I mean REALLY a while this time. Oops.
, a set of explosive-reactive armor. This consists of metal plates with a layer of explosive material mounted to the outside of an armored vehicle. When an incoming projectile touches them, they detonate, deforming the projectile. This is mainly effective against shaped-charge explosives. The Blood Eagle plates tend to have runaway explosions, so that all of the ERA on one side or the entirety of a vehicle often goes off after a single impact. It can be retrofitted to existing armored vehicles with at least Light armor, but retrofits will have noticeable gaps. For their revision, the Zhelezonogorod aircraft carrier's takeoff assist catapult has been retrofitted with a steam-powered system, instead of the old one which used disposable rocket motors. It's faster to use and doesn't smoke up the deck so much.
, a self-guided missile. It uses a relatively simple system of vaccuum tubes controlled by infrared sensors. The sensors use the same photoreactive material that's in ASWANG night vision scopes, but the charge is sent directly to a circuit instead of used to create light for a visible image. There are fives sensors, under lenses to "see" arcs above, below, left, right, and center of the missile nose. The missile is steered by four tail fins, which are either fully straight or fully deflected, causing it to snake through the sky towards its target. It travels relatively slow for a missile, and the sensor is effective out to one mile, but it can fly up to two miles. The MAGIC Missile is large, at 700 pounds, and has a warhead capable of devastating any air target. For their revision, they have made the
, an improvement to the existing Aswang night vision system. The infantry version is smaller, at 22 pounds with a 4 1/2 inch spotlight. There is also a vehicle version, with a ten inch spotlight that illuminates to
The Forenian Army currently has the following equipment, not including legacy equipment which can be found near the OP:
UF Weapons:
UF-MRL-40 'SARUKH': The Sarukh is a multiple rocket launcher, which fires rockets one meter long to deliver 6kg warheads at a maximum range of 12000 meters. The rockets have impressive destructive power, compared to shells they do not need thick metal casings, so most of the weight of the rocket is either warhead or propellant. The rockets are launched electrically off of rails, and the rails are in a 4x2 array. The rockets can be fired all at once, but it takes about four minutes to reload the whole launcher, so the sustained rate of fire is not better than regular artillery. However, a rocket array is extremely light compared to a cannon, and can move very quickly, firing all at once and retreating before fire is returned from the enemy. Accuracy is poor compared to shells; to reliably hit a single target with a volley they should be used within 8km. Currently available as a truck trailer. [1 Ore, 3 Oil]
UF-ASA-40 "Overcompensator" Coastal Artillery System: [Expensive] This is an enormous 30cm gun, made specifically for covered ground emplacements. Like a ship gun, shells and powder casings are stored below the barrel itself and lifted up by an electric hoist and ramming system, which fires a little over twice a minute. The shells weigh about 350kg and reach a range which is greater than existing artillery, but not extremely impessive for their size- except the rocket propelled shells, which can go almost 30km. It normally sits in a reinforced concrete bunker with a wide aiming slit, on the shore to aim at ships. It lacks any advanced fire control as much of the time was spent developing a barrel and breech which could withstand the pressure necessary, so commanders must find a firing solution by pen, paper and slide-rule alone, and correct their aim based on visual observation. It also needs a large steam power generator on site or nearby, which needs a bunker of its own, and the generator or power lines are a potential vulnerability. [5 Ore, 3 Oil]
UF-RTS-41 'Long Shot' A: This is a radar fire-control system, which allows radar operators to directly control the Overcompensator gun by its electric motors. This is based on the entirely-mechanical Bumblebee aiming system, the radar operator simply aligns a metal ring which slides on rails on two axes over the radar blip on his screen. With manual calibration for each unique gun and radar position, this sets the gun to a firing solution. It is crude, and imprecise to the point where it almost never hits. It has only found practical use as a means of moving the gun near where it will need to be aimed while a firing solution is calculated the old fashioned way, on pen and paper.
UF-AC-41 Velociraptor: This autocannon is a revision of AC18, with several improvements. The gun is a little more tolerant of different ammo weights and the shells have been modified so that mixed ammo belts are possible. The use of more advanced materials has allowed some parts to become lighter, while a heavier bolt and stronger spring allows a rate of fire of 750 RPM, with a final gun weight of 48kg. In infantry use, it has noticeably more recoil, but this is less of a concern on vehicles.
UF Other Equipment:
General Tereshkova: The Forenian army is led by General Tereshkov, an expert pilot. With experience spanning back to the days of the terrifying AS-19 aircraft which pilots believed to be haunting, he trains Forenian pilots to quick witted and always on guard, and out-fly their enemies.
