Targeting Missiles

 Just a philosophical thought here that some players might not like but
I'll 
 say it anyway to see what the rest of you think (no flames please, its
just a 
 question I have everytime the missile swarm subject comes up):
 
 Why can't a ship's main weapons (beam batteries mainly) target and fire
at 
 missiles?  Sure they are small but an A-batt can fire on a mass 2
system 
 defense ship that would be only slightly larger.  Missiles have a max
speed 
 that is easily beaten by other ships plus missiles can't manuver (turn)
as 
 well as a normal ship.  Fighters must be less than mass one so there is
a 
 good reason why they can't be hit but I can make a ship the size of a
missile 
 and I can shoot at the ship but not the missle so what is the
difference?
 
 A likely answer is that the missile has some stealth or jamming built
in so 
 it is harder to hit but is that good enough?
 
 Also I like the idea of allowing ECM from the underused enhanced and
superior 
 sensor systems to make missiles miss their target.
 
 Dean
 dean.gundberg@bcbsnd.com