NationStates Jolt Archive


Sharina reveals its Paragon MBT.

Sharina
20-01-2005, 07:37
This is my second "custom" military hardware project. I thought that I'd try to design my own MBT tank to supplement my Colossus Ultra-Heavy Artillery, as well as give an insight into Sharina military design and processes.

Any feedback and advice is greatly appreciated.

Here we go!


Sharina Paragon Main Battle Tank:

http://www.rit.edu/~rxd0205/nationstates/pictures/paragon.jpg

An early prototype of the Paragon MBT.

Dimensions:

Length: 14 meters.
Width: 7 meters.
Height: 6 meters.
Weight: 75 tons.

Crew: 3.

1 Driver.
1 gunnery officer.
1 Technician / commander.

Power Plant Systems:

Trebonis Heavy Duty Hydrogen Fuel Cell generator.

Horsepower output: 2,000 per generator.

Quantity: Two generators.

Propulsion system:

Two sets of 1.5 meter tall and 0.75 meter wide treads.

The tank treads runs approximately 12 meters along the entire Paragon chassis and the Iarok Tread Band System is employed.

Each tread system is divided into four smaller bands of treads, known as the Iarok Tread Band System. Each "band" is capable of operating independently of each other, providing the Paragon with unparalleled turning ability. The "band" system employs treads with diamond pattern-weave, to aid in grabbing ground and traction, allowing the Paragon to travel through slippery, muddy, and snowy terrain with less difficulty than normal tread systems.

Maximum speeds:

65 kilometers per hour on standard reinforced concrete roads.
40 kilometers per hour in semi-rugged terrain.
30 kilometers per hour in rugged terrain.
40 kilometers per hour standard cruising speed.

The tank tread system is powered by both Trebonis hydrogen fuel cell generators. This provides the Paragon with reunduancy, should one generator fail.

Weapons / Offense Power:

Main Weapon:

One Dual cannon turret:

The main weapon of the Paragon is a turret that rotates 360 degrees, providing the capability to attack from any angle. The turret is capable of slanting upwards from -15 to 30 degrees from the horizontal axis, giving the Paragon the ability to attack airborne targets or targets on elevated surfaces like cliffs or mountains. This also allows the Paragon to attack from clifftops or inflict damage on targets below the Paragon.

The turret employs dual cannon armatures enclosed in one extra large barrel, to provide a multi-role attack capability. The two parts of the turret are as follows; 130mm ETC cannon, and 80mm Heavy Multi-Role Cannon.

One 130mm ETC cannon.

The ETC cannon is capable of firing smart rounds that have the ability to slightly alter course based on GPS targeting. This provides the cannon with much needed accuracy.

One 80mm Heavy Multi-Role Cannon:

The other half of the dual cannon turret is essentially a cannon capable of firing all types of light and medium types of ammunition. Most common rounds the cannon fires is canister rounds, medium HEAT rounds, anti-personnel rounds, and anti-APC rounds.

Several types include:

Anti-personnel round.

This is a canister with dozens of small high velocity shrapnel projectiles inside. Once the canister hits its target, it bursts open, releasing a shrapnel-like storm of these small pellets, giving a new meaning to the word "Metalstorm". The pellets are usually comrpised of some hardened metal alloys such as tungsten, depleted uranium, or even lead. Lead is used to cause lead poisoning inside laceration wounds the infantry would suffer, further complicating recovery of these soldiers.

Anti-APC round.

The cannon fires a canister with several 50mm rounds with a pointed edge each inside the canister. This allows the Paragon to punch holes through APC's without expending its more valuable 130mm main ETC rounds.

High Explosive Grenade Round:

The grenade round is encased in a canister that resembles a Metalstorm round. It encloses several explosive rounds, either a group of grenades, C-4 pallets, chemical explosives, or various other high explosive shells. The canister is fired using Metalstorm technology, giving some advantanges such as quicker rates of fire, less muzzle flash, and no ejectable rounds. Upon impact, the canister burts open, and the explosive detonates.

Flourine Gas Round:

This is quickly becoming the standard throughout Sharina's ranks of Paragon Armored divisions. Flourine gas has been recently added to Sharina's arsenal, as research tests have determined that Flourine gas has been able to damage the armor of other tanks. Flourine gas attacks the chemical and atomic bonds, sapping the strength of tough armor. Once the Flourine gas does its job, the targeted tank becomes easier for the 130mm ETC cannon to penetrate and do its job of disabling the target.

