NationStates Jolt Archive

M-2 Vampire Main Battle Tank
Production Cost: 8 Million USD
Purchase Cost: Not Yet For Sale
Designed By: Arkangel’skie Voennye Sistemy
Produced By: Skypiea Defense Tech
Weight: 91.5 Tons (83,007 Kilograms)
Height: 10.87 Feet (3.31 Meters)
Width: 15.33 Feet (4.67 Meters)
Length: 36.23 Feet (11.04 Meters)
Crew: 3 (Driver, Gunner, and Commander)
Propulsion: Front-Mounted Isomer Reactor Turbine
Speed: 50 Miles per Hour (80 Kilometers per Hour) Off-Road, 74.5 Miles per Hour (120 Kilometers per Hour) On-Road
Endurance: Limited only to crew comfort and supplies
Armour: Warsaw (an update to the Kiev armour package).
Front: 2,600mm
Turret: 1,885mm
Sides: 1,230mm
Read: 1,450mm
Armament:
135mm Electro-Thermal Chemical Main Gun – The main gun of the Vampire is smaller than average for a tank of its size, but it’ll put the hurt on almost any other tank in existence. SABOT rounds fired from this cannon are capable of penetrating up to 2,272mm of Rolled Homogenous Armour.

(2) 10mm Automatic Cannons – Both anti-personal cannons are mounted on the sides of the tank in ball turrets.

Korento Anti-Tank Guide Missile Launcher – Each launcher is a part of the tank body itself and is capable of firing two missiles. The Korento ATGM has a range of 20 Kilometers and is guided by LIDAR and passive IR. With its three warheads it is fully capable of killing almost any tank is one shot.

6-Pack LOSGR Launcher – Probably the strangest weapon on any Imperial tank, the Line-Of-Sight Guided Rocket is quite a lot like the LOSAT. The main difference is the smaller size and slightly greater range. The missiles are meant to be fired in swarms against infantry, light armoured vehicles, and aircraft. Guidance is much like the Korento, but somewhat easier to fool due to the missiles’ smaller size, which is the reason for the swarm tactics. The penetrator is a smaller but dense Osmium-Tungsten rod that will wreak havoc upon any of its intended targets and would probably make life harder for a Main Battle Tank.


Electronic Systems:
Multi-Level Tactical Digital Information System – The MLTDIS (pronounced Mult-Dis) is in some ways much like IVIS in that it is meant to share and coordinate combat data among many units. On the Jackson this can occur from the platoon level all the way up to the brigade level, although not at the same time. Plugging in a portable storage device with the proper decryption key and then providing a thumbprint on a touch-screen is used to determine the level of access granted. This means that an enemy would be incapable of disabling a tank and then viewing data that would then be relayed to battlefield intelligence.

Pulse LIDAR Targeting System - The PLIDARTS (pronounced Ply-Darts) is meant as a way of fooling active anti-laser counter-measures. Instead of a steady stream of ultra-violet light that most laser targeting systems provide, it uses pulses of light to track targets. The pulses come fast enough that targeting of the main gun does not suffer but at even the fastest setting allow for several clock cycles to pass on the processing chips inside enemy counter-measures. An added feature is the ability to program the laser to randomly pulse between the set acceptable highest and slowest time values; this adds even more confusion to enemy counter-measures.

MkII Multi-Spectrum Threat Warning Receiver – The MSTWR (pronounced Mist-War) is a simple detection system designed to warn tanks crews of potential enemy targeting systems being directed upon their Jackson. It is also capable of giving the bearing, possible range, and type of targeting based upon known performance data of enemy systems. Obviously, if one does not know what one is facing then it is extremely hard to take advantage of this feature. The system is also tied into a jamming system that is capable of neutralizing most targeting systems.


Counter-Measures: Beyond the aforementioned electronic counter-measure system, there are a few physical counter-measures afforded to the tank. One is a fog generator that is capable of producing clouds of fog to fool laser-targeting systems and allow for tactical retreats to regroup. The other is a chaff/flare canister launching system that is installed into the turret itself. It is arranged into a hexagon pattern and the canisters are packed three deep in order to provide adequate protection against radar-guided missiles. Finally, the turbine is placed forward in a rear-facing mount so as to both provide extra protection to the crew and to not expose the crew or people outside to the gamma radiation given off by the isomers in the event of a piercing hit.

