NationStates Jolt Archive

To: Kriegzimmer
From: Binarian Goverment
Re: Griffincrest Request

Business is business. It is all about profit. Sell to both sides, stay neutral. The Binarian Goverment wishes for a business replationship that will benfit both of us.

The Imperial Empire of Maldorians, in the NPE, would like to buy the following:

100,000x Khan Class Missile- 129 trillion

OOC: Don't worry, BC, if the denial doesn't go through, hit me up on AIM. I got a good idea. ;)

To: Kreigzimmer
From: Central Prestonian High Command

We have heard many positive reports about the Nakil, and many of our allies currently use it in their armies. As a member of NATO, we are cleared for the Nakil 1A1+, and would like to order 1,000 of them. This total comes to $9.5 billion, which will be wired upon confirmation. We are also interested in purchasing domestic production rights if they exist.

We would like to purchase 1000 Khans, for a total of $1.29 trllion.

~Dr. Jules Hodz
Undersecretary,
Akimonad

To: Kreigzimmer
From: Mr. White, foreign affairs officer

The Dominion of Emperor Pudu is interested in the procurement of your famed Khan-class anti-supercapital missile. We currently employ other methods of removing such threats, but the sheer infamy in the moniker 'Khan', and the legends supported by the capabilities of that piece of technology are enough to convince us of the need to observe first-hand what power comes with the name.

Our order will come to a total of seven-thousand, eight hundred missiles, for a price of one-billion, six-thousand and two-hundred Universal Standard Dollars. This cost will be wired to your organization as soon as confirmation is given. Also, we would like to inquire as to the possibility of ours manufacturing the missiles domestically, under the supervision of Kreigzimmer engineers, of course, so as to ensure the fastest-possible deployment time.

In addition, we are interested in looking into your Nakil main battle tank. This is another piece of technology, famed within it's niche, as one of the premier examples of the art. As our Dominion currently employs, however, the fine ST-39K1 Mekhev II main battle tank, one we consider to be another perfect example of the technology, we will not be immediately interested in purchasing a force of Nakil's.

However, we are interested in observing the capabilities of your tank in action, and will therefore be placing an order for a force of six-thousand Arca IV Nakil units, for the total price of fifty-four billion Universal Standard Dollars. If we deem the Nakil satisfactory it may enter service with either our Imperial Army, or the Praetorian Guard themselves.

All told, our order will come to fifty-five billion, six-thousand, two-hundred Universal Standard Dollars.

Thank you,

Good day,
Mr. White.

We'd like 500 Khan class missiles for our Nero class battleship.

Wiring 64,500,000,000 Rungs upon confirmation.

OOC: as HailandKill is a bit overloaded with RL stuff at the moment, he's handed off the duty of confirming the orders and the like to me, so once I get the time (such as finishing my post for a big RP) I'll begin confirming orders. And a note, There's gonna be a huge freakin back order on the Khans, so for those of you that have ordered in the latter part since the last confirmation, it will take quite some time to get your products to you. Thanks for your patience.

OOC: as HailandKill is a bit overloaded with RL stuff at the moment, he's handed off the duty of confirming the orders and the like to me, so once I get the time (such as finishing my post for a big RP) I'll begin confirming orders. And a note, There's gonna be a huge freakin back order on the Khans, so for those of you that have ordered in the latter part since the last confirmation, it will take quite some time to get your products to you. Thanks for your patience.

OOC: cool, well, take your time. We've waited this long we can wait a bit longer.

just a short bit of confirmations, more to come tomorrow


To: VDF High Command & Department of Defence
From: Substitute Kreigzimmer Board
Dear Sirs/misses, whomever this may concern,

At this time, Kreigzimmer is happy to fill your order for the 30,000 Goshawk attack helicopters, and notes that they will most likely be ready and delievered within the next 60 months. Construction will begin upon receiving payment or upon agreement of some other plan.

[signed]
Kreigzimmer board

To: President Aaron H. Preston, Central Prestonia
From: Substitute Kreigzimmer Board

Dear Sir,

While normally we (the substitute board) aren’t allowed to confirm the sales of nuclear weapons, your status as a NATO member (OOC:which reminds me, sign up on the boards, you lazy ass ;) ) clears you for the export. The construction and the delivery of these weapons should take about 30 months at most.

[signed]
Kreigzimmer board

To: New Manthian Denomination of Strategy Procurement Office
From: Substitute Kreigzimmer Board

Dear Sirs, misses, whomever this may concern,

I am happy to say that your order has been confirmed! Now, with the large amount of ships, it should take about eight to ten years to complete, and the products from ZMI will be included within that shipment as well, including the Shalmanesars.

[signed]
Kreigzimmer board

To: Wagdian Department of Defense
From: Substitute Kreigzimmer Board

Dear Sirs, Misses, whomever this may concern,

Your quite large order is confirmed, and should be completed within the next seven or so years. As for the modifications, I’m not quite sure. Yes, the deliveries can be made to Freudtopia and Generia, but by the point the equipment will be available, I don’t know whether or not it will make a difference.

[signed]
Kreigzimmer board


To: Harakian Defence Minister James Rennan
From: Substitute Kreigzimmer Board

Dear Sir,

At this time, we are checking with ZMI officials as to the possibility of this, so you will be informed as soon as I have word

[signed]
Kreigzimmer board

OOC: Kampf& NPE, as far as I’m aware, the NPE’s not getting any special discounts at this point, and it’s not on the guest list. Hailandkill can override me on this, so ask him if you’ve still got issues with it, and I’d rather not be giving out discounts if I’m not sure, sorry.

To: The OoA Department of Defense
From: Substitute Kreigzimmer Board

Dear Sirs, Misses, whomever this may concern,

I am happy to say that your order has been confirmed. As our shipyards are already dealing with another order, your order will be completed within the next 15 years.

[signed]
Kreigzimmer board

OOC: 15 Years= How many days?

OOC: By my count, 15 days, but double check the front page and see if it's any different.

We'd like 500 Khan class missiles for our Nero class battleship.

Wiring 64,500,000,000 Rungs upon confirmation.

^^
OOC: Just incase you didn't see.

IC:

We'd like to officially request of The Kriegzimmer board to no longer supply the Order of America with weapons.

The Order of America is not only a very hostile nation, but at one point, threatened the entire world with nuclear weapons.

The Order of America is also building weapons to have an eventual face-off with us.

We request that you deny all further orders from them.

For the safety of your ship crews and for obvious economic reasons, dead men can't pay.

Message from the Board

At this time, all orders are confirmed, and there is quite a large backorder on Khans already due to the Empire of the Golden Throne's allies being at war, and most production diverted to their needs. All orders not previously confirmed, are hereby confirmed. Maldorians, your shipment of 100,000 Khans will be completed within the next 144 months. Pudu, your order of Khans will take roughly 24 months, with the final delivery of the rest of your equipment arriving at the latest, 18 months after the final Khan is delivered. Blackhelm and Urcea, both your requests are hereby denied, and if anything, continuing to do this type of conduct may have you blacklisted in the near future, plus it is the policy of Kreigzimmer to sell to all nations, save those on the blacklist, and neither the Order of America or 1010102 are on said list.

[signed]

Kreigzimmer board

OOC: Edited to fix the IC and OOC mix, once again, my apologies for that.

Message from the Board

At this time, all orders are confirmed, and there is quite a large backorder on Khans already due to the Empire of the Golden Throne's allies being at war, and most production diverted to their needs. All orders not previously confirmed, are hereby confirmed. Maldorians, your shipment of 100,000 Khans will be completed within the next 144 months. Pudu, your order of Khans will take roughly 24 months, with the final delivery of the rest of your equipment arriving at the latest, 18 months after the final Khan is delivered. Blackhelm and Urcea, both your requests are hereby denied, and if anything, your membership in the Corporate Alliance may have you blacklisted in the near future, plus it is the policy of Kreigzimmer to sell to all nations, save those on the blacklist, and neither the Order of America or 1010102 are on said list.

[signed]

Kreigzimmer board

OOC: Pudu, and Maldorians are also members of the CA. And if you read Macabee's previous posts dealing with us, he loves the CA because we constantly buy stuff from him and he greets us with lots of vigor. Order of America was also in the CA but I believed he was removed after noobish conduct that we couldn't stain our names with.

We are also the only major antagonists for those not in Haven. A necessary function of NS or else it'd just be conference thread after conference thread, storefronts, war games and closed wars between countries.

EDIT: Also Kreigzimmer is the Griffencrest Corporation's main tank source. Hell, he himself designed the Chariot.

OOC: Pudu, and Maldorians are also members of the CA. And if you read Macabee's previous posts dealing with us, he loves the CA because we constantly buy stuff from him and he greets us with lots of vigor. Order of America was also in the CA but I believed he was removed after noobish conduct that we couldn't stain our names with.

We are also the only major antagonists for those not in Haven. A necessary function of NS or else it'd just be conference thread after conference thread, storefronts, war games and closed wars between countries.

OOC: I think he knows something you dont. Same response from him as from TSS...

The Alversian People's Army would like to purchase 100,000 Hali-53's for $360,000,000

From The Kreigzimmer Board

The Order from the Alversian People's army for 100K Hali-53 Assault Rifles is hereby confirmed, and to be delivered within the next two years.



OOC:bah, silly of me to mix OOC and IC/ well... sort of... Last I heard before mac left, the CA was on the downhill of Kreig's favor, so I reflected as much, and it also seemed a rather nice slap in the face for asking an armaments company to stop its sales.

OOC:bah, silly of me to mix OOC and IC/ well... sort of... Last I heard before mac left, the CA was on the downhill of Kreig's favor, so I reflected as much, and it also seemed a rather nice slap in the face for asking an armaments company to stop its sales.

OOC: He's done it before. Though the details are known by Urcea and he signed off a few minutes ago. He's also asked me to stop an arms shipment to a country he was warring with and bought those guns to be shot as target practice.

OOC: He's done it before. Though the details are known by Urcea and he signed off a few minutes ago. He's also asked me to stop an arms shipment to a country he was warring with and bought those guns to be shot as target practice.

OOC: Yea, Pudu and I are in the CA. Leafy was right. I read/heard something about Macabee's with the CA. I doubt that he would blacklist us.

Encrypted Communique

The Democratic Imperium would like to purchase production rights to both the Khan and Sledgehammer II anti-shipping missiles. The requisite funds will be wired upon confirmation of our order.

End Encrypted Communique

OOC: Leafanistan, since when was I in the CA?!, That is rather insulting!!!!

To: Kreigzimmer Storefront
From: The OoA

I am currently no threat to Urcea. I am simply trying to defend Myself from a rebellion that has ensued in my own nation. If there are any other questions about the Stability and integrity of My Military please let me know.

Sincerely,
Robert Lee
Minister of Defense

_____________________________________________________________________________________

To: Urcea
From: The OoA

I wish to know what makes you think we would be building up arms in order to have a Face off with you. We are simply defending ourselves from the Rebel scum in our nation. We have neither the Military Might or the Stability at this time to war with you. On the Matter of Operation:BoneCrusher, We will be willing to defeat any nation who supports the Rebellion, of Course one would hope that you would be far from that. If you have committed no crime than why are you so desperate to remove my nation from performing business with the Kreigzimmer Storefront?

Sincerely,
George Kong
Prime Ambassador of The OoA

OOC: About the whole nuke thing, I was very desperate, and I definatley wasn't the one running around glassing nations, that my friend was the CA. You can look at the thread....

OOC: Leafanistan, since when was I in the CA?!, That is rather insulting!!!!

To: Kreigzimmer Storefront
From: The OoA

I am currently no threat to Urcea. I am simply trying to defend Myself from a rebellion that has ensued in my own nation. If there are any other questions about the Stability and integrity of My Military please let me know.

Sincerely,
Robert Lee
Minister of Defense

_____________________________________________________________________________________

To: Urcea
From: The OoA

I wish to know what makes you think we would be building up arms in order to have a Face off with you. We are simply defending ourselves from the Rebel scum in our nation. We have neither the Military Might or the Stability at this time to war with you. On the Matter of Operation:BoneCrusher, We will be willing to defeat any nation who supports the Rebellion, of Course one would hope that you would be far from that. If you have committed no crime than why are you so desperate to remove my nation from performing business with the Kreigzimmer Storefront?

Sincerely,
George Kong
Prime Ambassador of The OoA

OOC: About the whole nuke thing, I was very desperate, and I definatley wasn't the one running around glassing nations, that my friend was the CA. You can look at the thread....

OOC: I wasn't the one threatening ZOMG I ONLY GOTS 5 MILLION PPL AND A BUDGET THE SIZE OF A SHELLFISH BUT I CAN HANDLE NUKES AND I WILL NUKE U IF U DONT GO AWAY!!!!!!

IC:

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/8522/flagofurceankingdomwv1.png

ATTENTION: The Order of America
SENDER: Urcea

Please. Save your lies for your people. You and your allies have always planned to attack my nation and my possessions. You take me for some kind of fool?

Nevertheless, 30,000,000 troops are mobilizing for the defense of my nation's mainland.

Another 7,000,000 are mobilizing to dispatch to the New York Colony.

To: Urcea
From: The OoA

It is within your right and your power to step up your defenses, but I assure unless something very different occurs we have no intention of attacking you. Are allies might have different views, but if I was was interested in attacking you I would have done it long ago.

Sincerely,
George Kong
Prime Ambassador of The OoA

OOC: I don't think The Maccabees would appreciate us posting all this crap on his Storefront, lets take this somewhere else....

Message from the Imperial Department of Military Precurement and Construction

Under the Direction of the Continental Emperor, The Imperial Ministry of War and Defense has launched a rigorous modernization program. As part of the plan, we are looking to built up our ground forces to fight the wars of tomorrow and the future.

Therefore, as a member of NATO, We would like to aquire the rights to the YU.13 Gargantel Self-Propelled Howitzer, all Artillery Shells/Munitions, Praetorian II Mobile Surface to Air Missile Battery, P.746.F Ultra Long Range Surface to Air Missile, P.746.A et P.746.B Surface to Air Missile, Hali-53 Assault Rifle, and the Arica I Shalmanesar Armoured Personnel Carrier.

Also, we would like to upgrade our force of 60,000 Nakil 1A1 to the Nakil 1A1+

Signed,
Imperial Director of Military Precurement and Construction
Braxant

OOC: Illior, have you taken over as chief order reviewer? I know H&K didn't have the time a while back when Mac first left (running a storefront takes a lot of work, as you probably well know!)

On a side note to Malatose, Mac didn't tend to accept production rights unless they were under the table recently, but i'll leave it to illior.

The OoA, i'd agree, this doesn't belong in the storefront and it won't help you discussing it here(its not even publicly being discussed).

Finally, i'd be surprised if Mac black listed CA members such as Blackhelm, in the past i think Mac has been quite helpful and responded quickly to orders, but again i don't know everything :P.

Sorry for all the OOC, i would make some orders but i've made arrangements with Mac so i have no need atm.

OOC: yeah, I've taken over for a bit, and I edited the post to make it seem a more appropriate response, I realize now that it was far too much OOC/IC mixing, my apologies to Blackhelm and Urcea for this silly conduct of mine, and now back to confirming.

EDIT 1: BC and Urcea, my reasoning behind the rejection of your requests was because I had no specific instructions to be able to deny orders on that ground

-- Official Purchase Request --
Denomination of Strategy Procurement Office

Greetings once again to our friends at Kriegzimmer. Kriegzimmer products from our many previous purchases have served us superlatively in recent years, and as the Greater Economic Union gears up for war once more, we find ourselves once again in need of your products.

The Denomination would like to order the following:

15,000 Nakil 1A1GU main battle tanks - 135 bn
35,000,000 ATG-44 land mines - 10.5 bn
45,000 Arca II Ashurbanipal light tanks - 189 bn
20,000 YU.13 Gargantel Self-Propelled Howitzers - 94 bn
35,000 Corbulo field guns - 22.75 bn
Domestic production rights, G6 howitzer - 14.4 bn
Domestic production rights, G17 howitzer - 17.4 bn
Domestic production rights, G11B, C, H - 8.1 bn
27,500 Oriontus mobile guns - 46.75 bn
15,000 Ejiard IFVs - 52.5 bn
20,000 Praetorian II Mobile SAMs - 34 bn
8,000 Sledgehammer II missiles - 59.2 bn
300 Lu-27 Hypersonic Interceptors - 96 bn

Domestic production rights, all 155mm artillery shells - .535 bn

The total for this order should come to 780.135 bn.

In addition, a recent engagement against Questarian-built Ajax battleships, in which the Khan missile successfully destroyed all three enemy vessels upon first strike, has buoyed the Coastal Artillery Command Executive's confidence in the missile. We would therefore like to order four thousand additional missiles from ZMI, for a total of 516 billion rungs.

Regards.

Official Purchase Request
Denomination of Strategy Procurement Office

Greetings. We would like to append the following to our last order:

200 Cartagena class SSNs - 220 bn
3,000 Valencia class SSKs - 225 bn
120 Cadiz-class SSBNs - 108 bn
150 Tenerife-class SSHs - 210 bn

The total for this order should come to 763 bn.

Regards.

My Apologies New Manth for the shitty response, but as of late my NS time has been seriously limited, so this will be short and sweet. Your order has been confirmed and will be fully finished within the next ten years, and the khans within the next 12.

Official Diplomatic Communique

We'd like to adquire a further one hundred (100) Khans.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Coat_of_arms_of_East_Germany.svg/200px-Coat_of_arms_of_East_Germany.svg.png

***OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION OF THE WANDERJARIAN GOVERNMENT***


Good day to you, the Empire of Wanderjar wishes to inquire about the purchasing of some fifty thousand Panzerkampfwaggen XI BredtSverd Battle Tanks. The total cost for this transaction is: $400,000,000,000 USD


Good day to you, and thank you.

~Emperor Baker

ViZion wishes to purchase the following:

5,000 Corbulo Self-Propelled 155mm Field Gun ($3.25 billion)
1,000 SPAA-1 Anti-Aircraft Artillery Vehicle ($2.7 billion)

We would like to know the cost of the Khan Strategic Anti-Shipping Missile.

Greetings,

In the continued efforts to provide for our glorious nation's defense, the government of Vandaheim wishes to purchase the following:

[Mechanized Infantry Division Package] x3
10,000x BDU-64 Samson Battle Suits
10,000x Hali-53 Assault Rifles
10,000x Hol-24 Sidearm Pistols
150x Arca. II Ashurbanipal Light Tanks
300x Arica. I Shalmanesar Heavy APCs
50x Gargantel Self Propelled Artillery Gun
50x Praetorian II Mobile SAMs
10x 150mm Panzerwerfer M-2000 MRLS
20x Munich Mobile Anti-tank Vehicle
--------------------------------------------
Cost: 2,991,000,000 USD [2.991 billion] each




[Armor Division Package] x3
3,000x BDU-64 Samson Battle Suits
3,000x Hali-53 Assault Rifles
3,000x Hol-24 Sidearm Pistols
70x Tagus ATGM
275 Nakíl 1A1GUs
100 Oriontus 120mm Mobile Gun Systems
375 Arica. I Shalmanesar Heavy APCs
100 Gargantel Self Propelled Artillery Gun
50 Praetorian II Mobile SAM
30 G6 Self-propelled 120mm Mortar
--------------------------------------------
Cost: $3 billion each

Total: 17.973 Billion USD

Payment half in advance, half upon delivery.

Thank you,

Cal Penderson,
Director
Vandaheim Military Material Command

My Apologies New Manth for the shitty response, but as of late my NS time has been seriously limited, so this will be short and sweet. Your order has been confirmed and will be fully finished within the next ten years, and the khans within the next 12.

Excellent. The transfer of funds has been arranged. In the interests of expediency, however, we would like to inquire whether we could produce some of the purchased weapons domestically via a limited license. We are particularly concerned that the tanks and mobile artillery be available quickly, and of course full oversight and access to the relevant factories will be granted to Kriegzimmer officials.

Greetings!

Today, we wish to purchase:

10,000x Khan Class Missile- 12.9 trillion

10 trillion dollars will be wired from a fresh check given to us by someone apreciative of our fight against the CA.

2.9 trillion will come out of of normal budgeting.

My apologies once again for the lack of a true IC response but all orders are hereby confirmed.

TWSP, again due to the backorder of Khans (and I mean serious backorder here), those further 100 will take another two months on your previous estimated completion time.

Wanderjar, Confirmed, expect delivery within the next 48 months.

Vizion, confirmed, expect delivery within the next 24 months, and as to the cost of the Khan, if I remember correctly, it's 129 Million Rungs, but it should say in its post.

Vanadaheim, Confirmed, and expect delivery within the next 30 months.

New Manth, OOCly I have no clue as to Mac's limited production rights rules or the like, but as to your timeline, the longer is only due to the ships being in the order which takes a lot of construction time and the huge backorder of Khans, so your actual ground shipments should be done within the next 5, and the Nakils within the next three.

Kampfers, Order is hereby confirmed, but again, there's a rather large backorder on Khans, so it'll probably be finished within the next nine years or so.

That is most satisfactory.

Regards.

Kampfers, Order is hereby confirmed, but again, there's a rather large backorder on Khans, so it'll probably be finished within the next nine years or so.

No problem. A few days to wait isn't that bad.

From: USSW Department of Defense
To: Kriegzimmer Board

We are most grateful for yor fulfillment of our prior order, and are ready to use your endorsed wares in still further dimensions of warfare. Namely, we feel that we simply cannot wait in procuring Khans for our use; having experienced its power firsthand and being practical enough to see sense in adopting it for the time being. Hence, nine-thousand (9,000) Khans at a total of 11.61 Billion standard dollars ($11,610,000,000) is desired by our navy for use in duly-refitted missile submarines of our own.

Also, are individual-round or unit-of-fire batch prices for the Praetorian II munition variants available? Either way for that, delivery time estimates are requested, especially for the first tenth of the order; and if any price corrections are required we can accommodate them, money being ready for wiring in whatever required sum.

Humbly and Sincerely,
James Dolands
Deputy Secretary of Defense for Procurement, USSW Revolutionary Command Council

The Greal army would like to buy 25,000 upgraded Nakil Tanks.

To: Kriegzimmer
From: Department of Defense

We would like to purchase the following:

5,000x Nakil 1A1 Main Battle Tank

Total: $45 Billion

Money to be wired upon confirmation.

We would like to place an order for four (4) Argentine Class Super Dreadnought Killers.

Once again, I apologize for the brief post, but once again, Real life has decided to play complete hell with my time. Both orders are confirmed.

Official Purchase Request
Denomination of Strategy Procurement Office

The Denomination sends its regards to the fine people at Kriegzimmer. We are back once again, as the worsening situation in Cazelia has required that we increase our defensive capabilities.

Funds have been allocated for the purchase of the following vehicles:

50,000 Arica I Shalmanesar APCs. We would prefer to produce these domestically under limited license.
12,000 Nakil 1A1GUs - 108 bn
4 Grospek-class battlecruisers - 21.6 bn
300 Cartagena-class SSNs - 330 bn
150 Tenerife-class SSHs - 210 bn
4 Indestructable-class aircraft carriers - 28 bn
5 Taniat-class AAW battlecruisers - 26 bn
30,000 Oriontus mobile gun systems. We would also prefer to produce these domestically.

The total for equipment ordered direct from Kriegzimmer should come to 723.6 bn.

Regards

Greetings,

Pleased with our past Kriegzimmer purchases, the government of Vandaheim wishes to purchase the following:

[Mechanized Infantry Division Package] x3
10,000x BDU-64 Samson Battle Suits
10,000x Hali-53 Assault Rifles
10,000x Hol-24 Sidearm Pistols
150x Arca. II Ashurbanipal Light Tanks
300x Arica. I Shalmanesar Heavy APCs
50x Gargantel Self Propelled Artillery Gun
50x Praetorian II Mobile SAMs
10x 150mm Panzerwerfer M-2000 MRLS
20x Munich Mobile Anti-tank Vehicle
--------------------------------------------
Cost: 2,991,000,000 USD [2.991 billion] each




[Armor Division Package] x3
3,000x BDU-64 Samson Battle Suits
3,000x Hali-53 Assault Rifles
3,000x Hol-24 Sidearm Pistols
70x Tagus ATGM
275 Nakíl 1A1GUs
100 Oriontus 120mm Mobile Gun Systems
375 Arica. I Shalmanesar Heavy APCs
100 Gargantel Self Propelled Artillery Gun
50 Praetorian II Mobile SAM
30 G6 Self-propelled 120mm Mortar
--------------------------------------------
Cost: $3 billion each

100x GF15 Valkyrie Anti-Armour Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle 3.4billion
200x GF11 Archer Tactical Reconnaissance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle 3.0

Total: 24.373 Billion USD

Payment half in advance, half upon delivery.

Thank you,

Cal Penderson,
Director
Vandaheim Military Material Command

To: Kreigzimmer
From: Department of Defense

Before the Nakils we ordered are shipped, we request they be upgraded to 1A1GUs. The full amount including upgrade will be paid upon delivery.

Official Purchase Request
Denomination of Strategy Procurement Office

Funds have been set aside for the following purchase:

10 Indestructable-class aircraft carriers - 70 bn
80 Carrenzei-class cruisers - 184 bn
200 Paramount-class air defense vessels - 140 bn
100 Pepperbox LSVs - 20 bn

Total - 414 bn

And from ZMI,
900 Stormhammer 16" howitzers - 207 bn
900 Mule tow vehicles - 67.5 bn
20 Type 1000 bombers - 80 bn
2,000 Falling Hammers - 32 bn

Total - 386.5 bn

And from Dostanuot Loj/Sumer,
100 AVT-12s, with the possibility of a much larger purchase in the future - 3.8 bn

Regards

Greetings good sir. Today, we wish to purchase:

75 Be-23 Archimede's Lever Heavy Tranport Aircraft

for the price of 14.25 billion.

Thank you, good sir.

The Free Land of Faxanavia would like to purchase:
1 Mechanized Infantry Division Package
for 2,991,000,000 USD
The amount will be wired upon reception of the shipment.

The Order of America requires 450 Lu-45 Hawk Air Superiority Aircraft

Official Purchase Request
Denomination of Strategy Procurement Office

The Denomination would like to domestically produce under limited license an additional 150,000 Arica I Shalmanesar APCs, and fifty thousand Nakil 1A1GUs.

More substantial orders will likely be upcoming.

Regards

Same as usual, NS time is limited for me, so all orders confirmed.

Official Allanean Government Request

We require the following weaponry:

10 Carrier Battle Groups, to be delivered to our Arterus Colony of Pobeda
1 submersible package, to be delivered to the same location.

We will pay 210 billion dollars for this. As usual, all production is to be conducted in the Kriegzimmer docks in Alanea.

The Greal Government would like to purchase

10,000 Upgraded Nakil Tanks-90 billion
1000 Lu-25 Black Mariah STOVL Multi-Role Aircraft- 80 billion
100 GLI-113 'Ank'ríat' Super Heavy Bombers-170 billion
10,000 Arica I Shalmanesar Armoured Personnel Carriers-32 billion
5 Indestructable class Aircraft Carriers [CVN]- 35 billion
100 Illium class Guided Missile Destroyers [DDGN]- 120 billion
10 Armor Division Packages-30 billion

total cost: 557 billion

As usual, I apologize for the shitty post, but all orders are confirmed.

Official Request of the Allanean Government

We require the following vessels and equipment to be produced in Kriegzimmer’s shipbuilding facilities in Allanea:

1 Indestructible-class aircraft carrier:

USS Ronald Wilson Reagan

10 Elusive-class battleships
USS Thomas Gerard Tancredo
USS John Morrison Birch
USS Patrick Joseph Buchanan
USS Alfred Emmanuel Smith
USS John William Davis
USS Dean Gooderham Acheson
USS John Jakob Raskob
USS Jouett Shouse
USS Lynn van Huizen
USS Randall Claude Weaver

10 Paramount-class ADV’s:
USS Archer
USS Bowman
USS Marksman
USS Sniper
USS Minuteman
USS Reach Out and Touch Them
USS Longshot
USS Rifleman
USS Crossbow

10 Dienstad-class SPV’s

USS First To Fight
USS Awesome
USS Fearless
USS Unstoppable
USS Courageous
USS Victorious
USS Valiant
USS True and Brave
USS Spearhead
USS Glorious

30 Pepperbox-class LSV’s

Further, we wish to receive 10,000 Vauntic Mod B drones, manufactured by ZMI

The total cost for this endeavor will be 104 billion dollars.

We in Fatahland wish to purchase 10,000 Hali-53 AR's.

OOC: Yea, Pudu and I are in the CA. Leafy was right. I read/heard something about Macabee's with the CA. I doubt that he would blacklist us.
[OOC: Then can you please explain this? (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=11976462&postcount=114)]

Hello,

Seeing the upgrades of the Nakil, the Errikan Empire wishes not only to upgrade our current 50,000 units, at a cost of $1.7 mil apice, if we interpreted the instructions properly, but also to purchase an additional 50,000 upgraded units (at $9 mil apice if we interpreted the instructions properly), for a total cost of $535 billion US, which can be paid in full immediately.

From: USSW Department of Defense
To: Kriegzimmer

Having been previously satisfied with our Kriegzimmer wares, we've decided to expand our arsenal pending a thorough reorganization of our armed forces to come. Hence, we wish to order the following supplements to our prior purchases...

20,000 Nakíl 1A1GU MBTs ($180,000,000,000)
50,000 G11/A Armed Reconnaissance Vehicle ($115,000,000,000)
30,000 G11/C Artillery Command Vehicles ($69,000,000,000)
50,000 G11/D Smoke Generator Vehicle ($115,000,000,000)
50,000 G11/F Electronic Warfare Vehicle ($155,000,000,000)
80,000 G11/G Tank Destroyers ($256,000,000,000)
100,000 Ashurbanipal Light Tanks ($420,000,000,000)
800,000 Tagus Antitank Missiles ($20,000,000,000)
15,000 Corbulo Light SP Guns ($9,750,000,000)
25,000 Panzerwerfer M-2000 MRLS ($15,000,000,000)
65,000 Gertantel SP Guns ($305,500,000,000)
22,000 Asnít MLRS ($63,800,000,000)
22,000 Regisnár SRBMs ($81,400,000,000)
5,000 Praetorian II SAMs ($8,500,000,000)
80,000 SPAA-1 SPAA ($216,000,000,000)
50,000 TXI.14 'Carposis' Anti-Air Howitzer ($140,000,000,000)
5,000 Khan Strategic Antishipping Missiles (645,000,000,000 Rungs, equalling $1,018,584,000,000)
Total: $3,188,534,000,000 USD

We believe this order is correctly tabulated, accounting for the Rungs/Dollars conversion factor in the Khans' case, but we will accept any charges required to cover errors on our part. Money in the designated sum is ready for wiring upon order confirmation, and we thank you again for providing such quality armaments and excellent service as Kriegzimmer is known for; if not synonymous with, in fact.

With Respects,
James Dolands
Deputy Secretary of Defense for Procurement, USSW Revolutionary Command Council

Once again, sorry for the delay, but life has its ways. Due to evidence submitted by SEA, all orders made by CA nations/affiliates are now nulled, retconned etc due to my ignorance, and shame on them for taking advantage of an ill informed storefront operator. All other orders are confirmed.

Once again, sorry for the delay, but life has its ways. Due to evidence submitted by SEA, all orders made by CA nations/affiliates are now nulled, retconned etc due to my ignorance, and shame on them for taking advantage of an ill informed storefront operator. All other orders are confirmed.

ooc: Certainly not trying to take advantage of you in any way. I did not know of the linked post before SEA pointed it out, but I would still like to point out that Kraven is not an active part of the CA anymore (at least as far as I know) and thus I assume we would have no reason to be belligerent towards SEA.

I did not have any problems ordering equipment from Mac while he was around, though I was a part of the CA at that time, so I would think that post is out of date?

Knowing this, Kriegzimmer, although free to make its own decisions, has decided that it will no longer export to nations belligerent to Southeast Asia.

As for myself I have never bothered them nor do I intend to.

Greal would like to buy 200 GLI-113 'Ank'ríat' Super Heavy Bombers for 340 billion.

Official Allanean Order Form

We wish to order the following items from Kriegzimmer:

10 carrier battle groups
10 Ocean class carriers

The total cost is 171.75 billion dollars, and we request that these be produced in your factories in Allanea. If that proves difficult, we will provide an additional 10 billion dollars to aid you in the production.

