a larger payload. Both frigates and destroyers carry twenty-six pods, though as mentioned, destroyers carry a larger number per pod. The Halcyon-class cruiser may have possessed as many as 300 missile pods.

History
Prior to the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC found the missiles to be effective against Insurrectionist combatant ships. Against the Covenant, however, they realized that the defensive measures employed by the enemy ships such as energy shields and point defense lasers suddenly rendered Archer missiles near-obsolete - lasers were able to pick off up to half of the missiles launched, and those that hit were rarely enough to penetrate the shields. At least one Covenant ship class, the, possesses jamming measures that interfere with the guidance systems. Tactics were developed to counter this, using the more devastating but slower-firing Magnetic Accelerator Cannons to break through the shields, rendering the hulls vulnerable, but on the whole Archers proved to be ineffective weapons against the Covenant. Smaller ships, such as boarding craft or fighters, are much easier targets, and Archers may be used in support of ground forces, launched from orbit to strike a ground-based target.