NationStates Jolt Archive

Z-41 / IPO-41 Regus Light Battle Tank

Introduction and History

In response to a joint requirement issued by the Praetonian and Sarzonian armed forces for a Light Battle Tank capable of being airdropped behind enemy lines or carried by a cargo aircraft to a combat theatre and engaging enemy infantry, fortified positions and armoured vehicles, Imperial Praetonian Ordnance and the Incorporated Ordnance Company formed a joint design team to produce a vehicle to satisfy this requirement. The vehicle that was produced and accepted by both governments was the Z-41 / IPO-41 Regus.

Armament - Offensive

Several weapons were considered for the primary armament of the Regus, and a new 105mm conventional rifled weapon was selected for use. ETC guns were deemed too complex and heavy to be easily airdropped, and a 120mm conventional gun was considered but rejected for similar reasons. The possibility of fitting a smoothbore 105mm was also considered, but it was decided that the 105mm weapon would enable better performance against fortified positions and infantry and would be perfectly adequate for use against other light vehicles. It was also decided that a conventional 105mm gun would still be too light for use against MBTs, and that that work should be handed over to the ATGMs.

The 105mm rifle mounted on the Regus is 54 calibres long and capable of firing HE, HEAT, HESH, APDS and HE-FRAG. The weapon is loaded automatically by an autoloader stowed in the turret bustle, which reduces the need for manpower in the operation of the vehicle. The autoloader is capable of loading the gun whilst it is elevated, and can provide a sustained RoF of 10 rounds per minute, or burst fire at a rate of 15 rounds per minute. The gun is stabilised on both axis, and equipped with a fume extractor. Forty-five rounds are stowed as standard, with 25 + 1 loaded in the autoloader system at any one time and the rest in armoured boxes below the turret ring.

The secondary offensive armament of the vehicle comes in the form of 4 ATGM launcher cells mounted to the rear of the turret above the bustle. They are equipped on Praetonian and Sarzonian tanks with Smasher / Aquila ATGMs (the only difference being the guidance system - the Sarzonian Smasher is a beam-riding weapon whereas the Praetonian Aquila is guided by a high-resolution thermal imager). These weapons can by default utlise a top-attack profile against MBTs and a direct-fire profile against fortified positions. In addition to the four missiles stored ready in the launchers, there are armoured boxes for a further four fitted as standard below the turret ring.

Armament - Defensive

The Regus is equipped with a light but nonetheless powerful secondary armament, the primary aspect of which is the 15.5mm machinegun mounted co-axially to the main cannon. This weapon features a dual-loading mechanism and is capable of a very high rate of fire. The weapon is highly effective against both infantry and soft-skinned vehicles. One thousand rounds of ammunition can be stowed within the tank and in external ammunition boxes on the turret.

The vehicle is also equipped with a 40mm automatic grenade launcher mounted on the commander's cupola ring. This weapon is highly effective against infantry in the suppression and direct engagement roles, and moderately effective against soft skinned vehicles. The weapon can be controlled manually or remotely from within the turret when the tank is buttonned. Provisions are made as standard for the stowage of two hundred and fifty rounds of 40mm ammunition.

The final weapon in the vehicle's arsenal is the Praetonian-built 7.7mm caseless light machinegun mounted in the gunner's cupola. This weapon is highly effective against infantry and moderately effective against unarmoured vehicles and light cover. This weapon can also be controlled either manually or remotely from within the turret, and provision is made for the stowage of one thousand rounds of ammunition.

Protection - Passive Defence Systems

In addition to the armour described below, the vehicle is equipped with a number of passive defensive systems. The camoflauge paint of the vehicle is of an industrially produced extremely dark matt, which absorbs much of the light emmitted by enemy laser rangefinders, seriously depleting their effects at long range.

The vehicle is also equipped with 12 "smoke" grenades which project a thick cloud of particles into the surrounding environment. As well as obscuring the vehicle from visible sight, the particles will also refract and otherwise block or distort laser beams, rendering laser rangefinders useless against the vehicle whilst covered by the smokescreen. The vehicle can also produce smoke by injecting diesel into its exhaust manifolds.