Further, we would like to order 1,000 ZMI Khan missiles for 129 billion dollars.

Sincerely yours, the Allaneans.

OOC: Illior told me over AiM my order is confirmed. So here.

IC:
Official Allanean Order Form

As our navy is currently completely subpar, comprised merely of 4,000 ships, we decided to fix that. As a stop-gap measure, we will order 2,110 various support and combat ships from Kriegzimmer, as follows:

10 Argentine class Galleons
100 Elusive Class battleships
100 Taniat AA Battlecruisers
200 PepperboxLSV
100 Carrier Battle Group Packages

Total cost: 4,005 billion dollars, of which 3955 will come from Allanea’s own military budget, and 50 from the Maccabees Foreign Military Support program. As such, we would like 10 of Elusive class battleships to be built within Maccabees itself – to comply with the terms of the program – and the rest to be built in Kriegzimmer’s extensive factories in Allanea.

Apologies, but life has been bitchy, confirmed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v42/allanea/Propaganda/department.gif
Official Department of Defense Order Form


We wish to now purchase the following vessels:

10 Kristik class battleships
110 Elusive class battleships
100 Azores class Fast Attack Craft
200 Morsky Orol class battlecruisers

We request that these be produced in Kriegzimmer’s extensive shipyards in the United States of Allanea, except for 10 Elusive class battleships to be built in the Maccabees under the Kingdom’s own Foreign Military Support budget. The total for this part of the order is 959 billion.

Outside of orders from Kriegzimmer itself, we would like to make an additional order from ZMI, to amount to 1.29 trillion dollars, or 10,000 Khan missiles.

We would like to thank both ZMI and Kriegzimmer for doing business with us.a

Sincerely yours,
The Allaneans

Greal would like to buy


65,000 Upgraded Nakil tanks for 617.5 billion
1 Feathermore class Super Dreadnought for 524 billion
1 million Hali-53 Multi-Service Assault Rifles for 3.8 billion
3 Argentine class Galleons for 390 billion

total cost: 1.5353 trillion

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v42/allanea/Propaganda/department.gif
Official Department of Defense Order Form


We wish to now purchase the following:

1,000 Azores class Fast Attack craft
1,000 Blackjester IRBC
1,000 GF-15 Anti-Armor UCAVs
100 Pepperbox class LSV's.

These will cost 700 billion dollars and are to be produced in Kriegzimmer factories in Allanea. Outsie that, we would like to also order 10 Elusive class battleships to be produced in Kriegzimmer factories in the Maccabees, to benefit from their FMS program.

TO: Kriegzimmer
FROM: USSW Department of Defense

To both correct an omission in our previous order, and build up a rapid-reaction and training-OPFOR fleet, we wish to order the following...

100,000 Arica.I Shalmaneser APCs ($320 Billion USD)
50,000 SRE.24 Asnit Multiple Rocket Launcher (145 Billion USD)
30,000 G11/H Ambulances ($78 Billion USD)
1 Feathermore class SD ($524 Billion USD)
4 Paramount class ADVs ($2.8 Billion USD)
5 Indestructible class CVNs ($35 Billion USD)
5 Kristík class BBNs ($43 Billion USD)
15 Ingerier class BCNs ($85.5 Billion USD)
10 Grospek class BCGNs ($54 Billion USD)
75 Illium class DDGNs ($90 Billion USD)
25 Pepperbox class LSVs ($5 Billion USD)
5 Dienstad class SPVs ($13.5 Billion USD)
5 Cadiz class SSBNs ($4.5 Billion USD)
10 Tenerife class SSHs ($14 Billion USD)
10 Valencia class SSKs ($750 Million USD)
750 GLI-76 Falcon VTOL Multi-Role Aircraft (42 Billion USD
75 GF11 Archer Tactical Reconnaissance UAV ($1.125 Billion USD)
TOTAL: $1,458,175,000,000 USD

Money in the required amount is ready for wiring from our defense coffers, and we thank you for your excellent service as always. We believe that these vessels and the ancillary items ordered will more than fulfill our expectations once fully in service.

Sincerely,
James Dolands
Deputy Secretary of Defense for Procurement, USSW Revolutionary Command Council

To: Kriegzimmer
From: Animarnian DoD
Greetings to Kriegzimmer

Greetings; we would like to purchase the following to boost our forces and replace our older hardware 137,000 Arica I Shalmanesar Armoured Personnel Carrier; and and additonal 100,000 Nakil General Upgrades to compliment our already extensive Nakil battle tanks, 230,000 Praetorian II Mobile Surface to Air Missile Battery's entirely replacing our mobile Patriot System we would also like DPR's for the P.746.X Praetorian and its variants if avalable. 57,000 SPAA-1 Anti-Aircraft Artillery Vehicle and finnally 300 Type 1000 Type 1000 Strategic Bomber. this order comes to $2.2 Trillion USD with a little extra thrown in for your trouble

Thank you for your time and fine Products.

The Imperial Kingdom of Ezaltia would like to inquire whether domestic production rights of the BDU-64 Sampson battlesuit are available.

OOC: Also, a question. If the exoskeleton 'power suit' part was removed, would the outfit be suitable for MT warfare?

Military Joint Purchase Order
The Holy Reich of The Peoples Freedom would like to purchase 100,000,000 Samson Battle Suits to be paid over the course of twenty to thirty years, depending on your preference. However, TPF is a notable ally of Macabees and one of Kriegzimmer's largest customers, and as such we would ask for domestic production rights if allowed. We would allow inspectors to inspect the factories where they are being produced if wanted, and our own counter-intelligence agency would work extremely hard to make sure no leaks of the technology reaches enemy hands. Thank you.

OOC: Should we get someone confirm the orders or something.

As usual, all orders confirmed, TPF: I can't confirm DPR requests unless I hear otherwise from Mac or H&K. Once again, sorry for the brevity and the lateness of this reply, but as usual, school is kicking my ass.

Official Allanean Government Response

We request the following equipment, to be funded under the Maccabees Foreign Military Support Program, and produced in the Maccabees:

1,500,000 TIR.76.155 ER DPICM Rounds
1,000,000 TIR.21.155 SADARM Rounds
2,000,000 TIR.81.155 ADAM Rounds
500,000 TIR.17.155 RAAM Rounds

Total Cost: 50 billion dollars

However, above and beyond that, we require to have additional artillery munitions produced by Kriegzimmer's factories in Allanea, paid for by our own money

10,900,000 TIR.11.155 HE Rounds
1,000,000 TIR.217.155 HD Rounds
23,000,000 TIR.76.155 ER DPICM Rounds
10,000,000 TIR.21.155 SADARM Rounds
100,000 TIR.31.155 AFAP Rounds

Total Cost: 506.3 billion

To: Kriegzimmer Board
From: USSW Department of Defense

Satisfied utterly with the performance of our Kriegzimmer wares thus far, we wish to order the following to buttress our ordnance supplies for possible emerging contingencies; as well as round out our OPFOR fleet's capabilities...

50,000 each of Sledgehammer II Univeral Antiship Cruise Missiles, Principe III Antiship Missiles/Torpedoes, Av.36 Hammerhead ADCAP Torpedoes, Av.17 Tiburon Light Torpedoes, and Av.92 Calisto Supercavitating Torpedoes. ($1,280,000,000,000)
1,000,000 each of Tagus Antitank Missiles, TIR.11.155 HE Rounds, TIR.76.155 ER DPICM Rounds, TIR.21.155 SADARM Rounds, TIR.33.155 TCR Rounds, TIR.217.155 HD Round, and TIR.17.155 RAAM Rounds, and TIR.81.155 ADAM Rounds. ($88,500,000,000 USD)
5 Maiden class SSCVNs ($30,000,000,000 USD)
10 Tenerife class SSHs ($14,000,000,000 USD)
50 GLI.76 Falcon VTOL Multirole Fighters ($2,800,000,000 USD)
TOTAL: $1,415,300,000 USD

The required sum is ready for wiring upon order confirmation, and we thank you for your excellent service as always. If there are any errors or omissions in our accounting, feel free to charge us as needed to cover them.

Sincerely,
James Dolands
Deputy Secretary of Defense for Procurement, USSW Revolutionary Command Council

Greal would like to buy 40 million BDU-64 Samson Battlesuits for 2 billion total cost.

To: Kriegzimmer Board
From: Charles Hagleford, Minister of War
Subject: Procurement of Armored Vehicles

Dear Sirs,

Over the past couple of years, our nation's military has begun to notice a decline in the effectiveness of our current armored vehicles that are manufactured here in our nation. After much thought and consideration, our government has decided not to put forth the money to research and upgrade the current weapon systems we have. Instead, they have decided that, like our navy, we should go abroad for new armored vehicles. With that being said, we have decided upon looking at several different options available to us that your company is the right one to supply our army for many years to come. Our order is a rather large one and is as follows:

438,000 Nakíl 1A1GU $3,942,000,000,000
164,250 Arca. II Ashurbanipal LBT $689,850,000,000
109,500 SOV.17 Ejíard ICV $383,250,000,000
164,250 Arica I Shalmanesar APC $525,600,000,000
10,950 YU.13 Gargantel Self-Propelled Howitzer $51,465,000,000
21,900 Praetorian II Mobile SAM Battery $37,230,000,000
21,900 SPAA-1 AA Artillery Vehicle $59,130,000,000
10,950 G11/C Artillery Command Vehicle $25,185,000,000
43,800 G11/A Armed Reconnaissance Vehicle $100,740,000,000
43,800 G11/H Ambulance $113,880,000,000
21,900 G11/G Light Tank Hunter $70,080,000,000
16,425 G11/F Electronic Warfare Vehicle $50,917,500,000

Grand Total $6,049,327,500,000

Due to the large size of the order and hefty price, we would appreciate is if the order could be shipped in two deliveries of $3,024,663,750,000 each. If this plan is not agreeable, then it is acceptable to pay for the whole shipment at once, the choice is yours. That I believe concludes our business for today, and we look forward to continuing it another time.

Signed,
Charles Hagleford
Charles Hagleford
Minister of War for Beta Aurigae

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/1480/ddwuploadfs9.png

We would like to make a further order for 250,000 Nakil 1A1GU Main Battle Tanks. 10,000 of these should be delivered to Skamania and Duloc, and 2,500 to Aperture Science, however they will come out of the Barronian Defence Budget.

The total cost of these we believe comes to: $2,250,000,000,000, or $2.25 Trillion Universal Standard Dollars (USD). This is our main purchase for the year, and so takes up the major part of our procurement budget.

We look forward to confirmation of this order.

The great nation of logan and ky would like to purchase the following:

1 Argentine class galleon
5 Paramount class ADV's

This comes to a total of 133.5 billion USD. Money will be wired upon confirmation.

As usual, once again, all orders confirmed... my apologies for not being able to write out a formal post and for the time delay.

Greal would like to buy

200 GLI-113 'Ank'ríat' Super Heavy Bombers for 340 billion
200 GLI-34 Albatross Heavy Bombes for 500 billion
50,000 Nakil 1A1GU Main Battle Tankss for 450 billion


total cost: 1.290 trillion

SIC:

Heavily Encrypted Transmission:

We require 500 BDU-64 Samson Battle Suit for the total cost of $25,000,000. These will go to equipping our special forces and we would appreciate if news of this deal did not go out.

- Kampferian Department of Military Purchases (KDMP)

OOC: short and to the point...

From: USSW Department of Defense
To: Kriegzimmer Board

Seeking to expand the viability of our OPFOR training fleet in its duties of simulating a moderate-strength naval threat force, or alternately as a reserve fleet in wartime, we wish to order the following to expand upon our previous naval purchases. In addition, we also place relevant orders for the listed land vehicles to expand our combat engineering and siege warfare capabilities...


1 Pacitalia Class Galleon ($265 Billion USD)
4 Paramount Class ADVs ($2.8 Billion USD)
20 Indestructible Class CVNs ($140 Billion USD)
20 Kristík Class BBNs ($172 Billion USD)
10 Ingerier Class BCNs ($57 Billion USD)
15 Grospek Class BCGNs ($81 Billion USD)
50 Illium Class DDNs ($60 Billion USD)
20 Dienstad Class SPV's ($54 Billion USD)
5 Tenerife Class SSHs ($7 Billion USD)
15 Valencia Class SSKs ($1.125 Billion USD)
3,000 GLI-76 Falcon VTOL Multi-Role Aircraft ($168 Billion USD)
300 GF-11 Archer Tactical Reconnaissance UAV ($4.5 Billion USD)
100,000 Arica.I Shalmaneser APCs ($320 Billion USD)
50,000 TXI.76 'André' 240mm Recoilless Howitzers ($180 Billion USD)
25,000 Fernántes AVLBs ($65 Billion USD)
25,000 Dejíard Assault Guns ($95 Billion USD)
TOTAL: $1,672,425,000,000 USD

The required sum of money stands prepared for wiring upon order confirmation, and as always you may charge at discretion to cover any inadvertent errors in our accounting. We anticipate nothing but the best from your products in both training our future sailors for multiple contingencies, and in assuring our other capabilities in case of their needed evolution.

Sincerely,
James Dolands
Deputy Secretary of Defense for Procurement, USSW Revolutionary Command Council

Lost Hills Department of Defense
Office of Procurement

Lost Hills is interested in purchasing the following:

20,000,000X BDU-64 Samson Battle Suit
150,000X Nakíl 1A1+ (if possible, if not then just the GU)
10,000X Arca. II Ashurbanipal Light Battle Tank
125,000X SOV.17 Ejíard Infantry Fighting Vehicle
125,000X Arica. I 'Shalmaneser' Heavy Armoured Personnel Carrier

Total amount to be wired upon confirmation.

Official Deparmtent of Defense Order form

We wish to purchase the following equipment, on the condition of it being manufactured in the Kriegzimmer factories on Roanoke-Island:

160 Indestructable class Aircraft Carriers
10,000,000 TIR.76 Extended Range Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions
63,000,000 TIR.33.155 TCR Rounds

Total Cost: 2 trillion dollars

Official Government Message:

In an effort to ensure our military can respond to all threats on the battlefield, we have decided that our MLRS and 105mm howitzers will not cut it. Many of the units have become old and need replacing. As well, we have found the need for other types of artillery in our military. We would like to purchase,

4000 YU.13 Gurtantel vehicles
1000 G17 Self-Propelled 254mm Mortars
5000 Panzerwerfer M-2000 MRLSs

This come to a total of $22,200,000,000.

The great nation of Logan and Ky would like to purchase 1 Argentine Class galleon at a price of 130 Billion USD. Money will be wired upon confirmation.

The Binarian Empire seeks to purchase the following items:

100,000x Khan Class Missile-12.9 trillion USD
500x Type 1000-2 Trillion USD

Total- 14.9 trillion USD

The Principality of Siriusa would like to inquire about the Domestic Production Rights of the Shockhound Avenger I (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=8601244&postcount=27) and Sledgehammer II Anti-Shipping (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=12019354&postcount=1693) Missiles. We would like to know if they are available and, if so, for how much?

If one or the other is not available, we would like to acquire the following quantities:
300,000 Shockhound Avenger I Missiles (330 Billion USD)
50,000 Sledgehammer II Anti-Shipping Missiles (370 Billion USD)

It has been a pleasure doing business with you, and we look forward to seeing you again in the future.

The Astaterian military would like to buy 1,000 Nakil 1A1GU Main Battle tanks for 9.5 billion. Money will be wired when order is confirmed.

To: Kriegzimmer Board
From: Field Marshal Ešarra, Altus-Babylonian Empire

The Empire is looking to augment their drastically undersized armed forces with superior technology, and that exhibited here seems of the highest quality. Therefore, we will continue to puchase all that is required for the modernization of the Empire's forces, be they airborne, waterborne, or earthborne.

However, in addition to a small military, we have a small bank acount, compared to more advanced nations. For this reason, we will limit our first order to the most pressing concerns; those being the need for a light and manouverabe battle tank.

The Empire of the Holy City is interested in your Arca II Ashurbanipal Light Battle Tanks, and will place a small order immidiatly, to equip the first armored battalion of the King's Army.

However, we also have some questions of the technology. Specifically, the tank's resilience faced with extended combat in a desert environment, and it's manouverability on the loose sands such a place sometimes entails.

Irregardless of answer, we have stated our intention to purchase a small amout of armor, and will hereupon do so:

Fifty (50) Arca II Ashurbanipal Light Battle Tanks - 4.2 million USD (ea.)

Total cost: Two-hundred and ten million (210,000,000) USD

We thank you, and await eagerly your response.

Field Marshal Ešarra,
Altus-Babylonian Empire

Official Buyers Tab

The Empire of Thrashia wishes to purchase the following:

14,000 Arca IV Nakíl/Nakíl (1) Main Battle Tank - $1,260,000,000,000
7,000 Arca II Ashurbanipal Light Battle Tank - $29,400,000,000
1,200 RoLu-21.A Boneharvester Attack Helicopter - $33,600,000,000
18,000Corbulo Self-Propelled 155mm Field Gun - $11,700,000,000
800 G11/C Artillery Command Vehicle - $1,840,000,000

Production Rights to:
G11/G Light Tank Hunter - $3,300,000,000
SPAA-1 Self-Propelled AA Vehicle-$15,700,000,000
G11/A Armed Reconnaissance Vehicle - $2,100,000,000

Total: $1,354,340,000,000

Payment can be made upon confirmation of order.

Signed
Gerrard Halder
Head Minister
Ministry of Military Commissariat

Altats and Thrashia:

As far as the player behind Kriegzimmer informed me, the storefront is dead as can no longer maintain it. Allanean Arms, however, (i.e. me) has the permission to provide all any any former Kriegzimmer products except the Nakil series MBTs.

Would you like us to produce the non-Nakil vehicles for for you?

Oh and a link:

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=548877

Altats and Thrashia:

As far as the player behind Kriegzimmer informed me, the storefront is dead as can no longer maintain it. Allanean Arms, however, (i.e. me) has the permission to provide all any any former Kriegzimmer products except the Nakil series MBTs.

Would you like us to produce the non-Nakil vehicles for for you?

If you would that'd be great. Does this still mean that I can get those Production Rights though? Even if its dead I still want to pay and not just take 'em, get my drift? Sorry to hear its dead.

Sure, go ahead. AFAIK you can buy them from me now, that's how I'll be operating unless Catalan/Maccabees informs me otherwise.

The great nation of Logan and Ky would like to purchase the following...

2 Arastaqis class Attack dreadnoughts
50 Indestructable class aircraft carriers
100 Paramount class ADV's
500 Illium class guided missile destroyers

This comes to a total of 1.642 Trillion USD. Money will be wired upon confirmation.

OOC: Hey Allanea, I was wondering about the Macabees AntiMissile Gun installed on his aircraft and how exactly they work.

Someone is bitching in an RP about there isno way my aircraft has two miniature gatling guns built into its weapons bay designed for this.

Kriegzimmer Returns to Business!
After a long hiatus, Kriegzimmer has been returned to business as an export conglomerate. To celebrate, Kriegzimmer has announced its partnership with Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems, Aviocar and Navantia.

Nakíl 1A3/1A3HA Main Battle Tank


[Image: http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/Mac...mor/Nakl1A3.png (http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/Macabees/Armor/Nakl1A3.png)
Commentary thread: http://z4.invisionfree.com/NSDraftroom/ind...?showtopic=2407 (http://z4.invisionfree.com/NSDraftroom/index.php?showtopic=2407) ]

The Nakíl main battle tank has been exported in the form of over eight million copies, with several other millions of orders not being fulfilled due to the lack of production capabilities to cope with the demand – even Kriegzimmer (note: the real reason is because I wasn’t around to accept the orders). In that sense, the Nakíl is the most exported tank in the history of arms trade and probably the most produced, as well. A large number have even been produced as monkey models, although these do not even reach near the total production of the actual Nakíl – for example, the Questerian Empire has manufactured close to seventy thousand Type 65s, which is the Questerian Nakíl 1A1. Apart from mere production, the Nakíl is present in the world in several different forms – the 1A1, 1A1GU, 1A1+ and 1A2. The last of the line, the 1A2, boasts of an all-new turret shape, although with decreased armor protection – to decrease weight. Sistemas Terrestres Segovia, and the subcontracted companies in STS Land Systems, wants to offer the power of the 1A2 to the general public. Therefore, Kriegzimmer has outsourced the Nakíl upgrade project to Sistemas Terrestres Segovia. The new 1A3 unites the characteristics of both the 1A1 and the 1A2 series, bringing the Nakíl 1 back into what is a single production model – one turret and one chassis. Sistemas Terrestres Segovia is also offering the public the technology introduced with the Lince, and with brand-new armor and a brand-new main gun. If there was any doubt that the Nakíl was one of the best tanks in the world then, now it’s impossible to think otherwise.

The new modification program subdivides itself into three new models. Nakíl 1A1 users, regardless of who they are, will be able to procure the 1A3 modification kit. Some, especially 1A1+ users, will be able to acquire the 1A3HA kit – 1A2 users will be able to modify their tanks to 1A3HA status, and then probably receive a second modification in the near future to bring it to 1A3+ status. Therefore, ultimately there are chances of up to three new types of Nakíl. Although the 1A3 will have around 95% of all the new goods, each of the other packages will have small features to make them slightly superior – for our strategic allies. What advantages does this new incarnation of the Nakíl provide you? The Nakíl 1A3 unites all of the learned lessons from the development of the carro de combate Lince (Lynx main battle tank, on the export market) and the Nakíl 1A2 main battle tank, and brings together superior armor engineering, as well as new innovations in main gun technology. As always, the new gun also includes a new line of armor piercing ammunition, both for the general market and for strategic allies. The modification kit is simply perfecting the Nakíl, to make it the best fighting machine possible. This kit will increase the life of the Nakíl, when compared to newer main battle tanks, for at least another decade. Indeed, one of the advantages of the Nakíl over foreign tanks is that Kriegzimmer and Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems will always be working to provide the best tank possible, without the added cost of having to buy an all-new main battle tank.

The choice of words – ‘modification kit’ – is due to the difficulty of calling the 1A3 a modernization. The Nakíl 1A1 was already a modern tank, and is the same generation as any other tank currently on the market. Indeed, the 1A1GU, 1A1+ and 1A2s were improvements, but they were more so modifications to perfect the tank. The 1A3 is much the same, although it should be noted that the level of improvement in substantial. Nevertheless, it remains a 4th generation tank (at least, in what generations in Castilla y Belmonte and The Macabees goes by; 1930-1950 (Panther equivalent), 1951-1970 (T-55, M47/48 equivalent), 1970-1990 (Leopard 2, M1 Abrams equivalent) and 1990 – present). The carro de combate Lince is considered a generation 4+ tank, given that it performs like a sixty ton main battle tank, but only at forty-five tons (some erroneously consider it a light tank) – STSLS considers a 5th generation tank with future technologies, such as electromagnetic guns and fully electric drive trains. In some things, the Nakíl 1A3 may be considered a generation 4+ main battle tank.

The Nakíl 1A3 will be produced mainly in Castilla y Belmonte and the Second Empire of the Golden Throne, and production between all the factories cooperating amounts to around a maximum output of around five hundred thousand main battle tanks per year. This production is colossal, especially when one takes into consideration that a standard tank factory can only produce between thirty and one hundred tanks per year. Fortunately, in the Nakíl’s case Kriegzimmer will remain the main producer, taking advantage of their expansive construction facilities in Allanea, the colonies, Hailandkill, the Empire’s mainland, new factories in Safehaven and Guffingford, et cetera. Sistemas Terrestres Segovia will put into use new factories in Doomingsland and Malatose (originally used for the production of the Lince). Despite the earlier mentioned number of maximum output, it’s likely that production will be maximized at half that number – many tens of thousands of tanks will probably be built by third-party factories, belonging to indigenous industries in client nations. Both major export conglomerates are hoping that the new main battle tank market guarantees at least two million newly built Nakíl vehicles, and millions of upgrades. Other than just widespread upgrades, both companies are looking forward to supplying large amounts of these vehicles (in the 1A3HA manifestation) to NATO – the point where the Nakíl becomes almost the standard NATO tank. Although currently the Nakíl is competing against adversaries that have a big advantage, the fact that they are indigenous designs, already much of NATO has adopted the Nakíl as their tank of choice (e.g. Illior, Automagfreek, et cetera). Nations such as Tyrandis may become new clients, which will expand the Nakíl’s domain. Not only is this an advantage for the producers of the Nakíl, but also for NATO itself. Apart from standardizing a very powerful armament, it allows a NATO-specific Nakíl (we can even assume that the Nakíl 1A3+ will be this tank) to be improved for the alliance. This is difficult to achieve if each nation in the alliance uses a different tank.

Survivability
The Nakíl 1A3 introduces a new level of protection for the series, which increases survivability without a radical increase in vehicle weight. The new turret, fitted both to the Nakíl 1A1 and the Nakíl 1A2, allows for greater armor depth and like the previous models the armor on the tank is completely modular. In fact, the new turret is based on experience and is related to the Lince main battle tank’s and Lynx’s turret, as well as to the JBT-14CM upgrade’s ‘heavy turret’. Technically, a greater armored depth will allow for a greater level of protection, but instead the engineers at Kriegzimmer and at Sistemas Terrestres Segovia have decided to take advantage of it to decrease turret weight – this is especially necessary in the Nakíl 1A3HA, which features a larger main gun. Apart from the new turret, the two new Nakíl variants also feature brand-new ceramic-composite armor schemes and like before the armor is a hybrid between passive ceramic composite, non-explosive reactive armor and explosive reactive armor. Like the Lince and the JBT-14CM, furthermore, the Nakíl 1A3 also introduces multi-layered explosive reactive armor to increase the mass efficiency of the armor. Basically, the engineers at the two main contractors have taken advantage of new technologies in order to keep the armor values of the older variants but at a lesser weight penalty. This has been achieved through a greater understanding of the materials in use.

The hull structure remains the same – constructed out of improved rolled homogenous armor. Brand-new 1A3s will have the hull sides strengthened, however, while upgraded tanks will have add on plates welded, in order to allow the installation of a heavy explosive reactive armor over the hull. The added plates are meant more to stop the remainder of the jet or the penetrator which is not defeated by the reactive armor than to survive the moving back plate (the hull was already strong enough to withstand this degree of impact loading). This reactive armor is not as heavy as the Asteriox armor used on the Nakíl 1A2, but is similar. However, it uses only one titanium flier plate, with a single bulging perforated ultra-hard steel (600 BHN) plate (20mm) acting as a spaced layer between the forward-moving flier plate and the rear-moving back plate of the explosive reactive armor. On top of the explosive reactive armor is the tank’s main mass of composite-metal hybrid armor, including both passive and reactive elements (although not explosive). Instead of opting to use just one type of ceramic, the Nakíl 1A3 and 1A3HA instead use a ‘gradient’, or multiple types of ceramics to combine the abilities of each. Nevertheless, the bulk of the used ceramic is boron carbide, as is used on the Lince main battle tank, for it’s low bulk density. In order to increase protection against shaped charge warheads, the second part of the gradient is composed of pyrex, which has an even lower density than boron carbide. The boron carbide is backed by a thick layer of rolled homogenous armor in order to protect against the spalling of the ceramic tiles. In the Nakíl 1A3 metal has been used more than in past incarnations of the tank, and this time in the form of ‘triple hardness metal’ (as opposed to steel) – this includes a thin layer of very hard steel (500 BHN) to break the projectile, a second layer of aluminum dotted with nuggets of boron carbide to provide a strength which can be compared to armored steel (see: Zhang, Haitao, et. al., Superlightweight Nanoengineered Aluminum for Strength Under Impact, Advanced Engineering Materials, Volume 9, Number 5, 2007) and a third layer of perforated aluminum. It should be all steels have also seen radical improvement through the introduction of carbon nanospheres, much like the boron carbide nuggets in aluminum, which can withstand shock pressures of close to 250 tons per square centimeter (see: Eshel, David, Power Shields: Bomb-killing ceramics and nanomaterials improve vehicle protection, Defense Technology International, March 2007). All of this will radically increase protection or allow for a great decrease in weight – the latter being the optimal solution. Finally, the armor includes a top layer of heavy explosive reactive armor, similar to Asteriox in composition, although made with titanium flier plates to decrease weight.

Thicknesses vary from location to location, but as expected the thicker modules are located in the front 90º of the tank, with thinner modules protecting between the 90º arc line and the 120º arc line. Like in the Nakíl 1A2, however, lightweight special armor has been used to increase protection of the rear of the vehicle without sacrificing weight – although costs, as can be expected, spiral upwards. In the case of the rear of the vehicle the gravest threats are infantry small arms projectiles with steel and tungsten cores, as well as rocket propelled grenades and anti-tank guided missiles. The latter are almost near impossible to protect with, especially with physical armor, but the damage done by impacting rocket propelled grenades can be attenuated to a large scale – as long as most of the energy of the grenade’s shaped charge warhead is consumed during penetration. Consequently, the rear side and rear armor is made up primarily of a layered composite armor – a low-density pyrex front-plate, backed by S-2 glass and aluminum foam. The composite armor is protected by a thin steel plate against 8mm tungsten-core armor-piercing projectiles, to offer the vehicle basic survivability against these types of threats; the armor as a hole can defeat up to 20mm anti-material projectiles! Like in past Nakíls, the roof armor is still protected by light explosive reactive armor to defeat top-attack explosively formed penetrators and light anti-tank missiles. Furthermore, the vehicle’s floor has been modified by a new shallow v-shaped steel plate welded together – with a hardened ‘weld crest’ – to deflect the blast of anti-tank mines and improvised explosive devices; the suspension has not been modified, given that it’s an active hydropneumatic suspension and the crew can modify the vehicle’s height from the ground as necessary.

The tank commander’s remote weapon station emplacement, which allows the client to choose the RWS of choice, is now protected by a transparent gun-shield, which offers high protection against anti-armor projectiles of up to 13mm in caliber. The gun-shield covers the gunner on the front and on the sides and is composed of a front-plate of aluminum oxynitride, with several inner layers of polycarbonate – the armor is very similar to the technology used to armor MecániCas’ HIM-TEC design. The gun-shield is designed not to intrude in the roof’s armor and to work cooperatively with the explosive reactive armor; to appease clients, the gun-shield is also rated against fragments from the reactive armor, in the low probability that one of the bricks overreacts. In this way, the tank commander can operate the remote weapon station from inside the vehicle – as designed – and from an overhead watch position without fear of being killed by stray gunfire, a dedicated ambush or even a sniper.

It should be noted that the active protection system has seen a new modernization by Indra-Begón and is now known as GIOD Mk. III. This includes a new type of grenade that instead of using fragmentation to destroy inbound warheads, it uses the shockwaves of the blast. Consequently, the threat to nearby dismounted infantry has been radically reduced to the point where it’s no longer a relevant issue. Furthermore, the original radar mast has been eliminated, reducing the turret’s profile, and replaced by six sensors located around the tank operating in the x-band to track incoming threats. The protection system is otherwise the same and offers 360º protection for the Nakíl 1A3 and Nakíl 1A3HA. In modification packages the new grenades will simply replace the old grenades, as the same launching system is used, and the radar will be eliminated and replaced with the new iteration. It should be noted that similar technology has already been implemented with Sistemas Terrestres Segovia’s Lynx main battle tank (export version of the Lince) and will probably be retrofitted into the Lince at a future date (along with other new technologies).

Firepower
The most important new feature of the Nakíl 1A3 is the new AGS.250C 120mm electrothermal-chemical main gun, co-designed by Atmos International (Second Empire of the Golden Throne) and Calzado y Bayo (The Kingdom of Castilla y Belmonte). The AGS.250C is designed to bring clients power enhanced from the AGS.250B and the 120mm gun used on the Nakíl 1A2 by introducing a further advancement of electrothermal-chemical gun propulsion (well, theoretically the technology is separate, but they can be used in conjunction). For the most part, the guns remain the same in regards to manufacturing and materials used in the breech and in the cannon to reduce weight to make one of the lightest 120mm guns available on the market. Minor technologies have been used to further reduce weight near the mount in the turret basket, integrating redundant parts, much like was done in the Lince main battle tank of Castilla y Belmonte. However, the most radical improvement was the inclusion of chemically augmented combustion (HAC), which uses hydrogen to convert molecules with high molecular weight to molecules with low molecular weight – this yields higher impetus or force, and thus higher gun performance. Used in conjunction with electrothermal-chemical technology, this may be known as HYPEC (see: Klingenberg, G., Gun Propulsion Concepts. Part I: Fundamentals, Propellants, Explosives and Pyrotechnics, Volume 20, p. 307). The AGS.250C is a ‘pure liquid propellant’ gun, using the same HAN-based propellants as other tank guns produced by Atmos and Calzado y Bayo. The new gun has reached what is considered the limit for a 120mm gun using electrothermal-chemical technology, although other technologies exist which can possibly further increase performance – nevertheless, further ‘improvements’ will provide clashes between performance versus mechanical simplicity.

