NationStates Jolt Archive

...that the The MCJAF (Mikosolf Joint Armed Forces) currently have around four million men without a task. We have considered bumping up infantry or tanks or the like but instead we have decided to do and open bid.

Design something (or two) that wows us. Something that would justify putting large quantities of men on.

Keep in mind this; -this is ground forces only
-we have a wonderful MBT already [its better than M1] (though no "super"tanks)
-Post-Modern
-Don't care for walkers.

Note: if you think you have a super good product that we must see that is not landbased post it as well, we are always glad for a chance to further improve all aspects of our millitary.

DCA industries is proud to make a bid.... here are three armored vehicles no army is complete without.

DCA “Pack Rat” Modular Tank System (MTS)

Do your specialized vehicles gather dust at home? Have you ever actually used an entire platoon of flamethrowers? Now, DCA offers you unparalleled flexibility for your armoured forces. The Pack Rat Modular Tank System makes every tank a potential specialist, without reducing your MBT firepower.

The Modular Tank System is based on a common 45 ton chassis with interchangeable turrets, armoured to the same level as an M1 tank (using more sophisticated materials). None of the turrets are heavier than 20 tons, which means they can be lifted by any modern recovery vehicle and changed IN THE FIELD. There’s no waiting to get back to base, and no specialized lifting equipment. Reserve turrets can be carried on specialized semi-trailers or the Dbts/C/PT Ar-3, which can also perform the switch. We like to think of this system as the military version of “Plug and Play” – or the Swiss Army Tank (not to be confused with the real Swiss army tank, the S-tank).

Standardized Chassis
Dimensions: 9m x 3.5m x 2 m
Weight: 45 tons
Engine: 1500 hp diesel-electric
Speed: 60 km/h (44 km/h cross-country)
Armour Protection: 800mm RHA vs. SABOT and 1200mm vs. HEAT frontal, with proportional protection to the side and rear.
Price: $2.5 million

The Pack Rat chassis mounts two smoke grenade launchers for self-defence. Ammunition storage in the hull is a standardized cellular system. One ammunition cube can hold one 155mm round, or two 120mm rounds, or eight 40 mm shells. For a small price, the storage area can be fitted with piping that will accept flamethrower fuel tanks of the same size. There are 15 cells of ammunition storage, accessible through individual hatches in the rear deck to facilitate loading (and double as blow-out panels in case of a critical ammunition failure). The hybrid diesel-electric engine, although giving a slightly reduced maximum speed, improves fuel efficiency by 20% and allows silent airless running for 20 minutes, not to mention giving higher peak power than a standard engine of its size. The hull also contains a ballistic/command computer running three processors at 1.5 gigahertz with a Linux OS and armoured LAN port. Turret-specific software is automatically downloaded to the hull when the turret is connected.

Turret Types
All turrets, as a matter of course, include a laser rangefinder, infra red sights for gunner and commander, TV augmentation (300 degrees), weather sensors, and integrated communications suite.

Anti-Tank Turret (20 tons):
This is a standard anti-tank gun, with an auto-loading ECT 120mm smoothbore cannon and flexible .50cal machinegun. Armour protection is similar to that on the hull. Crew: 2
Price: $1.5 million

Automatic Cannon (15 tons):
For operations against infantry and light armour, as well as aircraft. This turret mounts a six-barreled electrically-powered rotary cannon (40mm). Maximum elevation is 65 degrees. Standard ammunition mix includes AP-I-T (Armour Piercing/Incendiary/Tracer), HE-I (High Explosive/Incendiary), and DCA’s own FAPDS (Frangible Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot – designed for use against aircraft). Crew: 2
Price: $1 million

Assault Gun (20 tons):
A short-barreled auto-loading 155mm howitzer with limited elevation. Usable primarily for close support. Due to the larger gun and ammunition, not to mention the enormous auto-loader (please, don’t mention it), this turret is only armoured against 40mm projectiles. Crew: 2
Price: $1.25 million

Mortar (12 tons):
The only indirect fire weapon currently available for the Black Rat, this open-topped turret mounts an automatic 120mm mortar which can fire standard VT shells, or top attack munitions with the Dbts/C/P&T laser guidance system. Crew: 2
Price: $1 million

Flamethrower (18 tons):
For enemies that really burn you up. This turret mounts a high-pressure variable-flow flamethrower, along with a co-axial .50cal machine gun. This turret is protected not only by standard armour, but by a heavy ceramic heat shield for the front. A grenade launcher is mounted on the roof fires incendiary or white phosphorous rounds. Crew: 2
Price: $1.25 million

Turret Carrier Semi-Trailer (carries two turrets): $120,000

One hull, and one of each turret: $7 million

One hull, one of each turret, and enough Semi-Trailers to carry them: 7.3 million

Quotes for custom turret designs are available on request.