RDN-39-2 "DEADLIER RAY" [Expensive] The "Deadlier Ray" is a more sophisticated radar than the old Death Ray, using an array of antennae on a rotating swivel, a single unit can get the direction and range of enemy aircraft to about 150km, and ships to within about 30km. It's huge though, and requires a building or an entire dedicated CV-22 ship to manage all the equipment. The operator can see contacts on a CRT display with a circular progression, it looks really cool and goes beep. [Complex]
UF-R4-39 'Tigers Roar': This dramatically named radio is very similar to the Model 3, but fits in a single backpack and supports voice or morse over FM. When communicating in morse code, it can be attached to a separate Tiger's Whisper machine for coded messages.
Binoculars: Cheap binoculars are available to all soldiers.
Flashlights: The UF standard flashlight uses leak-resistant zinc-carbon batteries, in an aluminum frame. It fits on weapon rail mounts, or on helmets. It's rather heavy though, so soldiers prefer to hold them by hand when they can, possibly with a pistol in the other hand. Also includes colored lenses for signalling.
UF-PAR-41 'Trustfall': These are large, circular nylon parachutes, capable of supporting cargo crates on wooden pallets, or supporting some vehicles on a two-parachute rig with specialized wooden pallets under the wheels.
UF-ERA-42 'Blood Eagle': The Blood Eagle is a system of Explosive-Reactive Armor plates. These provide significant protection against shaped-charge HEAT warheads, the armor explodes on contact and the warhead becomes deformed, making it much less effective. The Blood Eagle armor tends to detonate all at once, so that all of the ERA on one side of the tank or the entire tank will be expended after one hit, causing minor damage to the tank. Blood Eagle plates cannot be quickly replaced as they destroy their mounts, requiring a mechanic to weld new ones. It's not very effective against traditional AP rounds. It can be retrofitted to existing armored vehicles, though retrofits will have noticeable gaps in their coverage. [Complex] [+1 Oil]
UF Ground Vehicles:
UF-39-APC "Salamander" Pattern B: The Salamander is a large amphibious APC, with a wide body to keep itself stable on the water. It is covered in medium armor, and the body is in a "hexagonal cross-section" shape, which means that any point on its sides or front is either sloping up or down, with the front being long and narrow while the sides are flatter. It has 8 large wheels, the front and rear axles both drive and steer, while the middle two axles are dummies. Water propulsion is from two small propellers. This was a necessary compromise to keep transmission weight down, but land performance isn't amazing. It holds about fourteen soldiers, or a few less if they're bringing heavy weapons and Tiger Armor. Soldiers exit double file through a watertight rear door/ramp and there's a top front crew hatch. It is armed with an AS-AC18 turret and coaxial Sorraia. [5 Ore 3 Oil]
UF Air Force:
TPD 'DOLPHIN' 38b: This is an aerial torpedo, weighing in a bit more than half a ton. It is powered by a wet heater motor, and stabilized by a gyroscope. The revised 'b' version includes a magnetic detonator to explode beneath ships, and can be dropped from considerable height and speed without failure. [2 Ore, 1 Oil]
UFS-BL-38-A 'Firecracker': This bunch of letters followed by a word denotes a 2.5kg finned bomblet, with a either a HEAT+Fragment warhead, or an incendiary warhead. These come in pods of 100 which fit on standard bomb mounts, and release their bomblets at an experimentally-determined altitude which causes them to cover a 50 meter square with roughly one bomb every 5 meters- enough to hit a group of armor, or more forgiving of error than a single 250kg bomb when trying to hit a single target.