Protection - Armour

The Regus specification called for a somewhat formidable armour scheme with a very tight weight limit. It was accepted that there was no way of protecting the tank from APFSDS rounds fired from MBTs (other than to store explosives in armoured boxes and ensure maximum possible safety of the crew) and so the following scheme was decided upon:

Outermost layer - Non-Explosive Reactive Armour (NxRA). This layer greatly reduces the effect of HEAT warheads. Its effects are significantly reduced against KE warheads. Although largely inferior to ERA, this was chosen because the tank is designed to be deployed mostly in the support of infantry. When operating alone it can be equipped with an additional layer of ERA.

2nd Layer - Ballistic Ceramics. Ballistic ceramics are extremely resistant to heat and kinetic energy, meaning that this layer will either stop or drastically reduce the effects of both HEAT metal jets and KE penetrators.

3rd Layer - Aluminium Alloy. Aluminium alloys are some of the strongest known metals in existance and they are also very light. This layer provides good all-round protection.

4th Layer - Titanium Honeycomb Frame. Titanium is also an extremely strong, light metal and makes an excellent all-round basic frame for the vehicle.

5th Layer - 9th Layer - Boronated polycarbons. This is both a stong layer in itself, and a radiation-absorbing layer.

6th Layer - Rubber and kevlar. This layer absorbs any spalling that may otherwise adversely affect the crew and systems.

The approximate RHA armour values are as follows:

Front: 350mm (KE) / 500mm (HEAT)
Side: 140mm (KE) / 220mm (HEAT)
Rear: 105mm (KE) / 165mm (HEAT)
Top: 95mm (KE) / 120mm (HEAT)

The armour is not modular, but solid. Although this makes it harder to repair, it also gives the armour extra strength whilst not adding any extra weight, and the tanks are not designed to be involved directly in combat for sustained periods of time.

The Regus comes with a Tank Roof (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v387/Praetonia/HopliteIIPhalanx-TankRoof.png), as seen here moddled by IPO-145 Hoplite II - Phalanx MBT which can be attached and detatched as necessary. The tank roof is designed to prematuely detonate top-attack munitions, rendering them largely useless. It also provides significant protection from aerial attacks with guns or KE missiles. The tank roof features also NxRA, allowing it to stand up to munitions much heavier than its thickness suggests it could. The tank can also be fitted with skirts of a similar makeup along the sides and rear, as well as along the sides and rear of the turret.

In addition to exterior armour, the interior of the vehicle is partitioned so as to seperate the engine and fuel from the crew compartment, and the shells and charges are stored in armoured boxes below the turret ring for additional protection. The autoloader is also armoured to prevent a shell from detonating inside it.

The Regus is also designed to be able to retain functionality even if all electronic systems are knocked out. The autoloader is constructed to allow manual loading to take place if its electronics are disabled. The autoloader is also equipped with a manual shell ejection system to clear the barrel, and the conventional nature of the gun allows it to fire without power. The co-axial machinegun can be used for rangefinding, and all the cupola-mounted weapons can be operated manually

Sensors

The Regus is equipped with a similar array of advanced sensors to the Phalanx. Firstly, the Regus is equipped also with the obligatory laser rangefinder, as well as high-resolution thermal imagers all around the vehicle. This can be used to allow the tank to function even in an NBC or smoky environment.

The vehicle has high-resolution digital cameras dotted around the vehicle embedded in the armour. They are reasonably well protected from random small arms fire, although a concerted effort to destroy them is very difficult the defend against. These cameras, which have both normal and night-sight modes, provide the crew with an all-round view of the battlefield.

In addition to these cameras, the Regus mounts a rotatable periscope-mounted conventional, nightsight and thermal camera which can be deployed when the vehicle is faced with obstacles. The camera can be withdrawn into an armoured control box on the right hand side of the turret bustle, providing it with relatively dependable protection from most threats when not deployed. The periscope-camera can also allow the vehicle to navigate whilst snorkling.

In a similar manner to the Phalanx, the Regus can deploy a teathered balloon from within the vehicle, which is stored in an armoured box outside. The balloon features a small radar anttena as well as a thermal imager and conventional camera. The balloon can be pulled back down using a motor inside the box and theoretically restored for a second use.

Also loaded onto the Regus as standard are a multitude of targetting detection systems including passive radar which will detect when the tank is being targetted and attempt to triangulate the position of the offending enemy vehicle. The turret can be configured to automatically home in on enemy targetting attempts and load a shell if the gun is not alreayd engaged in some other work.