Petardier II Engineering Tank


Ok... the first Petardier was a silly idea. here's one that's actually nessisary.

What do you do when you're in a city, and there's this old art-deco concrete building that has a company of tank killing infantry in it with an SAM battery, and there are civilians all around. Well, you could shoot missiles at it, but they might miss and the civies would be upset. You could assault it with standard tanks, but you'd loose a couple. Same with an airstrike. Tube artillery would cause collateral damage. What do you do when there's a minefield you need a corridor through NOW cause artillery's already starting to zero in on your engineers? What do you do when there's simply too many dragon teeth in the way?

Introducing the Petardier II Engineering Tank. We took the Petardier chassis, removed it's enormous 300mm gun and replaced it with a more sencible 203mm mortar. It’s 5000mm frontal armor will shrug off hits from LOSAT missiles, and as for APDS-FS or HEAT shells… you’d need a naval cannon to even scratch it. The side, rear, and top armor is weaker, only rated at about 2000mm RHA versus long rod penetrators, and 2500mm versus heat rounds. Yes, side rear AND roof. It’s a hefty vehicle..

The gun is chambered for 203mm round. we're a little embarressed by this, and it requires some explination.

1. It's more of a mortar really, the barrel is very short.
2. It doesn't use powderbags, its cartreged. Not much powder either, max range is less than a kilometer.
3. Yes, it has an autoloader.
4. No, it doesn't fire SABOT. Only HE, HESH, HEAT, and flechette.
5. The gun is hull mounted (duh)

This tank is designed to destroy buildings. Big ones. With a single shot. It has the armour to advance under fire right up to the target, and methodically reduce it to rubble. It needs infantry support, even with it's armour, because it's slow enough that enemy infantry would be able to blow off a tread. It also needs armour support because, although this could kill any tank with a single hit, the gun doesn't train at all, and you'd have to be really stupid to let it shoot you. One hit will, however, rout any infantry unit in the vicinity, and blow up almost any normal sixed building, or at least make a hole big enough for the supporting infantry to storm through.

The secondary armament consists of a single 25mm chain gun that is held in a small cupola, along with the standard suit of smoke grenade launchers and 3 5.56mm gattling guns in cupolas around the hull. It also has an armoured 'hood' for infantry to ride under

The Petardier is, understandably slow, with a maximum speed of 60kph, and it is powered by a hybrid diesel electric system. Each drive wheel has it’s own electric motor.

And this is just the begining. The Petardier II's bow has attatchments for various tools. What kind of tools? A backhoe, dozerblade, and minclearing whips, for starters. The rear has attatchments too... a backhoe, and a winch for pulling tanks out of places they really shouldn't go into, like swamps. This is the engineer's vehicle of choice.. any vehicle a squad can ride in on, can clear obsticals and minefields, and knock down walls with a single shot is perfect for the overworked engineers.

Price: $6 million

DCA “Cave Bear” Heavy Engineering Vehicle

Sometimes in combat it isn’t who has the biggest gun . . . it’s who has the biggest backhoe. Introducing the Dbts/C/PT Cave Bear, the biggest combat engineering vehicle on the block.

Designed around the Kingmongoose super-heavy tank chassis, the Cave Bear offers a single vehicle for all your combat engineering needs. A single Cave Bear is capable of breaching a defended position combining barbed wire, mines, and anti-tank ditches and obstacles. On the defensive, the Cave Bear can construct hull-down positions for armored vehicles, as well as trenches, ditches and large firing positions. If the Cave Bear can’t do it on its own, the squad of eight combat engineers carried inside probably can.

Vehicle Operations
Powered by a hybrid diesel-electric drive, the Cave Bear has a top speed of 60 km/h. The crew of two has 360-degree vision, courtesy of a combination of periscopes (equipped with infrared viewers) and video cameras (capable of low-light operations). A second crew compartment carries eight combat engineers with their personal equipment. Both crew compartments are protected against NBC weapons by air filters and an overpressure system. Engineers outside the vehicle can communicate with the crew either through the standard communications suite (voice and data radio channels) or the three field telephones attached to the sides and rear.

Engineering Equipment
The Cave Bear features three main pieces of engineering equipment: a mine-clearing blade, a power-driven arm, and a retractable boom and winches.

The Cave Bear’s mine-clearing blade lifts and deposits unexploded mines on the edges of the cleared lane. In case of accident, the blade can survive the explosion of up to six anti-tank mines. The mine-clearing blade also features automatic depth control, with hydraulic control of blade height, pitch and angle. This ensures that the lane is cleared to the required depth in uneven terrain. Unsurprisingly, the blade also cuts wire obstacles with ease. It also doubles as an anchor blade when using the power-driven arm for heavy-duty tasks. Finally, the blade is fully retractable for road travel. We’d get too many complaints otherwise. Using the blade, the Cave Bear can fill an anti-tank mine in five minutes.

