NationStates Jolt Archive

[dateline] Port Royal, Roycelandia

A shock announcement today as the men and women of the Imperial Defence Forces voted overwhelmingly in favour of retaining their current weapons and equipment, bucking the recent trend elsewhere in the world of going for "Bigger, shinier" guns and vehicles.

"The SMLE is still as good today as it was in 1916", said an unnamed Sharpshooter with the Imperial Guard. "The SLLE, recently introduced, is also a fine gun, but it shows RESPECT for the old designs. It looks like an SMLE, but it has semi-auto fire. The soldiers are all happy with it, and it works well."

Similarly, the Imperial Air Force has quashed rumours that the Spitfire will be phased out any time soon. "Not going to happen" was all the PR Spokeswoman from the Imperial Defence Bureau had to say.

The Imperial Navy recently took delivery of the last of 250 Dreadnoughts, and is very happy with their performace, especially in training exercises and anti-Guerrilla operations conducted near Roycelandian New Guinea.

"All our vehicles have the latest in electronics in them anyway" explained Commander Jack Sword, head of the IDB. "They just have a classic retro look about them, but they're all very efficient- ask the Lusakans."

Roycelandia is well known for being Imperialist, with the current Emperor embarking on a "Colony Reclamation" program upon his ascencion to the throne some 15 years ago...

Good to see you are keeping up with the good ole stuff :)

now i don't suppose you are up for the development a sniper version of the No5 as an alternative to the steyr scout?

Well, Imperial Armaments are more than willing to have a crack at it, but the words "Sniper" and "Jungle Carbine" seem to be mutually exclusive... ;)

(However, there is a RL gun that meets your requirements... the AIA M10. Basically a modern version of the Jungle Carbine, chambered for .308, and with provisions for scopes and so on- the downside? It's only available in Australia...)

Well as i mentioned i'm looking at an alterntive to the steyr scout (small (<1m) light weight scout rifle with semi decent first shot accuracy). I suppose i could just go for a kitted out version of one of my assault rifles with a match barrel but i'm really looking for soemthing more stylish, i did have a stab at hack/slashing one up so i might revisit that.

BTW do you ahve a link to info on the M10?

Imperial Armaments are more than happy to make you a Tactical Jungle Carbine, chambered for either .303 British, 7.62NATO, or 7.62 Soviet (it would, in effect, look identical to the AIA M10).

The cost is open to negotiation, depending on how many you'd like...

OOC:The link for the M10 is here:

http://www.lawranceordnance.com/new/rifle-m10.html

Middle East Defence Journal, Analysis and Commentary Section

Written by Defence Expert Alon Ben-David, advisor and consultant to the Ministry of Defence, Baghdad, United Elias

A recent vote by members of the Roycelandian military has continued a rather perplexing policy for the imperial armed forces, one in which I cannot possibly sympathise with. In my position and with my knowledge I know all to well the feelings of emotional attatchment to certain types of equipment and a sense that the tradition must be maintained. However emotional feelings have now come into the decision making process of a military power and in my opnion this will cost the lives if Roycelandian servicemen in future conflicts. Although Roycelandia is known for its eccentricities, I am truely shocked that any nation would purposefully obstruct modenrisation plans for any other reason than lack of funding, and considering a military funding surplus, this is not an issue.

During the Gabon conflict, Roycelandia's military did not see the adverse affects of its poor equipment as Lusakan and Gabonese ground forces did not posses modern arms or have the training required to use their weapons effectively. This has led to an illusion that such weapons as the SMLE are still an effective means of conducting a war when in reality they hinder the Imperial armed forces who are a highly trained force. This has meant that their manpower capabilities are not used to their full potential.

In the air war over Gabon it is difficult to determine the casualties sustained by the foreign legion as their operations were strictly clandestine. However it can be assumed that they were indeed much higher than Elias Air Force and Navy losses, in total only three aircraft. By using Spitfires and other vintage designs, even when modernised, the risk to the pilots are increased hugely and in any future conflict against a well armed enemy, it would be likely that losses of these aircraft could be more than 90% as they are extremely vulnerable to modern air defences, which in Gabon were limited and severely weakened by the Elias military's air campaign.

In my professional opinion, the Imperial Armed Forces will not be able to achieve victory against any major enemy force and in such campaigns of imperial expansion, they will suffer additional casualties due to the consequences of this recent vote. Given that this decision has already been taken for better or more likely for worse, I would now advise them to seriously study the organisation of their forces as obsolete force organisation is as much of a liability as obsolete equipment.