Mobility

The Regus is powered by a 400hp diesel-electric hybrid motor which can drive it at speeds up to a theoretical 50mph across country. The engine is much more fuel-efficient than gas-turbines used on tanks such as the US Abrams, and so gives the vehicle a much longer effective operational range. The vehicle can switch solely to battery power, which eliminates the sound of the engine.

The vehicle can deploy the electric motor to traverse a river without using a snorkle, although this is not recommended. Whilst using a snorkle, the diesel engine can achieve a theoretical maximum of 12mph whilst crossing a river up to 6m deep.

General Specifications:

Length: 8m (hull); 10.5m (inc. gun)
Width: 4.2m
Height: 3.1m (turret roof);
Ground Clearance: 0.5m
Combat Weight: 23,500kg
Crew: 3 (Commander / Gunner; Gunner; Driver)
Main Armament: 1x 105mm/54 Rifled Gun; 4 cell ATGM launcher
Ammunition Stowage: 45 105mm rounds; 8 + 4 ATGMs
Secondary Armament: 1x 15.5mm machinegun (co-axial); 1x 40mm automatic grenade launcher (commander's cupola); 1x 7.7mm caseless machinegun (gunner's cupola); 12x smoke grenade launchers
Ammunition Stowage: 1,000x 15.5mm rounds; 250x 40mm grenade rounds; 1,000x 7.7mm caseless rounds
Engine: 1x IPO 'Pluto' 600bhp diesel-electric hybrid
Theoretical Maximum Speed: 65mph (road); 50mph (cross-country); 12mph (snorkling)
Operational Range: 500 miles
Fording Depth: 2.5m (normal); 6m (snorkle)

Production Cost: $6,000,000
Export Cost: $7,500,000

[OOC: Constructive criticism, Etc. welcome, and equal credit goes to Sarz who designed this with me.]

From the desk of Secretary of Defense Douglas Patton:

"Greetings, I would like to purchase 10 of these LBTs for $75,000,000. If confirmed we will wire the money. Thanks."

[Aluminum Alloys: As far as I've read on aluminum based alloys and superalloys, they are not particularly strong [in terms of armor] and they are absolutely not flammable. In fact, all alloys that sorround modern aircraft engines and missile engines are aluminum based, like Thymonel 8 [which is a aluminum based nickel alloy], and they are known for their ability to resist heat and creep. As far as strength goes, aluminum itself is not a strong element, at all, and it may grow in strength as an alloy because it's mixed with something stronger, let's say for the sake of an example, vanadium, but that strength would come through the vanadium, not the aluminum.]

[OOC: On the strength point - I quite agree, which is why I wouldnt use them in an MBT, but in terms of strength / mass ratio they are excellent, and as this needs to be kept light for airdropping, that is important. In the flamability point - I didnt know that, so I'll remove it, although Im not talking about lighting a match too close and blowing up, but more getting hit by an exocet kind of heat.]

From the desk of Secretary of Defense Douglas Patton:

"Greetings, I would like to purchase 10 of these LBTs for $75,000,000. If confirmed we will wire the money. Thanks."
Dear Sir,

Thankyou for expressing an interest in the IPO-41 Regus LBT. The Imperial Praetonian Ministry of Defence is pleased to be able to confirm your order, and production on the ten vehicle shall begin as soon as the Sarzonian Government have submitted their approval. We hope that you will purchase more vehicles in future.

Yours Sincerely,

Sir Tiberius Polax, MP
Foreign and Colonial Secretary
..

"Thank you."

Secretary of Defense Douglas Patton

[Aluminum Alloys: As far as I've read on aluminum based alloys and superalloys, they are not particularly strong [in terms of armor] and they are absolutely not flammable. In fact, all alloys that sorround modern aircraft engines and missile engines are aluminum based, like Thymonel 8 [which is a aluminum based nickel alloy], and they are known for their ability to resist heat and creep. As far as strength goes, aluminum itself is not a strong element, at all, and it may grow in strength as an alloy because it's mixed with something stronger, let's say for the sake of an example, vanadium, but that strength would come through the vanadium, not the aluminum.]

