The Macabees
12-12-2005, 00:33
[OOC: If some of you would be kind of enough that if you did order so to copy/paste the order to Kriegzimmer (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=409787), for my records. I would be extremely thankful.]
GF11 Archer Tactical Reconnaissance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
http://modernwarstudies.net/Lineart/Archer.gif
History:
The Laerihans has never had an unmanned aerial vehicle to call its own, and after a reconsideration of tactical surveillance and reconnaissance it was decided that a new form of tactical surveillance was an utter necessity. This only became more apparent after the decomissioning of old wheeled reconnaissance vehicles, reverting the task to sattelites and underequipped and underpaid foot soldiers and heavier vehicles. Therefore, prototypes of the Archer were released in late 2015 under the administration of the newly risen Fedor I. The first battlefield experience of the Archer was in the War of Golden Succession, both in the colonies and in the fronts nearer to home. It was a smashing success. Because of the Archer the Jagadan Phantom units were utterly destroyed in the colonies, and their landings in the northern areas of Sidi, during the beginning stages of the Jagadan offensive towards Sidi Rezegh, were betrayed. Havenite convoys in Zarbia were also found. In short, the Archer was something that was immediately qualified to go into mass production. Mass production began around June 2016. They saw major service agaisnt Haven [SafeHaven2] and against Zarbia; they also saw minor service in the later naval battles of the war as naval spotters, instead of the much more cumbersome SeaSerpent helicopters. They would also see action in many more wars to come and post-war brushfire incidents throughout new dependencies of the Empire.
The idea of the Archer was not for it to work as a weapon in combat, and so any payload that existing UAVs or UCAVs had were dropped. There was absolutely no need for the GF11 to have anything that could harm another person; that would only give it a way. Instead, it was designed to fly relatively high and quiet, with as much heat reduction as possible. In other words, it was to be invisible. This would be achieved through new airframe contruction for lightweight UAVs and infra-red reduction systems and such. In other words, this was to be a revolutionary UAV. Of course, it was a hit within the Imperial Armed Forces and Kriegzimmer, having a short slump in sales, hoped it would be a hit abroad as well. Kriegzimmer has lately admitted that the idea was an expansion on a similar UAV system developed by the now deseased Vastiva. These were first witnessed in the Euroslavian Civil War, shortly after the Empire had emerged from the Kahtan Crusade, and they were under the name of SHARDS. Understandably, it hit a bright light inside Kriegzimmer's head, although the program never begun until 2014 since Kriegzimmer had gone into a relative expansion of products.
History nonwithstanding, the GF11 Archer has already proved itself in combat operations. These successes can only be exaggerated further in the event of a clandestine intelligence operation. Indeed, IINSA has already ordered thirty for their own uses in intelligence operations abroad. Guffingford, a recent victim of a IINSA operation against the Order of the Invisible Hand, has already lashed out at the Macabee intelligence agency [IINSA] and warned them of further use, including the use of Archers, within their country. Nevertheless, one cannot downplay the possiblities of the GF11 Archer.
Airframe:
The primary task in airframe construction was to make the UAV radar transparent; in other words, the radio waves would simply pass through the material without creating an angle of incident and thus reflecting. The idea works much like that of a parachute, which is radar transparent. Of course, the material would have to be sturdy enough to support flight. Therefore, a composite between three principle materials was chosen in the end; glass, acrylic and polycarbonate. Minor materials included were vinyl and urethane. The composite is rather expensive, rated at around 300 Reichmarks per gram, but it provides the intregral strength for flight and gives the Archer the properties it needs as a UAV. It uses a titanium alloy matrix to weave fiber reinforced plastics to produce the substructure. This is then laminated by vinyl and urethane, both of them polymers [plastics] which bond well to the major components. Acrylic is a thermoplastic and is what makes most car windshields. This coupled with glass makes an extremely transparent airframe to radar, while through visual contact it would appear white because of the bonding materials used. The only reflective material in use is the titanium alloy, but the matrix is so small it's inconsequential.
Every component of the airframe is modular to make it cheaper to apply and re-apply. Meaning, the armour comes in appliqué slabs which use a urethane laminate along the sides to bond well with neighboring slabs, as well as standard welding, of course. The modular perforated armour has been dubbed Modular Perforated [/b]T[/b]ransparent [/b]Armour[/b] [MOPETA]. It's been put on sale to commercial airliners and to foreign governments by Kriegzimmer at 700 Reichmarks a gram.