Several more rounds can be adapted to the Multi-Purpose cannon, either as a direct weapons round, or enclosed within a canister.

Secondary Weapons:

Two Xalis caliber machine gun turrets.

The two turrets, one front and one rear, is equipped with Sharina's patented Xalis 20 MM machine guns which employ centrifrugal technology. This particular technology uses gravity and electronics to release projectiles efficiently, with fewer drawbacks than the metalstorm technology. The centrifugal technology allows the machine guns to engage incoming infantry forces with lethality, while increasing projectile velocity and effectiveness.

One Xalis turret is mounted on the front of the Paragon, while the other is mounted on its rear providing 360 degrees of cover overall.

One Xalis-B AAMG turret.

The Xalis-B variant employs the same capabilities as the Xalis, including Sharina designed Centrifugal Gun technology and linkage to computer and sensor suites to increase detection capacities. This increases accuracy, which is a must aganist fast airborne targets like attack and anti-MBT heliocopters.

This turret is mounted behind the main ETC cannon, right next to the cupola where the tank crew exits and enters the vehicle. The turret is mounted on a rotating plate to give the Xalis-B 360 degrees cover fire, to attack any incoming airborne threat from any direction.

Two TOW rocket batteries.

The Paragon employs two rocket batteries for short to medium range aganist soft, hardened, or airborne targets. Each TOW battery employs five rockets in a one by five array. The TOW batteries are mounted on opposite sides of the turret on rotating plates.

Defense systems:

One SLAMRAAM missile battery.

The SLAMRAAM missiles provides the Paragon with last-ditch defense aganist aircraft, incoming missiles, or dropped bombs. One SLAMRAAM battery holds approximately six SLAMRAAM missiles in a two by three configuration.

The SLAMRAAM battery rests on the Paragon's rear half. The battery employ rotating plates so that they can swivel around to engage any aircraft, missile, or bomb that approaches the front, rear, or sides of the Paragon.

Factor 5 Valora Layered Armor.

The Valona is Sharina's successful attempt at developing a armor blend that would provide excellent protection aganist most conventional weapons and collateral damage. The need for a heavier duty armor became readily apparent as the original Chobham armor would not hold up on heavy combat vehicles for a sustained period of time. Therefore, Sharina engineers began designing and building the Valona.

The Valona employs an incredible six layers of armor plating, comprising of chobham plating, kinetic reactive armor, solid titanium, tungsten carbide, and a 1 centimeter layer of lead. The kinetic reactive armor covers the tank, with the Chobam resting just below the kinetic armor. This is followed by tungsten carbide, then by the depleted uranium and chromium. The innermost armor is comprised of solid titantium. This provides rigid protection aganist most conventional damage and attacks, including AP rounds, bomb explosions, shrapnel, napalm, thermal damage, pressure damage, amongst others.

The ratio of armor plating is as follows: X-3-1-Y-Z-2.

3 centimeters of kinetic reactive armor (X), 3 centimeters of Depleted Uranium (Y) and 2 centimeter of Chromium (Z) are constant, no matter how thick or thin the Valona armor is overall. The general ratio is 3 centimeters of chobham plating, 1 centimeter of tungsten carbide, and 2 centimeters of solid titanium per factor of the Valona armor.

In the Paragon, the ratio is as follows for a factor 5 Valora armor:

3 centimeters of kinetic reactive armor.
15 centimeters of Chobham plating.
5 centimeters of tungsten carbide.
10 centimeters of solid titanium.
3 centimeters of Depleted Uranium.
2 centimeters of Chromium.

For a total armor thickness of 34 centimeters all around the tank. The armor is heavier around the engines and ammunition storage, employing factor 6 Valora armor.

Sensor systems:

The Paragon employs several sensor systems to increase its capacity to engage many different types of targets, while reducing the element of surprise from enemy stealth based weapons like aircraft or "stealth" tanks.

The Paragon is equipped with Sonar, Radar, LIDAR, LADAR, Infrared, and SQUID systems.