Due to this, the Nakíl 1A3HA opts to simply increase the gun-caliber, to provide users some sort of edge over the ‘common’ Nakíl (Nakíl 1A3). All 120mm guns used by the Nakíl in all the tanks coming off the production insofar have used a dual-breech system, which is a lightweight 140mm breech fitted with a 120mm gun-tube. Ideally, this allowed from an easy transition to the 140mm caliber, despite Kriegzimmer’s opinion that larger calibers were not necessarily ideal. However, it now seems as if there is little choice short of providing even more revolutionary gun propulsion technologies, such as electromagnetic acceleration; technology simply doesn’t exist to enhance gun performance past that of the AGS.250C. Therefore, the Nakíl 1A3HA has exchanged the original 120mm gun for the AGS.140 gun tube, using the same breech – weight has increased by around six hundred kilograms, as compared to the 120mm gun tube, but it’s seen as a worthwhile modernization. This provides the Nakíl 1A3HA unsurpassed lethality in the Nakíl line and makes it one of the most powerful tank cannons on the market, in general. On the other hand, it should be noted that the Nakíl 1A3HA is the heaviest tank in the Nakíl series currently put into production – this is not only thanks to the heavier armor (with depleted uranium), but also due to the heavier main gun. It is up to the client (if the client has the potential of procuring the 1A3HA) whether it is within his or her best interests to use the 140mm gun (a client can choose to include all the HA features, except for the increase in bore caliber and instead mount the AGS.250C).

The Nakíl 1A1+ mounted a 20mm autocannon as the preferred co-axial weapon, while the Nakíl 1A1GU retained the original light machine gun. Both STS and Kriegzimmer decided to mount the G379B on the new Nakíl, replacing both of the older co-axial weapons. The G379B is a combat 25mm autocannon which currently sees service in the Lince main battle tank as the G379 – the difference between the two is that the G379B uses electrothermal ignition (ETI) armor-piercing ammunition to increase ballistic lethality against lightly armored vehicles; the energy is taken from the battery which forms part of the new hybrid electric power pack (discussed in detail below). The G379B has a compact mount and recoil mechanism due to the high efficiency muzzle break (60%) and is lightweight thanks to the greater use of aluminum and titanium and the improved feeder system decreases gun size, increases the feeder’s lifespan and decreases weight by over 20% of the original weight of the G379! The G379B uses the same ammunition as the Lince’s G379, although these are adapted as ETI ammunition – the ACC.50 CTA APFSDS can penetrate up to infantry combat vehicles due to its fantastic ballistic capabilities (discussed in the Lince write-up). The gun is fed from ammunition bins located in the turret basket and the tank holds up to two hundred and fifty rounds for the gun. The G379B has an elevation of up to 60º and can depress to -20º, making it perfect for urban operations since it engage targets in tall buildings.

Finally, a new internal mortar will replace the existing 60mm mortar in the turret. The modification includes reducing the weight of the actual mortar by over 20%, modifying the Cornerstone fire control system of the tank (to Cornerstone Mark II), and exchanging the original tank-commander breech loaded mortar for an autoloaded mortar. In order to decrease weight the baseplate of the mortar is fabricated out of aluminum, while the tube and breech use a greater percentage of titanium. The eighteen kilogram mortar is considered an ‘extended-range’ mortar system, and has a maximum effective range of five kilometers with laser guided and unguided shells; the fire control system has been modified to include the possibility of laser guidance and satellite guidance to make the mortars much more lethal during a conflict. Although the new compact autoloader for the mortar is considered more comfortable for the tank commander (normally, the mortar would be loaded by the loader but in the Nakíl there is no loader) the disadvantage is that now the turret carries less ready-ammunition for the 60mm mortar. Instead of the original thirty pieces of ammunition, the Nakíl 1A3 carries twenty-four – regardless, it’s considered worth it, especially considering the greater accuracy the new mortar will have against infantry units and buildings. Although not relevant to the mortar, it should be noted that the commander’s hatch is still behind what is a readied-‘pit’ for a remote weapon station; the client can choose the remote weapon station which best fits its economic capabilities, strategic considerations and political necessities.

Mobility
The Nakíl 1A1GU retained the original gas turbine of the Nakíl 1A1, which was at best a 2nd generation turbine (due to the electronics system integrated into the engine), but the Nakíl 1A1+ mounted the GRS-100, which was the same gas turbine which was mounted in the Nakíl 1A2. This latter engine was much more compact, for the same power output, and decreased fuel consumption to near levels of a modern diesel engine. This gave the 1A1+ a decisive advantage in terms of mobility and logistics over the 1A1 and 1A1GU. In the Nakíl 1A3, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia has leveled the playing field by introducing the TA series 600 gas turbine of the Lince and Lynx main battle tanks – both the 1A3 and 1A3HA will receive this engine, although the 1A3HA will receive a larger version (1,800 horsepower versus 1,700). In general, the engines weigh between 670 and 730 kilograms and have a volume of a little under 1m3, which is remarkable (and smaller than the GRS-100, as well). Fuel efficiency is gained with two principle methods – the electric batteries which belong to the hybrid-electric transmission and a recuperator added to the power pack, which increases thermal efficiency and reuses lost energy. Furthermore, the gas turbine, using more advanced composites and ceramics for construction, can operate a higher temperatures (1,537º C), thereby also increasing the efficiency of the engine. Like its predecessor, the tank includes a turbine diagnostics system (TDS) to make sure the engine is well maintained before the tank enters a combat zone.

As mentioned above, in the Nakíl 1A3HA the mechanical transmission has been replaced by the 800T-96B electric transmission (the Lince uses the 800T-96A transmission, which is less developed). In the Nakíl 1A3, in general, the original transmission – which was the same as in the Nakíl 1A1 – has been replaced by the mechanical transmission used in the Nakíl 1A1+, with an efficiency of between 80-83%. Although the Nakíl 1A3 will not have the same weight advantages as the Nakíl 1A3HA, the new suspension is still an important improvement over the older mechanical transmission. Balzán’s 800T-96B electric transmission is an improvement over the 800T-96A, with greater transfer efficiency to the sprocket. The electric transmission gives the Nakíl 1A3HA an important advantage over the Nakíl 1A3 standard and other main battle tanks abroad, including increased fuel efficiency because the engine is no longer operating based on the desired road speed but to power the generator, which in turns distributes the necessary power. This means that the engine will be operating at the optimum rate for a longer period of time. Second, the existence of batteries and generators means that the original auxiliary power unit can be deleted and there is more available power for the electrothermal-chemical gun (the need for an independent pulsed power supply no longer exists). Third, with an electric transmission there is the advantage of reduced heat and visual signatures, which is an advantage for any tank. Fourth, and related to the second point, it allows for silent watch without the need for an independent and powerful auxiliary power unit, while fifth the transmission is much lighter and much more flexible, while lastly the transmission has advanced diagnostics available for maintenance. For the Nakíl 1A3HA, this means that with the extra five thousand kilograms or so saved of weight the amount of armor can be increased without a major penalty (thus HA, or ‘heavy armor’). In specific to the new transmission, it has a much better power efficiency to the sprocket, as already mentioned, of 72%.

Both versions of the 1A3 have been fitted MecániCas’ Type 640 lightweight tracks, saving around six hundred kilograms of weight. Apart from being lighter, these tracks are also more durable, use a quick-fit system for the pads and use longer-lasting elastomer pads. As should be expected, these are the same tracks that are being used on the Lince and on the Lynx main battle tanks, and other companies have marketed similar track systems to other tank manufacturers. On the Nakíl 1A3 a service life of a minimum of 4,300km can be expected, although like always it really depends on a multitude of variables. For example, it can be expected that the track will last much less if the tank is used mostly on uneven terrain and is driven at fast velocities – this is natural. In the Nakíl 1A3HA’s case, the new tracks and the elastomer rubber pads are more capable of supporting the extra weight, especially given that the new tracks suffer less from pressure on the end connectors since interaction between the sprocket and roadwheels is transferred to the track’s body instead. Due to the inclusion of new tracks, the Nakíl 1A3 and 1A3HA also have a new sprocket and new roadwheels, of the same size and similar weight (the roadwheels are constructed out of aluminum, with steel hubs, and the sprocket is made out of steel). In upgrades, therefore, the new tracks will also require the new roadwheels and sprockets, since these are designed to work together – the old sprocket will not interact correctly with the Type 640 tracks.

It’s difficult to quantify what improvements these modifications have made on the Nakíl. It should be taken into consideration that the tank’s weight has increased and therefore increases in horsepower are to account for this added weight to the tank, not to increase the tank’s power to weight ratio. The main advantages in the new modifications are related directly to the logistical footprint of the tank, which is large given its technological level and its size. The new power pack and tracks are more maintenance friendly, can be repaired faster and less expensively and are much lighter. Furthermore, the new modifications are designed to last longer. Apart from these modifications most everything else remains the same, except that the ‘all-steel’ active hydropneumatic suspension has again been replaced for the earlier, lighter suspension of the same type, with greater use of aluminum, titanium and polymer materials. It should be noted that the hydropneumatic suspension has found a greater role due to the new low-profile turret with limited weapon depression – gun depression should be furthered through the use of the active hydropneumatic suspension. Although at first sight this might be seen as a disadvantage, it’s not because at greater levels of depression an autoloader won’t be able to load the gun, while this isn’t relevant if the entire chassis is moving along with the breech of the gun – the low-profile turret saves over five thousand kilograms of weight and enhances the tank’s survivability, for a minor disadvantage that eliminates many other disadvantages.

Other Considerations, the Nakíl 1A3HA and Conclusions
The Nakíl 1A1GU and 1A1+ already introduced a lot in the way of stealth features, including liners along the inside of the engine bay to decrease the thermal signature of the compartment, as well as composite exhausts to decrease heat in what is one of ‘hottest’ places on the tank. The recuperator in the new gas turbine should also have an impact on the amount of heat released by the engine – it should be noted that over 67% of the energy is used due to the recuperator using much of the energy lost as heat again, which means that the TA series 600 is one of the most thermally efficient engines currently on the market. Like in previous versions, the side skirt is also a powerful tool to decrease the thermal signature of the tank. The low-profile turret also adds to the overall survivability of the vehicle, and in Macabee forces the Nakíl tends to wear a camouflage netting which also decreases the tank’s thermal signature and radar cross section, offering it enhanced survivability against ordnances which use radar to guide themselves against the target (such as top-attack munitions). In regards to noise production, during the War of Golden Succession it was said that the tracks made more noise than the tank’s engine, and similar sentiments have been shared by clients which have used the tank in other conflicts. The new guns, whether it be the 120mm L/57 or the 140mm L/50, are mounted in an air-cooled mass attenuated gun. To put these efforts into perspective, it’s not a question of the tank’s signatures being seen at one hundred or even five hundred meters, it’s a question of being targeted at ranges of one kilometer or more and especially by fire-and-forget munitions with the capability of targeting tanks at ranges of multiples of kilometers – in fact, this was the single most deadly threat that was faced by allied tanks at the massive tank battle of Ishme-Dagan.

The Nakíl 1A3HA has been alluded to above and its differences should be reminded. For one, it makes use of thicker frontal armor to enhance protection, taking advantage of its lightweight features (the electric transmission), making it a much more survivable tank. As mentioned, it makes use of an electric transmission and mounts the larger, more powerful 140mm L/50 tank gun (all Nakíl’s feature the dual-caliber breech, as should be reminded). The Nakíl 1A3HA also mounts the larger model 600 gas turbine, producing 1,800hp as compared to 1,700hp. Apart from these already mentioned differences, the Nakíl 1A3HA also introduces the Cornerstone Mark III fire control system, which is modified beyond the Mark II (which introduced the new 60mm internal mortar). The Cornerstone Mark III is at a technological level similar to the Mercenario fire control system used by the Castillian Lince main battle tank. Cornerstone Mk III has been released by the Castillian electronics bordello Indra-Begón and a new generation direct viewing optical (DVO) for the tank commander has replaced the conventional periscope with an optical zoom of up to ten times and a further digital magnification of up to four times. The new ballistic computer and central distribution center are also smaller and faster, and the onboard classification system has been upgraded with all known foreign weapon systems which have recently been released. Although Cornerstone was already a very advanced fire control system, even small improvements can mean large advantages on the battlefield during the correct circumstances. On the other hand, it should be noted that the Nakíl no longer has the millimeter wave radar mast, as this has been replaced by sensors around the tank working in the X-band.

The Nakíl 1A3 is a general upgrade and can be contracted by anybody, including Nakíl 1A1 and 1A1GU users. The Nakíl 1A3HA is a more specific upgrade and is meant for Nakíl 1A1+ clients and all-NATO allies (as well as allies in Damirez’ Commonwealth). As expected, these vehicles can also be contracted brand-new which comes with its advantages (everything is integrated, as opposed to modified into an existing tank) – so new Nakíl users are always welcomed! The Nakíl 1A2 will probably receive a similar modification package, although it will be more in depth – Nakíl 1A2 users will be able to modify their tanks, although it’s unlikely that brand-new Nakíl 1A2s (probably called Nakíl 1A2Ms) will be sold. A Nakíl 1A2 modification will most likely come hand in hand with the expected Lince 1A1 modification package. Therefore, the date for that release will depend much on the Castillian Ministry of Defense (MoD). It’s likely that the Nakíl 1A2 will receive the new turret, as well, to unite the Nakíl line – in this way in the future all tanks can be modified along similar lines, without the need of expensive turret packages. With this new turret both Sistemas Terrestres Segovia and Kriegzimmer believe that they have reached the ‘perfect turret shape’ for the general size of the tank – anything more radical would require a tank along similar lines to the Lince. There have been rumors of a Nakíl 2, but neither company has released any information. Tank enthusiasts have posted that this tank will be similar to the Lince, but yet more radical – nevertheless, nothing should be expected soon.

With this new tank package the Nakíl has gone from forefront to a clear leadership position amongst main battle tanks, and has been transformed into something closer to what is considered a ‘generation 4+’ main battle tank. Given its ‘conventional dimensions’ it’s difficult to be considered technologically similar to the Lince, but it comes as close as possible – future modification programs will probably have to focus on how to decrease weight even further, which may require even more intensive modifications to the chassis and the introduction of new compact technologies to replace current systems. Nevertheless, the Nakíl continues to represent the ‘cream of the crop’ and this has been embossed by the nine and a half million tanks exported insofar, and the many more millions to come.

Statblock (1A3HA in blue)
Manufacturer: Sistemas Terrestres Segovia/Kriegzimmer/Imperial Land Systems
Crew: 3
Weight: 64,320kg/67,400kg
Power to Weight Ratio: 26.4 hp/t/26.7
Length: 7.97m
Length of Gun: 6.84m/7m
Width: 3.8m
Height: 2.6m
Ground Clearance: .4m
Engine: 1700hp Gas Turbine/1800 hp Gas Turbine
Maximum Velocity: 74km/h
Range: 500/640km
Range With External Tanks: 1,130km
Trench: 5.6m
Step: 5.6m
Vertical Obstacle: 1.4m
Ford Unprepared: 1.8m
Ford Prepared: 6m
Climbing Gradient: 40x
Fire and Control Computer: Cornerstone Mk II/Cornerstone Mk III
Armament:
120mm Light Weight High Breech Pressure Liquid Propellant ETC/140mm Light Weight High Breech Pressure Liquid Propellant ETC
1x G379B 20mm CTA ETC autocannon
1x 12.7mm HMG
1x Remote Weapon Station (HammerFist)
1x 60mm mortar
Ammunition:
48 Rounds in turret/36 rounds in turret
Main Gun Depression: -5/+38 degrees
Armor [Rolled Homogenous Equivalent with ERA vs. KE]:
Lower Hull: 1,100mm
Glacis: 2,180mm/2,440mm
Front 1/3 Side Hull: 425mm/930mm
Front Side Turret/ Side Turret: 1,440mm/1,920mm
Rear Turret: 740mm
Rear Hull: 698.5mm
Side Hull: 1,298.5mm/1,810mm
Mantlet: 3,075mm/3,325mm
Weakened Zone: 3,250mm/3,450mm
Front Turret Corners: 3,250mm/3,450mm
Side Turret: 2,200mm
Roof: 235mm
Armor [Rolled Homogenous Equivalent with ERA vs. CE]:
Lower Hull: 1,400mm
Glacis: 2,780mm/2,980mm
Front 1/3 Side Hull: 850mm/1,100m
Front Side Turret/Side Turret: 1,990mm/2,100mm
Rear Turret: 1,498mm
Rear Hull: 1,387mm
Side Hull: 1,700mm/1,750mm
Mantlet: 3,540mm/3,610mm
Weakened Zone: 3,715mm/3,790mm
Front Turret Corners: 3,770mm/3,820mm
Side Turret: 1,830mm
Roof: 715mm
Suspension: Active Hydropneumatic Suspension System
Sensors & Range:
4th Generation FLIR @ 13km targeting range; 8km classification range
3rd Generation LADAR @ ~10km classification range
3rd Generation CITV
Night Vision: Integrated with sensors.
NBC Protection: Air-tight chassis and turret, air filtration and overpressure air conditioning system, masks and uniforms.

Cost for Upgrade: $2.7 million / $3.2 million
Cost for New Production: $10 million / $11 million

Map of Haven Users:http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/Macabees/Haven.png

Mark 30 ‘Swift Kill’ 45mm Autocannon Gun System

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/Macabees/Hardware/451min.png (http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/Macabees/Hardware/451colored.png)
[Click on the image for a larger version; all images in this write-up are drawn by Mekugi.]

Introduction to Swift Kill
The Mark 30 modelo 451 Swift Kill is forty-five (45) millimeter multi-chambered autocannon gun system, designed between Sistemas Terrestres Segovia (STS) and Argus Industrial Manufacturing (AIM). Although designed primarily for a close-in weapon system (CIWS), Swift Kill will ultimately be employed in a number of ground defense and naval programs, although undertaken privately by each of the two partners for the gun. The Mark 30 is designed to provide a high level of firepower through the use of a larger caliber (forty-five millimeters, as opposed to twenty or thirty-five millimeters), the large number of types of ammunition made available for the gun system and similar gun performance technology as that integrated into other gun systems such as Calzado y Bayo’s CB.125 125mm advanced tank gun. These technological enhancements include electrothermal-chemical ignition and control, chemically augmented combustion and the use of a much more advanced solid propellant. By providing this level of technology these two defense companies assure their nation’s safety in foreign wars and guarantee themselves a niche in the naval defense and ground defense markets. As aforementioned, this gun will complete a number of important systems designed by Sistemas Terrestres Segovia, not to mention by AIM. Some of the former’s programs include a close-in weapon system for Castilla y Belmonte’s future modular frigate program (FMF) and a short-range air defense (SHORAD) vehicle based on the chassis of the carro de combate Lince. Both of these will be reserved for analysis in separate papers, at a future date.

Sistemas Terrestres Segovia’s partner, Argus Industrial Manufacturing, is a small defense company based in the nation of Amastol. AIM is currently dedicated to small, local programs although the experience it gains with these projects is allowing it to build-up the capabilities to design and manufacture state-of-the-art equipment. The Swift Kill program represents an important stepping stone into the international market for this company, and its partnership with Sistemas Terrestres Segovia will give it a jump start. It should be noted that the Mark 30 modelo 451 gun system has already secured a large number of orders at home, guaranteeing the company a relatively large score. This is similar to Sistemas Terrestres Segovia’s situation, whereas large export success is unnecessary to pay-off the cost of the research and design. Nevertheless, it’s expected that the Mark 30 will propel AIM into the world of large defense contractors and will introduce STS into the gun market, allowing it to compete against other Castillian companies and pushing it forward in its aim to become the principle contractor in the nation. The Swift Kill is also the first major defense contract completed with a foreign defense company, and has opened a multitude of doors for future possibilities between STS and other defense businesses around the globe (for example, a possible multi-nation multi-mission helicopter program).

Production of gun parts and final assembly will be split equally between Argus Industrial Manufacturing and Sistemas Terrestres Segovia, as far as foreign exports are concerned. On the other hand, production for national procurement requirements will be dealt with privately, regardless of production numbers. It’s likely that both companies will market the system independently and in vigor, although up to date the only export conglomerate which has declared intentions of selling the weapon is Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems (STSLS), while Navantia will be selling a weapon’s mount and turret, as part as an overall close-in weapon system (Sistemas Terrestres Segovia is partnering with Calzado y Bayo for this particular program, with Astiversal as a subcontractor). If AIM decides not to sell the gun as a stand-alone unit, it is very possible that in the near future the company will present a SHORAD vehicle mounting the Mark 30 mod 451 gun system. It should be reminded that even assuming that AIM decides not to sell the gun system as a stand-alone product; half of the contracts achieved by STSLS will be referred to AIM for manufacture. It can be considered profitable for AIM to allow STSLS to sell the product, given STSLS’ greater international fame. Some ‘third party’ nations, such as clients, may receive rights to sell the gun system in indigenous vehicle defense systems (such as air defense vehicles), but then both AIM and STS would act as subcontractors, supplying the actual machinery. This decision to leave production between AIM and STS is for a number of reasons. The more prominent reasons are that AIM and STS, both, rather not risk having foreign companies produce more than them (that would be like shooting themselves in the foot) and the manufacture of such a large revolver automatic cannon will require inevitable particularities and strict quality-control, which only AIM and STS feel that they can provide.

The Mark 30 Swift Kill is one of the largest guns in its class, providing enhanced capabilities against airborne threats, including heavy anti-shipping missiles, low-flying aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and much more. Through the use of new technologies, a revolver operation system and advanced ammunition types the Swift Kill gun system guarantees quick and efficient gunnery, no matter what its job. As already alluded to by Sistemas Terrestres Segovia, the Swift Kill makes a great gun for a close-in weapon system for defending naval platforms, including small and large ships, or for a short-range air defense system based on a tracked vehicle platform. In the former role, it has the added advantage of having a large firepower potential against smaller surface craft, including both assymetrical and conventional threats. Much of the technology introduced into this system has already been proven elsewhere, including in Calzado y Bayo's tank main guns, such as the CB.125. Furthermore, at the cost of $320,0001 with the opportunity of decreasing prices as orders increase, the Mark 30 is economical; in other words, it provides 'high bang for the buck'. Just as important, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia and its partner, Argus Industrial Manufacturing, guarantees that new technologies will always be integrated into existing systems to make sure that these systems remain on the cutting edge. Over the long run, this not only means continued efficiency, but it also means that ultimately the lifetime costs will decrease since new units will not have to be procured. All in all, the Swift Kill is the gun for you!

Gun Mechanics
The Mark 30 is a revolver, preferred over the gatling gun type configuration for the sake of initial velocity, given that a revolver has less mass than a gatling gun and therefore is easier to spin. Although, unfortunately, the rate of fire decreases due to bore pressure and barrel heat issues, it's considered a pertinent trade-off given the task of the gun and the miniscule amount of time given to react.2 In this gun's case, the chamber module contains five seperate chambers, allowing for a lower mass over only having four chambers but accounting for the heat related issues of having six chambers. In regards to mass, the 'chamber module'3 can include up to six chambers in its given volume and so only four chambers would mean that the two volumes that could otherwise hold more chambers would be solid masses - so a five-chambered module is considered to be the 'best of both worlds'. The modelo 451 is gas-operated, as inferred, and offers a rate of fire of a maximum of one thousand [1,000] rounds per minute, which is on par with similar-type gun systems of the latest generation.4 The breech supports a dual-feed system, although this should not be confused with 'simultaneous feed'. The dual-feed allows for two separate ammunition stowage bins feeding two separate types of ammunition, consequently either the fire control system (based on the type of detected threat) or the manual user overriding the automatic fire (more likely in a ground-based air defense vehicle) can select the type of ammunition and the gun can load either. Such selective fire gives the weapon system much more operational flexibility and tactical versatility, although the gun must slow or stop in order to change type of ammunition.

As already indicated, the fact that the multiple chambers are all leading into one barrel for repeated and automatic fire means that the barrel will receive a high rate of barrel wear. In order to offer some protection against the inevitable wear of the barrel due to the pressure of expanding propellant gasses, apart from the inclusion of electrothermal-chemical technology - to be explained below -, the Mark 30 includes a chrome-lined barrel. Normally, especially in tank guns and naval guns, this is done to allow the barrel to withstand greater barrel pressure so that the propellant grain can be enlarged, allowing for much greater muzzle velocities; in ground-based and naval-based artillery this means much greater range, while for tanks it means either greater penetrator mass or greater muzzle velocity (generally speaking, equating to greater penetration). On the other hand, both Sistemas Terrestres Segovia and Argus Industrial Manufacturing were more interested in chrome-plating to extend the lifetime of each barrel to make the gun much more economical, given that the companies have agreed that lethality is at an optimum (in the future, given the threats, priorities can be changed). Although the increase in life-span is only a small percentage of the lifespan without chrome plating, the hundreds of extra rounds may still be important in an extended naval engagement, where barrel replacements might not always be possible. This is more true in larger, more conventional naval battles than against assymetric threats, but conventional warfare is still far more prominent than its assymetrical cousin.

As mentioned above, the Mark 30 model 451 uses electrothermal-chemical enhancement of its solid propellant. The 'plasma initiator' is embedded inside the round itself, coming into contact with the breech and the electric catalyst as the revolver closes the air gap as it brings the next chamber to the breech. A standard 45mm projectile, in the Swift Kill, will require a 55kJ charge, although ultimately given the rate of fire the required pulsed power supply [which has to be integrated into the combat system and not into the gun] is larger than 100kJ. The pulsed power supply can either be a separate battery system, such as on the Nakíl or the Lince or it can be integrated into the vehicle if that vehicle uses hybrid propulsion [although the Lince has an electric transmission, it uses a separate pulsed power supply for the main gun - in the future Lince 1A1 this will resolved]. In any case, the plasma is created by a copper [Cu] diamond string, in the form of a chord, wrapped around the propellant in each individual projectile case [see: 45mm closed telescoping ammunition (http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/Macabees/Hardware/451CTAammo.png) images]. This string normally vaporizes and iniozes and thereby creates a plasma, which both ignites the propellants [described in the ammunition section] and makes the gasses' expansion much smoother.5 This type of electrothermal-chemical plasma initiation process is known as a flashboard large area emitter, or FLARE - although perhaps not the most modern type of initiation method, it requires a lower amount of energy and is more desirable for a low energy requirement electrothermal-ignition [ETI] round, like the 45mm CTA used by the Swift Kill. In the case of this particular gun, unlike many other systems which take advantage of electrothermal-ignition, the interest is in increasing barrel life, as opposed to increasing muzzle velocity. Due to the fact that the plasma will better control the expansion of the propellant gasses, the propellant will expand in a much more stable matter thereby decreasing pressure on the barrel's inner walls. Some increase in velocity has been attained by this technology, and through the new solid propellant being used, but that has not been a priority.

As introduces in Calzado y Bayo's recent CB.125 and in Atmos Incorporated's AGS.250 for the Nakíl main battle tank, the Swift Kill also incorporates chemically augmented combustion [CAC], more specifically referred to as hydrogen augmented combustion [HAC].6 In HAC, hydrogen interacts with the molecules of the expanding propellant gasses, decreasing their molecular weight exothermally. This results in a higher number of species and a higher velocity of sound, thereby resulting in a higher impetus , which concludes in higher gun performance. A convinient side effect is also a reduction in barrel pressure, increasing the gun barrel's lifespan by a notable factor. In this way, the technology is actually very similar to electrothermal-chemical propulsion in the way that it helps to control the expansion of the propellant, thus increasing muzzle velocity and spreading the pressure more evenly along the surface of the barrel's interior walls. On the other hand, HAC does not require electrical input and can normally be integrated into the cartridge of the projectile, making it more 'volume efficient' [Es]. As experienced both here, in the Mark 30, and in the CB.125 HAC technology can be easily integrated together with ETC technology, since they are not mutually exclusive. Although the Mark 30 is built as a solid propellant gun, HAC and ETC [which together may be referred to as HYPEC] can be also used with liquid propellants - such as on the AGS.250 and its 125mm brother, the CB.125.

Recoil is dampened by a dual-cylinder recoil mechanism, with an extended recoil length of thirty-five millimeters [35mm]. The recoil cylinders are contructed out of titanium, in order to save weight. The barrel and chambers are manufactured out of quality steel, in order to guarantee the system's ability to survive constant pressure in areas which will come in contact with the expanding propellant gasses. The gun's barrel weighs roughly 110kg, while the recoil mechanism weighs 230kg; the gun system, as a whole, weighs 580kg.7 Apart from the recoil mechanism, weight is saved through the use of composite materials in breech manufacturing.8 These manufacturing techniques have also been used on the AGS.250 and the CB.125 tank cannons, where they have saved between 300 and 600kg worth of weight. Unfortunately, such radical weight savings have not been found easily in the Swift Kill, given the delicacy of its operation and the requirement for a sturdy gun barrel, as well as combustion chamber. Weight savings can be much more radical when it comes to the mount for the close-in weapon station system, and for the short-range air defense vehicle's turret; such weight savings will be witnessed in the product sheets for both future Castillian systems. Then again, mass is important in an air-defense gun due to the requirement for fast traverse to meet the threat as quickly as possible. Indeed, the reason to choose an autocannon over a gatling gun is particularly for this reason! It's safe to assume that future models of the Swift Kill will integrate new manufacturing processes and materials to make the gun lighter.

Ammunition
As indicated beforehand, the Mark 30 is designed to acknowledge, engage and defeat a wide variety of threats. On the conventional [naval] battlefield these include light anti-shipping missiles and heavy anti-shipping missiles, which can have various different flight paths, including high [i]angles of attack (AoA) or sea-skimming engagement paths. Furthermore, new heavy anti-shipping missiles, designed to defeat heavily armored capital warships, offer thick ballistic penetrating caps built out of tungsten [W] or depleted uranium [dU], which are difficult to defeat using lower-power armor piercing discarding sabots [APDS] or even advanced hit efficiency and destruction [AHEAD] projectiles. Apart from the missile threat, conventional threats include low-flying reconaissance, utility or attack helicopters, as well as low-flying fixed-wing aircraft. A modern close-in weapon station must be designed to cope with all the relevant threats, or else it will quickly become antiquated. Furthermore, there is also an assymetrical threat posed by terrorist organizations or low-intensity third world government forces. These threats include fast patrol craft and suicide explosives craft, with skeleton crews, and their potential has recently been made very obvious, as more and more large ships are temporarilly lost to these types of attacks. Consequently, the Swift Kill must be designed to defeat the assymetrical dimension, as well. To accomplish this, both Argus Industrial Manufacturing and Sistemas Terrestres Segovia have introduces three principle types of ammunition for the gun, depending on its eventual use in any given weapon system. More specific types of ammunition may be developed as new roles are provided, but until then the main 'loud out' remains: high explosive [HEI], armor piercing discarding sabot [APDS] and advanced hit efficiency and destruction [AHEAD]. Furthermore, apart from the improvements in the gun's propulsion system -as explained above - all the rounds are manufactured with a new solid propellant to maximize efficiency and increase lethality.