Survivability Systems: Full Nuclear-Biological-Chemical protection. Armoured crew “pod” to separate crew from engine and external weapons damage. Armoured ammo storage area to protect tank from sympathetic detonations resulting from enemy fire.

Tank Systems: Computer-controlled hydraulic suspension. Hydrothermal exhaust system to reduce IR signature and protect infantry from turbine blast.

http://kitsune.addr.com/Rifts/Rifts-Earth-Vehicles/Triax/NGR_Tiger_HBT.gif

M-2 Vampire Main Battle Tank
Production Cost: 8 Million USD
Purchase Cost: Not Yet For Sale
Designed By: Arkangel’skie Voennye Sistemy
Produced By: Skypiea Defense Tech
Weight: 91.5 Tons (83,007 Kilograms)
Height: 10.87 Feet (3.31 Meters)
Width: 15.33 Feet (4.67 Meters)
Length: 36.23 Feet (11.04 Meters)
Crew: 3 (Driver, Gunner, and Commander)
Propulsion: Front-Mounted Isomer Reactor Turbine
Speed: 50 Miles per Hour (80 Kilometers per Hour) Off-Road, 74.5 Miles per Hour (120 Kilometers per Hour) On-Road
Endurance: Limited only to crew comfort and supplies
Armour: Warsaw (an update to the Kiev armour package).
Front: 2,600mm
Turret: 1,885mm
Sides: 1,230mm
Read: 1,450mm
Armament:
135mm Electro-Thermal Chemical Main Gun – The main gun of the Vampire is smaller than average for a tank of its size, but it’ll put the hurt on almost any other tank in existence. SABOT rounds fired from this cannon are capable of penetrating up to 1,830mm of Rolled Homogenous Armour.

(2) 10mm Automatic Cannons – Both anti-personal cannons are mounted on the sides of the tank in ball turrets.

Korento Anti-Tank Guide Missile Launcher – Each launcher is a part of the tank body itself and is capable of firing two missiles. The Korento ATGM has a range of 20 Kilometers and is guided by LIDAR and passive IR. With its three warheads it is fully capable of killing almost any tank is one shot.

6-Pack LOSGR Launcher – Probably the strangest weapon on any Imperial tank, the Line-Of-Sight Guided Rocket is quite a lot like the LOSAT. The main difference is the smaller size and slightly greater range. The missiles are meant to be fired in swarms against infantry, light armoured vehicles, and aircraft. Guidance is much like the Korento, but somewhat easier to fool due to the missiles’ smaller size, which is the reason for the swarm tactics. The penetrator is a smaller but dense Osmium-Tungsten rod that will wreak havoc upon any of its intended targets and would probably make life harder for a Main Battle Tank.


Electronic Systems:
Multi-Level Tactical Digital Information System – The MLTDIS (pronounced Mult-Dis) is in some ways much like IVIS in that it is meant to share and coordinate combat data among many units. On the Jackson this can occur from the platoon level all the way up to the brigade level, although not at the same time. Plugging in a portable storage device with the proper decryption key and then providing a thumbprint on a touch-screen is used to determine the level of access granted. This means that an enemy would be incapable of disabling a tank and then viewing data that would then be relayed to battlefield intelligence.

Pulse LIDAR Targeting System - The PLIDARTS (pronounced Ply-Darts) is meant as a way of fooling active anti-laser counter-measures. Instead of a steady stream of ultra-violet light that most laser targeting systems provide, it uses pulses of light to track targets. The pulses come fast enough that targeting of the main gun does not suffer but at even the fastest setting allow for several clock cycles to pass on the processing chips inside enemy counter-measures. An added feature is the ability to program the laser to randomly pulse between the set acceptable highest and slowest time values; this adds even more confusion to enemy counter-measures.

MkII Multi-Spectrum Threat Warning Receiver – The MSTWR (pronounced Mist-War) is a simple detection system designed to warn tanks crews of potential enemy targeting systems being directed upon their Jackson. It is also capable of giving the bearing, possible range, and type of targeting based upon known performance data of enemy systems. Obviously, if one does not know what one is facing then it is extremely hard to take advantage of this feature. The system is also tied into a jamming system that is capable of neutralizing most targeting systems.