UFAF-MTA-38 'Reckless Effect': [Expensive] The MT stands for Military Transport Aircraft, but nobody is sure what 'Reckless Effect' is supposed to mean other than sounding cool. This is a large cargo aircraft with four V12 engines, normally aspirated with an eye towards fuel efficiency. It has a broad wingspan with a high wing, ample cargo space, and adequate power to take off from a long runway with a four ton load, just don't expect much in the way of evasive maneuvers. Befitting its role as a dedicated cargo craft, the body terminates is a large cargo door/ramp at the rear. The frame is largely aluminium for weight. Even an L-1 Tiger truck or AS-MV-21-AL just barely fit within the size and weight limits! The door can also be opened in flight for paratroopers, or for an emergency cargo jettison. It's remarkably durable, and can keep flying even through two engine failures. [4 Ore (1 Al), 4 Oil]
UFAF-F39-W 'Haast': The Haast is a single-engine heavy fighter. It has a single supercharged, fuel-injected V12 petrol motor with a notably bigger displacement than those on the Falcon or Stinger. It's about at the limits of what V12 is capable of without more elaborate induction, different fuel or more cylinders. It is very heavily armed with two M3 Sorraia nose guns, and four wing-mounted AC-18's. The cabin is armored with a manganese-alloy "bathtub". It has deep ellipse wings to create the lift necessary for its considerable weight, plus that of bomb mounts- it can wrangle 1000kg of bombs on three mounts, potentially holding two Dolphin torpedoes. It doesn't outmaneuver existing fighters, and it's relatively slow. It has a large wingspan, but can fit on Wasp Nest carriers thanks to folding wings, and the large control surfaces are easier to control thanks to servo tabs. It also includes some other new features: foam-lined fuel tanks act to self seal in the event of leaks, and a new Oxygen Regulator which safely controls the pilot's oxygen supply. It can't take off of a Wasp Nest with bombs, the runway is just a little too short. [5 Ore (1Al, 1Mn), 4 Oil]
UFAF-F-40 "Thunderbird": This is a jet aircraft, powered by two of Forenia's first functional turbojet engines. It is a relatively small fighter, the pilot sits in a round glass cockpit with two AS-AC18 cannons and a Sorraia in the nose. The wings are as narrow as possible, low-mounted and swept back, and have small wing fences to prevent sweep-related instability. The tail is relatively high-mounted to put it outside the jet wash from the wings. It also features air brakes. The Thunderbird's revised aT-J04b engines are relatively small, axial-flow turbojets, and they are somewhat crude in nature. The interior of the turbojet becomes extremely hot, the moving parts are made of complicated nickel alloys, and they burn lean using excess air for cooling. The two engines burn kerosene, and lots of it, and they sit in nacelles under the wings- each generates almost as much power as a Haast engine. Overall the aircraft has a speed a significantly faster than the Stinger (though much less than what these new turbojets are theorized to be capable of), and its jet engines have a higher altitude ceiling. The air brakes are a good choice, because the jet engines must maintain a lot of thrust at their minimum speed to avoid a flame out, so landings and slower combat engagements benefit from them. Requires a long runway for takeoff. [5 Ore, 4 Oil]
UFAF-HAT-41 "Ice Giant" B: [Very Expensive] This is an enormous transport aircraft, powered by eight turbo-prop engines. Each of these engines is based on the aT-J04b, but drives a shaft which powers a propeller, which is more efficient for low-speed applications. The final result is engines which are relatively efficient, but each of them is small, as designing larger turbines would have taken too long. Most of the effort is poured into the enormous airframe, constructed largely of wood. The wing spar and some important reinforcements use aluminum beams. The majority of the frame is arranged in a geodetic structure, but it's still much less resilient to damage and fire than a metal frame. It can carry a single fully loaded Salamander, or about 13 tons of cargo. Compared to smaller bombers, it's slow and flies with the grace of an emu. It lands on eight large, partially-retracting wheels to support its weight. [6 Ore (1 Al), 2 Wood, 7 Oil]
UFAF-F-41 Lightning Streak: This is a single-engine jet fighter, with a large aT-J20 jet taking up most of the fuselage. The aT-J20 is a low-bypass turbofan; some of the air taken in by the compressor blades passes around the engine core and is not combusted. A planned afterburner system wasn't prepared, but the bypass system provides useful cooling. The Lightning Streak has a relatively fat fuselage, which widens out in the middle after the intake and narrows again at the exhaust, there there is a rudder and two tail wings directly on the fuselage. With the round glass canopy (using 15mm of heavy laminated glass) the aircraft has sort of an egg shape, with thin swept wings. The wings have no bomb mounts and are as light as possible for speed and maneuverability, it is armed solely with three AC41 Velociraptor cannons in the nose above the intake, with somewhat limited ammo. It also includes airbrakes on the body near the tail, and hydraulic controls. Since it was designed as an absolutely dedicated fighter, and the aT-J20 is larger and with better weight-specific performance than the J04b, the speed and maneuverability are remarkable. [5 Ore, 4 Oil]
UF Navy:
UFS-DD-38 Pattern E 'Archer': The Archer is Forenia's first combat ship. It is relatively small, and made of steel but unarmored, with two 90mm Bumblebee guns, complete with targeting system, in covered turrets on either side of a center con tower. There are also two more Bumblebees not in covered turrets, as the ones in the turrets were supposed to be larger originally. It is powered by two steam turbines, and it is relatively fast. Auxiliary weapons include an AS-AC18 on each side, and some Sorraia machineguns on railing mounts. There are also four Dolphin torpedo in launchers on deck: These are basically wooden chutes which can be aimed on a swivel, before the torpedo is released by untying a knot. [3 Ore, 2 Oil]
UFS-CV 'Wasp Nest' 38, Pattern A: Forenia's first aircraft carrier, and their biggest ship by far compared to the CV22 cargo ship and Archer. Its hull contains four of the turbines used to power the Archer, and is unarmored except for a torpedo belt. ABout a dozen planes stored belowdecks are lifted by a single hydraulic lift. The command center is below-decks, so that the wooden flight deck almost completely covers the ship, giving it a low, flat appearance. There are two Bumblebee AA guns on each side, one deck below on exposed platforms, plus several AC18's for point defense. The last important feature is a set of arresting cables on deck allowing planes to land safely, these catch hooks on the planes themselves, and are lowered out of the way for takeoff. [4 Ore, 2 Oil]
UFS-CV-40 'Zheleznogorod' B: [Very Expensive] This is Forenia's biggest ship yet; an aircraft carrier with two vertically stacked flight decks. Each deck is longer than those of the Wasp Nest, and built of steel. The lower flight deck is directly connected with the hangar deck, and can only launch aircraft. The upper flight deck can launch and recover aircraft with an arrester, which are transported from the hangar deck with a lift. Each flight deck terminates in a "ski ramp". Between some space on the top flight deck, the hangar deck's floor, and cable winches from the hangar deck ceiling, the Zeleznogorod can carry about 36 planes, but only 20 are able to quickly deploy. However, planes stored on the ceiling are prone to swinging about and often damaged during ordinary ship maneuvers. There is a steam catapult launch assist system, on the lower and longer flight deck only.. This system, broadly speaking, works: heavier aircraft are accelerated enough to take off, but a launch fills the hangar deck with smoke for a few minutes and the rocket motors are lot more expensive than a steam system. There is a con tower as well, but no radar. The space taken up by the two flight decks, hangar, and living quarters leaves fairly little space for the engines. The ship is armed with a few AS-AC18's for point defense only, and armored with a moderate torpedo belt. It is top-heavy, and neither fast nor maneuverable. [6 Ore, 5 Oil]
UFS-CV-50b 'Sea Lift': [Expensive] This is a ship based on the Zheleznogorod hull, but used instead to transport cargo. It includes its own crane and is lightly armed with a Bumblebee and some AC18's. It provides 3 TC, and serves for general purpose logistics such as moving tanks and soldiers to areas with docks. [6 Ore, 4 Oil]
UFN-CA-41 Catraphract: The Cataphract is a cruiser built to rival Cannala's ships. It is armed with 3x3 150mm gun turrets, each using a fully electrified loading system based on the moderately-performing Overcompensator, except that the 60kg shells are moved in one piece. Each gun can fire 8 times a minute. It has an armored citadel with 300mm of nickel-steel armor (Heavy), and a torpedo belt as well. The deck is also heavily armored, at 120mm (Light) to defend against plunging fire, plus an extra splinter deck. The turrets are similarly armored but take advantage of mangalloy for greater durability. There is a central director in the con tower which controls all the electrically-driven turrets, though there is no advanced firing calculator. Additionally there are three turrets with two bumblebees on each side of the ship, capable of firing on aircraft or ships, and miscellaneous autocannons wherever there is room. It is powered by oil-burning steam turbines, and there are a lot of them though with its considerable armor it only musters moderate speed. [5 Ore (1Mn), 4 Oil]
UFN-BB-41 Vodka: [Expensive] This is a direct copy of the Cannalan Victoria Battlecruiser, from stolen plans. The radar system is not included, and it uses gun turrets derived from the domestic Overcompensator design. Like the Victoria, it has three turrets with two 30cm guns each, a gun control system, heavy citadel armor, and under-performing diesel-electic engines. [7 Ore, 4 Oil]
UF Design Doctrines:
Vehicle Radios: Most vehicles are equipped with a Model 3 Radio set, in a configuration suitable to the size and power source of the vehicle.
Retractable Landing Gear: Unless noted otherwise, aircraft are fitted with retractable landing gear.
Oxygen Regulators: Aircraft are equipped with oxygen systems which are self-regulating and allow the crew to operate at a significant altitude.
Fuel Tank Liners: Unarmored combat vehicles have foam fuel tank liners which can stop or slow leaks if the tank is punctured.
Warheads: Missiles, shells and bombs of various sizes can have various types of warhead attached, such as high-explosive, HEAT, incendiary, and so on. Developing a new warhead type means it will be available in other applications where it could easily apply, and new sizes of shells or bombs are available with various warheads.
Pintle Mounts: Following old Arstotzkan design doctrine, machine guns are placed on pintle mounts where possible, to give them a good verticle aiming range capable of hitting ground and air targets.
UF Resources:
Transport Capacity: 1 by land, 3 by sea (-1 for naval disadvantage), 1 by air
(note: consider re-instating trains to arms list if ground transport becomes a concern)
5 Ore, using 1 TC by air, and receiving 1 from the Axis
4 Oil, using 1 TC by sea, and 1 TC by air
1 Aluminum
1 Manganese
Poll
17 (16%)
Author
Topic: Intercontinental Arms Race: Finale (Read 600354 times)