Miscellanous:

The Paragon's crew is able to survive for more than a week without any food or nurition supplies, thanks to the hydrogen fuel cell generators. The byproducts of these generators is 100% pure drinkable water. This solves the logistics problem of water / liquid nourishment as the combat vehicles provide all the water the crew would need.

Human beings can survive for a week without solid food nurition.

The Paragon employs full Nuclear / Biological / Chemical protection, and is somewhat radiation-proof thanks to depleted uranium and chromium layers built inside its Valora armor. Neutron and dirty bombs would be less effective aganist the Paragon than aganist standard MBT's.
Verdant Archipelago
20-01-2005, 07:59
You're putting that 1000mm railgun, three 20mm turrets, a 140mm gun, 40 TOW rockets, 24 SAMs on a 50 ton tank? Main gun for most 60 ton tanks is a 120mm gun, and they don't have a railgun, three 20mm turrets, or any missiles at all. In comparisoin, it would take 10 bradleys to carry as many TOWs as this does, and 4 more SAM vehicles.

Also, I notice you're iuseing a lot of metalstorm. Metalstorm has some advantages, but some major problems too. First, reloads are bulky and difficult, meaning that your sustained rate of fire is going to be bad. Second, muzzle velocity is terrible because a lot of the barrel is taken up with ammunition.
Chellis
20-01-2005, 08:13
You're putting that 1000mm railgun, three 20mm turrets, a 140mm gun, 40 TOW rockets, 24 SAMs on a 50 ton tank? Main gun for most 60 ton tanks is a 120mm gun, and they don't have a railgun, three 20mm turrets, or any missiles at all. In comparisoin, it would take 10 bradleys to carry as many TOWs as this does, and 4 more SAM vehicles.

Also, I notice you're iuseing a lot of metalstorm. Metalstorm has some advantages, but some major problems too. First, reloads are bulky and difficult, meaning that your sustained rate of fire is going to be bad. Second, muzzle velocity is terrible because a lot of the barrel is taken up with ammunition.

OOC: Which is why we employ metalstorm with magazines, while keeping the firing method to eliminate the moving parts(other than the bullets).
Verdant Archipelago
20-01-2005, 08:15
OOC Electrical firing is nothing new. It's reloading the gun that takes the time and that makes it break or jam. Metalstorm means multiple barrels with the ammo stored in them. If your guns are electrically fired, then say that.
Sharina
20-01-2005, 17:10
You're putting that 1000mm railgun, three 20mm turrets, a 140mm gun, 40 TOW rockets, 24 SAMs on a 50 ton tank? Main gun for most 60 ton tanks is a 120mm gun, and they don't have a railgun, three 20mm turrets, or any missiles at all. In comparisoin, it would take 10 bradleys to carry as many TOWs as this does, and 4 more SAM vehicles.

Also, I notice you're iuseing a lot of metalstorm. Metalstorm has some advantages, but some major problems too. First, reloads are bulky and difficult, meaning that your sustained rate of fire is going to be bad. Second, muzzle velocity is terrible because a lot of the barrel is taken up with ammunition.

Oops! There's no 1000 mm cannon on the tank. It was a simple copy / paste mistake.

I could trim down the SAM's from 24 to around 10.

The two front machine gun turrets are situated in the front two "prongs" of the tank, like in the picture. The machine guns would be set on the small bluish circles at the front of these "prings".

What else do you recommend I put for machine gun instead of metalstorm? I'd like some kind of weapons system that avoids muzzle flashes and releasing cartridges (so the enemy can't trace where my tank goes). Any ideas / suggestions?
Sharina
20-01-2005, 17:30
I just trimmed down the TOW and SAM numbers by half. Just letting you know.

Also I appreciate the feedback about the missiles / SAM's.
Dumpsterdam
20-01-2005, 17:35
Well I'm no expert but I do have several questions:

1) I believe the dual gun system has been discussed and basicly your trading off and decrease your ammunition storage for dual firing rate right? Since if your first shot can't penetrate the armour, then the second one won't either and hitting the exact same spot with the second round will be nearly impossible.

2) How much is the re-coil of that dual 140mm cannon? I think that the dual re-coil from your gun is going to rip the turret apart seeing as your system is required to fire with some time in between but still uses the same barrel and recoil system

3) Rocketlaunchers above the tracks? Your asking for trouble I'd say unless you got some freakishly huge plate of armour dividing the launchers and the tracks. Same goes for the launchers on the turret, its never a good idea to strap buckets of explosives to vital area's of your tanks.