The second main system on the Cave Bear is a high-performance hinged excavation arm. In addition to the standard bucket, a quick-release coupling allows it to mount an auger, grapple, hook, hydraulic hammer or tree-gripper. The arm has a maximum extension of 9m, and can lift up to 6 tons at 50% extension. No matter the job, the power-driven arm can get it done.

Finally, the Cave Bear features a pair of high-power winches attached to a retractable boom. Operating together, the winches have a maximum pull of 60 tons, with a maximum single pull of 35 tons. While the Cave Bear is not designed as a recovery vehicle, this is enough to lift the turret off an M1 (or a Dbts/C/PT Pack Rat modular tank) or pull anything but a MBT out of a ditch. Please note that doing so may invalidate your warranty . The Cave Bear can also tow a trailer, carrying even more engineering equipment.

Defenses
The Cave Bear is armored to operate on even the most dangerous battlefields. Frontal armor is equal to 2500mm RHA in the frontal arc, and 1500mm RHA to the side and rear. All hydraulic lines are armored against 15mm machine guns. Unfortunately, the exposed equipment makes it impossible to mount ERA blocks on the Cave Bear’s armor. For self-defense, the Cave Bear mounts a pair of .5-in heavy machine guns in a remote-controlled mount. A pair of 20-cell grenade launchers dispense IR and laser-opaque obscurant smoke, as well as fragmentation grenades for anti-infantry defense.

Price: $6 million



NOTE: We also suggest you check out our line of zeppelins... they come in extremely handy. We've posted one below, but here's the link to the rest!
http://tncforums.proboards34.com/index.cgi?board=DCA&action=display&num=1090039684

Ar-2 Engineering Zeppelin

What do you do when your 70 ton Abrams tank rolles into a swamp, and can't get out? You call for an armourd vehical retreival vehicle, which goes in and gets stuck too, or can't move the tank. How much easier if you could simply jerk the tank up out of the mud, and fly it somewhere dry.

Well now you can. The Ar 2 builds on the success of the Ar-1 Air Freighter, with some distinct differences. For one, the Ar-2 is slightly smaller and handier, but is only 80 tons boyant without ballast. It also has, internally, room for 50 men with equipment, or an equivelent volume of cargo. Second, the airframe is ridgid, making this a proper zeppelin with an internal skeleton. Thirdly, the skin of the zeppelin is ridged, which means that trim adjusting balloonets are no longer nessisary. Fourth, it has a three harpoints on the internal gondola for auxilery cranes in aditional to the standard sling arrangement , making this a moveable construction platform. The hardpoints can also mount modified 20mm vulcan cannon in manned cupolas ventrically, one in the nose, one amidships on the port side, and one off the starboad stern. Finally... it's armoured. Not heavily mind you, we don't expect it to be sent into firefights, and it's not meant to closly engage enemy tanks with it's vulcan cannon. But the underside is armoured against 20mm fire, and the topside agains smallarms fire, using resin bonded armind strands with carbon fibers and wiskers liberally added to the mix. This means that it can operate at low altitudes without damaging the envelope on trees, and doesn't need a hanger.

All 8 engines swivel 180 degrees in any direction, giving this zeppelin unpresidented manouverability

Length: 300m
Diameter: 40m
Propulsion: 8 2500 hp hybrid gas/electric engines
Max Speed: 130kph
Range: 5 000km
Ceiling: 3000m
Payload: 80 tons
Max vertical lift: 120 tons
Lifting Gas: Helium
Price: $30 million

What is the crew on the packrat and the Petardier II?

Sorry, forgot to include that. The packrat has a crew of three, Commander, Gunner, and Driver.

The Petardiet II has a running crew of 3, but usually carries 8 in Chardonayan Units; Driver, Commander, Gunner/equipment operator, and 5 engineers riding under the armored hood who can both assist with the operation of the actual vehicle and in standard engineering operations.

We would like to purchase 75,000 "Packrat" tanks: 187,500,000,000
Along with 40,000 auto cannons and 35,000 flamethrower moduals: 43,790,000,000

Finally 10,000 Petardier II: 60,000,000,000

Total: 291,290,000,000 USD

We thank you for your devices.

Your order is confirmed, and we look forward to future mutually benificial trade. Note, as your order exceeds our ready stock of vehicles, the units will arrive over a period of 5 years. Please forward delivery instructions to our factors in AFRP, and we will see to it that the vehicles arive promptly.

Wait a few days, I'll have something out that will wow the crap out of you. If I remeber, I'll post in this thread...