Mac, explain why several British ship's hit by Exocets during the Falklands war had there aluminium hulls catch fire

[OOC: Consider the request by Lewrockwellia approved.]

Mac, explain why several British ship's hit by Exocets during the Falklands war had there aluminium hulls catch fire

[OOC: I've never heard of that, and in fact, I researched the Falkland War and ship losses on google, and found nothing, except that the ship 'Antalope' was sunk, and not by Exocets, but by a UXB. If I could, I would scan in all three thousand pages on aluminum based alloys, but I'm not going to go through that, but I'll see if I can scan in some.

Edit: Apologies, you were talkinga bout the 'Coventry'. It would give a good argument, besides the fact that it's the size of a large fishing boat, and it got hit by two Exocets.]

Official message from call to power armed forces

We wish to purchase the production rights for this fine vehicle what would that come too?

[OOC: I've never heard of that, and in fact, I researched the Falkland War and ship losses on google, and found nothing, except that the ship 'Antalope' was sunk, and not by Exocets, but by a UXB. If I could, I would scan in all three thousand pages on aluminum based alloys, but I'm not going to go through that, but I'll see if I can scan in some.]

im sorry to hijack

but it was HMS Sir Galahad - a landing craft that was occupied by a welsh regiment when an exocet hit it, it had horrible losses and i'm quite suprised you have never heard of it. apart from the sinking of the argentinian cruiser it was a main point of the conflict.

IC:

An excellent vehicle, although too advanced for the Nostalgic Glorious Federation it would serve the great nations of Sarzonia and Praetonia well.

[OOC: Cross-country speed is a little high. It's also about half the weight of my tracked IFV and about a fourth lighter than my wheeled direct-fire vehicle, yet about twice as capable.]

[OOC: I've never heard of that, and in fact, I researched the Falkland War and ship losses on google, and found nothing, except that the ship 'Antalope' was sunk, and not by Exocets, but by a UXB. If I could, I would scan in all three thousand pages on aluminum based alloys, but I'm not going to go through that, but I'll see if I can scan in some.

Edit: Apologies, you were talkinga bout the 'Coventry'. It would give a good argument, besides the fact that it's the size of a large fishing boat, and it got hit by two Exocets.]
[OOC: The Coventry was bombed, the Sheffield and the Atlantic Conveyer were struck by Exocets. The Exocet knocked out Sheffield's sole fire main and the missile's fuel ignited, causing a large section of the amidships to catch fire.

Also worthy of note was the near complete destruction of a US Navy cruiser's superstructure caused by a collision with a US Navy carrier. Both the UK's Falklands experience and that collision made both countries a little more nervous about fielding vessels with extensive aluminium-based structures.]

[OOC: It's hardly twice as capable as your wheeled direct fire vehicle. Apart from the tracks, ATGMs and some peripheral weaponry they're pretty similar. But I did consider raising the weight. Maybe to around 22,000kg? Or would that be a bit too much?]

OOC: 22,000 kg would make it less able to be carried for airdrops. But as far as armament goes, I was thinking of a 90 mm rifled gun instead of 105 mm, because you're then looking at 24.25 tonnes.

[OOC: Why do you say 24.25? :/. Anyway, 22,000kg or even 24,250kg is still possible - the A400M for instance can carry up to 37,000kg - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A400M and it wouldnt be difficult to design one which could carry 44,000kg and facilitate carrying 2 of these per aircraft. In terms of actually dropping the things - all you have to change is the height and paracute area.]

[OOC: Well, my tracked direct-fire vehicle weighs between 27-30 tonnes, carries only 32 105mm rounds and only has machine guns as secondary weapons. I'd say up the base weight to at least 24-25 tonnes.]

[OOC: Why do you say 24.25? :/.OOC: According to this (http://www.worldwidemetric.com/measurements.html), 22,000 kg = 24.25 tonnes.

OOC: According to this (http://www.worldwidemetric.com/measurements.html), 22,000 kg = 24.25 tonnes.
[OOC: Erm, 1 tonne = 1000 kg. One standard ton = 2000 lbs, while 1 long ton = 1.016 tonnes]

Anyway, IN your storefront says that the direct fire wheeled vehicle is closer to the 20 tonne mark than the 30 tonne mark. I think the weight of the Regus should be raised to ~24 tonnes if that's ok with Sarz.