Powerplant:
The powerplant uses a totally mechanical and electrical turboprop engine. Namely, it uses pulses of electricity coming from a reginative coil to combust the fuel, which in turn expands the compressed air coming from the engine intakes, which spins the small turboprop behind the GF11 Archer. The battery has an extremely limted lifespan of forty hours, but is cheap to replace because of the fact that a similar battery is used to power Macabee tank guns. Apart from that the engine is very quiet, and heat is insulated through the use of aerogel/fiber composite materials, which are light weight, but strong and absorbant. Meaning, the GF11 Archer neither makes noise or expends great deal of heat. Meaning, the Archer has successfully made itself to be one of the stealthiest UAV designs on the market. Not only that, but its lifespan matches all tactical reconnaissance UAVs except for the Global Hawk.
Conclusions:
As said prior, the GF11 Archer has been proven to be quite the design, superior to most other UAV designs on the market. The Laerihans has ordered a full aerial armada of one hundred and twenty GF11 Archers for further use in war; half of these are expected to be shot down through enemy action. The Kriermada has ordered hundreds to accompany shipping in naval actions. It's expected that the foreign market will cram for purchases of the GF11 Archer.
In terms of future capabilities, Kriegzimmer has only released that it has a lot ahead of it.
Name: GF11 Archer Tactical Reconnaissance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Manufacturer: Goldent Luftwaffe Industries
Length: 5.8 meters
Wingspan: 13.7 meters
Height: 1.8 meters
Data Link:
-Global Positioning System
-Ultra High Frequency
-Ku Frequency
-Line of Sight
-C-band
Sensors:
-Foward Looking Electronic Scanned Array
-Sidelooking Electronic Scanned Array
-Downlooking Bi-static Radar
-Downlooking Pulse Lidar
-Downlooking Gaussian Ladar
-Downlooking Infra-red Receiver
-Downlooking High Definition Camera
Maximum Gross Weight: 730 kilograms
Operational Altitudes: 4000 meters
Velocities:
23 knots @ stall
56 knots @ cruise
70 knots @ dash
Emergency Recover: Parachute
Auto Return Home: Yes [on data link loss]
Autonomy: Full
Engine: Electrical Turboprop
Fuel: 150 Litres
Flight Life: 40 Hours
Runway: 1524 x 38 meters; hard surface
Production Cost: 4.8 million
Purchase Cost per Unit: 15 million
Production Rights Cost: 6.2 billion
GF11 Archer Tactical Reconnaissance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
http://modernwarstudies.net/Lineart/Archer.gif
History:
The Laerihans has never had an unmanned aerial vehicle to call its own, and after a reconsideration of tactical surveillance and reconnaissance it was decided that a new form of tactical surveillance was an utter necessity. This only became more apparent after the decomissioning of old wheeled reconnaissance vehicles, reverting the task to sattelites and underequipped and underpaid foot soldiers and heavier vehicles. Therefore, prototypes of the Archer were released in late 2015 under the administration of the newly risen Fedor I. The first battlefield experience of the Archer was in the War of Golden Succession, both in the colonies and in the fronts nearer to home. It was a smashing success. Because of the Archer the Jagadan Phantom units were utterly destroyed in the colonies, and their landings in the northern areas of Sidi, during the beginning stages of the Jagadan offensive towards Sidi Rezegh, were betrayed. Havenite convoys in Zarbia were also found. In short, the Archer was something that was immediately qualified to go into mass production. Mass production began around June 2016. They saw major service agaisnt Haven [SafeHaven2] and against Zarbia; they also saw minor service in the later naval battles of the war as naval spotters, instead of the much more cumbersome SeaSerpent helicopters. They would also see action in many more wars to come and post-war brushfire incidents throughout new dependencies of the Empire.
The idea of the Archer was not for it to work as a weapon in combat, and so any payload that existing UAVs or UCAVs had were dropped. There was absolutely no need for the GF11 to have anything that could harm another person; that would only give it a way. Instead, it was designed to fly relatively high and quiet, with as much heat reduction as possible. In other words, it was to be invisible. This would be achieved through new airframe contruction for lightweight UAVs and infra-red reduction systems and such. In other words, this was to be a revolutionary UAV. Of course, it was a hit within the Imperial Armed Forces and Kriegzimmer, having a short slump in sales, hoped it would be a hit abroad as well. Kriegzimmer has lately admitted that the idea was an expansion on a similar UAV system developed by the now deseased Vastiva. These were first witnessed in the Euroslavian Civil War, shortly after the Empire had emerged from the Kahtan Crusade, and they were under the name of SHARDS. Understandably, it hit a bright light inside Kriegzimmer's head, although the program never begun until 2014 since Kriegzimmer had gone into a relative expansion of products.
