my math was off it’s less.
area of 500 sq nautical miles has roughly 22nm sides. corner to corner is roughly 22*sqrt 2=about 32nm. 1/2 of that since ship is in the center gives you roughly 16nm max. range to cover 500 nm.
alternatively 500sqnm circle has a radius of 12.6nm so the square solution is being nicer than the more relevant circle solution.
This missile is slated to replace the existing Seawolf point defense system so range is not it’s primary criterion. For a last ditch defense system, it’s slated range of 15-16 miles is about adequate.
And it uses the basic airframe of the existing ASRAAM missile, so it’s not exactly based on computer graphics.
http://ukarmedforcescommentary.blogspot.com/2011/09/future-local-area-air-defence.html