From tactical warheads to the Mark IX gate buster

The Mark III is the comparatively conventional tactical nuclear weapon first seen in the original Stargate mission. Mark VIII missiles are intended for Wraith hive ships, but fighter interception demonstrates why a small external salvo can fail before reaching its target. Beaming warheads aboard bypasses that defensive problem and shows how delivery method can matter as much as yield. The Mark IX, or gate buster, is a different category of weapon, designed to vaporize a Stargate and everything around it. Its quoted 200-to-2,000-gigaton yield places it far beyond ordinary tactical use and makes planetary effects unavoidable. The missile family progresses from battlefield strike weapons to strategic devastation.