History nonwithstanding, the GF11 Archer has already proved itself in combat operations. These successes can only be exaggerated further in the event of a clandestine intelligence operation. Indeed, IINSA has already ordered thirty for their own uses in intelligence operations abroad. Guffingford, a recent victim of a IINSA operation against the Order of the Invisible Hand, has already lashed out at the Macabee intelligence agency [IINSA] and warned them of further use, including the use of Archers, within their country. Nevertheless, one cannot downplay the possiblities of the GF11 Archer.
Airframe:
The primary task in airframe construction was to make the UAV radar transparent; in other words, the radio waves would simply pass through the material without creating an angle of incident and thus reflecting. The idea works much like that of a parachute, which is radar transparent. Of course, the material would have to be sturdy enough to support flight. Therefore, a composite between three principle materials was chosen in the end; glass, acrylic and polycarbonate. Minor materials included were vinyl and urethane. The composite is rather expensive, rated at around 300 Reichmarks per gram, but it provides the intregral strength for flight and gives the Archer the properties it needs as a UAV. It uses a titanium alloy matrix to weave fiber reinforced plastics to produce the substructure. This is then laminated by vinyl and urethane, both of them polymers [plastics] which bond well to the major components. Acrylic is a thermoplastic and is what makes most car windshields. This coupled with glass makes an extremely transparent airframe to radar, while through visual contact it would appear white because of the bonding materials used. The only reflective material in use is the titanium alloy, but the matrix is so small it's inconsequential.
Every component of the airframe is modular to make it cheaper to apply and re-apply. Meaning, the armour comes in appliqué slabs which use a urethane laminate along the sides to bond well with neighboring slabs, as well as standard welding, of course. The modular perforated armour has been dubbed Modular Perforated [/b]T[/b]ransparent [/b]Armour[/b] [MOPETA]. It's been put on sale to commercial airliners and to foreign governments by Kriegzimmer at 700 Reichmarks a gram.
Powerplant:
The powerplant uses a totally mechanical and electrical turboprop engine. Namely, it uses pulses of electricity coming from a reginative coil to combust the fuel, which in turn expands the compressed air coming from the engine intakes, which spins the small turboprop behind the GF11 Archer. The battery has an extremely limted lifespan of forty hours, but is cheap to replace because of the fact that a similar battery is used to power Macabee tank guns. Apart from that the engine is very quiet, and heat is insulated through the use of aerogel/fiber composite materials, which are light weight, but strong and absorbant. Meaning, the GF11 Archer neither makes noise or expends great deal of heat. Meaning, the Archer has successfully made itself to be one of the stealthiest UAV designs on the market. Not only that, but its lifespan matches all tactical reconnaissance UAVs except for the Global Hawk.
Conclusions:
As said prior, the GF11 Archer has been proven to be quite the design, superior to most other UAV designs on the market. The Laerihans has ordered a full aerial armada of one hundred and twenty GF11 Archers for further use in war; half of these are expected to be shot down through enemy action. The Kriermada has ordered hundreds to accompany shipping in naval actions. It's expected that the foreign market will cram for purchases of the GF11 Archer.
In terms of future capabilities, Kriegzimmer has only released that it has a lot ahead of it.
Name: GF11 Archer Tactical Reconnaissance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Manufacturer: Goldent Luftwaffe Industries
Length: 5.8 meters
Wingspan: 13.7 meters
Height: 1.8 meters
Data Link:
-Global Positioning System
-Ultra High Frequency
-Ku Frequency
-Line of Sight
-C-band
Sensors:
-Foward Looking Electronic Scanned Array
-Sidelooking Electronic Scanned Array
-Downlooking Bi-static Radar
-Downlooking Pulse Lidar
-Downlooking Gaussian Ladar
-Downlooking Infra-red Receiver
-Downlooking High Definition Camera
Maximum Gross Weight: 730 kilograms
Operational Altitudes: 4000 meters
Velocities:
23 knots @ stall
56 knots @ cruise
70 knots @ dash
Emergency Recover: Parachute
Auto Return Home: Yes [on data link loss]
Autonomy: Full
Engine: Electrical Turboprop
Fuel: 150 Litres
Flight Life: 40 Hours
Runway: 1524 x 38 meters; hard surface
Production Cost: 4.8 million
Purchase Cost per Unit: 15 million
Production Rights Cost: 6.2 billion