4) I don't know much about hydrogen fuel cell generators(and where exactly did you locate it?) Because you've seem to have every area in your tank strapped with explosives and a explosion could take out both the tracks and the fuel cell.(I have no idea what a hydrogen fuel cell does when hit with shrapnell)

5 How much ammo can this thing carry? You seem to be using alot of guns and launchers and I assume you want to fire more then one clip/missile and then be able to reload?
Verdant Archipelago
20-01-2005, 17:51
Missiles and tanks tend not to mix... and you're using some fairly large missiles. I'd suggest trimming it to 4 SLASRAAMs vertically launched out of the turret bustle for engaging helos. And scrap the LOSAT launcher, LOSAT can be fired out of the main gun. And get rid of the TOWs. TOWs are AT weapons, and your 140mm is much better than they are, especially considering you'd need the gunner to manually stear each one into the enemy target.

Don't worry about casings. Tanks are loud and crush plants and rip up the ground. Shell casings are the least of your problems. As for muzze; flash, any gun with decent range will have muzzleflash, especially 20mm auto-cannon. Don't worry about it. The sound will give away your posiiton anyway. Metalstorm is ungodly loud.

And WHOA, no double turret. The biggest tank arround today has a single 120mm. And it's bigger than yours.
Sharina
20-01-2005, 18:00
Well I'm no expert but I do have several questions:

I'm no tank or military expert. I'm trying to design a tank for the first time. Questions, criticisms, and advice is much appreciated. :)

1) I believe the dual gun system has been discussed and basicly your trading off and decrease your ammunition storage for dual firing rate right? Since if your first shot can't penetrate the armour, then the second one won't either and hitting the exact same spot with the second round will be nearly impossible.

I don't plan on firing two rounds at the same time with the cannon. The cannon fires one round at a time, not two.

If penetration does occur, then the second round is fired immediately. If no penetration occurs, the second round isn't fired.

My sensors can "zoom in" onto targets within 1 kilometer to determine whether a breach occurs on the enemy armor, or not.

2) How much is the re-coil of that dual 140mm cannon? I think that the dual re-coil from your gun is going to rip the turret apart seeing as your system is required to fire with some time in between but still uses the same barrel and recoil system

Again, the recoil would be of a single 140mm cannon, as I will not be firing "two shots at once". The dual cannin is there so that the Paragon can fire 1 round a second after the other should penetration occur. With conventional single barrel cannons, I'm assuming it takes more than 5 seconds to reload and fire another shot, and in warfare 1 second or 5 can make a difference.

3) Rocketlaunchers above the tracks? Your asking for trouble I'd say unless you got some freakishly huge plate of armour dividing the launchers and the tracks. Same goes for the launchers on the turret, its never a good idea to strap buckets of explosives to vital area's of your tanks.

I could move the TOW's to the main body above the tracks, or add extra armor in that area. Here's two rough diagrams with ASCII:

Moved rocket launchers:

X
=====
....=0=
....=o=

X - rocket launcher
=== - armor
... - tank structure
o - treads

Extra armor under rocket launchers:

......X
...===
=====
....=o=
....=0=


X - rocket launcher
=== - armor
... - tank structure
o - treads


I'm not sure where to move my SLAMRAAM anti-air defense launchers though. If not on the turret, then where?

My LAHAT system is centered on the rear half of the Paragon, and the one rear machine gun is situated a bit behind the LAHAT launcher.

=====|
.........|
..O..X.|
.........|
=====|

O = LAHAT
X = machine gun
| = rear edge of Paragon


4) I don't know much about hydrogen fuel cell generators(and where exactly did you locate it?) Because you've seem to have every area in your tank strapped with explosives and a explosion could take out both the tracks and the fuel cell.(I have no idea what a hydrogen fuel cell does when hit with shrapnell)

I am having this particular discussion in my Colossus artillery thread. There is indeed a big risk of massive explosion from hydrogen fuel containers. However, I am willing to take this risk as I don't want to rely on oil or gasoline for combat vehicles.