The propellant has been designed to maximize performance over a longer-range of ambient temperatures, both inside the combustion chamber and in the barrel. For the past century, or so, solid propellants have been designed almost exclusively out of nitrocellulose [NC], but recently chemical compounds such as cyclotetramethylene tetranitramine [HMX] and triaminoguanadine nitrate [TAGN] which have much larger energy densities. In specific, the solid propellant used by the Swift Kill's ammunition is referred to as TX90 and is primarilly composed of HMX, since this has a higher energy density than TAGN and a lower burning rate. Temperature sensitivity is reduced considerably through the bonding of glycidyl azide polymer [GAP]. TX90 has a specific impetus of 1,300J/g+ and a loading energy density of 1.5g/cm3+, which is superior to most current solid propellants. However, in the sense of its low burning rate TX90 can be characterized as a low vulnerability [LOVA] propellant, much like CL20. The TX90 is a unicharge, similar to the modular charge concept, which means that each submodel is identical [this is not true for modular charges]; each submodel is self-contained with its own igniter, flash suppressant and wear-reducive additive. The propellant charges are manufactured in sticks [contrary to what the images represent, by the way] and are perforated for 'tailored burning'; this has the effect of making the propellant burning rate more progressive, thus increasing gun performance without increasing pressure, by using the perforation to control the burning rate at the beginning and cause a sudden increase after the perforation has been passed. As a consequence, TX90 is a powerful charge meant to decrease temperature sensitivity and increase muzzle velocity, without increasing pressure on the barrel's interior walls.9

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The high explosive incendiary [HEI] projectile is a general purpose round which can be used against a wide variety of threats. In most guns of similar caliber to the Swift Kill [20-50mm] they have been replaced largely by rounds such as AHEAD and APDS, although they are still manufactured. Due to the projectile type's simplicity and cheapness, the HEI is still offered as an option for the Swift Kill in the form of the MCP790. This round uses a mechanical proximity fuse and focuses on 'area effect' over penetration, since both the AHEAD and APDS projectiles are clearly superior to the HEI round in this area. It can be used as an anti-personnel projectile, or even as an anti-air projectile, defeating missiles and low-flying aircraft. However, due to its weight and its inferiority to AHEAD in terms of volume of effect it has generally been supplanted in naval close-in weapon systems. Calzado y Bayo, although not relevant to the development of the Swift Kill and her ammunition insofar, has expressed interests in designing, manufacturing and marketting what has been named the XMCP790A, which will include a new fuse to allow for greater muzzle velocities, a decreased high explosive weight and the addition of a penetrating cap. This type of projectile is usually known as a high explosive incendiary/armor piercing [HEIAP] round. Although these type of rounds generally have less penetration than their brethren the sabot, they have the added effect of increasing damage assuming perforation - due to the high explosive. In this respect, they are imilar to the older armor piercing ballistically capped [APBC] projectiles used by large caliber guns.

Round Type: High Explosive [HEI]
Projectile Weight: 2.1kg Explosive Weight: .67kg Bursting Charge: .120kg
Projectile Length [Complete Round]: 31.5cm
Muzzle Velocity: 1.25km/sec

A more common projectile to see in service, at least in the Macabee and Castillian navies, is the advanced hit efficiency and destruction [AHEAD] round. Given the size of the diameter and the larger length of the projectile, as opposed to a 35mm AHEAD round, more subprojectiles are carried - one hundred and eighty [180] as opposed to one hundred and fifty-two [152]. The submunitions are tungsten-alloy [WHA] spheres, designed for both penetration and 'mass effect', to increase the likelyhood of engaging the incoming 'vampire' or 'bogie'. The round is termed the MCP170 and uses a programmable magnetic fuze which uses information provided by the coil velocity gauge near the gun's muzzle in order to automatically compute the correct estimated time to target. The MCP170 has, generally speaking, replaced the MCP790 as the principle cannon round and can be seen stored in conjunction with the MCP35 [see below], the armor piercing discarding sabot. As aforementioned, the MCP170 offers a larger area of effect over the MCP790 and the ability for some penetration of the thicker surfaces of an aircraft or helicopter. For targets which will require much penetration, normally the Mark 30 will switch feeds to the MCP35. However, the MCP170 can also target assymetrical threats, such as light patrol craft or any type of craft which may be used to attack shipping or targeatable surface equipment.

Round Type: Advanced Hit Efficiency and Destruction [AHEAD]
Projectile Weight [Complete Round]: 2.35kg Projectile Weight: .9kg [180 sub-projectiles]
Projectile Length: 31.5cm
Muzzle Velocity: 1.17km/sec
Effective Range [Surface Shipping]: 5km Sea-Skimming Missiles: 2km Cruise Missiles: 2.5km Low-Flying Aircraft: 4km

The MC35 developmeny program originally began as the XMC20 frangible armor piercing discarding sabot program, but ultimately it was decided to design and manufacture a full-fledge sub-caliber armor penetrator to provide the Swift Kill with the ability to puncture through the thick penetrating caps, in order to reach the electronics or destroy the high explosive warhead, of the more modern 'heavy anti-shipping missiles' pressed into service in recent years. Originally, the actual penetrator was to follow the rod-tube extension concept of its larger armor piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot for the Nakíl's 120mm and 140mm main guns. However, it was decided to go with a penetrator which fit in the non-extended length of the closed telescoping cartridge of the MCP35. As a consequence, the penetrator has a diameter of 14mm and a length of 300mm, with a nose profile roughly 20% of the length - or 60mm. The penetrator is not cylindrical and instead is cruciform shaped to increase penetration, although not dramatically, and is manufactured out of depleted uranium like its larger cousins. Theoritically, at 4,000 meters the MCP35 can penetrate over 200mm of armored steel [hardness of roughly 350BHN]. Normally, the MCP35 is not stored as a stand-alone round and is only issued to one stowage bin. It's a special purpose projectile - it's designed to defeat heavily armored missile threats. It can also be used against helicopters and armored aircraft. It should be noted, however, that this type of round relies heavily on rate of fire to score multiple impacts, in order to hit key targets.

Round Type: Armor Piercing Discarding Sabot [APDS]
Projectile Weight: 1.7kg Penetrator Weight: .6kg Penetrator Material: Depleted Uranium [dU] Projectile Length: 31.5cm
Penetrator Diameter: 1.4cm Penetrator Length: 30cm
Effective Range [Sea Skimming Missiles]: 2-2.5km Cruise Missiles: 2.5-3km Surface Targets: 5-5.5km Aircraft: 4-4.5km
Penetration10 [0m]: 239.727mm @ 0º 500m: 234.752mm @ 0º 1.5km: 224.885mm @ 0º 4km: 200.882mm @ 0º

Product Overview
Manufacturers: Sistemas Terrestres Segovia & Argus Industrial Manufacturing
Designation: Mark 30 modelo 451 Swift Kill
Weight : 110kg Weight [Gun]: 580kg Caliber Length: 65
Grooves: 27 Twist: Progressive Rate of Fire: 1,000rpm
Cost: $320,000

[b]Notes
1. Based on the cost of one hundred and fifty [150] 35mm Bushmaster chain guns (http://www.army-guide.com/eng/product.php?prodID=2361), procured by the Dutch.
2. See: Revolver cannon [Wikipedia] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolver_cannon)
3. Note that this term is made up by me.
4. The same as Rheinmetall's and Oerlikon's Millenium Gun (http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNGER_35mm-1000_Millennium.htm).
5. See: Diamond, P., et. al., Electro Thermal Chemical Gun Technology Study, The MITRE Corporation, March 1999, pp. 11-15 ;Jung, Jaewon, et. al., Overview of ETC Program in Korea, IEEE Transaction on Magnetics, Volume 37, Number 1, January 2001, pp. 39-41.
6. For information see: Klingengberg, G., et. al., Gun Propulsion Concepts. Part I: Fundamentals, Propellants, Explosives and Pyrotechnics, Volume 20, pp. 307-308.
7. See: Notes for pages 61, 96 & 248 in AMENDMENTS AND ADDITIONAL NOTES TO "RAPID FIRE" (http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/corrections.html), by Anthony G. Williams.
8. See: XM291 120mm main gun. Some resources relevant to this gun: Pengelley, Rupert, A New Era in Tank Main Armament: The Options Multiply, Janes International Defense Review, November 1989, pp. 1521-1531; Sharoni, Asher H. and Bacon, Lawrence D., The Future Combat System (FCS): Technology Evolution Review and Feasibility Assessment (https://www.knox.army.mil/center/ocoa/armormag/backissues/1990s/1997/so97/5fcs97.pdf), Armor Magazine, September-October 1997, pp. 29-33, 49.
9. Gonzales, A. and Shimm, H., Spheroidal Propellant Stabilizer Studies, 19th International Symposium on Ballistics, 7-11 May 2001, pp. 147-153; Horst, A., et. al., Insensitive High Energy Propellants for Advanced Gun Concepts, 19th International Symposium on Ballistics, 7-11 May 2001, pp. 17-24; Klingengberg, G., et. al., Gun Propulsion Concepts. Part I: Fundamentals, Propellants, Explosives and Pyrotechnics, Volume 20, pp. 307-308; Kubota, Naminosuke, Combustion of GAP/HMX and GAP/TAGN Energetic Composite Materials, Propellants, Explosives and Pyrotechnics, Volume 25, 1997, pp. 86-91.
10. It should be noted that all figures are for penetration into armored steel, also known as 'rolled homogenous armor'.

Diesel Attack Submarine Type A

The Type A, or ‘Tipo A’, diesel attack submarine (SSK) is designed primarily to fit within the Castillian Armada’s requirements for a next-generation coastal defense submerged platform. These requirements include the reduction of detection as much as possible, maximization of time under water through the use of the latest in air independent propulsion (AIP), maximization of lethality for a low volume submerged vessel and the minimization of price. In other words, the Armada wants a lethal, state-of-the-art submarine without breaking current price tags on the international market. In conjunction with these requirements, Sisnaval is looking at maximizing export potential of the Type A submarine to fleets with a need for littoral defense. In regards to production for the Armada, Sisnaval has been contracted to produce thirty units in a first-batch and another thirty in a second batch. Ultimately, the Armada is looking forward to having enough diesel submarines to be able to deploy fifty at any one time, which means that the Armada will ultimately require at least one hundred and fifty submarines. Whether all of these will be Type As is currently unknown. It’s understood that Sisnaval is also planning to release a cheaper diesel submarine without air independent propulsion called the Type B – it has been reported that these will cost less than half the value of the Type A! However, it seems as the Type B will be an export option as the Armada has not shown interest in the designs to date.

Why the Type A? Why diesel-electric?
Castilla’s principle reason for choosing a diesel-electric submarine over a nuclear submarine is due to a number of important reasons. First, using a diesel submarine allows shrinking the design of the vessel for coastal defense. Currently, the Armada’s priorities do not include force projection, although there have been certain recent procurements – ten Triumph class aircraft carriers from Beaufort Naval Industries (BNI) – which may make it seem as if Castilla is putting importance in that area. Therefore, the ability to stay underwater until supplies run out is not necessarily important. A diesel-electric submarine using air independent propulsion can remain under water long enough to be a threat to any surface group. As an example, the Type A using its hydrogen fuel cell AIP system can remain under water for over two weeks! With this ability to submerge for long periods of time new diesel-electric submarines, like the Type A, can perform ambushes and hit-and-run attacks on enemy shipping. The principle drawback is the ability to attack at long-ranges from friendly coastline, like a nuclear submarine (especially given the long distances between nations and regions), but for a submarine designed for regional and national defense long-range isn’t a priority.

Second, diesel-electric submarines are markedly cheaper and lighter than their nuclear brethren. In the Type A’s case, the submarine goes for $475 million which is considerably cheaper than a larger, nuclear submarine. The Type A weighs 1,870 tons and is physically small, although it’s a tad larger than some other existing diesel-electrics since the Armada has specified a minimal weapon’s load for the design’s lethality. However, this is much smaller than the 7,000+ ton nuclear submarines currently in service around the world. Third, the Type A is especially stealthy. The boat has adopted a waterjet – seen on some of the more recent nuclear attack submarines – instead of the classical screw to reduce noise produced during movement. Furthermore, the water waste produced by the fuel-cell AIP system is spread along the length of the hull of the submarine to reduce the submarine's signature, while said hull is constructed out of anti-magnetic steel. Finally, when operating on electric power the noise produced during movement by the fuel-cell powered batteries is almost none.

It’s important to note that SSKs like the Type A are perfectly compatible in a fleet made-up predominately by SSNs (nuclear attack submarines). Given that theoretically the SSNs in any given navy were procured to offer that navy the ability to strike at an enemy at any given range and in any given location in the world’s large oceans and seas the SSN remains a power-projection tool – the ability to project fear into an enemy’s surface fleet at thousands of nautical miles off any nation’s shore. The SSK remains a tool that now may be superior to SSNs for coastal defense. Consequently, the two serve two different roles and purchasing one doesn’t mean that the other is suddenly worthless. A nuclear navy can operate diesel submarines.

There are various diesel-electric designs available on the export market, but the Type A has several advantages. First of all, the fuel-cell system is superior to other air-independent propulsion systems including the Sterling cycle engine and either the closed circuit diesel or the closed circuit turbine. To give an idea, Sterlings and closed circuit diesels operate with about 30% efficiency, while the turbine operates with a maximum of 25% efficiency – fuel cells operate with 70% efficiency. While the rest use indirect energy conversion, the fuel cell system directly converts energy and it has a markedly lower water consumption rate (.4 kg/kW). The quietness of the battery technology makes the Type A perfect for clandestine special operations, as well. True, this technology is not exclusively Castillian and may be adopted by other submarines on the market. However, Sisnaval guarantees the availability of spare parts and armaments for its submarines and also guarantees the availability of evolutionary technologies. In other words, instead of having to buy a new submarine to gain new technology Sisnavantia guarantees the ability to upgrade the Type A. Consequently, the life of a Type A can be considered longer than many others through the use of upgrades and improvements. A Type A will be able to compete against other designs for the next thirty years, or more.

In regards to sensor systems, the Type A is at the top of the spectrum. The submarine includes land navigation technology which allows it to perform closer to a nation’s coastline. The advantages are numerous, and it includes the ability for the submarine to hide using the nation’s coastal terrain (such as fjords) without the fear of having an accident or running aground. In that sense, the Type A can also operate in extremely shallow water. The submarine also has plenty of long-range sensors, including SONAR and RADAR, for long-range armaments and includes a number of devices to protect it from enemy torpedoes and helicopters. Against enemy sensors, as already said, the Type A has a number of features which make it incredibly stealthy – including a low radar signature when the submarine is sailing along the surface.

Origins of the name
Prior to the appearance of Sisnaval and the Type A, Castilla’s submarine fleet was composed of foreign diesel designs. The first submarine – truly a submersible, rather than a submarine – was procured in 1911 and between 1911 and 1914 Castilla saw six introduced into service, named A.1 through A.6 (the series was given the title of Class A). These were noisy, small, diesel-electrics which were used for coastal defense and to potentially harass Spizanian and Franberrian shipping. Six Class B submarines replaced the Class A starting in 1924 and these were far more advanced submarines, although still on the ‘cheap side’ given the kingdom’s lack of money (not to mention that at that time the kingdom was more worried about purchasing armaments more relevant to putting down rebellions). Between 1944 and 1947 four Class C diesel-electrics replaced the six Class Bs and these have remained in service until the appearance of the Type A. Given that neither Class of submarines were indigenously designed, the Armada has decided to rename the classification system for submarines and start again at Type A – Sisnaval sells the submarine with this title, although the designation can change from country to country.

However, as opposed to the Class A, Class B and Class C the designation of a new letter doesn’t necessarily mean that it is better than the last. For example, Sisnaval’s Type B is smaller and less advanced than the Type A, but offers a cheaper solution and can sail in much more shallow waters (such as rivers).

Type A procurement
Full rights to production are not sold, however a nation can purchase limited rights to production which simply means that Sisnaval gives the right to produce any given amount of submarines, specified by the contract signed by all relevant parties, to a specific naval defense yard in the client’s nation. Given the limited production capabilities of Sisnaval this might be preferred by some customers – especially those with large orders in mind. In regards to the cost, not all submarines will cost $475 million a piece. Bulk orders, understandably, will decrease cost by a relatively large margin. In regards to submarine construction, Sisnaval is currently offering the reduction of total price in exchange for the selling of naval defense companies relevant to submarine design to Sisnaval. Sisnaval is looking forward to being one of the leading submarine naval yards in the world.

Specifications
Manufacturer: Sisnaval
Displacement: 1,870 tons submerged, 1,580 tons surfaced
Dimensions: 64m (length) x 6.7m (wide)
Hull Construction: Anti-magnetic steel
Propulsion:
- Eight fuel-cell modules producing 48kW each, for a total of 384kW of power.
- Three diesel engines.
Velocity (Surfaced): 13 knots
Velocity (Submerged): 21 knots
Maximum Depth: 300m
Range (Surface @ knots): 7,000nm
Range (Submerged): 370nm
Periscope: A single Indra-Begón search mast and a single optronic mast.
Armament:
- 6x 533mm torpedo tubes for submarine launched anti-ship missiles and heavy anti-ship torpedoes. Torpedoes are reloaded through the tubes, so no hatches are required. The submarine holds fourteen torpedoes.
- or 44 mines
Countermeasures: 2x AOS
Sensor Equipment:
- Cylindrical bow SONAR array.
- Flank array.
- Mine avoidance array.
- Land navigation array.
- Intercept array.
- Active array.
- Distributed array
- Towed array.
- Surface RADAR array.
Communications: Satellite communications, multi-frequency buoyant antennas and a slow broadband transmission. The submarine includes a small unmanned communications submergible for surface communications while the submarine is submerged.
Crew Compliment: 31
Cost Per Unit: $475 million

hooray!

High Mobility Tactical Armored Car
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The High Mobility Tactical Armored Car (HIM-TAC) is MecániCas’ second military vehicle developed and manufactured by the company’s Defense Industry Division (MecániCas DID). In Spanish, the vehicle is called the ‘Vehículo de Alta Mobilidad’ (VAM) and about nine hundred will be acquired by the Castillian Ejército de Tierra, although information on which versions is unknown. The HIM-TAC is a next-generation high mobility armored vehicle, designed primarily for reconnaissance, exploration and the transport of fireteam sized units. However, the modular design of the vehicle makes it completely multi-purpose, and therefore the HIM-TAC is able to operate over a wide range of mission profiles over a myriad of different terrains and against different enemies. One day the vehicle can be prepared for high intensity urban fighting, with complete protection against small caliber autocannon ammunition (20mm), and the next day the vehicle can be ready for humane peace-keeping operations with ballistically protected glass windows. The Furthermore, the HIM-TAC enjoys the fact that it has been preceded by the Tiznao-60 advanced armored truck, which has provided MecániCas with a debut of the quality of its engineering and production. The HIM-TAC, or the Tiznao-10, is no short in quality and perhaps is even one step ahead of the Tiznao-60, given that the HIM-TAC has truly been designed to cater to the necessity of every possible international client interested.

In the face of modern asymmetrical warfare, and even conventional warfare, the threat of large land mines and cheap improvised explosive devices (IED) has risen exponentially over the last four decades. The first great use of land mines and improvised mines using old artillery shells was first witnessed by Castillian forces during the Civil War (1967-1973), and although the Castillian Army has not been in any major war since that terrible conflict, it’s evident that such styles of resistance have seen more and more use throughout the world as the years progress. For this reason, vehicles designed during 1970s, 1980s or even the 1990s do not boast of a high level of protection against land-mines, and during conventional warfare such vehicles are not entirely expected to run into daily ambushes. Therefore, new vehicles must go by new standards of protection in order to insure survivability on a battlefield where one day nothing will happen, and the next the convoy will be ambushed by dozens of insurgents. On the other hand, the fluctuation between conventional warfare and asymmetrical third-world conflict means that one vehicle will find it difficult to excel in both types of battle. For this reason, new vehicles must be designed to be as modular as possible, without handicapping protection or mobility. The HIM-TAC can made to be conventional, with low-protection and lightweight for conventional operations, or even civilian law-enforcement necessities, or it can be completely protected against large caliber small-arms armor piercing ammunition and against improvised explosive devices. Furthermore, modularity allows the client organization to change roles within a matter of hours, or even minutes.

In a sense, protection can be found in mobility. New wheeled armored fighting vehicles, whatever the size, must find solutions for problems including flat tires, bad terrain or damaged suspensions. MecániCas has attempted to introduce a series of ‘new’ technologies to make the HIM-TAC superior to all other vehicles in its sector. Several of these have already been introduced by the Tiznao-60 truck, but their application into the HIM-TAC will ensure increased survivability by guaranteeing the vehicle’s mobility even when it has been damaged. This will allow the vehicle to run away if it has been severely damaged during an ambush, and to save the lives of the soldiers inside of it. It also means that the vehicle makes a great ambulance, given that it will be able to run even when certain components have been destroyed. Furthermore, the vehicle’s motorization is one of the best areas to lose important kilograms worth of weight, including a modern multi-fuel diesel engine, a modern electric transmission with a high power transfer efficiency level and an ultra-modern suspension offering a lightweight and a high ride tolerance for the vehicle’s crew. Saving weight in some sectors will allow weight increments in others – this includes more armor protection and extraneous systems which will increase survivability in other ways, such as a central inflation unit for the vehicle’s tires. This will make damaging the vehicle’s tires increasingly more difficult and time consuming and expensive.

This introduction alludes to the fact that MecániCas’ principle goal is to increase the survivability of the crew. This is not only achieved through a modular ‘crew central cell’ with high armor protection, but by improving the vehicle’s mobility and introducing new mechanics that will be far more difficult to damage enough to score a mobility kill on the HIM-TAC. Ultimately, MecániCas hopes that its dedication to the soldiers which will be fighting in its new vehicle is what provides the argument to export the vehicle abroad. Furthermore, it remains true that the HIM-TAC is possibly the first vehicle of its kind to be devised with this level of dedication. Of course, dozens of tactical vehicles have entered the market, but few of these show the quality that the HIM-TAC does. This quality, admittedly, is something that has been shown to be true for all weapon systems currently sold in Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land System’s catalogue.

Survivability
A vehicle like the HIM-TAC can complete a wide array of jobs, including reconnaissance missions, ambulance duties and also has logistical capability. Therefore, ideally the armor of the vehicle should be designed in a way in which it can be changed according to the needs of the client and the operation. Consequently, MecániCas has decided to offer the armor as a modular ‘option’, while the structure only provides basic protection levels – such as against anti-personnel assault rifle (4mm – 7mm) projectiles. The panels can be bolted on within hours (which is an overstatement, depending on the mechanics crew) and there are three major armor kits for the HIM-TAC; ‘standard panels’, ‘medium weight’ and ‘heavy weight’. Standard panels only offer protection against small-caliber anti-personnel ammunition, while medium weight panels will offer protection against up to 8mm tungsten cored armor-piercing projectiles and heavy weight panels offer protection versus up to 15.5mm (15-16mm) heavy machine gun tungsten cored armor-piercing rounds. Although the panels are lightweight, normally a logistics vehicle will be fitted with either standard panels or medium weight panels (depending on the threat; in a conventional war, the logistics vehicles probably don’t need armor protection, since they will be behind friendly lines). However, two different types of doors are offered at structural levels – a peacekeeping and standard door, with larger windows, or what are called ‘battle rattle’ doors which include firing ports. In the latter’s case, embedded cameras can be included in the vehicle to increase the crew’s visibility. Nevertheless, the latter’s door offer increased armor protection by reducing window sizes, which are not armored to the same level as the rest of the vehicle. The ballistic windows come in two standards, as well – non-armored (polycarbonate to protect against artillery and grenade fragments and anti-personnel rounds) and armor (protected against up to 8mm tungsten cored or up to 15mm steel cored projectiles). The vehicle also includes two floor panels – a flat panel and a v-shaped hull multi-layer panel. In general, therefore, the vehicle can be changed according to varying needs. The modularity of the vehicle also allows for easy future armor upgrades and new armor kits of varying weights, if another more specific armor kit is needed.

The structure is designed for ballistic ‘efficiency’ – versus the minimum expected threat – and is actually designed in two parts. The vehicle has a modular ‘crew cell’, which is fitted onto the ‘propulsion unit’, which is formed by the engine bay in the front and the equipment compartment in the rear, united by the transmission and the supporting floor structure. Therefore, new crew cells can be designed with superior structural protection as the threat changes. Thanks to the decreasing costs of titanium and new welding techniques (see: Montgomery, Jonathan S., and Wells, Martin G.H., Titanium Armor Applications in Combat Vehicles, Journal of Metallurgy, April 2001 and Henriques, Vinicius A.R., et. al., Production of Ti-6%Al-7%Nb alloy by powder metallurgy, Journal of Material Processing Technology, 118, 2001) much of the steel structure can be replaced, and this means about a 50% decrease in the overall weight of the structure! Certain parts of the structure are still built of steel, however, especially those related to the suspension to withstand higher fatigue (due to the vibrations of the suspension). Although the crew cell is entirely constructed out of titanium and steel, to keep ballistic efficiency, parts of the engine bay and the rear module is also constructed out of high-strength aluminum alloy to save weight and cost. It should be noted that the structure outside of the crew cell is thinner than that of the crew cell, as survivability priority has been put on the vehicle’s occupants. ‘Special armors’ have been avoided to reduce cost and because given the modular protection kits which are available for the vehicle, high ballistic protection of the structure is deemed unnecessary – therefore, materials like engineered aluminum are avoided.

The most difficult parts of the vehicle to be armored, as found by the design team of the HIM-TAC, are the ballistic window panels. The windows are fabricated in modular ‘boxes’, surrounded by a titanium frame which is bolted-on to the vehicle. These window cells are fabricated to fit the standard door pieces for the HIM-TAC and for the windshield of the vehicle. The problem found in glass protection is that the thicker the glass the more it will hamper visibility, and different materials have different coefficients for the transfer of light. Consequently, until new materials are found, giving a window panel protection against the same threat as a standard armor module for a vehicle is very difficult. According to a research effort funded by Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems (STSLS), the most common armor piercing ammunition found is the medium caliber tungsten-core (WC) projectile, with a much smaller distribution of heavier projectiles. Some depleted uranium core (dUC) projectiles were found to be distributed, but for the most part these were issued to conventional units – such projectiles have not made a substantial appearance (at least, not to be noticed) in guerilla and terrorists organizations. Given these statistics, a prioritization of ballistic protection can be made and the ballistic window panels can be made to protect the crew from the majority of known threats. Furthermore, the armor can be designed to substantially lower a projectile’s ability to harm someone inside the crew cell by decelerating it – this can be achieved through new materials or by increasing panel thickness (an optimum has to be found between protection and visibility). The key is to study the probability of an impact by a 15mm armor piercing projectile, and this is completely dependent on the type of situation the vehicle will be put in. For example, it’s more unlikely that the vehicle will be impacted by this size of a round if in an asymmetrical conflict due to the low probability that advance ammunition for high caliber machine guns will be distributed. In a conventional war, it’s not likely that a vehicle such as the HIM-TAC will be used to directly engage major enemy forces (unless it’s used in an ambush or hit-and-run tactics) and therefore the probability of being engaged (in general) is much lower than the former example. Nevertheless, although absolute protection would be optimal, engineers have currently concluded that this is impossible with today’s materials.

The windows are composed of a multi-layer transparent laminate, made-up of several different materials. The principle make-up of the panels is laminated float glass, united through thin layers of polyurethane. These layers are 9mm thick, each, and a total of five layers complete a thickness of 45mm worth of float glass. The problem with increased thickness of the glass is the green tint that is created by the iron oxide content of the glass (see: Hazell, Paul J., The Development of Armour Materials, Military Technology, April 2006, pp. 60-61), which also ultimately means that other materials are needed to provide the majority of the strength. On the other hand, there are considerable problems with increased weight of the panels which include the destabilization of the vehicle due to the movement of the center of gravity. Lately, new ceramic materials have begun to be introduced to provide the front plate of a laminate transparent armor – these have been used on several vehicles of the same type. These ceramics include sapphire (single crystal aluminum oxide) and magnesium aluminate spinel (referred to as spinel) – only the former provides sufficient enough protection to be considered a dramatic improvement and sapphire is rare in armored vehicles due to the fact that new processes for material manufacturing which are affordable have only been introduced recently. Perhaps one of the most used ‘new ceramics’ is quartz glass, and this is much more widely used than sapphire. None of these ceramics, however, provided MecániCas with the necessary protection to maximize survivability. Instead, the front plate of the multi-layer window panel is composed of aluminum oxynitride (AlON), a dense, but tough, transparent ceramic material – the front plate is 10mm thick (therefore, between the front plate and the glass the armor is 54mm thick). Finally, traditionally the backing layer is composed of polycarbonate, but polycarbonate only forms about 2mm worth of the back layer, with the rest composed of E-glass which has superior ballistics – total thickness of the window panels are 63mm (for information on all of these materials see: Patel, Patrimal J., et. al., Transparent Armor, The AMPTIAC Newsletter, Fall 2000, pp. 1-6; Klement, R., et. al., Transparent Armor Materials, Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Number 28, 2008; Wright, S.G., et. al., Ballistic Impact of Polycarbonate – An Experimental Investigation, International Journal of Impact Engineering, Volume 13, Number 1, 1993; Hazell, Paul J., The Development of Armour Materials, Military Technology, April 2006; and Sternberg, J. and Orphal, D.L., A Note on the High Velocity Penetration of Aluminum Nitride, International Journal of Impact Engineering, Volume 19, Number 7, 1997). The glass offers enough protection to offer multi-hit impact (as long as the part of the panel remains intact – this doesn’t include cratered panel) against up to 10mm tungsten-core (WC) armor-piercing projectiles, and therefore is proof against all small-caliber and medium-caliber automatic weapons. Hopefully, one day in the future new materials will allow the augmentation of protection to cover fire from heavy machine guns.

However, this protection can be offered for the rest of the vehicle for a relatively light weight. As mentioned before, there are three principle packages for the HIM-TAC. The most basic are ‘standard panels’ which only offer a very small increment in protection, next there is the ‘medium weight’ armor package which is a thinner version of the ‘heavy weight’ armor package (and the use of more metal – improved rolled homogenous armor and titanium - versus ceramic and plastic). The armor is very similar to ArmorMaxx, used on the Tiznao-60 truck, although it exchanges some of the materials for what is considered more proper for a vehicle such as the HIM-TAC; nevertheless, much of it is the same. Apart from designing armor that can withstand multi-hit impacts upon a single panel, multi-hit capability can also be established by introducing modular cells. Each cell has a predefined optimal surface area to distribute the energy of the attacking projectile, and this depends largely on the projectile. Larger long-rod penetrators, commonly used by tanks, are countered through much larger modular panels, but smaller caliber ammunition allows for the use of ‘mini-panels’; for example, a 7.62mm projectile can be defeated through a ceramic tile roughly 5x5cm in dimensions (probability of single cells receiving multiple impacts, based on cell size, is discussed in: Bless, S. J. and Jurick, D. L., Design for Multi-Hit Capability, International Journal of Impact Engineering, Volume 21, Number 10, 1998. See also: de Rosset, William S., Patterned Armor Performance Evaluation, International Journal of Impact Engineering, Volume 35, 2005). Against larger calibers, like a 15.5mm heavy machine gun, larger tiles are recommended. In the HIM-TAC’s case, the panels are of similar size to those used on the Tiznao-60. Furthermore, door panels are manufactured as single-piece modules to make application to the vehicle easier; depending on the threat, single-piece modules can also be considered multi-hit capable if the ammunition hits in different areas of the panel (where the ceramic isn’t cracked). Furthermore, the armor used can be considered multi-hit capable through the application of a rubber or aluminum foam back layer to the ceramic (in reality, a spacing layer).

