Model-21 Anti-Ship Ion Cannon

The Model-21 Anti-Ship Ion Cannon is an Imperial energy weapon designed to disable large ships. It is typically found on the ground, but these cannons can be mounted on ships.

Design Specifications
The weapon ionizes hydrogen gas by allowing a hydrogen atom to capture an additional electron. When a hydrogen atom gains an extra electron it forms anions. Thus, the weapon utilises these anions by accelerating them through a particle accelerator. Within the accelerator, the negative ions are released into an ion acceleration chamber. This chapter contains an electrode with an alternating electric charge of up to 1,000,000,000 (109) volts. While the charge on the electrode is positive, the ions would be attracted to the negative charge of the electrode, and would thus gather around it. Next, the negative charge repels the negative ions and accelerates them to near the speed of light. The resulting beam of anions passes through a chamber filled with low-pressure gas wherein collisions with the gas strip the extra anions, thus rendering the beam neutral. Finally, the beam is released from the chamber where it will disrupt the structure of the target through its kinetic energy. However, what sets this weapon from the rest of the Imperium's arsenal is its ability to disrupt a ship's electronics system as the cannon has the additional side effect of producing electromagnetic radiation. As a result, they are often used in conjunction with MAC cannons as these weapons are highly effective against ship shielding; its background EMP could also disable a ship's electronics system, rendering the ship effectively immobile for a period of time.

Model-21 (A)
The Model-21 was the first variant recovered by the Imperium. The design for the ion cannons was recovered by the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus prior to the start of the Great Crusade. It is one of the most common—and weakest—variants, producing a total output of 100 gigawatts.

Model-21 (B)
Unlike the A-variant, the Model-21 B is one of the most powerful energy weapons in the Imperium's arsenal. This model has a total output of 5000 gigawatts. Due to the heavy energy usage, these weapons can only be mounted on large ships such as light cruisers or battlecruisers.