This is to avoid the same problems the Germans suffered during WW II, the lack of oil / gasoline for their war machine.

I want to avoid any possibility of enemies blockading an oil supply, or relying on the Middle East / Iraq / Saudi Arabia for oil / gasoline.

5 How much ammo can this thing carry? You seem to be using alot of guns and launchers and I assume you want to fire more then one clip/missile and then be able to reload?

The rockets will not be reloaded until they reach military bases or supply trucks.

The only two things that will need reloading is the main cannon and the machine guns.




I'm very new at designing custom weapons, tanks, etc. and I do not have talent or "skillz" of military tech / terminology. I'm trying to design a MBT that can hold its own aganist most NS tanks, while keeping to 2005 - 2015 tech levels.

I'm trying hard to put in good weapons and defenses, without god-modding or making stuff unrealistic.

One of the MBT's I want the Paragon to hold its own aganist is the T-99 of Decisive Action.
Hobbeebia
20-01-2005, 18:10
http://www.mosaiikki.net/works/wip/...ageQuality=Full

http://www.mosaiikki.net/works/wip/...ageQuality=Full

http://www.mosaiikki.net/works/wip/tx1.jpg


http://www.mosaiikki.net/works/wip/...ageQuality=Full

http://www.mosaiikki.net/works/wip/tankki_x.jpg

this is one of the Hobbeebian battle tanks it is dual barreled but i use energy based shots
Verdant Archipelago
20-01-2005, 18:21
The T-99 is unrealistic too =)
but two wrongs don't make a right.

Note... your doctrine for firing the guns is reversed. If the first shot penetrates, you don't need to fire again. Because if it penetrates with a 140mm sabot, the thing is dead. If it doesn't penitrate, that's when you'll have to fire a second time.

140mm guns are really big. THe largest tracked artillery America has is 150mm and it needs to brace itself before firing. Either use two much smaller cannon (80mm, say) or only a single tube.

Once again, LAHAT is fired out of the main gun of tanks. It is the same shape and size as a 120mm round for a reason.
Sharina
20-01-2005, 18:27
The T-99 is unrealistic too =)
but two wrongs don't make a right.

Note... your doctrine for firing the guns is reversed. If the first shot penetrates, you don't need to fire again. Because if it penetrates with a 140mm sabot, the thing is dead. If it doesn't penitrate, that's when you'll have to fire a second time.

140mm guns are really big. THe largest tracked artillery America has is 150mm and it needs to brace itself before firing. Either use two much smaller cannon (80mm, say) or only a single tube.

Once again, LAHAT is fired out of the main gun of tanks. It is the same shape and size as a 120mm round for a reason.

Thanks for clarifying that for me.

I got an idea. Why not make the dual barrel cannon as follows:

1 "hole" is 140mm ETC cannon.
1 "hole" is a dedicated LAHAT cannon.

Would that work?

Or should I reduce the 140mm ETC cannon to 120mm?
Verdant Archipelago
20-01-2005, 18:33
You don't need a LAHAT cannon. Just make a bigger version. Or fit it with a sleave so it fits the barrel. But either remove one barrel or downgun to 105mm. Frankly, I'd remove one barrel and downgun to 130mm. Still heavier than any real tank out there today. =)

The other barrel... EVIL THOUGHT! THe other barrel can be a metalstorm machinegun.
MassPwnage
20-01-2005, 18:33
I suggest putting a single Pwnage 50mmtank railgun on board (i can provide it), 1 shot from that can cut through 12 T99s or 10 Upper Xen T4s.
Verdant Archipelago
20-01-2005, 18:35
No, it would shatter after it started tumbling through the first tank.
Sharina
20-01-2005, 19:01
Hmm. Some good ideas there.

I thought on your 2nd barrel idea and I came up with a few ideas myself.