Counter-Measures: Beyond the aforementioned electronic counter-measure system, there are a few physical counter-measures afforded to the tank. One is a fog generator that is capable of producing clouds of fog to fool laser-targeting systems and allow for tactical retreats to regroup. The other is a chaff/flare canister launching system that is installed into the turret itself. It is arranged into a hexagon pattern and the canisters are packed three deep in order to provide adequate protection against radar-guided missiles. Finally, the turbine is placed forward in a rear-facing mount so as to both provide extra protection to the crew and to not expose the crew or people outside to the gamma radiation given off by the isomers in the event of a piercing hit.

Survivability Systems: Full Nuclear-Biological-Chemical protection. Armoured crew “pod” to separate crew from engine and external weapons damage. Armoured ammo storage area to protect tank from sympathetic detonations resulting from enemy fire.

Tank Systems: Computer-controlled hydraulic suspension. Hydrothermal exhaust system to reduce IR signature and protect infantry from turbine blast.

http://kitsune.addr.com/Rifts/Rifts-Earth-Vehicles/Triax/NGR_Tiger_HBT.gif

I've been wondering about these "mm" armor.

2,600 mm front armor? That would mean 2.6 meters of solid armor, and the tank itself is about 11 meters. Add in another 1.4 meters of rear armor. That would make up 4 meters of solid armor combined, thus giving you 7 meters to play around with.

7 meters would be enough to put people and stuff in. But wouldn't a 2.6 meter thick by 4.6 meter wide front armor, 1.4 meter thick by 4.6 meter wide rear armor, 1.2 meter thick by 11 meter long side armor (two sides) all combined, (And assuming the armor is at least 1 meter "tall" to cover the interior of the tank like engine, crews, etc.) weigh a lot?

Going 50 MPH off road and 75 MPH on road, like regular automobiles wouldn't be impossible if the tank had light armor. But with the massive 1+ meter thick armor all around, the weight would be hideous, and that would reduce the tank to like 20 MPH off-road and maybe 40 MPH on road.

Just wondering how you would have tanks going that fast, with such thick armor.

[mm is the common abreviation for millimeters. From your response, I'm under the impression that you are unaware that tank armour thickness stopped being literal when rolled hemogenous armour was discontinued in tanks. It's a relative rating, not an actual one.

As for the speed, when you have a 3,000 horsepower turbine powering a tank of that size, without a governer, such speeds are possible. Note also that the rating is a max speed, tanks are like ships in that they have a rated cruising speed that makes more sense to use for any number of reasons.]

How do you get a 90 tonne tank to travel at almost 80mph?

Not finished reading yet but other than that it looks good... maybe the rear armour value is a little high.

Adam Adamo, Finance Minister of PIcaRDMPCia, sends this message:
We are considering the purchase of some of these Vampire tanks...as our own armour division has been somewhat lacking in development ever since we embarked upon our space program. Please let us know by telegram when they will be available for purchase.

OOC: WOW! 3000BHP engine! Like thats all that possible, a tank with an engine that powerful...your range must be Rubbish, to say the least. all you have to do is not get supplied for about one day and that tank is a sitting duck.

lets take the US M1 Abrams for example:

Width: 12.0 FT
Length: 32.25 FT
height: 8.0 FT

Your tank is MUCH SMALLER, fine, you could have a high power to weight ratio, low profile etc. thats good, but then, you have all that armour...ok...and that gun...now its just lumbering along...

and then you say it has a 3000BHP Engine in it! The M1 has a 1500 HP engine, and that is MASSIVE, it probably wouldnt even fit in your tank, not with all that stuff that you say is in it.

The M1 weights 70tons(ish) and can do 45KPH, and yours can do 50KPH...as i said, your sizes are all WRONG, if it was about twice its size you could even get away with a 155mm main gun, lol. at this size, unless the year is 2100, when tanks would be better than this, then this is just plain godmode in my eyes.

How do you get a 90 tonne tank to travel at almost 80mph?

You ignore what one might politely term 'urban renewal' when it moves at that speed.

Sexy, i'd like to request two for trials and a further ten if all goes well.

You ignore what one might politely term 'urban renewal' when it moves at that speed.
Indeed... not that I use tanks in urban environments much anyway. Tis far too dangerous for them.

i like it, i would by it, unfortunatly, my small army is based as a airborne army

[Vast Principles, your response itself was wrong on so many levels I'm not sure where to begin.

Let's start with the engine. See, what can fit inside a tank is determined by a litte thing called volume. What fits outside, under the armour, is determined by surface space. If you had bothered to do the math, and I'm fairly certain you didn't, you would have found that my tank very nearly has double the volume of an Abrams, thus it can fit a much larger engine inside of it.