[OOC: The wheeled one is 18-19 tonnes, the tracked one is 27-30 tonnes.]

[OOC: I see. I assume that the 10 tonne difference isnt entirely in track...?]

OOC: More armour and more shells, but the difference between tracked and wheeled vehicles does add a fair amount of weight.

EDIT: Considering the US M41 Walker Bulldog weighed about 23.5 tons -- about 21.32 tonnes -- and had a smaller gun (76mm v. 105mm), maybe 23.5 tonnes (51808.63 lbs or 25.9 tons)?

Updated weight.

*bump*

Official message from call to power armed forces

We wish to purchase the production rights for this fine vehicle what would that come too?

ooc: ehem!

ooc: ehem!I'll ask Prae when I get a chance. I have my own system, but since this is a joint design, I think we should be on the same page (not like that will be hard).

MESSAGE
From: Department of Military Purchases, Pwnica
To: Praetonia
CC: Sarzonia

Hello!
The Pwnican generals, General Axx and General Darthanian, wish to congratulate you on a marvelous design.

We wish to purchase 25 Reguses (OOC: Regusii? :D) for trial runs, and if proven satisfactory, we will send a follow-up message with an order for more, or possibly procurement of the production rights, if you are selling them.

The total comes out to $187,500,000, which will be wired upon confirmation of our order.

Thank you!

--Raven Koren
Department of Military Purchases
Pwnica

OOC (somewhat): Sarzonia, I placed an order in the Portland Iron Works thread and you haven't confirmed it. Just a heads-up. :)

OOC (somewhat): Sarzonia, I placed an order in the Portland Iron Works thread and you haven't confirmed it. Just a heads-up. :)[OOC: I will sometime today. I've got to come up with production rights for a lot of ships on the order immediately preceding yours and that's probably going to run into the tens of trillions. But if you like, you can already count it confirmed. :)]

(OOC): Oh. Whoa. I didn't see it...yeah, that's a pretty big order. I just wanted to make sure, though. :D Thanks.

[OOC: Call to Power - Sorry I didnt see that. It must have gotten buried in all the tech arguments...]

Dear Sir,

Production rights to the Regus will cost a total of $8billion which will be slit between the relevent Praetonian and Sarzonian corporations, and a further $500,000 in royalties per vehicle produced in Call to power. I hope that you will find this acceptable.

Yours,

[Signed]
Sir Gaius Familiarus,
Director of Imperial Praetonian Ordnance Light Vehicles Division

Dear Sir,

Your order has been confirmed by both governments [OOC: Since Sarz hasnt objected] and all 25 vehicles will be delivered within the next 3 months. We are sure that the vehicles will prove satisfactory and we await further orders.

Yours,

[Signed]
Sir Gaius Familiarus,
Director of Imperial Praetonian Ordnance Light Vehicles Division

[Nice tank, although I'm not a big fan of LBTs in general.]

[OOC: Thanks. Neither am I really, but my MBT is far too heavy and maintenance intensive to be airdropped.]

[OOC: I'm similar to Prae in the way mentioned; the only tank I could conceive of airdropping is my Zephyr, and that was two MBT generations ago. My Cheetah is too heavy for the airdrop role and it's really more of a scout tank anyway.]

[Why airdrop a tank at all? It's not like you want to equip your heavy devisions with these, nor is it a great idea to equip airborne units with them.]

[OOC: I can't speak for Prae, but I'd use an air-dropped tank for quick strike operations, especially as sort of a first wave until we have a chance to get our armoured assets on the battlefield. It'd take a long while to get enough MBTs into a combat theatre to launch an effective offensive operation. These you can get into the theatre in much quicker order.]

ooc: wouldn't it be allot my strategic to use hummers considering they can be fitted with anti-armour rockets, are fast and still carry troops and I also don’t think you can use Para-forces in the engagements this tank is designed for considering you would need air superiority

[OOC: The problem with using Hummers is -- until the recent ones built with armour -- they were unarmoured. That was one of the major bones of contention in Iraq and it led to the vehicles being modified to take armour. Once they were armoured, however, they lost much of their advantage in mobility that was their hallmark.

A LBT has armour and it's more heavily armed than a Hummer can be (since a Hummer most likely would only have a ATGM or maybe a 12.7 mm machine gun as its armament.