I'm sorry to say this but i got a bit carried away with thigns last night and made my own based on the AIA No4MK4T but serverly chopped with an extended rail (for a forward mounted scout sight) and ahack n slashed flash hinder from a FAL...

http://www.meatballs.terminator.org.uk/crookfur/images/s15a3.jpg

And so the S15A3 is born the venerable SMLE now chambered for 6.25mm CF

OOC: Gosh, that's fairly impressive, actually. Makes sense to rechamber... I was going to say, isn't the Jungle Carbine horrific to fire? I know that Britain considered it as a standard issue rifle post war, but it was unpopular for massive recoil from stuffing a .303" in such a little weapon and it was not well able to hold its zero (it wandered from its target after firing, meaning each shot had to be painstakingly re-aimed even if the same target/area was sought) and several years of trying to rectify the problems proved fruitless.
Ah well. Maybe this would be a good place to suggestions on sub-machineguns in the British model. I'm thinking of re-introducing the Sterling L2A3 (or perhaps coming up with an A4, unless that already exists) since it's distincive and highly reliable, but it is going on sixty, in basic design. Ooh, maybe I should give it a burst capacity... [wanders off]

Yay, someone else that uses WWII tech! You can't beat a Lee Enfield SMLE Mk 4. Good luck!

its not that impressive 6.25x43mm is the round crookfur uses for just about everything, historically wise Crookfur was sort of in the process of thinking of replacing .303 round about the 1930s/40s thinking perhaps about .276japanese (boo hiss) but eventually going for .280/7mm after ww2 but we were slow in getting there so only a few units ever got the No9A2 before the military was totally reorgnaised and the 6.25mm round was adopted first in a limited quantity of No9C3s before we got our hands on the imrpoved AR18 plans and designed the S1A3...

As to the sterling hmmm it could be interesting, of course you coudl always just us the whole HK shebang and pretend we never sold them back to the germans...

Thats true. Although I much prefer the Patchett to the sterling.

DefenceWatch- the Monthly International Defence Magazine Out of Africa: Roycelandia's African Colonies and Military
Story by Col. Carlos Shannon

Last month's decision by the Imperial Defence Forces to remain with current equipment has been greeted with surprise by many in the International Community, especially given Roycelandia's vast wealth and well known penchant for Imperialism.

The current Service rifle of the Imperial Guard is the Mk III Short Magazine Lee-Enfield bolt action rifle, chambered for the .303 British cartridge. Holding 10 rounds in the magazine, with a 18" long bayonet, and an effective range of nearly 2kms, the SMLE has long proven itself to be highly effective, reliable, and popular.

The Colonial Guard are issued the No. 5 Jungle Carbine, essentially the same rifle, albeit shorter with a flash hider and a recoil pad.

One thing became clear after the Gabon Conflict- whilst the basic SMLE design has no major problems, the rate of fire is a little slow for today's modern combat situations- primarily that all-important second shot.

As such, Imperial Armaments have recently introduced the Self-Loading Lee-Enfield. In effect, it's a semi-auto/3 shot burst SMLE, with a 20 round magazine. Initial deployments in Roycelandian New Guinea have been overwhelmingly favourable to the rifle, and it appears that the SLLE will replace the SMLE in the months to come.

A Semi-Auto version of the Jungle Carbine is also under development, but many Colonial Guard prefer to use the M1928A1 .45 SMG in the Jungles of Roycelandian East Africa and Roycelandian New Guinea.

It is well known that the Lusakan military is woefully undertrained and underfunded, and as such the Imperial Defence Bureau hasn't seen much call to spent a fortune improving the already excellent trained and well armed military in Roycelandian East Africa, as the Lusakans really aren't organised enough to mount any sort of offensive operations against Roycelandia.

The Imperial Aerospace Spitfire is still on active duty in REA. Until the introduction of AFRISAM, the Spitfire was more than capable of taking on most of the aircraft likely to be found in Lusaka. Now, of course, it is being relegated to Ground Attack missions, and Air Superiority missions in areas with no SAM coverage.

The IAe Jetfire fighter aircraft, along with the Harrier Jump Jet, have taken over most Standard Air Combat duties, whilst the Sunderland Flying Boat and the C-130H Hercules remain the standard Transport aircraft.

Space does not permit a long and detailed dissertation of the Roycelandian Armed Forces and their penchant for "Classic" designs and equipment, but what is known that more modern equipment will be making its way to the Imperial Troops in the near future, but it will still maintain the Classic image that Roycelandia's military proudly carries on.

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OOC: The "Wandering Zero" thing on the Jungle Carbine was a myth perpetrated by British Soldiers in the 1950s to avoid being armed with a Bolt Action Rifle when the rest of the world had semi-autos. The Muzzle Flash and Recoil on the Jungle Carbine are a bit stronger than normal LEs, but nothing compared to the Russian M-44 carbine. The No. 5 Jungle Carbine is an excellent rifle, and worth a bit of money to collectors today.

As for an SMG, Roycelandia uses the Thompson M1928A1 .45 SMG. It has a 50 round drum mag, and despite being an old design, is an excellent SMG.

Using retro- WWII tech is all part of the fun...

I offer for part of Roycelandia's military to take part in War Games off the coast of my nation (Greece) to test the effectiveness of thier tech. against modern tech. All expenses will be paid by The Government of Nazi Weaponized Virus.

Sure, why not?

Just bear in mind that we are actually Modern Tech- all our equipment just LOOKS like it belongs in an earlier age.

For example, the Roycelandia-class Dreadnought, whilst outwardly a very large Dreadnought, is bristling with the latest electronics, armaments, technology, and even an aircraft.

Still, we'd be delighted to engage in some War Games with another Nation... keeps the Troops on their toes, you know... ;)