Idea #1:

Barrel 1: 140mm ETC cannon
Barrel 2: 70mm anti-personnel cannon (fights APC's and medium or light tanks so to conserve 140mm ammo)

Idea #2:

Barrel 1: 130mm or 140mm ETC cannon
Barrel 2: 80mm grenade launcher

Idea #3:

Barrel 1: 130mm or 140mm ETC cannon
Barrel 2: 100mm artillery cannon (fires smart rounds similiar to the USA's PALADIN artillery)


Any of these good? :D

I'm trying to mold my tank to the picture, as I don't know or have any 3-D modeling programs. I'd be happy to create a new picture, if I could get a free 3-D modeling program.
Verdant Archipelago
20-01-2005, 19:14
Well, you can fire guided ammunition from the normal tank gun... that's basically what LAHAT is. I'd go with the 130mm and the low velocity 80mm gun... perhaps you could rig it so it could be loaded with metalstorm cannisters for when infantry start swarming. Just shape it like a normal shell, pop it in the loader. When you pull the trigger, the eletrical firing stystem fires the bullets. When the ammo is done, a small charge blows the cannister out of the gun, and you can load another in. You could even have different metalstorm cannisters for different targets. 20mm for light vehicals, 5mm for anti personnel....
Sharina
20-01-2005, 20:21
Update:

1. Reduced horsepower of the engines from 3,000 to 2,000.

2. Edited the Main Weapopns list.

3. Added Heavy Metalstorm Cannon, and some general info about it.

4. Changed the tonnage of the tank from 50 tons to 60 tons.


Any more tweaks or suggestions? I'm actually enjoying listening to your guys feedback and ideas, and I'm learning a lot how to make my own stuff. More fun this way than buying old boring M1A1 tanks, Paladin artillery, Kidd destroyers, etc. :D
Doomingsland
20-01-2005, 20:30
What kind of armor does it use? And I think with all of those weapons, it'd be MUCH heavier, well, unless the thing is really thin-skinned. Other than that, good job (although you'll probably be disappointed in its performance vs. my tanks in that world war, whenever that starts).
Sharina
20-01-2005, 20:34
What kind of armor does it use? And I think with all of those weapons, it'd be MUCH heavier, well, unless the thing is really thin-skinned. Other than that, good job (although you'll probably be disappointed in its performance vs. my tanks in that world war, whenever that starts).

15cm of Chobham plating.

5cm of Kevlar armor.

1cm of lead (to protect aganist dirty bombs and radiation sources).


I honestly don't know how to convert that into RHA or whatever. I read that Chobham is much lighter than steel, and that the M1A1 uses Chobham, has a lot of stuff on it, and is like 50 - 60 tons. :confused:
Doomingsland
20-01-2005, 20:44
15cm of Chobham plating.

5cm of Kevlar armor.

1cm of lead (to protect aganist dirty bombs and radiation sources).


I honestly don't know how to convert that into RHA or whatever. I read that Chobham is much lighter than steel, and that the M1A1 uses Chobham, has a lot of stuff on it, and is like 50 - 60 tons. :confused:
In NS, the M1A1 IS thin-skinned, so, yeah, like I said.
Sharina
21-01-2005, 18:01
Update:

1. Removed LAHAT battery.
2. Increased Paragon weight to 70 tons.
3. Reduced Paragon speeds by 10 KPH.
4. More details about the Valora armor, and redesigned a new type of Valora, the Valora-B armor.


Any more updates / tweaks / fixing up I should do? More advice and feedback would be appreciated!
Sharina
21-01-2005, 18:04
Also, do you guys think I should create a smaller version of the Paragon to serve as a Medium Tank or something?

Paragon-A = slow slobberknocker.

Paragon-B = fast hit - run fighter.
Sharina
22-01-2005, 02:17
Updated the propulsion system section. I added more detail on the tread system, notably my Iarok Tread Band System.


More feedback / suggestions are welcome!
MassPwnage
22-01-2005, 02:19
ooc: still a 50mm railgun is more lethal than any powder or electrothermal cannon out there.
Doomingsland
22-01-2005, 02:20
ooc: still a 50mm railgun is more lethal than any powder or electrothermal cannon out there.
OOC:I know, seeing that it's future tect and all.
Verdant Archipelago
22-01-2005, 03:02
It's not the railgun that's futuretech, it's the generator that makes the power for the railgun.

Armor looks good. Chobham's a good choice. The kevlar can be reduced, only thing it's good for is keeping fragments from bouncing around in the tank. Thie lead should be replaced with a later of DU and a layer of chromium. Harder materials, and more resistant to radiation.