I could see your point if someone came up with a mobile replacement for the Humvee that was armoured well enough to protect against mines or IEDs or even 30 mm autocannon fire. But a Hummer isn't designed for that.]

[OOC: Humvees are large, badly armoured, badly armed and generally not designed to fill the same role.

SS - airdrops are still useful in some circumstances, and in those circumstances it's extremely useful to have some kind of armoured support, which is what this is for. In general combat it could conceiveably be used as a scout vehicle. It's certainly fast enough.]

OOC:
Potential uses for an airdrop-capable "LBT" would be to equip "Heavy" airborne formations, or to use it in much the same way that the Soviet and Russian VDV utilize/d BMD-series IFVs, to provide direct-fire support and troop transportation*, increasing the mobility and hard-hitting effectiveness of the airborne formation.

[* - If "troop rails" were to be affixed to the vehicle, soldiers could easily hang off and go for a ride. A bad ride, is better than a good walk.]

If a vehicle can be airdropped, it can likely be airlifted via a helicopter such as the Soviet/Russian Mi-26 "HALO." Deployed in such a manner, the LBT here would provide more ground-based punch for airmobile forces. (Russo-Soviet VDV troops are both airborne and air-mobile.)

Also noted would be battlefield reconnaissance for armoured formations, as this vehicle has greater speed than plausible 'modern-tech' MBTs, and presumably greater survivability and firepower than other reconnaissance assets.

The vehicle, being lighter than many MBTs, would also provide effective support to (Light) infantry formations while not reducing their 'strategic mobility' as much as fullsized MBTs. [Further explanation: Easier to get these LBTs onto a heavy-lift aircraft than a MBT.]

Concievably, this vehicle would provide a superb basis for "Hussar" armoured formations. (Hussars: Fast-moving, typically un-or-lightly armoured horsemen used from 1750-1920, typically.) Which would be useful in supporting the heavier armour, being used to 'skirmish' and protect the flanks of such units, assuming that you have sufficient manouver-space.

IC:

The RMSMC has been provided with the possibility of procuring several of these vehicles for testing purposes to determine their suitability for operations of various kinds with the Russkyan Military. For the present, I have been instructed to inquire as to the estimated cost of the Domestic Production Rights to the Praeto-Sarzonian "Regus" 'Light' Main Battle Tank.

Best Regards and Compliments,
- Ivan Gaslukatov, RMSMC.

ORDER INVOICE / MESSAGE - Encryption: Level 1
FROM: Department of Military Purchases, Pwnica
TO: Sir Gaius Familiarus, Director of Imperial Praetonian Ordnance Light Vehicles Division
CC: Sarzonia, to whom it may concern.

Hello again!
The Regus LBT has proved itself in our trials, and as such, we wish to purchase 475 more. The total comes out to $3,562,500,000, which will be wired upon confirmation of our order.

Thank you!
--Raven Koren,
Department of Military Purchases
Pwnica

MESSAGE - Encryption: Level 2
FROM: General Darthanian's Office, Pwnica
TO: Sir Gaius Familiarus, Director of Imperial Praetonian Ordnance Light Vehicles Division
CC: Sarzonia, to whom it may concern.

As a follow-up to our earlier message, we also wish to purchase the production rights to the Regus, if possible. Please let us know your price and we will wire the money (OOC: You stated earlier, to Call to Power, that it's $8.5b. I'm assuming it's the same, but IC I can't know that. If it IS still 8.5b, consider the money wired. If not, please let me know).

We thank you.
General Darthanian
Pwnica Ground And Sea Forces

To: Raven Koren,
Department of Military Purchases, Pwnica
From: Major General David Wade (ISA-Ret.)
Managing Director, Incorporated Ordnance Company
Subject: Confirmation of order

The Incorporated Ordnance Company is pleased to confirm your order for 475 Z-41 'Regus ' Light Battle Tanks for the amount of $3,562,500,000. Work will begin immediately and you should receive these within four NS years [4 RL days (note: Since it's been several days, they'll be delivered immediately IRL)]. We hope these tanks serve your military well and we thank you for shopping at the Incorporated Ordnance Company.

We also provisionally grant the production rights at $8.5 billion USD pending final approval from Imperial Praetonian Ordnance.