The ‘heavy weight’ kit is composed of a front-plate of titanium, offering enough protection (at a low weight) to stop 155mm artillery fragments and nearby grenade blasts, without damaging the composite armor underneath. The main defeat mechanism of the armor is the titanium-diboride (TiB2), encased in titanium – the ceramic is manufactured through ‘spark plasma sintering’, since it has been found that titanium-diboride is overall more efficient when manufactured through this processes (over hot isostatically pressed titanium-diboride, for example; see: Patterson, Annika, et. al., Titanium-titanium diboride composites as part of a gradient armour material, International Journal of Impact Engineering, Volume 32, 2005). To improve the material’s fracture toughness the titanium diboride has been ‘prestressed’, which means that is has been shrunk and compressed during manufacture to increase the ceramic’s ability to better withstand an impact without fracturing (see: Bao, Yiwang, et. al., Prestressed ceramics and improvement of impact resistance, Material Letters, Volume 57, 2002; Holmquist, Timothy J. and Johnson, Gordon R., Modeling prestressed ceramic and its effects on ballistic performance, International Journal of Impact Engineering, 2003). Thereafter, a thin back layer of aluminum foam is included for multi-hit capability. The aluminum foam also absorbs a large portion of the stress waves related to penetration and decelerates the rest, meaning penetration has less of an impact on the armor’s back plate, increasing resistance to penetration. Originally, this layer has been attributed to rubber or polyurethane, but it has been found that closed-cell aluminum foam performs better and hardly increases weight (see: Gama, Bazle A., et. al., Aluminum foam integral armor: a new dimension in armor design, Composite Structures, Volume 52, 2001). This is followed by a thicker backing-plate, which is normally composed of a hard material, although recently replaced by composites such as S-2 glass. On the HIM-TEC, the backing layer is composed of carbon-nanotube-doped poly-vinyl-ester-epoxy matrix reinforced by E-glass. Although this sounds like something of the future, and is indeed expensive to produce in small quantities, carbon-nanotubes will help increase protection levels while decreasing weight. High hardness carbon-nanotubes will help increase the material’s ability to deflect incoming projectiles, while their ductility will help absorb the projectile’s energy. In other words, they achieve what very little other materials can – both aspects of armor protection. Given these characteristics, such a composite backing layer is a superior substitute to metal (steel or titanium) and give the HIM-TEC high protection for low weight (see: Grujicic, M., et. al., Ballistic-protection performance of carbon-nanotube-doped poly-vinyl-ester-epoxy matrix composite armor reinforced with E-glass fiber mats, Material Science & Engineering A, 2007). Together, this laminate composite armor can achieve protection against heavy machine gun fire (even against depleted uranium core armor piercing projectiles) with a light weight penalty, meaning the vehicle’s size and mobility will not be hampered as a consequence (for more information on the materials used, see: Hogg, Paul J., Composites for Ballistic Application, Department of Materials, Queen Mary, University of London; Nemat-Nasser, S., et. al., Experimental investigation of energy-absorption characteristics of components of sandwich structures, International Journal of Impact Engineering, Volume 34, 2007; Kwok, Richard W.O. and Deisenroth, F. U., Lightweight Passive Armour for Infantry Carrier Vehicle, 19th International Symposium of Ballistics, 7-11 May 2001; Übeyli, Mustafa, et. al., On the comparison of the ballistic performance of steel and laminated composite armors, Materials and Design, Volume 28, 2007; Reaugh, J.E., et. al., Impact Studies of Five Ceramic Materials and Pyrex, International Journal of Impact Engineering, Volume 23, 1999; Gower, H.L., et. al., Ballistic impact response of laminated composite panels, International Journal of Impact Engineering, 2007).

Laminate composites armor should have a greater thickness efficiency (and mass efficiency) as compared to armored steel (RHA), and so the armor required should be less than it would be if the armor was composed of steel. If a tungsten-core 15mm armor piercing projectile can penetrate an estimated 40mm at 1km (it should be noted that engagement ranges expected are probably less than 100m), then necessary protection equivalent to armored steel should be 50-70mm. If we estimate a thickness efficiency of the multi-layer composite to be approximately 1.6 (a guess which might not be correct for this specific armor; but, it should be over 1.5 and probably at around 2.0) then we can say that the required armor thickness to defeat a 15.5mm WC API threat is between 30-50mm. For thickness of specific locations, the armor will be thinner where structural protection is higher (for example, the lower area of the door). Nevertheless, all-around protection against 16mm depleted uranium cored armor piercing projectiles is to be expected (therefore, a maximum of around 50mm of armor). Against less powerful rounds, this armor is also multi-hit capable and will stop multiple medium-weight small arms projectiles (around the 7.62mm caliber). The ‘medium weight’ armor package is similar in make-up, but – as mentioned before – will only offer protection against 8mm WC armor-piercing projectiles (therefore, around 15-30mm thick at most). In terms of mass gain, this armor is much more efficient than other existing armor modules and will cost less in weight – the ‘heavy kit’ will add about 1,000 kilograms (based on values provided by: Iveco LMV Para el Ejército de Tierra, World Military Forces, Number 65, 2008, pp. 21-29). The medium weight appliqué panels will add considerably less (less than half the weight), and therefore will increase the available transportation weight.

On the modern battlefield, however, ballistic protection against armor piercing bullets is no longer the only necessity. The use of land mines to defeat mounted warriors has existed even before the invention of the anti-tank shaped charge, as medieval infantry used sharp metal spikes littered throughout the battlefield to defeat charging horsemen and knights. However, it is true that only recently has the necessity to defend armored vehicles from anti-vehicle land mines become a priority, as only recently have these weapons been manufactured in homes and have been distributed enough to impact mounted warfare. Therefore, new vehicles are showcasing increased protection against land mines; the HIM-TEC is, as expected, in the vanguard of this movement. Several anti-mine features were included in the Tiznao-60, including laminate floor panels. For example, the wheels are placed as far away from the crew cell as possible, as when the explosive is triggered it will be less probable that it will harm the vehicle’s crew. Furthermore, all mechanical components are arrayed in such a way that if the vehicle undergoes the compressive shockwave of an explosion these components will be flung away from the crew cell, instead of at the crew cell. The spacing between the crew cell and the ‘chassis’ also decreases the rate and strength of the transfer of mechanical shockwaves to that specific part of the vehicle, meaning the crew will feel less of an impact. The HIM-TEC is also protected through a laminate, lightweight, v-shaped floor panels which basically look like a wedge projected towards the floor – although not as steep as is evident on larger and taller vehicles, these floor panels will both absorb the energy (through the composite materials used) and deflect (the v-shaped hull) the explosion – it will also increase the depth of penetration (DOP) necessary of a shaped charge or explosive formed penetrator (EFP) to perforate into the engine bay or crew cell. The HIM-TEC can survive a 10-17kg charge, depending on the location in which the charge is detonated (related to the position of the crew) – by survive, this means that the crew will stay alive, although the vehicle may be destroyed. Finally, all crew members have suspended seats – similar to those used in the Tiznao-60 and Lince main battle tank – to protect them and to reduce the snapping movements of their body parts, especially the neck. (For further reading, see: Kahl, Dieter, Conceptos de protección actuales y futuros para vehículos blindados ligeros y medios, Tecnología Militar, Number 2, 2007; Iveco LMV Para el Ejército de Tierra, World Military Forces, Number 65, 2008; and, Bianchi, Fulvio, Mine Protection for AFVs, Military Technology, February 2005.)

Unfortunately, all this armor has a tendency to spall, especially ceramics – normally, materials with more yield strength and the ability to compress more than others will fracture less and thus spall less. Nevertheless, spall protection is an important concept of survivability, as the armor can be a threat to the crew if pieces of armor are flung into the crew cell. Furthermore, the penetrating projectile can spall itself, as pieces of the projectile erode and are separated from the main body. Even if not fatal to the crew – which it can be – it can seriously wound crew members and even blind them, if pieces perforate the eyes. Therefore, modern armored fighting vehicles use certain materials to ‘catch’ spall or reduce the area of the spray. On the HIM-TEC, the spall liner is composed of aramid fabric due to its high elastic modulus, high specific strength (five times that of steel), low density (one fifth that of steel), low elongation, flame resistance, ease of fabrication and excellent fatigue characteristics. This fabric is included throughout the vehicle, even along the floor (to protect against fragments of mine and floor panel which may shoot upwards into the crew cell), although it’s specifically used to protect the crew (so it’s not used near the engine bay or the in rear of the vehicle). Furthermore, aramid is cheap and is used in many other ways, including as encasement material for bullet proof vests (for more information, see: Meffert, Bernd and Milewski, Gerhard, Aramid Liners as Armor Augmentation, Proceedings Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium, 1988).

Stealth Features
Although advanced night vision devices (NVD) are still characteristic of well trained and supplied conventional ground forces, ‘low technology’ infra-red devices are widespread enough so that one can expect them to be used by an insurgent group. Furthermore, in case of an ambush during a conventional war, one can expect more advance night vision devices. This isn’t the only major threat, either, as some vehicles have thermal imaging systems (such as the TI devices on tanks) that can detect the recent presence of a vehicle (such as the M1 Abram’s: Green, Michael and Stewart, Greg, M1 Abrams at War, Zenith Press, 2005, p. 43)! New anti-vehicle missiles can be locked on through heat, or an insurgent can decide when to blow up an improvised explosive device by what he sees through his night vision device. Therefore, reducing the heat signature of a vehicle is paramount for survivability, and the HIM-TEC has incorporated many existing technologies to reduce the signature as much as possible. This may come in handy if the two-door version is used for reconnaissance or for screening, and you need to hide the presence of the vehicle – even after it has left the area. On the other hand, it’s also important when establishing ambush points, now that 3rd generation thermal imaging devices can detect heat even after the engine has been turned on (for a limited amount of time, of course). Establishing a low heat signature is not only a goal of a light armored vehicle, like the HIM-TEC, but it has also been a goal of even heavy main battle tanks.

Reduction of the vehicle’s radar signature is also paramount, especially with the newfound threat of tank borne high-efficiency radars with line of sight ranges of up to ten to eleven kilometers. Although many of the new radars offered on today’s tanks have overstated capabilities – such as the millimeter radar’s ability to detect threats up to eleven kilometers away –, they still provide an important threat to consider. This threat escalates in open areas, where foliage doesn’t exist to hide the presence of an ambushing vehicle. Although conventionally ground-based anti-vehicle radar has never been considered a real threat, the battlefield is changing with new technologies. New light vehicles are being designed to reduce radar signature, and even main battle tanks are looking to reduce their signature. The threat, of course, isn’t only detection by an enemy vehicle or soldier, but detection by top-attack submunitions. These top-attack submunitions are often armed with small explosively formed penetrators, which perforate the vehicle’s roof at a velocity of up to 1,800 meters per second, and can penetrate at least 100mm of steel armor (see: Weickert, C.A. and Gallagher, P.J., Penetration of Explosively Formed Penetrators, International Journal of Impact Engineering, Volume 14, 1993). These submunitions are mostly guided by independent radar seekers, which are fitted to each device, and others are guided by infra-red seekers (see: Boschma, James H., STAWs: New Threat from Above – Smart Top Attack Weapons, ARMOR Magazine, September 1996). These can be fired from mortars, tank guns, field artillery pieces and howitzers, and the round can carry up to a dozen submunitions! Reduction of the vehicle’s radar signature, even the roof’s flat panel, is paramount to ensure the survival of the vehicle against these threats (if its presence is found).

The oldest threat is, by far, visual profile. The profile of a vehicle has been an issue since the introduction of the armored car in the late 18th century, and is even more a problem today. In most cases, the lower the roof, the better its survivability, given that the harder the vehicle will be to see by either insurgents or even conventional armed forces. This isn’t only important for tanks, as even light armored vehicles like the HIM-TEC avoid visual detection during reconnaissance missions. Furthermore, the smaller the vehicle, the easier it is to hide in the foliage during an ambush mission. Therefore, the HIM-TEC has been designed to be as low as possible without sacrificing protection and mobility. Due to the steeper v-shaped plates on the hull floor, the HIM-TEC is a couple of centimeters taller than some other small high mobility trucks, which might present a disadvantage – the roof is shaped, on the other hand, to minimize the visual effect of this height, which decreases internal volume but increases survivability. Nevertheless, the vehicle’s carrying capacity is not jeopardized now that the vehicle can carry up to six passengers in its stretch version. The HIM-TEC also has small mounting points along the vehicle to hold tight a camouflage netting, such as Castillian ‘Jungla’ – such netting also reduces the heat signature of the tank and can absorb the radar waves of top-attack ammunition.

To defeat the previous two threats – radar and infra-red signature – the HIM-TEC incorporates new materials to absorb its emissions and deflect foreign detection waves. None of these materials are innovative or unique to the HIM-TEC, but the HIM-TEC does a very good job of using them in opportune locations to increase its survivability. For example, absorbent materials are used around ‘inevitable hot spots’ of the vehicle – exhaust pipes, engine bay, transmission parts and the wheels. Ideally, the temperature difference between the vehicle and the surrounding area should be less than 5º C! Metal parts have to be covered with special paints to absorb heat, and special fiber reinforced materials used along the vehicle’s surface (especially around the engine bay). To hide the heat produced by the transmission and even by the exhaust pipes, other than special materials these are hidden between two ‘rails’ of the chassis which work to absorb the heat produced. On the outside of the vehicle, radar absorbent materials are used in conjunction with infra-red absorbent materials (depending on the surface of the vehicle) – this is especially true for the roof, to avoid detection from top-attack submunitions. The fact that the vehicle is light and small is also important, now that this means that the engine can be made to be less powerful and thus produce less heat. Furthermore, absorbent materials around the engine and exhaust pipe don’t only absorb heat, but also absorb noise to hide the vehicle’s movements from nearby detection. Overall, the HIM-TEC is one of the stealthiest vehicles on the market, or at least on par with several other advanced high mobility vehicles (generally, information is based on: Kahl, Dieter, Conceptos de protección actuales y futuros para vehículos blindados ligeros y medios, Tecnología Militar, Number 2, 2007; and Iveco LMV Para el Ejército de Tierra, World Military Forces, Number 65, 2008).

Mobility
The HIM-TEC uses a 190 horsepower diesel engine, coupled to a hybrid electric drive train (for similar information, see: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/sys...d/hmmwv-he.htm) (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/hmmwv-he.htm)), which doubles fuel economy, increases the vehicle’s range, accelerate fasters, decreases emissions by almost 75% and is substantially lighter. The HIM-TEC is not the first vehicle in the Castillian arsenal to have an electric drive train, given that the Lince main battle tank also uses one. Nevertheless, it’s the first vehicle in the country to be designed with an electric drive train and a diesel engine. Most hybrid automobiles in Castilla y Belmonte, now entering the market with a greater vigor (hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are also beginning to enter production for civilian usage), use two gas turbines between 5kW and 16kW in power (depending on vehicle weight) and a 100kg battery – these are the direct competition of the new fuel cell vehicles (see: Capata, Roberto and Sciubba, Enrico, The concept of the gas turbine-based hybrid vehicle: System, design and configuration issues, International Journal of Energy Research, Volume 30, 2006). Unfortunately, the lack of a gas turbine for a combat vehicle of the weight class of the HIM-TEC is currently unavailable, and it’s thought that for the time being a diesel engine would be more desirable. Furthermore, for the sake of export potential, the diesel was chosen due to the greater affinity towards diesel engines on the international market. Although there have been worries about greater mechanical necessity (see: Sharoni, Asher H. and Bacon, Lawrence D., The Future Combat System (FCS): A Satellite-fueled, solar-powered tank?, ARMOR Magazine, January 1998), actual testing on the HIM-TEC has proved otherwise. Perhaps just as important as fuel economy, logistics and velocity is the fact that noise and thermal emissions are reduced considerably, enhancing the vehicle’s survivability.

The diesel engine itself, designed by MecániCas, occupied roughly 2,700cc and is variable geometry turbocharged engine, providing 136kW of power at 3,500rpm and 450Nm of torque at 1,700rpm. The engine works without problem within a temperature range of -32º and +49ºC, even in areas with high humidity. This engine provides the vehicle with a power to weight ratio greater than twenty (to one), although the engine is heavier than MecániCas originally envisioned (it’s standard when taking into consideration diesel engines, but MecániCas was looking for something similar to the TA series 600 gas turbine used on the Lince and Lynx, which does not work for power outputs of less than 900hp). The HIM-TAC has an automatic transmission providing for five forward gears and one gear in reverse, with a final drive within a differential in the rear area of the chassis (the engine is based on information provided in: Iveco LMV Para el Ejército de Tierra, World Military Forces, Number 65, 2008; and http://www.army-technology.com). In the engine bay, along with the motor generators which form part of the hybrid electric drive train, there is a battery which not only transfers power to the transmission and differential, but gives the possibility of silent over watch (normally provided by an auxiliary power unit [APU]). Furthermore, using an electric transmission decreases the chances of a large metal piece entering the crew cell and hurting one of the vehicle’s occupants. Apart from considerations detailed above, hybrid engines also make it easier to convert the two-door version of the HIM-TEC into a command vehicle, radar vehicle, or other systems, and reduce the necessary logistics for these conversions (see: Axe, David, Engine Tests: U.S. Army diesel-electric hybrid motors get a reality check, Defense Technology International, September 2007). For example, the vehicle could be used to recharge electric unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for tactical reconnaissance by mounted infantry. It should be noted that the demand in the commercial sector for hybrid vehicles has increased the cost-effectiveness of introducing this technology into military vehicles, and therefore it’s a cost effective solution that can now be realistically considered (in a world [real-world, for example] where only the military has a demand for lithium-ion batteries, a lithium-ion battery can cost up to $3,500 per kilowatt of power).

Convention dictates that an armored vehicle should only be wheeled when their expected terrain of travel is composed of at least 41% road or weigh less than ten metric tons; this fits the characteristics of the HIM-TEC and vehicles like it, especially when taking into consideration the ideal road-speed of the vehicle (see: Hornback, Paul, The Wheel versus Track Dilemma, ARMOR Magazine, March 1998). However, the HIM-TEC still tries to maximize off-road travel by incorporating new technologies to improve mobility. The large wheels have an angle of attack of 60º and an angle of departure of 52º, and the vehicle has four-wheel drive (4x4 or 4WD) for off-road travel. Each wheel has an independent hydropneumatic suspension, taking advance of the vehicle’s weight class, allowing for a faster off-road velocity, greater stability and the ability to reduce the vehicle’s height by up to four-tenths of a meter. The tires are of the run-flat type, allowing the vehicle to escape from the area even if the tires have been punctured – run-flat tires have been proven to be able to travel up to 20km whilst flat – and a central inflation unit (CIU) keeps the tires at their ideal pressure, which is important for off-road travel. The hydropneumatic disc anti-lock brakes (ABS) are designed close to the differential and away from the crew cell, while still providing a superior reaction time for the driver; the brakes are also fixed elastically to the chassis. While each part of the suspension and brake system is designed to be efficient, they are also designed to enhance survivability, explaining the locations where these are installed.

The high ballistic protection offered by the windshield panels is important when considering the field of view of the driver. Ensuring that the driver has a large field of view means that the driver will be able to see more of the terrain in front of him, improving his reaction to non-ideal terrains or even against improvised explosive devices. Apart from enhancing survivability, it also enhances mobility. Just as important, the hydropneumatic suspension increases the ride tolerance of the crew – as proven by the suspension’s integration into tracked vehicles, such as the Lince – meaning that the driver has less of a chance of being fatally fatigued by the vibrations of the vehicle. All of this will enhance the driver’s reaction time, also affected by the high efficiency hybrid diesel drive train (these last two paragraphs are based largely on: Bianchi, Fulvio, Off-Road Mobility: Problems & Solutions, Military Technology, March 2007). As is witnessed, most of the components on the vehicle are designed to improve the vehicle’s survivability, which is the single most important priority in the HIM-TEC. In essence, the vehicle might come out of the battle almost completely destroyed, but its occupants will come out alive and ready for the next fight. This not only decreases costs by making sure one’s soldiers survive a battle, but it also means that soldier’s confidence will increase as they see that their equipment guarantees the wellbeing of their lives. In that sense, the high protection for low weight, new mobility features and stealth features are probably worth the cost. It should further be noted that the vehicle has the capability to wade through up to 90 centimeters of water without preparation and can be driven with night vision devices or thermal cameras.

Lethality
The product includes no remote weapon station, although the roof panel includes a mounting area for a remote weapon station. For example, combat versions of Castillian and Macabee HIM-TECs will be armed with the HammerFist remote weapon station, mounted on a wide variety of other vehicles sold by Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems (STSLS). The mounting area allows for a wide variety of these remote weapon stations to be added – effort is dependant on the design of the remote weapon station. For example, thanks to the design of the HammerFist intrusion into the vehicle is minimal, so the impact on protection is almost none. On the other hand, other remote weapon stations may need more modifications inside the vehicle, making application more difficult and perhaps putting in danger the ballistics of that particular part of the panel. Nevertheless, due to the wide proliferation of remote weapon systems this option is available. Of course, STSLS and MecániCas prefer the HammerFist remote weapon station of national fabrication due to its high quality and the ability to mount it on any given vehicle without requiring heavy modifications inside of it (except for a fiber optic cable). HammerFist is also lightweight and can mount a wide variety of weapons. By far, it’s far simpler to mount a machine gun used by your armed forces, then an all-new remote weapon station. HammerFist is also very affordable for the amount of technology offered with the system. The Tiznao-60 can also mount a HammerFist remote weapon station, and this is done on Tiznao-60s manufactured for the Castillian Armed Forces (CAF).

Apart from a remote weapon station, the roof hatch ring allows for the mounting of a machine gun or an automatic grenade launcher of similar proportions. Depending on the design of the machine gun, mounting and dismounting operations is simple and the machine gun can be dismounted in order to provide fire support for infantry units on the ground. Automatic weapons of up to 20mm can be mounted (in other words, infantry heavy machine guns) and automatic grenade launchers of up to 40mm. Macabee HIM-TACs will mount the S30 13.3mm heavy machine gun (manufactured by HTC and designed by Mekugi), while Castillian VAMs will mount the indigenous G4 heavy machine gun of the same caliber (different cartridge length). More so than the HammerFist, the ring mount can accommodate any national weapon and can double the vehicle’s firepower, or reduce the necessity for a remote weapon station (reducing costs; a remote weapon station will cost over $100,000) – the versatility of both the ring mount and the remote weapon station allow client nations to customize the vehicle with their own automatic weapons. The modular design of the hatch and roof panels allow redesigns to allow for heavier weapons, if the client nation decides that this is a necessity. The roof hatch is large enough to allow for the use of light ceramic composite armor and to allow a fully armored infantryman to escape without problem. Soldiers can also post guard through the hatch when the vehicle is not moving, or use it to increase the field of visibility.

Apart from the grenades mounted on a remote weapon station, MecániCas’ HIM-TEC includes two mounting points – one on either side – for two heavy grenade launching packs. The mounting allow for grenades between 40mm and 100mm to be mounted without the reduction in the number of tubes (unless the tube firing mechanisms are bulky). For example, the grenade packs issued on Castillian and Macabee HIM-TECs include six grenades per group, for a total of twelve grenade launchers (each grenade launcher carries at least two grenades).

Although no special attention has been paid to fightability, this also enjoys priority in the HIM-TAC. The vehicle includes an air conditioning system for the crew, and the control panel in the front of the vehicle is accessible to the driver without strain. The fact that the HIM-TEC is one of the safest vehicles of its class means that the driver and the passengers will feel reassured for their safety. In tests conducted, even when the vehicle has been completely mangled, the crew has left unscathed. This type of ballistic quality is what differentiates the HIM-TAC from other high mobility tactical trucks. High protection against all known threats possible and lightweight design make any price affordable for an army truly interested in the best tactical truck on the market.

Specifications
Manufacturer: MecániCas
Distance Between Axels: 3.2m
Angles of Attack/Departure: 60º/52º
Height: 2.15m
Width: 2.05m
Gross Weight (Basic Two-Door/Medium/Heavy): 3.1t/3.7t/4.1t
Gross Weight (Basic Four-Door/Medium/Heavy): 3.8t/4.25t/4.9t
Maximum Weight: 7.5t
Towing Capacity: 4t
Maximum On-Road Velocity: 140km/h
Slope: 60%
Engine: 136kW hybrid diesel
Transmission: Automatic; 5+1
Brakes: Hydropneumatic disk brakes
Tires: Run-flat
Passenger Capability (four door stretch): 6+1 (driver)
Costs –
Two-Door: $220,000
Four-Door: $270,000
Basic Panels: $25,000
Medium Weight Panels: $50,000
Heavy Weight Panels: $100,000

Note: A little imagination is needed to guess the cost for more complicated variations of the vehicle with armor.

TA-80 Next-Generation Infantry Rocket System (NIR-S)

Program Background
The necessity for a man-portable light anti-tank weapon for Castillian infantry forces can be traced back to the mid-1920s, although at the time these were mostly crude and revolved around tungsten-core armor-piercing projectiles. However, lack of funding for relevant military programs in the late-1930s all the way to the mid-1960s meant that the infantry received little in the way of the required equipment to defeat the evolving armored threat. Even during the Castillian Civil War shaped charge warheads for infantry weapons were not issued in large quantities and in no way played a major role during the war, on either side. Arguably, had they been introduced in large numbers to any of the two fronts their impact may have been decisive enough to restrict mechanized operations, given that neither military had the ability to produce modification packages for the tanks which were imported from Questers, Doomingsland or Juumanistra. Furthermore, none of these providers were active enough to spend money on modifying the tanks in service during the war, given that for the most part neither side was truly making a profit from the equipment handed over. Although shaped charge tank-rounds were pressed into service, even though the kinetic energy penetrator took a more dominant role in tank versus tank fighting during the war, these were never fashioned into infantry weapons indigenously. At the time, a well-manufactured shaped charge of around 80mm diameter could have penetrated a Doomani MAD.II main battle tank on all sides, without problems – the same remains true for the MBT-8/E supplied by Questerian forces. Nevertheless, hand-held anti-armor weapons may have increased chances for RUAC to win the war against royalist Castillian forces.

Post-war, the requirement continued to exist but there was no concentrated effort to provide infantry with this capability, despite the lessons learned during the war. The fact remains that there were no efforts to modernize or introduce anything, really, as generals, politicians and nobility were more interested in carving out their political future in a deteriorating kingdom. The foreign military threat, at the time, was not relevant as the two major regional powers were ‘friendly’ (with no government in particular) due to their overwhelming control of the Castillian economy – these were Mekugi and Juumanistra. Due political turmoil in the re-united ‘kingdom’, after the Castillian Civil War (1967-1973), there was little activity in regards to military modernization between 1973 and the late 1980s, until the coronation of King Alfonso VI and the end of the military dictatorship. In the early 1990s, even despite the army’s reduction in size, several initiatives were taken to begin a steady modernization of the armed forces, which would work in tandem with the ‘economic miracle’ of the country. For example, these initiatives led to the development and production of the carro de combate Lince and other vehicles based on the same chassis. With the decrease of the armor corps, given the retirement of antiquated tanks such as the MBT-8/E and the MAD.II, in the late 1990s the question of a next-generation anti-tank weapon was again brought to the forefront. This requirement led to development of the TA-100, already in production to equip Castillian infantry forces, and offered for export through Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems.

The TA-80 project is a co-development with the TA-100, despite the former’s later introduction. The TA-100 is a dedicated anti-tank guided missile, normally fired from a bipod or a tripod, and is meant to be fired multiple times and requires dedicated maintenance from its operators. Furthermore, TA-100 operators generally take a two-week long ‘school’ in order to become certified operators and be included as full-time anti-tank grenadiers. On the other hand, the TA-80 is not designed to require this level of training and generally all infantry will go through the training to use the TA-80 during the ‘special weapons’ course during basic training and ‘infantry school’ (a combined sixteen week course in the Castillian Army). The TA-80 is also meant to be short enough and light enough to be used by the parachute brigade and the tercios de la armada (Castillian Marine Corps). This lightweight anti-tank weapon is meant to be fired and tossed, or in other words the TA-80 is a one-time use disposable rocket launcher – therefore, construction is cheap, electronics are simple and it does not require maintenance. At the most, the ‘soldier’s training guide’ suggests that the ‘next-generation infantry rocket system’ (NIR-S) should be used only up to two-times, depending on the amount of rockets carried by the soldier. Besides the rocket launcher itself, the prerequisites for the warhead itself dictated that it should be light as possible and that the missile should ‘intelligently’ choose the easiest surface of the enemy tank to penetrate. Therefore, both the launcher and the warhead are light, cheap and efficient.

The decade-long development effort (approximately between 1997 and late-2006) focused mostly on the development of the shaped charge, and it has not been specific only to the TA-80. The shaped charge developments achieved within this time period have been applied to the shaped charge used by the carro de combate Lince and to the warhead of the TA-100, and will be used in a gun-launched anti-tank missile fired from the short-tube 160mm tank-gun which will be mounted on the Puma anti-tank cavalry vehicle based on the Lince chassis (or, alternatively, the Lynx chassis for export). Other priorities during the development phase include the design of an optical sight for the system, subcontracted to the Castillian company Indra-Begón – the TA-80’s optical sight is based largely on technology developed for Industria Real de Armas Ligeras’ F40 fusil automatico de próxima generación. The fact that much of the development effort of the TA-80 is shared with partner weapon systems, being developed conjunctly, means that much of the technology applied can be done so at low-cost which is an important advantage. This means that the TA-80, unlike the TA-100 (which is more unique), will be very affordable for the Fuerzas Armadas Castellanas and for potential export clients. As a consequence, the TA-80 will likely be issued to Ejército de Tierra infantry units, Reserva del Ejército units, both tercios de la armada (and any future tercios which may be founded) and to airborne and special forces units. Overall, the Ministry of Defense has claimed that the first-order will most likely be of around twenty thousand units for all services, including reserves and for replacement.

Warheads
The principle warhead is the CGM.14 (cabezas de guerra modular) high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT), which can perforate up to eight hundred millimeters of armored steel (also known as rolled homogenous steel, or RHA). As opposed to the TA-100, which has the advantage of having two full shaped charges vertically stacked, the CGM.14’s shaped charge focuses on maximizing the behind armor blast (BAB) after perforation, thus maximizing the damage to the vehicle’s turret and to the crew members of the tank. Behind armor blast is not a phenomenon that occurs with all shaped charges and has a lot to do with the material used for the shaped charge liner – for example, it is noticeable that copper (Cu) liners normally only produce behind armor debris (BAD). The TA-100’s first shaped charge was primarily designed to increase jet-tip velocity and therefore was considered a ‘low-mass liner’, which reduces the behind armor effectiveness of the warhead. On the other hand, the CGM.14 instead opts for a greater mass liner with a lower jet tip velocity of around 12.5 kilometers per second (with a low-mass liner jet tip velocities of over 14 k/sec can be expected for copper stretching penetrators) and therefore accepts more ‘mediocre’ penetration performance for greater lethality after penetration. Although at first sight this may be considered a disadvantage, in the TA-80’s case it’s otherwise due to the fact that the TA-80 offers an ‘overly top-attack’ (OTA) engagement mode. Generally speaking, roof armor tends to be thin, despite recent efforts to increase thickness and even add light explosive reactive armor tiles to offer protection against top-attack munitions, such as the dreaded guided self-forging fragment (otherwise known as an explosively formed penetrator). Although the thickness is not a problem for the TA-80, or specifically the CGM.14 warhead, explosive reactive armor can destroy a large portion of the jet and therefore the CGM.14 includes a lightweight plastic cap for penetrating explosive reactive armor without setting off the reaction. As a consequence, the CGM.14 can be considered to have a maximum penetrative performance of 800mm of rolled homogenous armor equivalent (RHAe) after explosive reactive armor. It should be noted that like all other Castillian anti-tank shaped charge liners, the CGM.14 uses a gold liner.

The two other principle warheads include the CGM.20 thermobaric warhead and the CGM.70 fragmentation warhead. The former is designed principally to engage and defeat enemy personnel and buildings - specifically, engage inside buildings. The warhead is not designed to completely destroy a small room or building, but more so to kill everyone inside without committing major structural damage to avoid turning the building into a potential bunker. Furthermore, Castillian doctrine dictates that if possible collateral damage should be reduced as much as possible during a war, to decrease the chances of inciting further resistance from the locals. The second warhead, the CGM.70, contains a large amount of tungsten shrapnel and is for anti-personnel work against large groups of enemy infantry, or even to scratch the back of nearby friendly mechanized units. Indeed, the warhead can clear enemy personnel from nearby vehicles without damaging the vehicle itself. In most cases, these warheads are only issued during urban operations and for the most part the CGM.14 HEAT is a much more common projectile to witness in Castillian stocks.

The compact size of the NIR-S makes it useful for other applications, as well. These applications began to truly show themselves during the late 1990s and especially during NATO’s protracted occupation of British Londinium, which featured far more urban warfare than any previous conflicts which Castilla y Belmonte could directly witness. Although the kingdom did not partake in the occupation, as it was not considered NATO at the time, it has had the pleasure of partaking in the post-war learning effort which has resulted from the conflict. The TA-80 can be used by infantry to breach walls or even heavy doors using different warheads, which is an advantage of the modular warhead system incorporated into each individual rocket manufactured.