Your idea of using this as a heavy and making a much lighter, faster tank to compliment it is interesting. I'd go one step further. Make it an assault vehicle. reduce the operational range, give it more armor on the sides and top, and mount a .50 machinegun turret on the roof, and add a small armored compartment for infantry, and you have an effective urban combat vehicle.
Sharina
22-01-2005, 04:03
Okay, thanks for the feedback.

I'll switch lead into 2 more layers. 1 Chromium and 1 Depeleted Uranium.

One question though. Isn't Depeleted Uranium radioactive by itself? :confused:
Sharina
22-01-2005, 04:26
Update:

Added the layers to the armor.



So any more comments? Or is this tank finally good to go?
Verdant Archipelago
22-01-2005, 07:43
Uranium isn't actually very radioactive, it's simply very big. It's halflife is so long that in order to start it fissioning, you need to bombard it with neutrons or have a LOT of enriched uraniuim. Depleted uranium is even less radioactive, and it's alloys are extremely hard, making very good armor and projectiles.
Verdant Archipelago
22-01-2005, 07:53
Few more notes... I didn't notice the center tread.... I can't see what it would be good for, and it would make turning really hard.

Drop the power of each generator to 1000hp. Currently, it has about 3 times as much horsepower as modern tanks. 2000hp is plenty.

Amunition: I thought you were going to drop the cannon to 130mm? and the coaxil launcher to 80mm? You also misinterpreted my comments... it shouldn't be a metalstorm launcher: they have too low a velocity and are horrible to reload. I suggested it fire normal 80mm HEAT shells (not pointed ones... that sounds like APDS-FS which would be more effective from the 130mm) at lightly armored targets and be loaded with a metalstorm cannister for dealing with infantry. The metalstorm canister would not be shot at the enemy, it would be fired inside the gun, giving you that 1 000 000 rpm you loved. When it's depleted, it's ejected out of the barrel. Firing cannister rounds is great, but they would simply be explosive shells filled with ballbearings, not metalstorm.

Also, the elevation of the gun should be -10 degrees to 30 degrees.... you want to be able to hit things smaller than you.
Sharina
22-01-2005, 23:24
Few more notes... I didn't notice the center tread.... I can't see what it would be good for, and it would make turning really hard.

Drop the power of each generator to 1000hp. Currently, it has about 3 times as much horsepower as modern tanks. 2000hp is plenty.

Amunition: I thought you were going to drop the cannon to 130mm? and the coaxil launcher to 80mm? You also misinterpreted my comments... it shouldn't be a metalstorm launcher: they have too low a velocity and are horrible to reload. I suggested it fire normal 80mm HEAT shells (not pointed ones... that sounds like APDS-FS which would be more effective from the 130mm) at lightly armored targets and be loaded with a metalstorm cannister for dealing with infantry. The metalstorm canister would not be shot at the enemy, it would be fired inside the gun, giving you that 1 000 000 rpm you loved. When it's depleted, it's ejected out of the barrel. Firing cannister rounds is great, but they would simply be explosive shells filled with ballbearings, not metalstorm.

Also, the elevation of the gun should be -10 degrees to 30 degrees.... you want to be able to hit things smaller than you.


Okay.

I have three treads, actually.

One tread on each side of the tank, running for 2/3 of its length. The third tread would run in the rear 1/3 of the tank, iun the center. This is done so I can place my TOW missiles launchers at the rear of the tank, without them exploding right above the treads, as Dumpsterdam brought it up (the rockets exploding, ruining my treads).

If a third tread isn't a good idea, then what type of good configuration would you suggest for a tank to employ the following without significant risk of damage to treads as per Dumpsterdam's question:

1. One or two TOW launchers.
2. Some kind of anti-missile defense to protect aganist cruise missiles or smart bombs destroying the Paragon.
3. A rear machine gun to cover the tank's rear flanks aganist infantry.


I'll reduce the cannons by 10mm each.

I'll edit the 2nd cannon to "All-Purpose Canister Launcher" that can fire HEAT, Canister, Explosive, Grenade, etc. rounds.

The ETC cannon would focus exclusively on AP rounds, LAHAT missiles, and heavier types of ammo.

I'll add the "degrees" to the gun.
Sharina
22-01-2005, 23:41
Made the necessary modifications based off my previous post regarding turret size, type, armor, cannon angling, etc.
Sharina
23-01-2005, 20:20
Bump!