-------

To: Ivan Gaslukatov, RMSMC
From: Major General David Wade (ISA-Ret.)
Managing Director, Incorporated Ordnance Company
Subject: Production rights

We thank you for your inquiry as to the price for production rights for the Regus LBT and, according to the figures previously established by Imperial Praetonian Ordnance, the amount for production rights comes to $8.5 billion USD. We provisionally approve the granting of production rights; of course, approval by IPO is required to make this transaction official.

We thank you for considering the Incorporated Ordnance Company for your combat needs!

[OOC: Sorry about the delay... I noticed someone reading the topic on the Draftroom and that led me back here when I realised there hadn't been a response in quite some time. I also thank you for your intelligent explanation of the uses for an airdrop tank.]

[OOC: Also sorry for the delay. I dont need to duplicate Sarz's messages - both orders are confirmed by me also.]

Is there a picture?

OOC:
[OOC: Sorry about the delay... I noticed someone reading the topic on the Draftroom and that led me back here when I realised there hadn't been a response in quite some time. I also thank you for your intelligent explanation of the uses for an airdrop tank.]

My pleasure. One of the problems with NS is that very few understand warfare or military technology as a whole, and the unobtrusive way of educating them is the best way, otherwise they become belligerant.

I would say something IC'ly but it would really just be page-filler, nothing of substance at the moment. Thanks for the IC data and I may end up ordering the DPR in the near future, depending on how unit-organization pans out after this huge reorganization.

TO: Imperial Land Defense Systems
FROM: General Jared Ka-Wing Lau, Chief of the Army, United Sovereign Nations of Southeast Asia
RE: Domestic production rights

To Whom It May Be Concerned,

The IPO/Z-41 "Regus" Light Battle Tank has performed marvelously during the combat trials, and is indeed worthy of filling the empty position of a light battle tank in the Southeast Asian Army.

These days, using an infantry fighting vehicle (like the United States' M-3A3 Bradley) as a light battle tank, is out of question. Although the battlefield at large has evolved into a more violent state, as have infantry fight vehicles, the battlefield is now too violent for IFVs to double serve as the said role.

I have been approved by the Federal Parliament (our nation's legislative branch) to ask your corporation, to acquire unlimited domestic production rights to the IPO/Z-41 "Regus" Light Battle Tank. State your price, and the funds shall be transfered to you upon the confirmation of the order.

Yours Truly,
General Jared Ka-Wing Lau
Chief of the Army
United Sovereign Nations of Southeast Asia

Official Response of the United States Military

As you know, we receive ten trillion dollars per annum of military support from New Haven, of which 90% must be spent inside NewHaven itself. But the rest of it, we are free to spend as we will, and this year, we would like to purchase 40,000 of the Regus LBT's for our armed forces. 600 billion dollars will be transferred in the currency of your choice upon confirmation.

Sincerely yours,

The Allaneans.

Imperial Land Defence Systems

Order Confirmation Invoice

1)
i) The transfer of technology to the United Sovereign Nations of Southeast Asia has been approved.
ii) The following sale has been approved:

* Unlimited domestic production rights to the IPO/Z-41 "Regus" Light Battle Tank

iii) The commencement of transfer has been authorised.

Estimated Time to Completion: Immediate

Attached Note: A preliminary price of $8 billion has been set of which 50% will go to each developer company.


Order Confirmation Invoice

1)
i) The transfer of technology to Allanea has been approved.
ii) The following sale has been approved:

* 40,000 IPO/Z-41 "Regus" Light Battle Tank

iii) The commencement of transfer has been authorised.

Estimated Time to Completion: 8 NS years

[OOC: Erm Praetonia, don't you mean Allanea for the second confirmation of the order? And in speaking of Allanea, I have this piece of information for you: Allanea is supporting the Northern Alliance in the War of Golden Succession, which is lead by the Second Empire of the Golden Throne of The Macabees. And your long-time IC and OOC friend, Hogsweat/Questers, is backing the Havenite Pact, lead by Safehaven2....it doesn't make sense that ILDS would sell to someone on the opposite side of the conflict, doesn't it?]

[OOC: Ordinarily it wouldn't, but he's using them against the Reich so I don't care. Otherwise I'll bomb him lotsly. Realpolitik ftw.]