Praetonia
25-09-2004, 13:36
IPO-145 Hoplite MBT
History
The Hoplite project was begun to take over the vitally important requirement for an MBT capable of taking on any other MBT or HBT currently in service with any nation anywhere in the world. The MBT slot in the Imperial Guard had been filled for many years by the Scimitar, and later the Praetorian, MBT. The Scimitar proved to be fraught with problems from the design stage. It was built at a time when the Praetonian economy was lacklustre and her population small, so a technologically advanced MBT project was beyond the reach of the then recently nationalised General Ordinance. The vehicle was prone to breaking down, the recoil from the gun would damage the turret mechanism when fired and shells often went wildly off course. The Praetorian MBT developed as a replacement never got past the prototype phase. The new armour scheme and gun caused costs to spiral rapidly out of control until the project, riddled with problems and technical difficulties, was canned to attempt to cut the monetary losses.
Design and Protection
The hull for the Hoplite MBT was designed to provide as much protection as possible and still remain as aerodynamic as possible. As such the armour is heavily sloped, especially on the front and the on the turret. The characteristically large turret, designed to house a large ETC cannon, is placed partially into the main hull so as not to leave any of the turret ring exposed. The front of the turret is sloped upwards and downwards to meet in the centre forming a triangular prism. The gun pivot is covered by thick kevlar to protect the weak point in the armour caused by the necessarily thinner armour over the elevation mechanism.
The tank armour scheme is one consisting of layered steel alloys, ballistic ceramics, aluminium alloys and titanium infused with carbon whiskers. This high tech but expensive armour scheme provides excellent protection all over the vehicle. It is designed to take RPG-17 hits most of the time over most of the vehicle, even on the tracks which are covered by large armoured flaps which can be removed relatively quickly if repairs are required. It is also designed to be impervious to 30mm fire and shell splinters all over the vehicle. It can also be equipped with a ‘tank roof’ for added protection against top-attack munitions.
The Hoplite is also equipped with a variety of active defence systems, including smoke launchers capable of concealing the tank in a thick chemical smoke screen, designed to block out light in the visible and infrared spectrums. Also in built are various systems to help the tank stay operational if it is hit. All of the ammunition is stored either in armoured boxes or inside the armoured autoloader. The tank features fume-extractor systems and NBC / EMP protection. The tank armour is rated at approximately 2,100mm RHA front, 800mm RHA sides and 500mm RHA rear and top.
Weaponry
The decision was made at an early stage to equip the tank with a large calibre ETC smoothbore cannon in line with other contemporary vehicles. It was not, however, until the later design phases that the final decision was made between the 135mm, 140mm and 155mm guns. The 135mm was the weapon of choice up until now and it was very popular with Praetonian tank crews, however it was judged to be too small to adequately compete with the vehicles of other nations. The 155mm was a powerful weapon, but it was realised that such a weapon would make the tank very heavy, a high calibre version of such a weapon would be impractical and a high muzzle velocity would be difficult to achieve. As such, the 140mm ETC smoothbore cannon was chosen.
The 140mm ‘Piliam’ cannon is capable of firing APFSDS, HEAT, HE-FRAG, canister, thermite, top-attack, submunition and SCRAMjet rounds as well as SMAT ATGMs. The new SCRAMjet rounds, despite being an incredible leap forwards on paper (in theory being able to penetrate almost any thickness of armour) are not as successful as many think. They are prone to shattering or vapourising on impact and, like all other solid rod penetrators lose much of their penetrative power when hitting at an angle, not to mention the difficulties inherent in getting the shell up to the required mach 5 or so to activate the SCRAMjet booster.
Top attack and submunition rounds are effective due to their targeting of the weak top armour of a tank. Three or four submunition rounds are fired in a single shell which breaks above the target. The submunitions are then guided down onto a target where their HEAT-style hopefully breaks through the top armour and destroys the vehicle. These are excellent for indirect and counter-battery fire. Top attack rounds work like normal AT rounds, except that they fire a high trajectory and are guided down onto a target. Each tank has ammunition storage capacity for 35 140mm ETC rounds.
The gun fired SMAT (Standard Missile, Anti-Tank) ATGM is an IR-guided HEAT missile which can penetrate upwards of 1,050mm RHA which travels fast enough so as not to allow a tank time to intercept or avoid the missile. Each tank can carry 8 – 10 SMATs. All tank ammunition is stored in an autoloader, which can cycle clockwise and counter clockwise to enable the faster selection of ammunition.
The tank is also equipped with a 20mm co-axial chaincannon, capable of firing HE and APFSDS ammunition, although HE is usually used with the gun for infantry suppression. Also mounted co-axially to the main gun is a 12.7mm machinegun. The tank carries 300 rounds of 20mm ammunition and 2,000 rounds of 12.7mm ammunition.
