Plasma bolt projectors are large energy weapons which are mounted along the spine of some of the largest ships.  The weapons is almost a one-for-one match with a type Xc phaser cannon in terms of capability and range. Dalriadan battleships may mount as many as four of these weapons, normally as bow chaser armament.

Gatling phaser turrets are the mainstay of the broadside armament of most Dalriadan warships.  These are high-power, high rate-of-fire weapons with ranges on par with Type X phasers and the firepower and rate-of-fire of Type Xa phaser weapons.

Particle cannon supplement both the broadside and chase armaments.  These heavy beam weapons have the ability to burrow through armor at an alarming rate.

Worse still are the missile weapons.  Pulverizer missiles come in two varieties.  The first is simple and much like a photon torpedo.  The missile is launched by a linear accelerator up to a base velocity vector which is added to the ship's velocity.  The speed is not nearly as great as that of a torpedo.

However, where a torpedo carries only small reaction thrusters which can slightly change its path, the Dalriadan missiles has a drive unit which allows them to steer and make substantial course alterations while accelerating towards their target.  This is a mixed blessing as it allows point defense systems to acquire and destroy the missiles more easily.  This is the reason for the second and more prevalent warhead:  the bomb-pumped laser.

Normally, a laser does not have enough power to penetrate the shields of a modern warship.  However, a phase modulated x-ray laser can do so quite nicely as the Romulans demonstrated long ago.  The Dalriadan weapon is in some ways similar to the Romulan one, but it is mass produced much more efficiently than even the Romulans have managed and its power source is different.

A one megaton fusion bomb is used as the lasing source.  The missile self destructs a short distance from the target and beams of invisible light stab through the target.  Shields can not repel such an intense blast concentrated over such a small area.  The effect is dramatic.  By moving a beam weapon clear of the hull it means that the power source no longer needed to be safe or easily controlled.  It can destroy itself as the weapon discharged without damaging the ship that fires the beam.  The idea is simple and lethal and something that the Federation had never really considered before because of the advanced accelerators that were developed early in the history of the photon torpedo and which led to a different standard in missile weapons.

When these missiles are combined with warheadless missiles carrying high-power ECM equipment or with the smaller seeker drones which can carry phaser warheads, lasing warheads, antimatter bombs, or ECM equipment they are truly impressive to behold.  The seeker drones are small and can be launched in great numbers to overload the ECM capacities of an enemy ship. Though not as powerful as their larger cousins, they are very effective at their task.

Since Federation ships are not accustomed to encountering advanced missile weapons of the sort employed by the Dalriada, they are not equipped with point defense systems.  This leaves them extremely vulnerable to attack by these missiles, since their shipboard ECM systems can be overpowered by jamming missiles and drones.