The TA-80 NIR-S’ firing sequence is a two-man operation, shared between the firer and the assistant gunner (AG), although potentially it can be operated by a single soldier if required – in this feature, it’s similar to a light machine gun. The venturi has a back blast cone of 70º for a bit over twenty meters distance and it’s discouraged to use the weapon within three meters of a wall or another solid object for safety reasons. On the other hand, normally a soldier will use a wall or a hill, or some other type of visual obstacle, to hide the signature of the back blast to avoid being targeted by enemy forces after the operator has fired the weapon. These, however, are all tactical considerations for the operator’s army to consider and issue training for. Normally, the assistant gunner will clear and load the tube and prepare it for launch – in the NIR-S this takes less than five seconds. The gunner’s operation remains similar to older rocket launched warheads in foreign armies, meaning that before firing he has to cock the hammer, press the safety near the trigger and finally squeeze the trigger – in total, the system has two safeties (the safety pin, applied during travel, and the firing safety). Upon a successful fire the gunner can either call for another round, if one is available and is necessary to finish the target, or can dispose of the tube and kick the sights off; the sequence is largely the same upon three consequent misfires, for safety concerns.

Electronics
In terms of guidance the TA-80 is ‘dumber’ than its bigger brother, the TA-100, and therefore is cheaper and easier to manufacture. However, the TA-80 is completely a ‘next-generation’ missile launcher in the way that it maximizes first-hit probability by using ‘basic’ technologies to increase accuracy and effective range (even if only by one hundred or two hundred meters). First, it’s important to note that the tube includes two flip-out iron sights if the red-dot sight is not available, and normally under these conditions the TA-80 will have a maximum effective range of about one hundred and fifty meters against a moving target and three hundred and fifty meters against a fixed target. Using a red-dot sight, connected to a small computer located on the tube, the operator can use a targeting system known as predicted line of sight (PLOS) for accurate engagement against targets at up to six hundred meters! Predicted line of sight allows the soldier to track the target to be engaged for anywhere between three to five seconds and then fire, making the TA-80’s rocket fire and forget. In other words, the soldier does not need to continue tracking his target after firing to compensate for movement, perfecting the system for ambushes and other dangerous anti-tank missions. This reduces the enemy’s ability to counter attack against the threat, even if the back blast can clearly be seen. The missile’s onboard computer tracks the target based on movement patterns calculated during the initial tracking period aided by the firer and can reach the target independently of distance.

True maximum effective range of the rocket is relative to the training of the soldier and to the accuracy of the computer, which is not a fixed variable. It’s true that in some cases a CGM.14 warhead can accurately and successfully engage a target at the maximum envelope range of 600 meters, but ‘true’ effective range is probably between 400 and 500 meters, depending on the mission’s situation. Vehicles moving in strange patterns, for example, will be more difficult to lock-on after launch (LOAL) by the missile and therefore the maximum effective range will be affected dramatically. The use of a reflex sight for more accurate and faster targeting is truly a matter of personal choice and a soldier can still use the predicted line of sight feature with the iron sights – the computer will base the target’s movement patterns on the angle and velocity of movement of the launching tube (the only difference is that the soldier will not have the information on display through the eye-piece). Contrary to popular belief, the electronic sights will require more training than the iron sights. During studied foreign wars, which had a large impact on the development of both the TA-80 and TA-100, it was found that soldiers were suggested to throw away their optical sights during combat situations due to the increased complexity. Regardless, with a well trained operator an electronic sight paired with a range finder can increase the range of a crude weapon from three hundred to five hundred meters distance against a non-moving target. With this taken into consideration one can expect that active army units will most likely receive a complete compliment of sights, while some reserve units will probably only receive the tubes with the built-in iron sights due to the fact that reservist are normally less well trained than their active army counterparts. Furthermore, there are cost considerations from unit to unit, since most of the time the decision to purchase the sights is made by the unit’s commander himself as opposed to by the government.

There are two modes of engagement for the TA-80, for use against different targets. Due to the increased thickness of a main battle tank’s front armor and even side armor it’s no longer a viable option to directly engage these surface areas. As a result, the TA-80 includes the option for overfly top attack, as has been mentioned above. Using a tandem shaped charge warhead the CGM.14 can easily penetrate light reactive armor, whilst the 800 mm of penetration is more than enough to completely perforate a tank’s roof armor and cause massive damage inside the turret – perhaps even completely destroy it, depending on the behind armor blast of the particular warhead given the unique features of each tank (such as armor thickness or the direction of the shockwaves during impact). A fairly important advantage of the TA-80’s rocket is its size and velocity, which makes it more difficult to destroy or knock off course by means of an active protection system. However, tactically it’s suggested that more than one is fired simultaneously to overwhelm the defending tank’s active protection system. The second mode of attack is direct attack (DA) which is used mostly against lightly armored vehicles, non-armored vehicles or other targets such as bunkers, doors and walls. During direct attack the missile follows the line of sight of the soldier, a much more simple trajectory. Normally, during direct attack the missile will have a shorter effective range than one flying above the line of sight to engage the target from the top.

The TA-80 has a minimum range of fifteen meters, which means that it can easily be used in an urban conflict by defending or attacking soldiers. During the Imperial (n.b. ‘Imperial’ refers to the Second Empire of the Golden Throne, otherwise known as The Macabee Empire) invasion of Safehaven, during the War of Golden Succession, Havenic infantry were known to use their crude rocket propelled grenades (RPG) and light anti-armor weapons (LAW) against Imperial armor at ranges of less than one hundred meters inside the city. After the Battle of Ishme-Dagan and the destruction of the Havenic army as an effective conventional fighting force in early 2017 (n.b. all dates concerning the War of Golden Succession are given in accordance to the Imperial calendar, and not to the Gregorian calendar) the rocket propelled grenade became the single most effective weapon against Macabee armor – improvised explosive devices were not widely used due to the velocity of the Imperial advance into Northern Safehaven.

Other Information
Manufacturer: Industria Real de Armas Ligeras
Seeker: Predicted Line of Sight
Length: 1m
Warhead Diameter: 80mm
Range: 20-600m
Penetration: est. 800mm post-ERA
Propulsion: Two-stage solid propellant rocket
Cost: $10,000

The Glorious Republican Government has a terrible tragedy to report to the Kriegzimmer storefront. A large number of Lyran Arms manufactured weapons penetrated the cloud of ECM and hard kill systems employed on ships manufactured by you and by our nation's companies.

Around 60% of the fleet has been sunk or mission killed, including one of the Argentine class Galleons that was acting as a flagship for one of the many fleets we deployed.

However due to the superior quality of Kriegzimmer based products and our fire control teams the casualties were surprisingly low and it with great pleasure that we report that over 65% of those on ships hit, even those hit heavily have survived and will be going home on hospital ships.

It is with a happy heart and a strong will that we present the Kriegzimmer Storefront with the Iron Heart Medal for medical services above and beyond the call of duty.

As soon as the war ends we'll place an order to replace the ships we've lost, rest assured we'll be repeat customers.

TA-100 Anti-Tank Guided Missile

With the hope of the Castillian Ejército de Tierra acquiring a large number of anti-tank attack helicopters and due to the lack of a dedicated advanced anti-tank missile within the infantry the Ministry of Defense opened discussion for the development of an advanced anti-tank guided missile of the ‘next generation’ which was to come in up to four shapes and sizes – medium range (MR) and long range (LR) variants for infantry and armored vehicles and then an extended range (ER) version for the ‘future Castillian helicopter’ (FCH). All three were to carry the same warhead, although each would have a different sensor package for their different mission profiles. The program was eventually awarded to Industría Real de Armas Ligeras (IRAL), the creator and producer of the armed forces’ common assault rifle – the Iral modelo A. This contracted subcontracted a large portion of the program to the electronics company Indra-Begón and the rocket was subcontracted to Aviónica, Castilla’s largest aircraft manufacturer. The program has perhaps come out more expensive than it should have been; the Ministry of Defense pumped money in to guarantee a speedy introduction of the missile and the launcher for infantry forces. The initial TA-100 program took only five years to complete, between 1996 and 2001, with an additional two years worth of refinement (2002-2003) and finally one year of pre-production tests. Production was postponed until 2006 due to the lack of an extended range missile variant and the funding of the Lince program, which ate much of the army’s funds for procurement. Nevertheless, between 2004 and 2005 some TA-100s were delivered to the Ejército de Tierra for training purposes.

Tactically, the TA-100 offsets the lack of substantial numbers of main battle tanks. Only nine hundred Lince tanks have been acquired, with hopes of acquiring another nine hundred in the next two years – still, this doesn’t compare to the multiple tens of thousands acquired by allied states. In terms of attack helicopters, economically the army can only afford a small amount which will probably be rounded to one hundred. Therefore, the Ejército de Tierra lacks the substance to stop a large armored assault either from the north or amphibiously, or in a foreign country. It’s hoped that weapons such as the TA-100 will offset this disadvantage by offering the infantry an anti-tank weapon which can handle any piece of heavy machinery currently on the battlefield, and that that will be on the battlefield in the future. Therefore, the medium-range missile will most likely be the most widespread; it will be deployed in multiple numbers per platoon. The long-range missile will deployed to dedicated and trained anti-tank infantry teams, which will serve as attachments to platoon or company-sized units, depending on the mission. The extended range version will equip Castilla’s future helicopter and lightweight anti-tank vehicles; for example, it’s expected that the TA-100-ER will equip the Puma cavalry vehicle, based on the Lince chassis. For sure, however, the TA-100 will offer an anti-tank capability never before perceived in the Ejército de Tierra, except amongst its tank arm. The TA-100 will almost completely replace the unguided shoulder-launched anti-tank rocket, which boasted of penetration levels of only 250-300mm of armor. This new missile will give the infantry an unprecedented level of lethality against heavy armored fighting vehicles and will increase their survivability on the conventional battlefield.

However, combat has proven that these weapons are not only valuable against armored vehicles. Shoulder-launched missiles have proven valuable against bunkers and light structures, as well – especially to put holes in the wall or through doors. Originally, it was feared that complete replacement of older weapons would eliminate this advantage, but ultimately the TA-100 was designed to take these tactical uses into consideration. The missile is completely modular, meaning the warhead can be changed without exchanging the entire missile – of course, these changes must be done before entering the combat kill zone. The seeker capsule is also modular, as well as the engine module – all of this allows for easy replacement, maintenance or installment. It also allows a medium-range missile to be turned into a long-range missile (extended range missiles are also wider, however) behind enemy lines and it gives the infantry this added advantage if the mission profile suddenly changes. However, the most important part is that with the warhead module an infantry man can change the high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) charge with a high-explosive (HE) or phosphorous warhead for anti-infantry or anti-structure usage. Therefore, the TA-100 is turned into a multi-mission platform. The major disadvantage is cost, given that the cost of the rocket will still exist. The seeker capsule, however, can be eliminated for short-range anti-structure uses which don’t require expensive guidance. Nonetheless, the cost disadvantage has driven the development of a new semi-guided shoulder-launched rocket which will be called the TA-80 – this will also be considered an anti-tank weapon and will be issued to reserve units.

Since the TA-100 is primarily an anti-tank missile we will discuss the HEAT warhead. Technically, the TA-100 has three separate warheads, although one is not explosive. To defeat explosive reactive armor by perforating without setting off a reaction (explosive reactive armors are hampered by the fact that they have very specific initiation velocities, to avoid initiation against irrelevant threats) the TA-100’s HEAT warhead module includes a lightweight plastic penetrating cap. A plastic tandem warhead has the advantage of being cheap to manufacture (compared to a shaped charge liner), it’s lightweight and it requires less warhead volume. The TA-100’s warhead is fairly longer than most other anti-tank warheads of the same caliber, because the TA-100 is one of the first anti-tank missiles that features a ‘true’ tandem warhead. In other words, instead of using a smaller warhead to force enemy reactive armor to react this warhead acts as a full second shaped charge liner (for literature on the idea see: Ferrari, Giorgio, The Hows and Whys of Armour Penetration, Military Technology, October 1988, pp. 86-87). It should be noted that the increase in penetration is not dramatic, especially due to the fact that this type of shaped charge has not matured technologically to that point. Some basic problems include the fact that the jet tip of the second shaped charge may interfere with the jet base of the first liner (the second shaped charge, of course, begins penetration after a period of time, to allow the first shaped charge to do as much damage as possible) and that the second shaped charge will be operating at a non-ideal stand-off distance (the two shaped charges are of the same caliber, so the optimal stand-off distance is likely to be the same). On the other hand, what the second warhead does offer is more explosive force once the armor has been perforated (assuming that the first shaped charge succeeds in perforating the tank’s armor) – this is especially useful for rear or side hits (against top-armor it’s overkill). It also allows the make of the first shaped charge to optimize for armor penetration, without worrying about behind-armor effects. In other words, the TA-100’s warhead can opt for a low-mass primary liner with a greater penetration, and use the second warhead to maximize behind-armor effects. Of course, reality is not as beautiful as what is suggested in literature and therefore perfect results can never be expected. The liners are constructed out of gold, due to the material’s propensity towards deep-draw (the ability to withstand higher jet lengths) and its density – gold liners were already experimented with in the Lince tank’s high-explosive anti-tank shell (see: Ferrari, p. 85; results of an experiment using hypervelocity gold rods was conducted in – Behner, T., et. al., Hypervelocity Penetration of Gold Rods into SiC-N for Impact Velocities From 2.0 to 6.2 km/s, International Journal of Impact Engineering, Volume 33, 2006, pp. 68 – 79; however, these results are not entirely relevant due to different penetration dynamics).

Taking both warheads into consideration, the 160mm diameter TA-100 can penetrate an estimated 1,900mm of armored steel (RHA; [160 x 11] + est. 100-150mm of the second warhead). This seems like lost penetration given the fact that the missile has a top-attack mode, but technically the greater the penetrable surface area of the enemy tank the greater the chance for success will be. Still, penetration along the frontal arc seems only possible in what are considered ‘3rd generation’ main battle tanks – although, ‘real’ armor values for existing 4th generation main battle tanks are hard to come by. On the other hand, one can consider the extra penetration as a ‘just in case’ figure (besides the fact that achieving penetration equal to the stated figure repeatedly is not possible), especially as tanks begin to shift frontal armor to the turret roof, especially with the introduction of new all-electric hatches or the elimination of hatches (for example, the Lince does not have any hatches in the turret due to the fact that the crew is in the chassis and there are no base plates for the ammunition). It has become a recent trend, as well, since the introduction of the Nakíl main battle tank to include lightweight explosive reactive armor to increase roof protection against shaped charges, although these are more oriented towards defeating explosively formed penetrators (EFP). For irregular penetration of these types of armors used on the roof, knowing that penetration will not occur perfectly, the more penetration that the missile is capable of the better the chances of a successful perforation of the roof armor. Besides, continuing developments in shaped charge technologies may allow for ‘quantum jumps’ in penetration (perhaps even perfection of this ‘tandem warhead’ concept, whereas penetration can be doubled).

The AT-100 is best fired from a tripod, from a fixed location, or from a vehicle – it is not a ‘lightweight infantry anti-tank weapon’ (this job will be fulfilled by the AT-80); the AT-100 is a high-precision, highly-lethal anti-tank guided missile. The missile has several forms of attack, but the infantry versions (medium-range and long-range) use lock-on before launch (LOBL) guidance, while the extended range version offers both LOBL and lock-on after launch (LOAL) guidance; the advantage of the latter is mostly for helicopters, which allow them to fire the missile from the lowest possible altitude. The missiles use fire and forget guidance, taking advantage of a computer in the launcher and the warhead’s sensors to direct the missile without having to use the soldier to guide it by wire – the soldier follows the target for a few seconds and then fires. Two attack modes exist – direct attack (DA), meaning line of sight engagement (20 to 600m distance), and Overly Top Attack (OTA), with a maximum range of four and a half kilometers for the long-range variant of the missile (two and a half for the medium-range variant). Effectively, the TA-100 medium range missile is a 3rd Generation missile (fire and forget), while the TA-100 long range variant is a 4th Generation missile. 4th Generation missiles offer fire and forget, fire, observe and upgrade and fire and steer modes; the advanced seeker module also includes day sights (CCD) and night sights (IIR) and has advanced weather capabilities. The electro-optical seeker allows the missile to engage dug-in and entrenched targets, as well. Similarly, the extend-range version has a maximum range of eight kilometers! Fire and steer mode is mostly useful for vehicles and helicopters, since it allows the operator to steer the missile until the seeker can see the target through a wireless data link (this would still be considered LOAL).

For the Castillian Ejército de Tierra the AT-100 represents a leap from using 1st generation anti-tank missiles (largely unguided) to using 3rd and 4th generation anti-tank missiles. The AT-100 provides the army with unimagined anti-tank capability and the extended-range version will most likely be issued to the anti-tank cavalry vehicle version of the Lince, as well as to the army’s future attack helicopter and to an anti-tank version of the HIM-TEC and L113 Centauro. The AT-100 will also be offered for export through Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems, the export consortium which through Industrial Real de Armas Ligeras makes public its new ordnance.

Statblock
Manufacturer: Industria Real de Armas Ligeras
Seeker: CCD/IR or dual CCD/IR
Length
MR/LR: 1.3m ER: 1.74m
Range
MR: 2.5km LR: 4.5km ER: 8km
Weights
MR/LR (canister): 15kg ER: 35kg
MR/LR (firing post): 8.5kg ER (launcher): 30kg
Tripod: 3.5kg
Penetration: est. 1,900mm post explosive reactive armor
Guidance: LOBL/LOAL
Propulsion: Two-stage solid propellant rocket
Maneuverability (LR/ER): Thrust Vector Control
Cost
MR: $75,000 LR: $85,000 ER: $100,000

OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION
of the
UNITED SOCIALIST STATES OF BURTILANA


Dear Kriegzimmer Board

After looking at your aircraft we decided to buy
2x RoLu-17 Galicia Attack Helicopter @ $28million each
= $56million

These are to use as escort helicopters to BH-1, our presidential helicopter

we shall wire the money upon confirmation.
Thank you

President
Vladimir Burte
Defence Minister
Vladimir Burte

Official Acquisition Request

The Imperial government would like to purchase 50,000 Nakil 1A3 MBT's 25,000 of which would like to be 1A3HA variant

payment of 250 000 000 000 for Standard 1A3 models
and payment of 275 000 000 000 for 1A3HA variants bringing a total of 525 000 000 000 to be wired upon conformation of request

Victor Cruza
Armament minister

Communiqué to President Burte, Burtilana
Greetings,

I'd like to take the time to welcome you to Kriegzimmer and thank you for looking over the company's extensive catalogue. It's an honor that the RoLu.17 has been deemed a worthy enough asset to protect the country's most important politician. The order has been confirmed and the helicopters will be manufactured brand-new and shipped within the end of the month. You can expect manufacturing of the highest quality.

Thank you for your patience,

- Daní Krug, Sales Representative

Communiqué to Victor Cruza, Gataway
Greetings,

Before we confirm the order, we'd like to make sure that it's understood that the Nakíl 1A3HA is only sold to allied or friendly nations, making it a limited sales tank - much like the Nakíl 1A1U it's designed to modify. Although we understand that this information may prove disheartening, we are still willing to begin construction of fifty thousand (50,000) Nakíl 1A3s. If this contract is established it would mean that there will have been a total of nineteen million nine-hundred-and-fortynine thousand nine-hundred-and-eightyeight (19,949,988) built total. We would also like to note that Gataway currently operates (http://z4.invisionfree.com/NSDraftroom/index.php?showtopic=2547&view=findpost&p=2986012) fiftyone thousand (51,000) Nakíl 1A1+s. These can be modified to Nakíl 1A3 standards for a total of $137,700,000,000 ($137.7 billion), whilst the 50,000 brand-new Nakíl 1A3s would cost $500,000,000,000 ($500 billion). This would come to a total of $637.7 billion.

We seriously suggest upgrading older variants to the 1A3, to bring them up to full combat capacity, in conjunction with the newer technologies.

- - Daní Krug, Sales Representative

OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION
of the
UNITED SOCIALIST STATES OF BURTILANA



Communiqué to President Burte, Burtilana
Greetings,

I'd like to take the time to welcome you to Kriegzimmer and thank you for looking over the company's extensive catalogue. It's an honor that the RoLu.17 has been deemed a worthy enough asset to protect the country's most important politician. The order has been confirmed and the helicopters will be manufactured brand-new and shipped within the end of the month. You can expect manufacturing of the highest quality.

Thank you for your patience,

- Daní Krug, Sales Representative



We thank you greatly, sure enough we will be back.
The heliopters have been put to use immediatly and according to the pilots, they are beauties to fly. I have to say I took one for a flight when they first arrived, to formally welcome them, and they were excellent, they also look nice outside the windows of BH-1

President
Vladimir Burte

Communiqué to President Burte, Burtilana
Greetings,

I'd like to take the time to welcome you to Kriegzimmer and thank you for looking over the company's extensive catalogue. It's an honor that the RoLu.17 has been deemed a worthy enough asset to protect the country's most important politician. The order has been confirmed and the helicopters will be manufactured brand-new and shipped within the end of the month. You can expect manufacturing of the highest quality.

Thank you for your patience,

- Daní Krug, Sales Representative

Communiqué to Victor Cruza, Gataway
Greetings,

Before we confirm the order, we'd like to make sure that it's understood that the Nakíl 1A3HA is only sold to allied or friendly nations, making it a limited sales tank - much like the Nakíl 1A1U it's designed to modify. Although we understand that this information may prove disheartening, we are still willing to begin construction of fifty thousand (50,000) Nakíl 1A3s. If this contract is established it would mean that there will have been a total of nineteen million nine-hundred-and-fortynine thousand nine-hundred-and-eightyeight (19,949,988) built total. We would also like to note that Gataway currently operates (http://z4.invisionfree.com/NSDraftroom/index.php?showtopic=2547&view=findpost&p=2986012) fiftyone thousand (51,000) Nakíl 1A1+s. These can be modified to Nakíl 1A3 standards for a total of $137,700,000,000 ($137.7 billion), whilst the 50,000 brand-new Nakíl 1A3s would cost $500,000,000,000 ($500 billion). This would come to a total of $637.7 billion.

We seriously suggest upgrading older variants to the 1A3, to bring them up to full combat capacity, in conjunction with the newer technologies.

- - Daní Krug, Sales Representative



ooc: Well I had kind of planned scrapping off some older models...to free up some funds for more modern projects.....not for rp purposes though...and my mistake on the limited model I was thinking of another previous deal...sleep deprivation....at any rate....I'll just split the order 50/50...half new half upgrades...ill do the math in a moment...have some online banking account issues to take care of at the moment

To Kriegzimmer Business
we like to buy 400 Swift Kill 45mm Autocannon at $128000 for a new AA mounting idea

From
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t69/zxc_047/Imperial%20MT%20Navy-Army-Air%20Forces/NewMT-PMTMititarySeal.jpg
ooc i think i work that right on my calcuator

Encrypted Message to Kriegzimmer Arms

The Greal military wishes to purchase the following:

100 GLI-113 'Ank'ríat' Super Heavy Bombers for 170 billion dollars
10,000 YU.13 Gertantel 155mm Self-Propelled Howitzers for 47 billion dollars
500,000 Mark 30 ‘Swift Kill’ 45mm Autocannon Gun Systems for 160 billion dollars

Total cost is 377 billion dollars.

We request that the delivery is rushed, we can pay extra if necessary.

Greal Military Procurement Division

[Gataway, I would suggest modifying all 51,000 Nakíl 1A1+s to 1A3 standards, instead of buying brand-new tanks. There is really no advantage in buying the 1A3 brand-new, since the only thing that will really change is the turret and that will be brand-new regardless.]

Communiqué to relevant staff at Imperial Isa
Greetings,

Your order has been confirmed, although the price is incorrect. The correct price is 400 x $320,000, or $128,000,000 ($128 million) and we hope that this does not change the order. Regardless, production for the order has been commenced and you can expect all four hundred gun systems shipped by the end of the month.

Thank you for your business,

- Daní Krug, Sales Representative


Communiqué to Greal's Military Procurement Division
Greetings,

The order has been confirmed. The one hundred (100) GLI-113 Ank'ríats will be delivered from the Laerihan's ranks for no cost, and the brand-new aircraft delivered within two months. We ask only that loss units be paid for in full, so that the Laerihans can replenish its stocks without loss of money. The 50,000 Gartantel self-propelled howitzers will be manufactured at a rate of 5,000 per month, and as a consequence will require ten months before the contract is fulfilled - however, we reassure Greal that this is faster than anybody else can supply them with this type of heavy equipment. As for the 500,000 Swift Kill systems, we will be able to provide these at a large rate of 50,000 per month, finishing the contract at the same time as the howitzers.

We thank Greal for its patience,

- Daví Krug, Sales Representative

Communiqué to relevant staff at Imperial Isa
Greetings,

Your order has been confirmed, although the price is incorrect. The correct price is 400 x $320,000, or $128,000,000 ($128 million) and we hope that this does not change the order. Regardless, production for the order has been commenced and you can expect all four hundred gun systems shipped by the end of the month.

Thank you for your business,

- Daní Krug, Sales Representative

OOC thank you The Macabees

To Daní Krug, Sales Representative

no sir our error dose not change our order ,we will wire the current amount to you right away
From
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t69/zxc_047/Imperial%20MT%20Navy-Army-Air%20Forces/NewMT-PMTMititarySeal.jpg

ooc: What tech level would you consider the Nakil just wondering MT or early PMT?

ooc: What tech level would you consider the Nakil just wondering MT or early PMT?

[OOC: 2010-2012 in terms of real-life; I think that the technology used on the Nakíl would be available sooner if there was a war in real-life on the scale of that of the War of Golden Succession - or, for example, the Second World War.]

Tiznao-60 Armored Truck

[OOC: Commentary thread. (http://z4.invisionfree.com/NSDraftroom/index.php?showtopic=1607)]

The landmine threat has been in constant evolution since the 19th century. New technologies, which can be applied to improvised explosive devices (IED) in ad-hoc factories at one’s house, have allowed high-lethality in a compact volume. An IED, armed with a relatively small and light explosively formed penetrator (EFP), can penetrate up to 150 mm of rolled homogenous steel (RHA). This figure for penetration can mean several different things to several different types of vehicles. More modern armored fighting vehicles have been designed to withstand mine blasts, and several older vehicles have been retrofitted. It’s far easier to protect a 60 metric ton (from now on simply referred to as ‘ton’) tank against 150 mm of penetration with floor armor than it is to protect an armored truck with specific weight limitations. A supply truck’s engine can supply a certain amount of torque to pull a certain amount of weight – the less heavy the vehicle is the more it can pull. Nevertheless, the increasing casualty count in international warzones due to the use of IEDs has made protection from these threats imperative. Unfortunately, these vehicles aren’t cheap. Nevertheless, it’s cheaper to purchase a $500,000 armored truck – or even a $750,000 armored truck – than it is to lose four soldiers. In an average first-world nation each enlisted soldier can cost up to $500,000 to train and put in a warzone. So, if a vehicle is destroyed and two or more soldiers are killed their deaths have just justified the cost of an advanced mine-resistant armored truck! It should be noted that the majority of this cost comes from the integration of advanced global positioning systems and battle management systems, however.

A second, equally as dangerous, threat is the rocket propelled grenade (RPG). This is especially true when they are being manufactured and distributed by world-class armament manufacturers. Some distributed RPGs boast of depleted uranium liners, with penetrations of around 1m! This is effectively 200-300 mm more than older RPG designs. Unfortunately, these new RPGs and even light anti-tank missiles are much more difficult to protect against. A main battle tank has a protection equivalent to rolled homogenous steel (RHAe) of around 1,500-1,700 mm, requiring around 35 tons of armor weight. It’s simply impossible to provide a truck with the necessary armor thickness to defend against rocket propelled grenades. Furthermore, newer, more lightweight systems such as active protection systems are hard to apply due to cost considerations. The application of an active protection system into a $750,000 vehicle would increment this cost by at least another $400,000. This makes the truck more expensive than a main battle tank from the late 70s! But, to judge the threat of RPGs versus IEDs it should be noted that during the Castillian Civil War 9% of deaths in supply trucking could be attributed to rocket propelled grenade attacks, while 36% were attributed to landmines.

MecániCas’ Tiznao-60 is an attempt to provide world militaries with a state-of-the-art armored truck for supply and logistics using advanced armor compositions, advanced engines and suspensions, and allowing the truck to pull the maximum amount of weight as possible. The project’s birth is the responsibility of the Northfordian government and military, which required an advanced mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) supply truck for use in a jungle environment – ‘ambush’ territory. A few months into the development process MecániCas was awarded a contract to develop the vehicle for future procurement by the Ejército de Tierra, as well. The exact number to be purchased by the Northfordian military is still unknown, although it’s estimated at around 8,000. The much smaller Castillian Army has declared intentions to procure a total of 2,400 to equip the logistics sectors of the nine currently existent brigades and the three which will join the Ejército de Tierra within the next year. The total cost of the Tiznao-60 program for the government of Castilla y Belmonte is estimated to be at around 570 million pesetas! This includes spare parts and test facilities, as well as the procurement of any new tools required for the maintenance of these new trucks. The Northfordian purchase can be worth as much as 500 million universal standard dollars (USD). The Northfordian military has plans to convert several of the base vehicles to surrogate designs for different mission profiles.

Protection
The protection requirements outlined by both the Castillian and Northfordian governments urged protection against high-caliber small-arm armor piercing (AP) munitions around the crew cabin and body perimeter. Furthermore, the crew cabin’s overhead armor had to be immune to penetration by 155 mm artillery fragments. Finally, in regards to mines and improvised explosive devices the vehicle would have to have maximized protection against these threats in order to protect the lives of the crew and the integrity of the cargo. Protection against rocket propelled grenades is not being pursued seriously at this time given the elevated penetration capabilities of a 105 mm (in diameter) rocket propelled grenade. The passive protection mass and thickness required to defeat these threats has been deemed out of the question, and currently MecániCas cannot offer newer technologies. The use of an active protection system has also been excluded as an option due to cost considerations – a state-of-the-art active protection system can cost up to just fewer than one million universal standard dollars. This would effectively double, or even triple, the price of an armored truck!

The crew cabin and truck frame is constructed out of improved cast homogenous armored steel (IRHA) with low ballistic importance – the material isn’t thick enough to provide the weight of the armor. Steel with .26% carbon is used due to weldability, given that high hardness steel (HHS) with carbon levels of around .30% suffer from poor weldability. The principle armor component is manufactured before being applied to the vehicle and comes in modular packages of different sizes to fit correctly on different surface areas of the vehicle – the modules are called ArmorMaxx. This armor package is available for export, as well, as an armor add-on kit for foreign armored trucks whose owners can’t afford brand-new vehicles. ArmorMaxx has the capability to withstand several armor piercing hits on the same module and is lightweight as compared to other armor schemes. The first layer, looking at the armor from a perspective ‘outside’ the vehicle, is a thin titanium initiator plate to keep the integrity of the module in case of a nearby artillery explosion. Backed by a composite, this initiator plate also decreases the heat signature of the vehicle. The titanium encases a thick layer of boron carbide ceramic which provides most of the ballistic protection of ArmorMaxx. Boron carbide, although cheaper to manufacture than it was a decade ago, is still expensive compared to alumina or silicon carbide. However, it’s ballistic properties are superior in many ways – boron carbide has a low bulk density (an average of 2,510 kg/m3 compared to an average of 3,150 kg/m3 of silicon carbide and an average of 3,870 kg/m3 for alumina), while it has a high hardness value (2,800-3,400 Vickers hardness [HV], 1,800-2,800 HV and 1,500-1,900 HV for boron carbide, silicon carbide and alumina respectively). Multi-hit capability is established through the use of an aluminum foam backing layer. Finally, a final thick layer of armor for further ballistic protection is established through the use of S-glass. Thickness of the modules depends on the required protection. For example, for protection against the 15 mm armor piercing threat the ArmorMaxx module would be at the very least 95 mm thick, plus the thickness of the aluminum foam backing layer which can be between 2.5-4 mm thick. Therefore, against high-caliber small arm armor piercing ammunition the standard module thickness is 98 mm (average/estimation). Finally, the vehicle’s interior is protected by a metal matrix composite spall liner.

To specify, the areas with the greatest protection – that is, protected against 15mm armor piercing small-arms ammunition (API) – are the crew cabin, the vehicle frame perimeter (specifically surface areas which cover the volume of the vehicle reserved for cargo (or personnel) and the fuel tanks. It should be noted that the modular nature of the armor allows the dismantling of thick armor panels in favor lighter armor panels for operations behind the front-lines or in relatively safe areas. This allows for a higher cargo weight. The engine bay and areas of secondary priorities are protected against 8mm API, while areas of least priorities are protected against 8mm ball ammunition. One of the current problems with ArmorMaxx is the minimum thickness requirement to defeat tungsten-cored armor piercing ammunition. This problem is attributed to the use of boron carbide. Future versions of ArmorMaxx may use a different ceramic and confinement material to decrease weight further.

