Kessler Defense/Interdiction Field

Realizing that should the Star League Defense Force (or any other Inner Sphere power) decide to come for them, the worlds of the New Suns Republic were vastly undefended and the NSRAF would be no match. Regardless of the technical advantages they might have, the NSRAF just didn't have the same industrial base which meant they wouldn't have the numbers. They would have to find other means to make any would be invaders see that it wasn't worth the time or effort.

Looking at the basic idea of Castle Brians, they decided to make each world in itself an obstacle that couldn't be avoided. All would be fortified and have defenses that if ignored could be used against would be invaders attacking other worlds. To help with that and get worlds time to put defenses in place and for other worlds to come to their aid, researchers looked at an early hazard in space travel for the answer, the Kessler Syndrome.

Early in Earth's history, debris in Low Earth Orbit got to the point where collisions threatened to cause a cascade effect, generating more debris that would essentially render travel through or usage of satellites impossible for generations. This would be because with each collision, debris that broke off and didn't re-enter and burn up in the atmosphere, would instead be traveling at 10km/s with more than enough energy to severely damage or destroy most objects it encountered.

With this in mind, the NSR created a deployable field, consisting of small 10kg "drones" made of ferro-aluminum with a electro-magnetic core. These drones would be deployed around a planet using a system similar to a Naval Hyper Accelerated Gauss Cannon. Once deployed, they would keep distance from each other using a encoded signal to allow them to recognize friend from foe, but will otherwise move around the planet at hyperspeeds colliding with anything in it's path until recalled. This effectively prevents anything from leaving the planet creating a quarantine or blockade.

In a defensive capacity, this can be used to keep incoming vessels from being able to safely land or approach the planet. The drones can also be programmed to swarm any incoming target for maximum effect, shooting down enemy missiles or other projectiles, effectively breaking them up before the reach atmosphere.