Now, let's move on to speed. The max governed speed of an Abrams is 42 mph, the max speed without governer is 60, and that's with a 1500 horsepower engine. If I were using an Abrams engine, I would agree with you that the speed is too high. However, because the high hp/ton rating, my tank can easily achieve what it does. Hell, I should thank you, you made me check my math and I realized that I could achieve these result with a lot less. Make it a 2,450 HP turbine.

As for range, you did read the fact that it has an isomer reactor in it, didn't you? I can't remember exactly what the reaction mass would be for this tank, but I tend to design them around the theory that assuming no parts wear you could run the tank at full speed for a year. Not even remotely possible, I know, but it's how I decide exactly how much fuel into the powerplant.

GMC's right, by the way. I do ignore urban renewal, if somebody's stupid enough to start a war with me and I invade them, that their streets deserve to be torn up is the least of it.

Also, this tank is NOT FOR SALE! Please read the entire post carefully before responding.]

Not a bad tank at all... not much I can suggest. You don't seem to have much in the way of active defence systems, ie Shtora, ARENA, TAMS, etc. We (Hyland-Nikolaas) would be glad to give you the designs to our TAMS II. TAMS stands for Tank Anti-Missile system, and is pretty much a CIWS for a tank. Think its impossible? Britain made one in the 70's.

[The only active defenses I have are full-spectrum jammers, at least on this tank. As for the CIWS, I have two on one of my other tanks because of its rather high expense, but this tank is such a beast that it couldn't really benefit from the added weight of the CIWS.]

Are you sure that you don't want a CIWS system that could engage an ATGM like say... my Kanuck that achieves 6500mm of RHA equivilent penetration via popping upto around 2500ft and going straight down with scramjet blasting away into the roof of your tank.... are you sure you wouldn't want a CIWS for something like that?

[I'm positive, at least for now. In the future I might decide place a CIWS on the turret. But, that ATGM isn't a bad idea, I don't know why I didn't think of such a think before.]

ooc: you could always buy em from us.. for a reduced price of course.

M-2A1 Vampire Main Battle Tank
Production Cost: 8.5 Million USD
Purchase Cost: Not Yet For Sale
Designed By: Arkangel’skie Voennye Sistemy
Produced By: Arkangel’skie Voennye Sistemy
Weight: 95.5 Tons (86,636.14 Kilograms)
Height: 10.87 Feet (3.31 Meters)
Width: 15.33 Feet (4.67 Meters)
Length: 36.23 Feet (11.04 Meters)
Crew: 3 (Driver, Gunner, and Commander)
Propulsion: Front-Mounted Isomer Reactor Turbine
Speed: 50 Miles per Hour (80 Kilometers per Hour) Off-Road, 74.5 Miles per Hour (120 Kilometers per Hour) On-Road
Endurance: Limited only to crew comfort and supplies
Armour: Warsaw (an update to the Kiev armour package).
Front: 2,600mm
Turret: 1,885mm
Sides: 1,230mm
Rear: 1,450mm
Armament:
140mm Electro-Thermal Chemical Main Gun – The main gun of the Vampire is about average for a tank of its size, but it’ll put the hurt on almost any other tank in existence. SABOT rounds fired from this cannon are capable of penetrating up to 2,832mm of Rolled Homogenous Armour.

(2) 10mm Automatic Cannons – Both anti-personal cannons are mounted on the sides of the tank in ball turrets.

Korento Anti-Tank Guide Missile Launcher – Each launcher is a part of the tank body itself and is capable of firing two missiles. The Korento ATGM has a range of 20 Kilometers and is guided by LIDAR and passive IR. With its three warheads it is fully capable of killing almost any tank is one shot.

6-Pack LOSGR Launcher – Probably the strangest weapon on any Imperial tank, the Line-Of-Sight Guided Rocket is quite a lot like the LOSAT. The main difference is the smaller size and slightly greater range. The missiles are meant to be fired in swarms against infantry, light armoured vehicles, and aircraft. Guidance is much like the Korento, but somewhat easier to fool due to the missiles’ smaller size, which is the reason for the swarm tactics. The penetrator is a smaller but dense Osmium-Tungsten rod that will wreak havoc upon any of its intended targets and would probably make life harder for a Main Battle Tank.