Like most modern vehicles built to the newest requirements, the Tiznao-60 has a V-shaped hull bottom to deflect an IED’s or mine’s blast. The use of very steep angles to form the ‘V’ also maximizes the line-of-sight (LOS) thickness of the hull bottom’s titanium armor plating – in the case of the Tiznao-60 the thickness of the bottom plate assuming that the shaped charge or EFP is penetrating near the center of the vehicle (part of the hull closest to the ground) is around 100mm thick! The armor plating is not homogenous. The bottommost layer features a gradient hardened triple-hardness steel plate separated from a titanium plate by a thick layer of aluminum foam to soak up most of the mechanical energy induced by the blast. Therefore, structural damage to the metal is kept at a minimum and protection against the actual explosively formed penetrator kept at a maximum. Although not as heavy as a homogenous steel plate of equal thickness, a weight penalty is still incurred. To protect from spalling, the metal matrix composite spall liner also covers the floor boards of the vehicle. The two-man crew in the cabin is protected from mines due to the V-shaped floor panels of the hull and a cabin-behind-engine design. Furthermore, the crew’s seats are suspended from the floor panels and are designed to protect the body from unnatural snapping movements during an explosion or from unnatural positions.

Mobility
The Tiznao-60 is powered 380 hp diesel engine occupying about .66 m3 worth of internal volume. The amount of torque produced by the engine allows the vehicle to carry eleven tons of material over its empty weight (twelve tons – metric tons should be assumed in all cases) on-road, and seven tons over its weight off-road. The greater ability to carry more weight off-road is provided by a brand-new cross between an air-suspension and leafspring suspension. Originally, MecániCas had preferred a hydropneumatic suspension but the former provides a cheaper solution. Off-road mobility is improved through the application of a central backbone tube which avoids twisting of the vehicle. According to company sources the Tiznao-60 can operate on over 70% of current soil types.

To maximize the truck’s capabilities to survive an ambush it uses run-flat tires. The truck can still move at an ample place with all eight tires popped for about 700 m. In a more open environment this distance can mean little, except to allow for combat units to have an open area to engage the enemy. In a closed area this distance is quite a bit, as it can mean that the truck has left the line of sight of the ambushing unit!

Vehicle Specifications
Manufacturer: MecániCas
Dimensions: 2.3m (width) x 7.2m (length) x 2-6m height.
Weight: 12 tons (metric)
Armor Protection:
- Against 15mm API around crew cabin, fuel tanks and cargo perimeter.
- Versus 8mm API around engine bay and suspension.
- Versus 8mm ball ammunition all-around.
- Protection from 155mm fragments around the crew cabin, cargo perimeter, engine bay and suspension units.
- Belly protection from large anti-tank mines and improvised explosive devices.
- Suspended crew seats.

Engine: DC serie 200 380 hp high-output diesel engine.
Transmission: IMR-7080-90C automatic transmission.
On-road maximum velocity: 55 km/h
Off-road maximum velocity: 27 km/h
Maximum cruising range: 530 km
Suspension: IMR lightweight air-suspension leafspring.
Automobile capabilities:
- Antilock brakes.
- Run-flat tires.
- Anti-twist backbone tube.
- Traverse over 70%+ terrain type.

Maximum On-Road Weight: 23 tons
Maximum Off-Road Weight: 19 tons
Navigation: Global positioning system (GPS) linked to a compact computer for eased land navigation (landnav). This system is optional.
Cost: $840,000 ($210,000 without navigation electronics)

Encrypted Message to Kriegzimmer Arms

The Greal navy, is interested in purchasing one thousand Azores class Fast Attack Crafts for a total cost of four hundred billion dollars.

Money will be wired automatically upon confirmation.

Greal Military Procurement Division

http://img.skitch.com/20080510-egwgm6w8m4d76wm1prwm222s4u.png

Zinairian Military Authority
Department of Procurement
19 National Plaza, Zinaire City

We are looking to improve upon the capabilities of our army and we have decided that the Nakíl 1A3 will make an excellent replacement for our current fleet of tanks.

10,000 Nakíl 1A3 @ $10 million = $100 billion USD

The full amount will be wired upon confirmation.

http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54486/174/67355974D327BB5550CB3848A69067BD.png
Sir Logan Montelimar Sr.
Chancellor of Procurement

Communiqué to the Greal Military Procurement Division
Welcome to Kriegzimmer,

Your order has been noted and confirmed. Being a rather extensive order, it will probably take some years to complete. We can manufacture around fifty Azores fast attack craft per month, for your nation, meaning the entire order will require at a minimum almost two years. It should be noted that the first ships will not arrive for the first year, since this is a collective value - the ships themselves will take some time to construct, but at the pace that we can lay down new ships in new shipyards, it will be a median of one month per ship. We hope that this is understood; we figure that our way of putting it is not the simplest way possible. Nevertheless, the contract should be fulfilled in around two years.

Thank you for your business,

- Daví Krug, Sales Representative

Communiqué to Sir Logan Montelimar Sr., Chancellor of Procurement, Zinaire
Greetings,

First, we'd like to extend a welcoming hand. Second, we're glad that you have chosen the Nakíl 1A3 as your main battle tank of choice to replace existing tanks in stock. In our opinion, which may be considered bias but we attempt to say this as honestly as possible, the Nakíl series is the best main battle tank in the world, not only due to its current capabilities, but because it will always be upgraded to offer our clients the latest in armored technology. This can already be witnessed as one notices the evolution from the Nakíl 1A1 to the Nakíl 1A3 - six different packages exist to date, and new technology will always be included. That said, the ten thousand Nakíl 1A3s will require a production run of ten months, at one thousand tanks per month. These will arrive in ten batches, meaning the final batch will arrive some time early on the eleventh month.

We hope that this is acceptable, and furthermore, we'd like to thank you for your business,

- Daví Krug, Sales Representative

CB.125 125mm L/55 ‘Special’ Tank Gun

[OOC: Commentary thread (http://z4.invisionfree.com/NSDraftroom/index.php?showtopic=2429).]

Program Details
The CB.125 is a further development of the AGS.250C, designed originally between Calzado y Bayo and Atmos for the Nakíl 1A3 main battle tank, to provide clients with what is considered the ultimate in tank gun technology besides electromagnetic acceleration – which is not considered currently feasible, given electricity storage issues. The Nakíl is a widely exported main battle tank, with close to ten million vehicles of all six known production models (1A1, 1A1GU, 1A1+, 1A2, 1A3 and 1A3HA) sold to date (not including modification packages to upgrade already-assembled tanks), and continues to be substantially popular on the export market, especially in its latest incarnations – the Nakíl 1A3 and the Nakíl 1A3HA. Therefore, it wasn’t a surprise to either Kriegzimmer or Sistemas Terrestres Segovia when new customers arrived, but without the intention of changing calibers - the first such customer was Cotland, with a contract for seventy-two thousand Nakíl main battle tanks. Although technically the change in caliber, from the perspective of retrofitting the 120mm gun, is economically feasible given that it’s part of the modification package, the change in ammunition and the redistribution of millions of shells might not be. Historically, this issue has played a major role in limiting the sale of the Nakíl to historical users of the 120mm caliber and only to those willing to change, and has not allowed the Nakíl to make a large impact in the mainstream 125mm market – where tank companies from nations such as Doomingsland, Soviet Bloc and Aequatio still remain supreme. Calzado y Bayo’s CB.125 not only opens the Nakíl to a much larger tank market, but also allows Calzado y Bayo to play a major role in foreign tank industries by marketing the tank gun for foreign indigenous tank programs.

In the latter’s regard, the Castillian defense company has already scored a major contract with Doomingsland Defense Industries for the sale of production rights to the CB.125 for the modification program of the country’s current main battle tank and the possibility of using the tank gun in a future tank. This not only affects sales to the Doomani military, but also any exports which the MAD.V may be able to contract abroad. In this case, the CB.125 is actually a separate development to that offered for the Nakíl 1A3, although the technology remains basically the same. The version of the gun offered on the general export market is the CB.125E (Exportación) and comes with a dual-caliber breech, but with the capability of fitting either a 120mm or 125mm cannon. This is largely meant to suggest an effort for the eventual conversion to 120mm for customers, even if some may never commit to it – it gives them the option to easily modify existing tanks, if they feel that they can handle the remanufacture of ammunition. The CB.125, offered for the Nakíl, on the other hand offers the dual-caliber breech for either a 125mm gun tube or a 140mm gun tube. In all actuality, this is not completely accurate as either breech can be offered, depending on the client nation’s chance of being able to receive the larger gun caliber in the future – for example, Cottish Nakíl 1A3Cs will receive the 125/140mm dual-caliber breech, foreseeing a possible future decision to modify all tanks in service to 1A3HA (heavy armor) standards (currently, Cottish forces operate 70,000 Nakíl 1A3Cs and 2,000 Nakíl 1A3HAs for elite forces). The decision to not offer this option on the CB.125E is for a number of reasons, including the fact that 140mm might not be the preferred ‘larger caliber’ of the client nation (as opposed to 135mm or 152mm, for example) and Calzado y Bayo is not readily willing to facilitate this modification, given that it will allow foreign designs to compete with the Nakíl 1A3HA at the same low cost.

In the Nakíl’s case, the modification of the gun comes with other challenges as well. The autoloading system, including the two FASTDRAW revolvers near the rear of the turret, is designed specifically for either 120mm ammunition or 140mm ammunition, and there is no major production line for a 125mm variant. Regardless, Calzado y Bayo currently works in conjunction with the Castillian defense company Cibeles Dynámica, which focuses on autoloading systems for different systems (including naval cannons), for the production of a 125mm version of the Nakíl’s autoloader. The cost is the depression of the revolvers and their slight increase in size, and the depression of the robotic autoloading system (RALS), which means there is less available volume in the turret basket. As a consequence, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia and Imperial Land Systems instead decided to decrease the amount of available spare ammunition in fireproof cases suspended near the turret basket’s floor. In terms of length and required volume, the breech is similar given that in the original version of the gun it’s designed also for a full long-rod penetrator of the 140mm caliber and in the E version it’s designed for an extended length long-rod of the 120mm caliber; in other words, in the latter’s case penetrator length is likely to be similar. The gun tube is similar in length, as well – a 120mm L/57 compared to a 125mm L/55. Consequently, no major changes in the internal volume of the Nakíl are necessary, while the breech is designed to easily replacing existing 125mm breeches. In other words, for the most part complicated turret remodeling is not necessary in this case.

The gun, in all variants, will be produced by a number of different companies. These include Calzado y Bayo, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia (which has a much more extensive industrial complex around the world), Kriegzimmer (which is a co-producer of the Nakíl tank) and Atmos. The CB.125E for Doomingsland will be manufactured by Sistemas Terrestres Segovia and by Kriegzimmer in a joint-assembly program, mostly due to the fact that the latter has much more extensive capabilities to produce the gun in large numbers. Both companies, however, will use exclusively factory grounds in Doomingsland, as the contract requires. The gun, when manufactured for exported Doomani tanks, will most likely be produced in Doomani territory as much as possible, although it’s likely that production will spill to ‘overseas’ factories if the demand for the MAD.V is high. Guns manufactured for the Nakíl 1A3C will be manufactured exclusively by Calzado y Bayo and will be shipped to Kriegzimmer assembly plants for final installation in the Nakíl 1A3C turret, before the tank as a whole is shipped to Cotland. Future, independent, sales will most likely be co-produced between the Castillian gun company and Atmos, its Macabee counterpart, depending on the amount of sales it receives. It’s entirely possible that production rights will be awarded to foreign companies to market the gun in other nations, arguing that the gun is completely indigenous (since it will be produced indigenously). Similar marketing strategies have been followed in nations such as Juumanistra to sell a wide array of technology to a country largely unwilling to adopt foreign weapon systems, especially in regards to tank technology (the Juumanistran Kyton main battle tank has cost the country anywhere between $25 and $35 million per vehicle, and costs have continued to spiral as indigenous companies continue to develop modification packages to upgrade the tank to international standards).

Propulsive Technology
Today’s armored threats require extremely high powered main guns to have any hopes in perforating their armor. This gun versus armor race has led to a speedy development of ‘next-generation’ technologies, although many of these are still not viable – such as electromagnetic acceleration. Originally, the goal was to reach previously unattainable velocities in order to engage the target faster and increase the accuracy of the projectile, but recently there instead has been a decision to increase projectile mass by increasing its diameter. Regardless of whether the goal is to increase projectile velocity or projectile mass, they both require one thing – increased muzzle energy. There are a multitude of ways that this can be accomplished, including increasing the volume of the propellant charge in a conventional powder (solid propellant) cannon. Normally, each barrel, in accordance with the internal surface area of the tube, has a specific pressure it can withstand from the expanding propellant and therefore it’s normal to see an increase in caliber when the propellant charge has been enlarged to such a degree that it is no longer viable to use in an existing diameter gun barrel. Consequently, it’s not rare to find tanks with larger caliber tank guns, which unfortunately also require larger volumes inside tank turrets. There are, of course, alternative technologies – as mentioned – and the CB.125 follows this such school of thought, preferring new technologies to having to increase barrel caliber. In accordance with this, Calzado y Bayo have decided to offer what they consider the most advanced tank gun propulsion technology currently technologically feasible or known in the CB.125 – for many, this will be the best tank cannon (in this caliber) available on the market and it will certainly give the Doomani MAD.V an edge over competitors that do not use this gun.

Perhaps the most outstanding feature is the fact that it uses electrothermal-chemical (ETC) augmentation. Ultimately, this can be achieved in several different ways, but in the CB.125 specifically the round is designed to have an electrothermal ignition (ETI) charge which requires less than 100kJ per shot (the power supply is not an issue with the gun and is up to the client to decide how to provide this power – in the Nakíl 1A3, for instance, there is a pulsed power supply to the rear of the turret, while in the Nakíl 1A3HA the power is provided by the batteries which form part of the electric transmission). Consequently, the round or combustion chamber is likely to have a series of copper wires with embedded diamonds, or any other material which will provide the same effect, which will discharge plasma due to the vaporization of the material if electrically charged. Specifically, this type of plasma emitter is known as a flashboard large area emitter (FLARE) or a variation thereof. Due to the propellant type used in the CB.125 (discussed below), the plasma emitter is located as part of a completely combustible modular cartridge that forms part of the round (in solid propellant guns, for the most part semi-combustible propellant cartridges are used), containing only the emitter. The plasma completes a number of important jobs, including decreasing the molecular volume of the propellant and therefore increasing muzzle energy. The plasma is also used to ignite the propellant, to catalyze its expansion, and to control the rate of expansion of the propellant to make it much more effective in regards to maximizing its potential. In a 120mm solid propellant gun, for example, electrothermal-chemical combustion is known to increase muzzle energy from 9mJ to 18mJ, which effectively doubles the energy of the gun (more accurately, it can increase muzzle energy anywhere from 15mJ to 18mJ, approximately – exact figures are difficult to come by).

As already mentioned, the CB.125 – like in most tank guns produced by either Atmos or Calzado y Bayo – uses a hydroxyl ammonium nitrate (HAN) based liquid propellant, instead of a solid propellant. Contrary to popular belief, although liquid propellants do increase the piezometric efficiency – that is, the advantage of having a higher mean to peak chamber pressure – and therefore may have an increase in muzzle velocity (perhaps around 10% higher), they do not have a higher ballistic efficiency as compared to solid propellants. Therefore, technically, in order to achieve the same muzzle energy a liquid propellant needs more mass than their solid propellant counterpart, but it is also true that a liquid propellant requires less volume – in this case, the amount of energy per gram of the propellant is similar to a solid propellants (a little over 5,000kj/g), but require only about 70% the volume. To give an idea on the volume advantages a solid propellant has, at best, a loading density of 1,000kg/m3, while this specific liquid propellant (based on the real-life LGP 1846) has a loading density of over 1,500 kg/m3. Further savings in space arise from the fact that a liquid propellant is stored in closed cells, in bulk, while solid propellants must be stored with their respective ammunition in charge modules or bags. Specifically, the CB.125 uses a regenerative liquid propellant gun (RLPG) which has the liquid propellant metered into the combustion chamber by means of an injection pump – it should be noted that liquid propellants are easier to manufacture than solid propellants and are also cheaper (30-50% so). Unfortunately, regenerative guns are mechanically complex, but trade complexity for increased control of the propellant – a worthwhile trade. Just like its 120mm brother, the CB.125 uses a high-breech pressure charge, which means that the charge volume is larger than what is necessary in order to increase muzzle energy. This is possible not only because of the burn efficiency of a liquid propellant, but also because the gun barrel is coated with chrome to allow for increased barrel pressures. There are certain safety concerns with liquid propellants, and these should be addressed. Since liquid propellants can be separated from their respective projectiles and stored in protected and closed cells inside the turret, they have an added advantage over solid propellants – as mentioned above. Therefore, they can be better protected by the turret’s armor and if the ammunition compartment is breached it means that the ammunition will not react violently, unlike in many solid propellant tank designs (especially designs with carousel autoloaders, or ammunition in the turret basket). Furthermore, bipropellants such as HAN-based propellants cannot react on their own and require both parts of the propellant to interact in order to allow the reaction (which is truly catalyzed through the electric discharge, regardless). Therefore, it can be considered stable and less vulnerable than their solid propellant competitors.

A recent addition to the union of liquid propellants and electrothermal chemical technology, also known as a liquid propellant electrothermal-chemical (LPETC) gun, is chemically augmented combustion (CAC). This is similar to electrothermal-chemical combustion, but less radical, and can be used to increase the potential of electrothermal-chemical reactions even further. Chemically augmented combustion has been a very recent addition to the Nakíl, and is only present in the AGS.250C and the AGS.300 (the 140mm version) – this technology is likely to be retrofitted into a future variant of the CB.54 103mm gun present on the carro de combate Lince, used by the Castillian Ejército de Tierra. Technically speaking, chemically augmented combustion is not either new or old, and was ‘developed’ around the same time as electrothermal-chemical technology – as said before, it’s simply a much less radical approach, although with many less benefits (if applied alone). This technology can be known under many other names including hydrogen augmented combustion (HAC) and propellant energizing technology (PET). When applied to an electrothermal-chemical gun is can also be known as hydrogen propellant electro-chemical (HYPEC) combustion. In essence, this behaves similar to electrothermal-chemical technology in one respect, in which that it can convert high molecular weights to low molecular weights through chemical means, which means in high produced muzzle velocities or energy. This technology is somewhat easy to apply given that the hydrogen can be produced by an electrothermal reaction in the combustion chamber, which forms part of the electrothermal-chemical process. Despite the less radical approach, this technology is relatively unheard of since it has not been widely marketed and this is one of the first times it has been applied to an actual field gun (the AGS.250C and the AGS.300, before the CB.125).

All of this technology integrated into the gun makes the CB.125 what is most likely the most powerful gun of this caliber, although it’s also true that it also makes the CB.125 very mechanically complex. However, it all has to do with a series of trade-offs which one country might see as justifiable and the other may not. The most mechanically complex portion of the gun is the regenerative liquid propellant, which unfortunately is currently difficult to solve using other liquid propellant combustion techniques due to control problems of bulk-loaded liquid propellant guns and the instability of most monopropellants. Alternatively, one can revert back to the solid propellant and use new solid propellant techniques, including new modular charges, but neither Calzado y Bayo nor Atmos see this a possibility in their own school of thought. Both see enhanced performance and increased survivability as enough justification for the continued use of the regenerative liquid propellant gun. In many ways, it is completely necessary due to the design of the tank – for example, the Lince’s survivability (which uses a carousel autoloader) depends on the fact that the propellant is stored separate from the ammunition. As a consequence, the procurement of the CB.125 should depend entirely on the nation’s or army’s perspective on the technologies in use, as opposed to simply looking at the CB.125 as a very powerful tank gun – it’s a similar issue as the decision to use depleted uranium for a tank’s kinetic energy ammunition or not.

[OOC: Electrothermal-Chemical Technology for Tank Guns (http://z4.invisionfree.com/NSDraftroom/index.php?showtopic=1644)]

Recoil
Lighter vehicle platforms have recently been fielded with larger guns, and it’s understood that the CB.125 may be a chosen main gun for one such vehicle. Similar usage of its 120mm and 122mm (Castilla’s indigenous caliber) has already taken place, and therefore Calzado y Bayo has taken precautions to make this a possibility for the CB.125 as well. Recoil dampening is done in two principle ways, including the elongation of the recoil mechanism and the use of a muzzle break. In both case there are important things to take into consideration and generally this is one of the ‘weak points’ in some of Calzado y Bayo’s gun designs – long recoil mechanisms. However, it allows powerful guns such as these to be mounted in light anti-tank vehicles, such as reconnaissance cavalry armored vehicles (whether tracked or wheeled), or in mobile gun systems. Therefore, it’s logistically simpler since the same gun is used in multiple systems, as opposed to having to use an all new gun system. Furthermore, as mentioned and alluded to, it provides very light vehicles with before unforeseen firepower. Although these vehicles can’t compete with a main battle tank on a one on one basic, given that they lack of the main battle tank’s protection, mobility and hunter-killer abilities, it still provides them with an edge that they did not dispose of before. Another advantage is that it makes the gun available to nations that have chosen not to acquire any main battle tank under the argument that these are obsolescent and should be replaced by lighter, airmobile platforms. Truth to this ideology is not relevant to this discussion, and the important fact is that it widens the gun’s export market even beyond the main battle tank.

Muzzle brakes are difficult to add to guns mounted on armored vehicles due to noise production issues. On a tank destined to fight in large tank formations, against other tank formations, this might not necessarily be a major problem and in fact there might not be a need for a muzzle break at all, given the weight of the platform (generally at least fifty-five tons in weight). Muzzle brakes become much more relevant in lighter vehicle platforms, where the recoil impulse on the vehicle’s structure can cause major and permanent damage – enough to force the vehicle out of action. However, the issue remains tricky because these vehicles are designed primarily to operate with nearby dismounted infantry and enhanced noise production due to the muzzle break can be harmful to the soldier. Therefore, many designs which have previously included muzzle brakes have opted to remove them for the sake of the infantryman operating near the vehicle. On the other hand, efficient muzzle breaks are a ‘must’ for low-recoil weapons. Therefore, Calzado y Bayo have reverted to one of Atmos’ multi-hole pepperbox muzzle breaks, designed to decrease recoil and to reduce the firing and noise signature produced. Apart from reducing the noise signature and having an efficiency of around 40%, this type of muzzle break also helps in reducing the firing signature by means of lateral venting of the escaping propellant gasses. Furthermore, this muzzle break has no impact on fin-stabilized ammunition due to the attenuation of produced shockwaves as the round passes through the muzzle. Like always, it’s a trade-off between higher recoil efficiency and the added benefits of reduced noise and firing signatures. For example, the single-chamber muzzle break used on the Nakíl 1A3HA’s 140mm AGS.300 gun tube has an efficiency level of 70%! However, this gun is not expected to be mounted on a lighter vehicle and therefore it’s a reasonable choice.

The gun’s recoil mechanism is also longer ‘than usual’, as has become commonplace in guns designed by the same manufacturers. Usually, a gun of this caliber will have an extended recoil length of around 400-420mm, designed for a vehicle of generally the fifty ton class. In the case of the CB.125 the recoil length has been extended to 540mm, which is comparable to other guns meant for the twenty-five ton class, although there are some guns with extended recoil lengths of up to 710mm! It should be noted that this doesn’t necessarily make the CB.125 adequate for a twenty-ton platform, as the fact that it produces a high muzzle energy should be taken into account – although basic, basic recoil force is the same as the force of the round and of the propellant gasses leaving the barrel (conservation of momentum). Therefore, although recoil is attenuated to a fairly high degree for the energy produced by the gun, it doesn’t make the gun capable of being mounted on any lightweight vehicle. The CB.125 and CB.125E are best mounted on the vehicles of at least thirty metric tons of weight, or no lower than twenty-seven tons. Alternate versions of the gun, of course, can be designed with even larger extended recoil lengths to bring down recoil force even further, if a client is looking to apply the gun to a very low weight platform (even lower than twenty metric tons). The hydropneumatic recoil mechanism is housed in a titanium cylinder, while the mechanism’s trails are also manufactured out of titanium – this has already been done in lightweight artillery systems. It must be taken into consideration that an extended recoil travel means that the gun will require much more space between the breech and the vehicle’s roof or the turret basket’s floor (or whatever blocks the elevation of the gun) because that volume has to take into consideration the length of the recoil mechanism fully extended (when it’s absorbing the recoil of a shot). Consequently, it will affect turret height or the ability to depress the main gun. In the Nakíl 1A3 this is ‘solved’ (although, again, it’s a trade-off) through the use of a hydropneumatic suspension which allows the rear suspension components of the vehicle to lift, and therefore increase the level of depression by moving the tank as a whole.

As alluded to beforehand, similar techniques have already been retrofitted into existing tank guns and both Calzado y Bayo and Atmos Incorporated have integrated these ‘technologies’ into past guns. For example, the original AGS.250, mounted on the Nakíl 1A1 could be mounted on a twenty ton vehicle, and these trains continued to present itself on each successive Nakíl model. Due to the carro de combate Lince’s low weight of forty-five tons (light considering the amount of armor on both the turret and the chassis) similar techniques were used to lower the recoil of the advanced 103mm high-breech pressure gun, which affords the Lince an extraordinary amount of lethality for the caliber of the gun. In terms of attenuating recoil, in the CB.125 it’s not a priority besides attenuating it enough to make it possible to mount the gun on a lighter chassis. As has been underscored continuously, gun design is all about a series of trade-offs and in this case (recoil specific) both Calzado y Bayo and Atmos have agreed to form some sort of balance between weight, recoil attenuation and breech volume. Because it’s impossible to fulfill all objectives this is seen as the best possible solution, although individual nations may have individual requirements, prerequisites or ideologies on the subject.

[OOC: Large Caliber Tank Guns for Lightweight Platforms (http://z4.invisionfree.com/NSDraftroom/index.php?showtopic=2071)]

Weight
Total weight of the gun system has always been a very important consideration, in all tank designs – regardless if the tank weighs forty-five tons or if it weighs sixty-five tons. Nations have spent millions of dollars on introducing new tracks which save much less than what a lightweight gun system can possibly save – for example, nations have willingly modified entire tank fleets to apply tracks such as MecániCas’ Type 640 lightweight tracks (which for a sixty-five ton tank will shed around six hundred kilograms worth of weight). In a gun system the weight savings are similar, or potentially even greater, and depend entirely on the engineering applied to the gun and how much one is willing to spend on said gun system. Due to the nature of where the weight is saved, these weight savings might also make the gun system lighter and more compact which are equally as important (especially in a breech which has a greater recoil length). Lighter guns are also more acceptable to mount on lighter platforms, such as thirty-ton vehicles. Furthermore, all vehicles, regardless of their weight, have weight limits and therefore small weight savings are imperative to keep vehicles under their maximum allowable weight. This is most true for a main battle tank, despite the fact that it remains one of the heaviest ground vehicles in any army. Many times governments have the idea that since it already weighs sixty-five tons five more won’t hurt, and this is a fallacy – all nations have specific bridging requirements, and even one ton can affect the mobility of the tank over rivers, especially as tank designer teams increase armored thickness in order to defeat the evolving gun threat. These limits have always played an impact in tank design in both Castilla y Belmonte (especially with a tank that weighs forty-five tons) and the Second Empire of the Golden Throne (although bridging laws had to take into account that the Nakíl’s predecessor weighed almost ninety metric tons), and have affected the tank gun industry.

The tube itself is lightweight and comparable to barrels of the same caliber and length. It should be remembered that larger diameter betters are normally built thinner, because the barrel pressure per given volume or mass of propellant will be less than in a smaller caliber barrel. This explains the willingness of armies to upgrade calibers, instead of simply increasing propellant mass. To a point, it is no longer viable to continue strengthening the barrel to withstand higher pressure since this will result in more expensive manufacturing techniques and there is the chance that thicker materials are more likely to fail and therefore the barrel will still have a much lesser lifespan than a larger caliber gun barrel would have. This was an issue during the development of the Lince, especially when Castilla y Belmonte entered the design consortium formed between Vault 10, Lyras, The People’s Freedom and Castilla y Belmonte. Originally, the first and last nation argued about the possibility of a 70mm gun firing a sub-caliber projectile meant for the 103mm caliber, with the same muzzle energy. The latter country discarded the idea as unrealistic, given the already stated parameters of gun design, and therefore opted to adopt the indigenous CB.54 103mm tank gun on its own Lince. Vault 10 still has not completed its own tank design and there is no news on whether it will opt for the Lince or it will continue on its own indigenous tank program (possibly even more radical than the Lince). Regardless, given the information provided it can be assumed that the gun barrel is lightweight and comparable to the weight of a 120mm L/55 gun barrel (estimated at 1,347kg). Indeed, the gun barrel has a weight of roughly 1,470kg (taking into account the added length and total surface area, due to the larger barrel diameter). This compares favorably to the 2,500kg of weight of older 125mm gun barrels (125mm L/50).

Much weight has been saved in the breech, however – specifically, around 700kg! This is garnered through the increased use of titanium (for example, the recoil cylinders) and also through the elimination of redundant parts in the breech and the gun’s mounting. The elimination of these parts also represents a decrease in the volume of both the breech and the mounting system in the turret basket, which opens volume for other necessary items, such as electronics systems and battery units (for example, for the electric turret traverse brushless servo motors). The fact that a regenerative liquid propellant follows the ‘traveling charge concept’ and therefore increases pressure further down the barrel, as opposed to a solid propellant (in powder guns greater barrel pressure is established nearer to the breech, since the energy of the propellant dissipates), this allows weight savings in the barrel, as well, since the barrel can be designed to be lighter in different sections – the barrel’s geometry can be specifically designed to maximize its weight and the distribution of liner thickness. All of this makes for a dramatically lighter design. Between the breech, the gun mount and the barrel the CB.125 tank gun system weighs 3,210kg. When taking in mind the weight of the entire gun system the role of the muzzle brake becomes doubly as important, as it reduces shock induced stresses on its construction due to the recoil impulse. It should be reminded that the recoil length will not decrease the impulse felt by the gun (or by the crew) due to the recoil, although it will decrease the impulse of the recoil felt by the vehicle as a whole.

In terms of weight the CB.125 is one of the lightest guns in its caliber, similar to how the AGS.250C, the AGS.300 and the CB.54 are also some of the lightest gun systems in their caliber class. The technologies used to reduce the weight of the gun system, however, are not necessarily unique and have been applied to other gun systems around the world. What is true, on the other hand, is that both Calzado y Bayo and Atmos Incorporated have united all aspects of weight savings in order to minimize the weight of their gun systems. Furthermore, as two of the leading artillery-sized gun manufacturers in the world their respective engineers are some of the most adept to take into consideration all these different factors to decrease weight, and the quality of their gun systems have been manifested time and time again by the amount of clients the Nakíl receives. There is no doubt that the CB.125, as a gun system, will receive a similar amount of international attention. Boasts and ego aside, the CB.125 is likely to become a standard around the world, and even if it’s not directly acquired by foreign states it’s likely to be used as an example for indigenous tank gun development. These characteristics are what make these two gun companies world class leaders in their fields.

Conclusions
Whatever the features of the CB.125 it must be remembered that tank cannon technology is not everything that dictates a tank’s lethality. Although velocity and energy may play large and important roles in what is the accuracy of the round, so will the tank’s electronics. For example, some companies have claimed an increase of 35% in first-round hit probability (accuracy) through the addition of current-generation image intensifiers (II) and thermal sights. The tank’s fire control system, in general, including the dozens of sensors which the tank may include to maximize accuracy by taking into consideration minute details such as the gun trunnion’s axle cant, barrel droop, atmospheric pressure, et cetera, will also have a very big impact on the gun’s eventual accuracy. The gunner’s training, of course, cannot be ignored or taken out of the picture, and crew training in general will perhaps be the single most important aspect in any tank battle – as history has proven. In any case, it comes as no surprise that 60%+ of a tank’s cost is attributed to electronics, given the role these play in the tank’s lethality, survivability and mobility. The fact remains that clients should not take the CB.125 as the manifestation of accurate gunnery as there are a wide amount of variables that play in this factor. Nevertheless, the CB.125 is certainly one of the best guns in its class that can take into account all of these other factors and deliver the best performance it possibly can itself. In other words, each system must be refined individually and the CB.125, as a gun system (not including the electronics), is possibly the best a client can choose to use. The number of sales of the Nakíl and already signed contracts with foreign tank developers for the use of the gun has provided enough evidence.