Mounted on the commander’s armoured cupola is a 7.62mm chaingun with 1,000 rounds, and stored inside the tank is a single 5.56mm machinegun and an XM8 with 4 clips for each of the three crewman to be used in case the tank has to be abandoned.
Electronics and Targeting Systems
The tank is equipped with external cameras and flat-screen displays to enable the crew to see whilst protected from fire. The cameras can view both the visible and infrared spectrums, allowing the vision systems to remain operational in night time conditions and in smoke screens. These, however, are not certain to last the battle and camera lenses are certainly not impervious to even 5.56mm rifle bullets. As such the tank is also equipped with traditional vision blocks and hatches for all three crewmembers.
The tank is equipped with LADAR and infrared targeting sensors, as well as weather sensors to allow the gun to compensate for wind. These can fire the round conventionally to an astonishing accuracy and they can also upload co-ordinates to guided rounds and SMAT missiles, enabling these weapons to hit almost every time.
The Hoplite is equipped with a wide array of communications hardware, including radio and satellite uplinks. The on board computers can be used to download specific mission plans and objectives to the vehicle. The Praetonian armed forces uses a specially designed version of Linux to increase security, although using this system is always a risk as no network is unhackable. The onboard computers can also be used to display the positions of all friendly tanks and military units, as well as known positions of enemy battlefield units detected by other tanks and even aircraft, to create what has been called an ‘integrated battlefield’.
Propulsion
The Hoplite is equipped with a hybrid turbine/electric engine. This system charges the onboard batteries whilst the turbine is active, and then the turbine can be deactivated and the tank can switch wholely to battery power for a period of time. This saves on fuel and allows the vehicle to run almost silently for a period of time. The engine itself is very powerful – capable of pushing the large 78 ton tank to 35mph off-road in turbine mode.
Application and Sales
The Praetonian armed forces will be taking an order for over 5,000 IPO-145 Hoplite MBTs, but the Imperial Government sees no need to export our finest military technology overseas. If there is a large demand for it, then a scaled down export version may be made available, and full domestic version Hoplites will of course be sold to our closest allies for a small profit. Each example is expected to cost $10,000,000 to construct, on top of the $10bn design costs.
OOC: This is negotiable. So, what do you think? Is there anything wrong with it? Do you like it / dislike it? Constructive criticism is very much welcome.
History
The Hoplite project was begun to take over the vitally important requirement for an MBT capable of taking on any other MBT or HBT currently in service with any nation anywhere in the world. The MBT slot in the Imperial Guard had been filled for many years by the Scimitar, and later the Praetorian, MBT. The Scimitar proved to be fraught with problems from the design stage. It was built at a time when the Praetonian economy was lacklustre and her population small, so a technologically advanced MBT project was beyond the reach of the then recently nationalised General Ordinance. The vehicle was prone to breaking down, the recoil from the gun would damage the turret mechanism when fired and shells often went wildly off course. The Praetorian MBT developed as a replacement never got past the prototype phase. The new armour scheme and gun caused costs to spiral rapidly out of control until the project, riddled with problems and technical difficulties, was canned to attempt to cut the monetary losses.
Design and Protection
The hull for the Hoplite MBT was designed to provide as much protection as possible and still remain as aerodynamic as possible. As such the armour is heavily sloped, especially on the front and the on the turret. The characteristically large turret, designed to house a large ETC cannon, is placed partially into the main hull so as not to leave any of the turret ring exposed. The front of the turret is sloped upwards and downwards to meet in the centre forming a triangular prism. The gun pivot is covered by thick kevlar to protect the weak point in the armour caused by the necessarily thinner armour over the elevation mechanism.
The tank armour scheme is one consisting of layered steel alloys, ballistic ceramics, aluminium alloys and titanium infused with carbon whiskers. This high tech but expensive armour scheme provides excellent protection all over the vehicle. It is designed to take RPG-17 hits most of the time over most of the vehicle, even on the tracks which are covered by large armoured flaps which can be removed relatively quickly if repairs are required. It is also designed to be impervious to 30mm fire and shell splinters all over the vehicle. It can also be equipped with a ‘tank roof’ for added protection against top-attack munitions.
The Hoplite is also equipped with a variety of active defence systems, including smoke launchers capable of concealing the tank in a thick chemical smoke screen, designed to block out light in the visible and infrared spectrums. Also in built are various systems to help the tank stay operational if it is hit. All of the ammunition is stored either in armoured boxes or inside the armoured autoloader. The tank features fume-extractor systems and NBC / EMP protection. The tank armour is rated at approximately 2,100mm RHA front, 800mm RHA sides and 500mm RHA rear and top.