Electronic Systems:
Multi-Level Tactical Digital Information System – The MLTDIS (pronounced Mult-Dis) is in some ways much like IVIS in that it is meant to share and coordinate combat data among many units. On the Vampire this can occur from the platoon level all the way up to the brigade level, although not at the same time. Plugging in a portable storage device with the proper decryption key and then providing a thumbprint on a touch-screen is used to determine the level of access granted. This means that an enemy would be incapable of disabling a tank and then viewing data that would then be relayed to battlefield intelligence.

Pulse LIDAR Targeting System - The PLIDARTS (pronounced Ply-Darts) is meant as a way of fooling active anti-laser counter-measures. Instead of a steady stream of ultra-violet light that most laser targeting systems provide, it uses pulses of light to track targets. The pulses come fast enough that targeting of the main gun does not suffer but at even the fastest setting allow for several clock cycles to pass on the processing chips inside enemy counter-measures. An added feature is the ability to program the laser to randomly pulse between the set acceptable highest and slowest time values; this adds even more confusion to enemy counter-measures.

MkII Multi-Spectrum Threat Warning Receiver – The MSTWR (pronounced Mist-War) is a simple detection system designed to warn tanks crews of potential enemy targeting systems being directed upon their Vampire. It is also capable of giving the bearing, possible range, and type of targeting based upon known performance data of enemy systems. Obviously, if one does not know what one is facing then it is extremely hard to take advantage of this feature. The system is also tied into a jamming system that is capable of neutralizing most targeting systems.


Counter-Measures: Beyond the aforementioned electronic counter-measure system, there are a few physical counter-measures afforded to the tank. One is a fog generator that is capable of producing clouds of fog to fool laser-targeting systems and allow for tactical retreats to regroup. The other is a chaff/flare canister launching system that is installed into the turret itself. It is arranged into a hexagon pattern and the canisters are packed three deep in order to provide adequate protection against radar-guided missiles. Finally, the turbine is placed forward in a rear-facing mount so as to both provide extra protection to the crew and to not expose the crew or people outside to the gamma radiation given off by the isomers in the event of a piercing hit.

Survivability Systems: Full Nuclear-Biological-Chemical protection. Armoured crew “pod” to separate crew from engine and external weapons damage. Armoured ammo storage area to protect tank from sympathetic detonations resulting from enemy fire.

Tank Systems: Computer-controlled hydraulic suspension. Hydrothermal exhaust system to reduce IR signature and protect infantry from turbine blast.

http://kitsune.addr.com/Rifts/Rifts-Earth-Vehicles/Triax/NGR_Tiger_HBT.gif
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This is the version that will be entering service with the Imperial Army shock armies.

OOC:
With modern armor design, you should have side armor no more than 30-40% of the front armor, depending on how well sloped the front armor is. With this unit, it should certainly be closer to 30%. Rear armor is often no more than half of what side armor is, but I'll give a break there. I might accept maybe 800mm protection for the sides (still good enough to stop most current tank rounds at 2 km), and, say, 500-600 for the rear.

Also, a 140mm ETC gun isn't realy that small for the size of the tank. Yes, 140mm guns have been tried on 70 ton units, but with mixed results. You do need a heavier tank like this to effectively mount such a weapon.

Pod mounted guns are cute, but they're a liability. They represent, by necessity, a weak spot that can be exploited. They're also to vulnerable to fire on their own. You should at least have a coaxial machine gun as well.

[Well, I basically see this tank as a Merkava IV on steroids. I'm sure you know that they have a reputation for being the best-protected tanks on any modern western-style MBT. From what I gather, it's because the sides and rear are much better protected than those of the Abrams or Challenger II. Also, the fact that the engine is mounted forward necessitates having thicker rear armour and the lack of a turbine vent (all of vents on my tanks are downward facing and this one is to the front) takes away any further excuse for poor rear armour.

However, you're right the main gun isn't all that small, I copied the text from the base Vampire without doing much editing and there are a couple spelling mistakes I caught that I thought I had fixed. Thanks for pointing that out.

As for the armour being sufficient against modern main guns, I'm afraid it isn't. Even a 120mm ETC firing a standard DU penetrator at 2,000 m/s will be somewhat of a threat against the side armour, even if my tankers don't have to worry about a first-shot kill they do have to worry about a second. One of my 120mm ETC will punch an Osmium penetrator through both the side and the rear without breaking a sweat and could very nearly take out the turret in a single go.]