Any client also has the guarantee that Calzado y Bayo will continue the development of tank gun technology, as has already been witnessed in the evolution of Atmos’ AGS.250 on the Nakíl main battle tank. This means that the company will always be working to provide its client with the best possible in the field – both Atmos and Calzado y Bayo have already been continuously been presenting the best gun options for the tank programs that they have partaken in, whether this be the Nakíl, Lince or Doomani MAD.V. Therefore, future improvements in liquid propellants, solid propellants, plasma emitters or any other technologies which can be applied to the gun are likely to be introduced as soon as possible – as research and feasibility allows – always putting the gun one step ahead of that of its competitors. Both companies have production history on their side to show facts, as opposed to promises. These companies will always have a vested interest in providing these improvements, given that they are constantly working on developments for their nation’s indigenous tanks, whether it be the Nakíl or the Lynx, and have almost always been willing to offer these to the general public. Of course, exports can be considered limited by the political policies of the Second Empire and of Castilla, but the gun systems can be purchased through ‘third parties’, including Doomingsland Defense Industries (by procuring the MAD.V) and through Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems (STSLS) by acquiring the Nakíl 1A3/1A3HA. The gun is also likely to be made available once it’s chosen by other tank producers for their own indigenous main battle tanks. Atmos’ gun-technology found on the Nakíl 1A1/1A1GU/1A1+ has already found itself on tanks such as the Lariat and possibly a wider array of main battle tanks across the world. It’s this resumé which clients can trust.

Beyond ‘conventional’ (or relatively conventional) improvements in the gun system, future possibilities include electromagnetic acceleration. Calzado y Bayo has been researching electromagnetic-chemical acceleration as a possible merging between electrothermal-chemical and electromagnetic propulsion concepts, and although it requires a larger source of energy than current guns it may become possible as electric parts for main battle tanks become more widespread – including new engine types and so forth. The coming of the electric transmission has already foreshadowed this possible transition in the future and Calzado y Bayo is sure to follow evolutionary trends, given that it has been this that has guaranteed the company’s success around the world. Pure electromagnetic guns have also been explored and both Atmos and Calzado y Bayo have partaken in some of the largest and most extensive rail gun tests around the world, but currently it’s not seen as a viable alternative due to the excessively large energy requirements. Unlike electrothermal-chemical propulsion, electromagnetic propulsion requires more energy input than it will eventually give out! With current energy storage capabilities it’s not feasible to mount such a weapon system in a tank, where volume is an important factor – perhaps with advancements in compulsators it will one day become possible. The Castillian artillery cannon company has been working with Astiversal, an important naval contractor in the kingdom, on a 400mm electromagnetic coastal gun which uses fixed power plants to provide the required energy and this program will offer very important insights in rail gun innovation that may play a role in the future to integrate the technology into a combat vehicle.

What is certain is that Atmos Incorporated and Calzado y Bayo are always looking at the future.

Catamaran Landing Craft; CLC

Relevant requirements
Despite the common conception that the War of Golden Succession was primarily a war fought along a long and extended land-based front, with little to no amphibious warfare, the war did reveal a large number of flaws in the Empire's amphibious capabilities. For example, the lack of dedicated support ships allowed for high casualty rates on the beaches of Pir-Sar, during the amphibious attempt to take the northern approaches to the city. Furthermore, the lack of modern landing craft meant that too few men were put on the beach at any one time, concluding in peacemeal landings being made and unnecessarilly high casualties. The first issue was 'resolved' by beginning the construction of ten Díenstad class Strategic Projection Vessels (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=12818065&postcount=1950) for exclusive use by the Kriermada's Maríenen, or amphibious infantry. However, these ships were to be issued the original landing craft, such as those used at Pir-Sar. It should be noted that the inefficiency in these landing crafts led to an early cancellation of an amphibious operation against the Stevidian coastline in early 2018, although the eventual armstice also influenced actios that year during the war - for example, no Imperial fleet sailed to retake Otium Aqua Sea, despite war plans being made to do so. Regardless, a replacement of these early landing craft, most of which had survived the Great Civil War, was long overdue. As a consequence, development of the Catamaran Landing Craft, or CLC, began almost as soon as the Díenstad's keel was laid down and the first units were destined to enter service almost simultaneously with the Díenstad.

The Kriermada's requirements included a fast landing craft with a relatively high capacity and very good beaching qualities. Recently, these characteristics have been achieved through the use of air cushioned landing craft, also known as LCAC, however these advantages come at a high cost. Due to the requirement to build hundreds of these for the Díenstad class SPV, as well as future assault carriers and landing helicopter docks or landing platform docks. Do to the large amount of ships to be constructed, the cost of an LCAC type vessel was deemed too high and therefore the naval company Síesmar was issued a contract for a cheap landing craft which was able to emulate the capabilities of the LCAC as best as possible. Furthermore, Síesmar saw the contract as an opportunity to fill an important niché in the landing craft market, due to the large amount of air cushioned landing craft already in existance. This would be a cheaper alternative, with slightly less velocity but with the ability to handle more cargo in terms of tonnage. As a consequence, it's the perfect landing craft for those looking to replace 'conventional' landing craft with velocities of only around 8 to 10 knots, and those who are not looking to pay the price for an air cushioned landing craft.

As mentioned, it has several advantages over both conventional hulled landing craft and air cushioned landing craft. The CLC has a much greater velocity than a conventional landing craft, approaching that of a LCAC, while it has the ability to carry the same - or more - weight in terms of vehicle and personnel, at the same dimensions. It can also land on a greater percentage of the world's beaches, with its much shallower draft, due to the catamaran design of the hull. It has two crucial advantages over the LCAC, including a dramatically cheaper cost and the ability to carry more weight at similar dimensions. It's only disadvantage is the slightly reduced velocity, although the CLC can commit to longer over-the-horizon landings. Using two large diesel engines and waterjets, the CLC can operate in shallow water with the same velocity, whilst requiring lower maintenance and maintaining its cheap price tag over the long haul. Most importantly, water jets can run over obstructions near the beach without damaging the propulsion equipment, which is important for a landing craft such as this one. In that sense, the CLC can get closer to the beach over a greater percentage of beaches, than a conventional landing craft and get close enough to the LCAC to compete. To offer an idea on its carrying capacity, the CLC can carry two main battle tanks [such as the Nakíl 1], compared to one by the LCAC or by the LCM-1E [a more 'conventional' landing craft] - in other words, a CLC only needs to commit to half the sortees.

As aforementioned, the CLC will be manufactured in the hundred to operate off the Díenstad class Strategic Projection Vessel, as well as LPDs and LHDs and other vessels. This landing craft will also be offered for export through Kriegzimmer and Navantia, for the expected international orders.

Statistics
Manufacturer: Síesmar
Crew: 4
Platform Dimensions [Length]: 26m Width: 6.9m
Vessel Dimensions [Length]: 33m Beam: 14m Displacement: 305 metric tons
Hull Type: Catamaran
Operational Beach Gradient: 2%+
Capacity:
- 150 metric tons [Parking Area: approx. 182m2]
Operational Range: 1,600km @ 20 knots
Propulsion: 2x 3,000kW diesel engines
- 2x water jets
Maximum Velocity: 30 knots
Armament: 2x G379 25mm (accept up to 20mm cannons; G379 has the same volume as a 20mm autocannon)
Physical Protection:
- Hard Skin© [see appendix 1] organized as an armored belt across the surface area of the vessel accessible to those on the platform of the CLC.
- Hard Skin© across the bottom portion of the loading ramp.
- Both offer protection vs. 12.7mm anti-personnel projectiles.
RADAR: I-band navigational RADAR
Communication Systems: High Frequency (HF), Very High Frequency (VHF) & Ultra High Frequency (UHF)
Other: Global Positioning System & Gyroscopic and Magnetic Needle/Compass
Cost: $26,000,000

Appendix 1: Hard Skin
When used in body armor, fabrics are preferred due to their lightweight compared to metals, and for their aforementioned ductility; for example, aramid fibers provide a similar level of protection to fiberglass at just 2/3 the weight, while polyethylene polymer chains offer the same level of protection for just 1/3. Perhaps the most common fabric type found in personal armor is aramid due to the existence of a large technological base, the fabric’s high specific strength (five times that of steel), low elongation, high flame resistance, vibration absorption capabilities, good fatigue characteristics and ease of fabrication. The design team of `the Prospects Mark II, instead, opted for an extended chain polyethylene fabric due to its lower density and enhanced protection capabilities; furthermore, polyethylene fabrics already on the market have a tensile strength of anywhere between 3 and 4GPa. Traditionally, these fabrics perform energy absorption jobs, leaving the ceramic insert to deform and fracture the round, as mentioned before in this report, however, recent advances in nanotechnology have allowed increases in polyethylene’s (and any fabric, really) hardness, without reducing its ductility and toughness. In the case of this new fabric released by Sistemas Terrestres Segovia, named Hard Skin©, the original extended chain polymer polyethylene fabric has been ‘doped’ with multi-walled carbon nanotubes to increase protection levels, although these increases have been found to be relatively small unfortunately (other methods of organizing the carbon nanotubes are currently being experimented with). Nevertheless, this will allow the fabric alone to increase protection from against just pistol ammunition to low-power anti-personnel rifle projectiles. The new high-strength polyethylene composite fabric is designed to provide addition resistive strength and hardness, but at the same time provide the traditional role of absorbing the majority of the kinetic energy and thereby limiting the plastic deformation of the ceramic.

[Taken from the Project Protects 001 (http://z4.invisionfree.com/NSDraftroom/index.php?showtopic=2786) write-up.]

To: Kriegzimmer
From: Oscar Hudson, Office of Foreign Procurements, Ninjarania

"Greetings from The Empire of Ninjarania. My beloved nation has just receded from a ten year civil war which has nearly decimated every industrial complex and military producing factory. My office has been given the task of scouring the numerous foreign military designers in search of one which would fulfill our needs. I am delighted to say that your esteemed establishment has been granted a substantial contract to fulfill nearly every military need we currently possess. But before I continue with my order I have several inquiries. First, I wish to ask your permission to redesignated your products, once purchased, for record keeping and organizational purposes. We promise not to sell any products purchased to any other nations or organizations. Second, we wish to know if you would be willing to build factories in our nation at absolutely no cost to your company. All materials needed for contruction of these factories and the construction workers can be found in Ninjarania. You can send executives from your own nation to oversee operations and to keep all blueprints and military information a secret.

Our nation right now is bare of industrial development. Your factories could encompass large amounts of land with no protest from anyone. All that we want in return is that these factories provide jobs for the common people, albeit low working jobs but jobs nonetheless, and that the necessities needed for the Nakil Main Battle Tank, the two propellants, the barrel, etc, be produced here. We believe that this would reduce the maintainence cost of the tank for us.

And now to the order.

2,500 Nakil 1A3 at a cost of 10 Million is 25 Billion
4,500 SOV.17 Ejiard IFV at a cost of 3.5 Million is 15.57 Billion
4,000 Shalmanesar Heavy APC at a cost of 3.2 Million is 12.8 Billion
2,000 Arca II Ashurbanipal at a cost of 4.2 Million is 8.4 Billion

The total cost comes to 61.77 Billion. Expect many more purchases in the coming days. We will await your response before transferring the funds. Thank you.

From: The Armed Forces of Avalic
To: Kriegzimmer

Since we have not expanded the power of our navy yet, we would like to purchase some battleships from you, and possibly in the near future. We would like to buy 10 Establías Class Battleships. The calculated cost wold be 123 billion dollars which we shall wire to you.

Communiqué directed to Oscar Hudson, Ninjarania
Welcome to Kriegzimmer!

As the major export company of a nation which has just come out of a two year long 'war of succession', and our Great Civil War is not too far off, we understand your situation. We're glad that Kriegzimmer has been looked at to re equip your armed forces, in the face of such disparity after a civil war. In regards to redesingation of weapons, this is fine as it is none of our business - once the weapon is yours, it's yours. In regards to factory grounds, Kriegzimmer is interested in expanding its manufacturing capacity, despite a recent decrease in products sold [during our hiatus, many customers turned to other providers] - we believe that this will allow us to cover 'smaller' orders, while our main factories cover much larger orders. Furthermore, this factory can also be used exclusively for Ninjaranian orders from Kriegzimmer. Cost is not a major factor, and we are willing to fund construction and whatnot. The profits in weapons sold will soon outstrip the money it cost to build and tool the factory.

The factories can also be hired by your companies to produce local products for the military, while the companies gain the funds to construct their own major factory grounds. And yes, the amount of personnel we employ at our factories is spectacular, due to the sheer size of the factories (allowing for enhanced production capabilities). Some of our factories are large cities, and some factory grounds cover as much surface area as small countries.

In any case, your order has been confirmed! The 2,500 Nakíl 1A3s will be manufactured at a rate of two hundred and fifty per month, meaning the order will be complete within ten months. The 4,500 SOV.17s at a rate of five hundred per month, which is the same for the Arica.I and Arca. II; in other words, the contract will be fulfilled between ten and eleven months. Furthermore, we're glad to hear that you plan to return!

Thank you for your time, patience and business,

- Daví Krug, Sales Representative

Communiqué to whomever responsible within the armed forces of Avalic
Welcome!

We thank you for looking into Kriegzimmer for your naval requirements. Your order has been confirmed. The ships will be laid down simultaneously in batches of five. Each batch will take around two and a half years to complete, and as a consequence the entire order should be completed within five years.

We thank you for your patience,

- Daví Krug, Sales Representative

To: Davi Krug, Sales Representative, Kriegzimmer
From: Oscar Hudson, Office of Foreign Procurements, Ninjarania

"We are delighted to hear that you are willing to assist us in the economic recovery of our nation. I have personally spoken with the Emperor and he has given me permission to set aside nine different pieces of real estate. The sizes of each property is roughly 22,000 square kilometers. We realize that this is an enormous amount of property however you can use it in whatever way you wish. You can build a factory encompassing the entire property or you can build a 100 sq kilometer factory and expand later on when demand increases. If you deem that this is far too much land we can have it reduced if you wish.

Six of the nine pieces of land are situated near the mountain range Sikal and are within close distance to several major ports. Resources from the mountains could be used in factory production and the short distance needed for the material to travel reduces costs. Three of the nine pieces of land are right on the ocean, which could be used for naval production. Now that that business is finished with we wish to make another order.

8000 Tiznao-60 Armored Truck at a cost of 840,000 is 6.72 billion
6500 HIM-TAC four door with heavy weight panels is 2.405 billion
Domestic Production Rights for all G-11 Variants comes to 22.9 billion

The total comes to 32.025 billion. The funds will be transferred once our order has been confirmed. Thank you.

Communiqué directed to Oscar Hudson, Ninjarania
Welcome to Kriegzimmer!

Greetings and welcome back,

The parceling of land has been noted and we will send engineers immediately to mark off the territory. Over the coming weeks the territory will most likely be marked off by walls to avoid 'undesirables' setting up on 'factory grounds' - i.e. teenagers, hunters, et cetera. Construction of the major factories will begin soon, although we're looking at around six to eight months worth of construction for the buildings, and the rest of the year to set up the machinery. As you noted, not all the land will be used at once, but the factory will continue to grow, especially as demand for our goods increase. Initially, the factory will prioritize production for Ninjarania, and as it increases capacity to assemble goods for other orders it will be completing other orders simultaneously. As always, the factory begins payment at minimum wage for basic workers, although a lifetime worker can make a good living with Kriegzimmer.

Mountain-based resources in our 'territory' will most likely be rented out to local companies or to Macabee companies which may want to mine those resources; this should increase jobs, as well. We assume that territory, in Ninjarania, is treated like in other capitalist nations - the territory 'belongs', in the sense of the capital it produces or is worth, to the company. The government taxes the company. If this is correct, we will rent it out as we explained above. Coastal strips of land will indeed be filled with shipyards soon, as naval production is one of the most time consuming trades and we are always having new orders for ships, and so shipyards is extremely important. For the most part, actual manufacturing will take place in inland factories and these will be transported by railroad or truck. These infrastructures will be set up by Kriegzimmer, as well. All in all, the nation of Ninjarania is looking at an economic boom in terms of construction and the availability of long-term jobs.

In regards to your new order, it has too been confirmed. The eight thousand Tiznao-60s will be produced at a rate of 1,000 per month, while the HIM-TACs at the same rate. This means that the order should be completed within eight months, maximum. In terms of production rights, that has been accepted and all necessary information and tooling for home production will be sent as soon as possible.

Thank you for your continued business,

- Daví Krug, Sales Representative

The Binarian Empire is seeking to supplement its millitary that has lagged behind in certian areas with respect to the rest of the world. The largest area is our Anti-air defences. In the past, we have employed many systems to great effect in keeping our nation safe. Following in Binarian Tradition of overwelming firepower, we wish to accquire the Domestic Production rights to the SPAA-1 [Sel Propeic Anti-Avianet] Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Vehicle. The 15.7 billion USD with be wired on confirmation of our order.

To: Davi Krug, Sales Representative, Kriegzimmer
From: Oscar Hudson, Office of Foreign Procurements, Ninjarania


"Any natural resource mined or harvested in your territory will be taxed lightly by the government. We thank you for taking a long term investment in the economy of our nation.

Our newly modernized military is still very young and requires new additions to it's arensal. Therefore our next order is as follows."

1500 YU.13 Gurtantel priced at 4.7 million each comes to 7.05 billion
2000 Corbulo 155mm Field Guns priced at 650K comes to 1.3 billion
2000 Panzerwerfer M-2000 MRLS priced at 600K comes to 1.2 billion
1000 G17 Self-Propelled 254mm Mortar priced at 3.1 million comes to 3.1 billion
3000 Praetorian II Mobile Surface to Air Missile Launcher priced at 1.7 million comes to 5.1 billion
1200 SPAA-1 priced at 2.7 million comes to 3.24 billion
Production Rights for all variants of P.746.X Praetorian Surface to Air missiles comes to 30 billion
10,000 TA-100 Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (MR) priced at 75k comes to 750 million
10,000 TA-100 Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (LR) priced at 85k comes to 850 million
20,000 TA-80 Next Generation Infantry Rocket System priced at 10k comes to 200 million
1800 RoLu-21.A Attack Helicopters priced at 28 million comes to 50.4 billion
32 Lu-27 Condor Interceptors priced at 320 million comes to 10.24 billion
800 Lu-25 Multi-Role STVOL Fighters priced at 80 million comes to 64 billion
800 GLI-76 Falcon Multi-Role VTOL Fighters priced at 56 million comes to 44.8 billion
1,200 Lu-45 Air Superiority Fighters priced at 120 million comes to 144 billion
600 GF15 Valkyrie Anti-Armour Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles priced at 34 million comes to 20.4 billion
Production Rights for all AAM Series Air to Air missiles comes to 6.4 billion
10,000 MTAAM-3 Silencer Air to Air Missiles priced at 1.1 million comes to 11 billion
10,000 MLAM-2 Air to Surface Missiles priced at 1.3 million comes to 13 billion
10,000 Principe III Missile Launched Torpedos priced at 300k comes to 300 million
10,000 Av.36 Hammerhead MADCAP Heavy Weight Torpedos priced at 5.5 million comes to 55 billion
10,000 Av.17 'Tiburon' Light Weight Torpedos priced at 3.2 million comes to 32 billion
8,000 Av.93 'Calisto' Super Cavitation Torpedos priced at 9.2 million comes to 73.6 billion
10,000 Shockhound Avenger I air-to-ship; surface-to-ship missiles priced at 1.1 million comes to 11 billion
5,000 Sledgehammer Anti-Dreadnought Missiles priced at 1.5 million comes to 7.5 billion
10,000 Sledgehammer II Anti-Shipping Cruise Missiles priced at 7.4 million comes to 74 billion

"The total cost of this order comes to 670.43 billion. We thank you for providing us with such excellent equipment."

To Kriegzimmer,

We are requiring your services again except for some different weapons and vessels:

10,000 ATG-44 Anti-Tank Mines
1 Arastaqis class Attack Dreadnoughts
2 Indestructable class Aircraft Carriers

We will wire $325,003,000,000 to you after this is confirmed.

Communiqué to the 'Binarian Empire
Greetings!

Welcome to Kriegzimmer and thank you for your business. The order has been confirmed. All relevant information required for local production will be transferred from our companies to your factories.

- Daví Krug, Sales Representative

Communiqué to Oscar Hudson, Office of Foreign Procurements, Ninjarania
Mr. Hudson,

Your large order, of course, has been confirmed. Here is a breakdown of the estimated times for delivery. The vehicles will be produced at a rate of five hundred vehicles per month, regardless of the vehicle. Infantry weapons will be assembled and delivered within two to four months, depending on the size of the order. The RoLu-21s will be manufactured and delivered at a rate of 200 per month, meaning the order will be completed within nine months. The 32 Lu-27s will be delivered at a rate of four aircraft per month, or a total of eight months. The 800 Lu-25s and 800 GLI-76s will be delivered at a rate of 100 aircraft per month, or eight months as well. The 1,200 Lu-45s at a rate of 200 per month, and missiles and torpedoes will be delivered within three to four months.

In regards to taxing and whatnot, that is expected and acceptable.

We thank you for your continued business,

- Daví Krug, Sales Representative

Communiqué to Avalic
Welcome to Kriegzimmer,

Your order for ATG-44 anti-tank mines, a single Aristaqis class attack dreadnought and two aircraft carriers has been confirmed. The anti-tank mines will be delivered at a pace of 5,000 per month, meaning the order will be completed within two months. The dreadnought will be completed within three and a half years, while the two carriers will be laid down simultaneously and ready to sail in two years.

Thank you for your business,

- Daví Krug, Sales Representative

Purchase Request
Denomination of Strategy Procurement Office

Having contracted with Kriegzimmer many times over the past years for the defense needs of the Greater Economic Union, it is my pleasure to once again bring the Union's business to your doorstep. The Union Navy has, after a period of extensive review of the options offered by the international market, elected to procure the Type A diesel SSK offered by Sisnaval as part of the upcoming four-year force renewal program. I have therefore been directed to place an order on behalf of the Union Navy for a large number of these vessels.

On the note of production, however, the Navy's timetable is fairly stringent as the need to replace the current fleet of SSKs is pressing and the Navy will be retiring, and expecting to rotate Type A vessels in to replace, a large portion of its current SSK fleet on a tight schedule.

The Navy's required timetable is as follows:

-345 vessels to be delivered to the Union Navy within nineteen months
-225 additional vessels to be delivered within thirty-two months
-225 additional vessels to be delivered within forty-two months
-260 additional vessels to be delivered within fifty months

If Kriegzimmer's facilities can meet, or of course exceed, this schedule, the total number of hulls will come to 1155, which brings the value of this contract to a total of $548.625 bn. The vessels will be paid for in advance at the beginning of the fiscal year of scheduled delivery.

Regards,

Cyril Bakhoum
Director of Naval Procurement
Denomination of Strategy Procurement Office

Encrypted Message to Kriegzimmer Arms

The Greal military wishes to purchase the following:

1,000 Diesel Attack Submarine Type As for 475 billion dollars
1 Feathermore class Super Dreadnought for 524 billion dollars
30 Indestructable class Aircraft Carriers for 210 billion dollars
DPR of Illium class Guided Missile Destroyer for 150 billion dollars
2,000,000 Mark 30 ‘Swift Kill’ 45mm Autocannon Gun System for 640 billion dollars

Total cost is 1.999 trillion dollars

We request that the delivery is rushed, we can pay extra if necessary.

Greal Military Procurement Division

To: Kriegzimmer Board
From: Charles Hagleford, Minister of War
Subject: Procurement of Aircraft

Dear Sirs,

We have been overly pleased with the last order we filed with your company and have decided to look to you to outfit our new airforce as well. Our order is a rather large one and is as follows:

12,000 Lu-12 Canary Tactical Strike Fighter
4,000 GLI-76 Falcon VTOL Multi-Role Fighter
4,000 Lu-25 Black Mariah STOVL
3,000 Lu-45 Hawk Air Superiority Aircraft
3,000 Lu-27 Condor Interceptor
800 GLI-34 Albatross Heavy Bomber
400 GLI-113 'Ank'ríat' Super Heavy Bomber
3,500 Be-23 Archimede's Lever Heavy Tranport Aircraft
500 GLI-44 Blackjester Intelligence, Reconnaissance and Battlefield Control Aircraft
20,000 RoLu-21.A Boneharvester Attack Helicopter

Grand Total $6,407,000,000,000

That I believe concludes our business for today, and we look forward to continuing it another time.

Signed,
Charles Hagleford
Charles Hagleford
Minister of War for Beta Aurigae

Official Statement of the Free Republic of Kahanistan

The Government of Kahanistan wishes to obtain 5,000 Nakil 1A3's, for 50 billion USD, for use by OPFOR in dissimilar ground combat training.

In addition, we would like to obtain 20 GLI-34 heavy bombers for our stealth bombing needs, for another 50 billion USD.

The fee of 100 billion USD will be wired upon reply.

Signed,
Marshal Mustafa Lavalle,
Minister of Defence

OOC:

I see you've removed the blacklist Mac :P

http://img.skitch.com/20080510-egwgm6w8m4d76wm1prwm222s4u.png

Zinairian Military Authority
Department of Procurement
19 National Plaza, Zinaire City

As a supplement to our 10,000 1A3s already in service, we would like to order:

1A3HA x 5,000 @ $11 million = $55,000,000,000 ($55 billion)

http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54486/174/67355974D327BB5550CB3848A69067BD.png
Sir Logan Montelimar Sr.
Chancellor of Procurement

The nation of Koharia has decided to increase the power of our Navy. We have looked through your store and were pleased with the products we have seen. We have selected the following:

x1 Carrenzai Class Heavy Missile Guided Cruiser $2,300,000,000
x1 Cadiz class SSK $900,000,000

I hope you can rush our order. I will be willing to pay another 100,000,000 dollars. I would like to purchase more products in the near future. Thank you.


Micheal Biggs
Minister of War
Koharian Ministry

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e170/damford/seal_base_military_gif_resized-1.gif
Official Communication of the Damfordine Armed Forces
Department of Purchasing

To: GET A HUGE MEMBER IN 30 SECONDS!! IMPROVE YOUR S (mailto: e1508gh1821h@email.com)

Please remove us from your mailing list.

Nostovsky
Premier General Benjamin Nostovsky
Grand General of Combined Damfordine Forces
The Republic of Damford


DECRYPTING. . . .
DECRYPTED! (11104 ms)

The Damfordine Defense Forces would like to order 2,500 Nakíl 1 Main Battle Tanks for a total of 22.5 billion dollars.

Please bill the Novan government.

TOTAL: $22,500,000,000

BN

The Holy Empire of Anemos would like the following to be sent to the Kingdom of Mayaqoo: 20 P-7 Personal Defense Weapons,
2 Regisnar Surface to Surface missile launchers,
20 Arca IV MBTs,
40 Arica I Heavy APCs.
The above comes to a total cost of 315448320$. Payment will be wired after confirmation. Thank you.

TO: Kriegzimmer Storefront
FROM: General Robin, Northam-York

We would like to purchase the following items and yes we have over looked it and have decided we can afford this.

GH-31 12.7mm High Power Sniper Rifle is selling at USD$9,000 and we would like to buy 100,000 which comes to USD$900,000 in total. Please send the freight to York and for the record, we are no longer at war with the Loyalists.

Official Message from the Allanean Government

We wish to order 10,000 Sledgehammer II missiles for 74 billion dollars, on the condition they be produced in your Roanoke Island factories.

Due to our lack of improvements to our navy in the last few years,

We wish to purchase the following vessels and armament:
3x Indestructable Class Aircraft Carriers
10x Tenerife class SSH
5x Taníat class Anti-Air Warfare Battlecruiser
5,000x Av.93 'Calisto' Super Cavitation Torpedoes
15,000x Sledgehammer Anti-Dreadnought Missiles

The cost is calculated to be $129,500,000,000 which will be paid once this sale is approved.

To Whom it May Concern,

The Armée Métropolitaine, the primary land-based warfighting branch of the Atrurian military, is currently going through a complete overhaul of our armored and mechanized forces. In order to ensure our soldiers' dominance on the battlefield, we are looking to completely replace our tank fleet. The Nakíl 1A1 has particularly caught our eye, and we are interested in purchasing it in great bulk to form the core of our armored force.

The Imperial Kingdom of Atruria would like to purchase a total of 100,000 Nakil 1A1 MBTs, which comes to a cost of $950,000,000,000, clearly falling well within our budget of $29,696,113,294,436.

Faithfully,
Gen. Jean-Pierre LeClerc
Chief of the Imperial General Staff

To: Kriegzimmer Board
From: Ertaii Defense Industry
Attachments: [1]

On behalf of the nation of Intelligent Neighbors, we seek to place an order to modernize our naval forces. Due to the large scale of this order, we feel it is necessary to prove our financial credentials, and therefore attach the latest budgeting data (that's relevant to the situation) of the nation we represent. Here is our order:

3x Indestructible class carriers: $63 billion
2x Establias class battleships: $24.6 billion
4x Kristik class battleships: $34.2 billion
1x Feathermore class superdreadnaught: $524 billion
2x Pacitalia class galleons: $530 billion
12x Illlium class guided missile destroyers: $14.4 billion
8x Carenzei class cruisers: $18.4 billion
6x Cartagena class submarines: $6.6 billion

Coming to total of $1,215.2 billion

Many thanks
-IN.

Official Allanean Order at the Kriegzimmer Corporation

We wish to purchase 30,000 BE-23 Archimedes Lever aircraft for 5.7 trillion, conditional on them being produced in the Kriegzimmer Arms company in New Bavaria.

M.A.C Heavy Industries | Defense

We wish to purchase :

- 3x - Indestructible class carriers: $63 billion
- 2x - Establias class battleships: $24.6 billion
- 4x - Kristik class battleships: $34.2 billion
- 1x - Feathermore class superdreadnaught: $524 billion
- 2x - Pacitalia class galleons: $530 billion
- 12x - Illlium class guided missile destroyers: $14.4 billion
- 8x - Carenzei class cruisers: $18.4 billion
- 6x - Cartagena class submarines: $6.6 billion
- 10.000x - Sledgehammer II missiles: $74 billion
- 30.000x - BE-23 : $5.7 trillion
- 100.000x - Nakil 1A1 MBTs : $950 billion

Funds shall be wired upon confirmation of order.

OBSERVATIONS : If possible we would like to pay for all of this in 8 to 12 years.

------------------------------------------

For any inquiries please contact us:

M.A.C Direct Line: 21-456-3450

M.A.C@DefenseNet.Agle

Thank you,

M.A.C Heavy Industries Defense Management.

1,000 Nakíl 1A3HA

11 Billion USD

La Democracia Directa de el Centro de Tierras would like to work out a three year plan where we pay three billion for the first three years and then a final two billion and a quarter on the fourth year, we do not at this time have the funds necessary to pay for the order, but over time we can assure that you will gain more then you have lost.

Can I purchase DPR for mix 44?

OOC:

Which of your escort vessels would you recommend for the following roles? (could I have one for each):

Anti-Ship Warfare
Anti-Submarine Warfare
Anti-Air Warfare

How many CLCs can the Dienstad class SPV hold?

Can the Indestructable class CVN accomodate CB-1 Miaja Fighter-Bombers (http://forums3.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=14603007&postcount=4) and/or CL-32AE Buitre Air Superiority Fighters (http://forums3.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=14602858&postcount=2)?

How many HIFV-50s (http://forums3.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13768682&postcount=20) can the CLC accomodate? How many Sino 2A1 MBTs (http://forums3.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13702061&postcount=18) can the CLC accomodate?

To: Kriegzimmer Industries
From: Muhammad Ali Giuliani, Minister of War

The Democratic Islamic Republic of Italia Orientale is looking to purchase 2 Argentine Class Galleons to beef up our naval defenses. However, we were wondering what you would suggest would be the optimal number of Paramount Class ADV's assigned to each Galleon to give the proper air support. Please let us know of your suggestion and we will make our purchase from there.


Thank you,
Minister Giuliani