Weaponry
The decision was made at an early stage to equip the tank with a large calibre ETC smoothbore cannon in line with other contemporary vehicles. It was not, however, until the later design phases that the final decision was made between the 135mm, 140mm and 155mm guns. The 135mm was the weapon of choice up until now and it was very popular with Praetonian tank crews, however it was judged to be too small to adequately compete with the vehicles of other nations. The 155mm was a powerful weapon, but it was realised that such a weapon would make the tank very heavy, a high calibre version of such a weapon would be impractical and a high muzzle velocity would be difficult to achieve. As such, the 140mm ETC smoothbore cannon was chosen.
The 140mm ‘Piliam’ cannon is capable of firing APFSDS, HEAT, HE-FRAG, canister, thermite, top-attack, submunition and SCRAMjet rounds as well as SMAT ATGMs. The new SCRAMjet rounds, despite being an incredible leap forwards on paper (in theory being able to penetrate almost any thickness of armour) are not as successful as many think. They are prone to shattering or vapourising on impact and, like all other solid rod penetrators lose much of their penetrative power when hitting at an angle, not to mention the difficulties inherent in getting the shell up to the required mach 5 or so to activate the SCRAMjet booster.
Top attack and submunition rounds are effective due to their targeting of the weak top armour of a tank. Three or four submunition rounds are fired in a single shell which breaks above the target. The submunitions are then guided down onto a target where their HEAT-style hopefully breaks through the top armour and destroys the vehicle. These are excellent for indirect and counter-battery fire. Top attack rounds work like normal AT rounds, except that they fire a high trajectory and are guided down onto a target. Each tank has ammunition storage capacity for 35 140mm ETC rounds.
The gun fired SMAT (Standard Missile, Anti-Tank) ATGM is an IR-guided HEAT missile which can penetrate upwards of 1,050mm RHA which travels fast enough so as not to allow a tank time to intercept or avoid the missile. Each tank can carry 8 – 10 SMATs. All tank ammunition is stored in an autoloader, which can cycle clockwise and counter clockwise to enable the faster selection of ammunition.
The tank is also equipped with a 20mm co-axial chaincannon, capable of firing HE and APFSDS ammunition, although HE is usually used with the gun for infantry suppression. Also mounted co-axially to the main gun is a 12.7mm machinegun. The tank carries 300 rounds of 20mm ammunition and 2,000 rounds of 12.7mm ammunition.
Mounted on the commander’s armoured cupola is a 7.62mm chaingun with 1,000 rounds, and stored inside the tank is a single 5.56mm machinegun and an XM8 with 4 clips for each of the three crewman to be used in case the tank has to be abandoned.
Electronics and Targeting Systems
The tank is equipped with external cameras and flat-screen displays to enable the crew to see whilst protected from fire. The cameras can view both the visible and infrared spectrums, allowing the vision systems to remain operational in night time conditions and in smoke screens. These, however, are not certain to last the battle and camera lenses are certainly not impervious to even 5.56mm rifle bullets. As such the tank is also equipped with traditional vision blocks and hatches for all three crewmembers.
The tank is equipped with LADAR and infrared targeting sensors, as well as weather sensors to allow the gun to compensate for wind. These can fire the round conventionally to an astonishing accuracy and they can also upload co-ordinates to guided rounds and SMAT missiles, enabling these weapons to hit almost every time.
The Hoplite is equipped with a wide array of communications hardware, including radio and satellite uplinks. The on board computers can be used to download specific mission plans and objectives to the vehicle. The Praetonian armed forces uses a specially designed version of Linux to increase security, although using this system is always a risk as no network is unhackable. The onboard computers can also be used to display the positions of all friendly tanks and military units, as well as known positions of enemy battlefield units detected by other tanks and even aircraft, to create what has been called an ‘integrated battlefield’.
Propulsion
The Hoplite is equipped with a hybrid turbine/electric engine. This system charges the onboard batteries whilst the turbine is active, and then the turbine can be deactivated and the tank can switch wholely to battery power for a period of time. This saves on fuel and allows the vehicle to run almost silently for a period of time. The engine itself is very powerful – capable of pushing the large 78 ton tank to 35mph off-road in turbine mode.
Application and Sales
The Praetonian armed forces will be taking an order for over 5,000 IPO-145 Hoplite MBTs, but the Imperial Government sees no need to export our finest military technology overseas. If there is a large demand for it, then a scaled down export version may be made available, and full domestic version Hoplites will of course be sold to our closest allies for a small profit. Each example is expected to cost $10,000,000 to construct, on top of the $10bn design costs.
OOC: This is negotiable. So, what do you think? Is there anything wrong with it? Do you like it / dislike it? Constructive criticism is very much welcome.