Accelerated Elerium Annihilation Device Expendible Exotic Munition (AEADEEM)
The CF-2C is a second generation derivative of alien "Blaster Bomb" technology. This makes the AEADEEM a guided explosive; unlike a Blaster Bomb, however, a so called "Fusion Ball" rarely uses predetermined waypoints. Instead, it seeks and pursues a target much like a missile. The difference is that a Fusion Ball has all the maneuverability of a UFO and then some. This means that it is almost guarantees to hit, and its powerful warhead ensures that when it does, it hits with tremendous force.
Like a Blaster Bomb, a "Fusion Ball" is basically a small self-contained and automated and autonomous UFO. At the heart of the weapon is an Elerium-115 Reactor that generates primarily gravity waves and anti-matter, and very little waste heat. Like with a Blaster Bomb, the small amount of anti matter produced by the reactor is collected within cyclotron oriented pockets inside the reactor housing, and stored there in tiny magnetic bottles. Similarly, just as with Blaster Bombs, Fusion Balls have a limited operational reactor time during which they exhaust their Elerium-115 supply. This determines the speed and duration of the flight: the shorter the flight, the faster the Fusion Ball goes, the longer the flight, the slower it goes.
However, because Fusion Balls have to pursue an evasive target, a sophisticated internal computer manages the energy supply, regulating the speed. Thus, a Fusion Ball displays a much more uniform performance in flight than a Blaster Bomb, though is fired from short range, it will travel much more quickly than if fired from long range. In general, the speed of a Fusion Ball varies between 15,000 and 40,000 kilometers per hour.
Approaching a target, the ball orients its "face" towards the point of impact. On impact, the body of the Fusion Ball crumples and deforms. In addition to the kinetic energy of the impact itself, the accumulated excited antimatter interacts with the matter around it, producing a tremendous explosion up and into the target. On an atomic scale, energetic plasma forms around points of contact between matter and antimatter, spreading the energy release over milliseconds and generating more heat and blast than hard radiation. This "Fusion" annihilation/interaction gives the weapon its nickname.
The CF-2C is the most ship mounted powerful weapon in the X-COM Arsenal, with impressive range and tremendous power, it is effective against any and all alien craft. However, it has very limited ammunition per launcher, and each Fusion Ball represents a significant investment in irreplaceable Elerium-115. As such, it is generally only authorized for use against alien Battleships and Terror Ships.
When a CF-2C is launched, X-COM pilots use the brevity code "Fox Five" in radio communication, to announce the firing of an expendible exotic munition (or EEM for short).