Sistemas Terrestres Segovia (STS) Land Systems [Archive]

Castilla y Belmonte

21-01-2008, 17:58

[OOC: Short write-up is to make reading it easier for some people; for more detail on systems shared between the Lynx and the Lince, read the relevant part of the Lince write-up.]

Lynx main battle tank

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/Macabees/Armor/Lynx.png

Due to strict laws limiting Sistemas Terrestres Segovia (STS) to selling the Lince main battle tank to strategic partners and allies, the Castillian defense company has developed the Lince Exportación (Lince E). On the market, this tank is known by its English name, Lynx main battle tank. The Lynx uses an enlarged Lince chassis with a brand-new conventional turret and exchanges technology not for export with systems designed specifically for the international market. As a consequence, the Lynx is not as light or unconventional as the original Lince, but is still a highly advanced main battle tank with capabilities on par with other tanks on the market, or clearly superior. Its role as an export tank also allows STS to tailor the design to international requirements, instead of for its own forces. For example, the armament systems use international standard calibers – like the 120mm main gun, or the 12.7mm commander’s machine gun mounted in the HammerFist remote weapon station on the turret roof. The company’s design ideology for the Lynx is simple – advanced, efficient and affordable. The Lynx achieves the capabilities of any other tank currently on the market for a much better price, and the more exports the tank gains the cheaper the price per unit will be. The tank is also very modular which allows clients to add new systems, change existing systems or subtract systems that they think are unnecessary. For example, the long-range fire control system can be substituted with a cheaper, short-range, simple fire control system for ranges under 1,000m – a change such as this can decrease the price of the tank by almost half a million dollars.

Despite the affordability, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia has not skipped on lethality, protection or mobility. As several articles in international magazines have suggested, the Lynx is sold as a ‘Nakíl killer’ – the Macabee Nakíl is the most successful main battle tank on the market. This isn’t just an advertising attempt, as the company has created a tank which can compete with the Nakíl, defeat it and still come out at a cheaper price. To successfully complete this task, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia has included a number of well developed new technologies which can be manufactured at a cheap price and dramatically increase the efficiency of one of the three principle design areas of a tank – lethality, protection or mobility. For example, the company relies heavily on advanced, but cheap, heavy explosive armor to increase protection exponentially, but not weight or cost. Concepts such as these are ‘spiral technologies’ which originate from the Lince. However, these face minor alterations as to give away important information on the Lince’s armor or firepower. It’s important to note that Sistemas Terrestres Segovia will always be working on modification packages for the Lince and the Lynx, meaning that an army will no longer have to rely on purchasing brand-new tanks to bring their armor fleet up to date. New upgrade kits will be released throughout the future, increasing armor protection, mobility and lethality as technological improvements allow – these kits will be exported at cheap prices, which makes armada improvements much more affordable. Many technologies developed for the Lince will be spiraled down to the Lynx over time, as well.

The Lynx has a wide variety of surrogates on the common chassis. These include the Centauro armored personnel carrier, León lightweight self-propelled howitzer, and many others. Originally, the Lince family included twenty-four surrogate vehicles, but new vehicle types based on the Lince and Lynx chassis are being put into production. All surrogates are built equally for Lince users and for those who acquire the Lynx. Normally, vehicles being produced for Lynx users are based on the larger Lynx chassis, and those built for Lince users are based on the smaller Lince chassis. The goal, of course, is to maximize standardization. Most vehicles use a common transmission, a common suspension system, a common engine (albeit, perhaps of different size and energy output) and other subsystems. Ideally, such commonality will make it much cheaper for armies to operate these vehicles. Ironically, many of the surrogates can be made into further variants. For example, the L113 Centauro armored personnel carrier can be easily turned into an anti-tank vehicle, an urban assault vehicle or a mortar carrier. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, for instance, that the León turret can be modified into a Centauro chassis! This interchangeability makes the Lynx family much more versatile and much more economical. This means that armies can base themselves on vehicles of the same chassis. This is made possible largely by the lightweight design, even though the Lynx weighs almost ten tons (all weights should be assumed to be metric) more. A division’s armored personnel carriers, infantry combat vehicles, main battle tanks, self-propelled howitzer and field artillery guns, and mechanized infantry’s mortar carriers are all based on the same common chassis. The savings in logistics is incomprehensible, and there have been few successful attempts to successfully integrate such an idea.

Sistemas Terrestres Segovia makes available limited production rights. Nations can establish a contract with Sistemas Terrestres Segovia for a specified amount of tanks, or any other vehicles offered in the family, and produce these in factories at home. Normally, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia will provide the first batch of vehicles in order to quickly begin integrating the new vehicles into the nation’s armed forces, and the nation will finish the order. STS is a very flexible industry and business partner and is willing to negotiate with the relevant officials of your nation. Coming to an agreement over the production of the Lynx should not be difficult, although STS does not offer unlimited production rights to any of their equipment. In any case, the company prefers that substantial orders are indigenously produced given the limited capacity of STS’ factories. Despite the recent acquisition of two new mega complexes in Malatose and Doomingsland, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia can only produce around forty thousand tanks per year (seven hundred tanks per month in the factory in Castilla, and one thousand four hundred per month in the other two factories). If a nation lacks the ability to produce heavy equipment in indigenous factories (no indigenous tank program) Sistemas Terrestres Segovia has the capability to sell this ability – in other words, STS is willing to begin limited production in existing factories and build a new factory in your country (belonging to STS, of course) for indigenous production. The factory would be owned jointly by the national government and Sistemas Terrestres Segovia – in other words, the factory and the indigenous company would be a subsidiary of Sistemas Terrestres Segovia. Regardless of the method of export, STS is a flexible partner.

Firepower
The new turret is armed with Calzado y Bayo’s brand-new CB.70 120mm L/55 liquid propellant electrothermal-chemical (LPETC) main tank gun. By integrating several redundant parts of the breech block and the gun support Calzado y Bayo have successfully decreased the weight of the gun system by approximately 600 kilograms. Further weight reduction has been achieved by exchanging historically steel parts with high-strength titanium. An example of this are the new recoil cylinder blocks – such technology has already been applied to artillery weapons, and is also used in the León howitzer to reduce weight. The chromium-lined lightweight steel barrel weighs only 1,200 kilograms, and is capable of withstanding much higher barrel pressures. The TRL1060 HAN-based (Hydroxyl Ammonium Nitrate) liquid propellant is loaded through regenerative injection, which although more complex than a bulk loading mechanism is far more stable. With similar densities, a regenerative liquid propellant gun (RLPG) achieves an increase in muzzle energy to almost 15MJ – with increased density and volume, such as in the Lynx, muzzle energy of a non-electrothermal-chemical gun increase to near 18MJ! The CB.70 120mm L/55 LPETC has muzzle energy of around 25MJ, and uses an electric charge to begin combustion – mechanically simpler than using a laser system. Arguably, this tank’s liquid propellant is much less vulnerable than solid propellants. This is because the liquid propellant is stored separate from the ammunition (invariable, this also increases the length of the long-rod penetrator), and requires twenty-five percent less physical volume for storage. In the Lynx’s case, the propellant is stored under the breech, near the end, for easy pumping access to the combustion chamber. The main gun’s recoil is reduced through a high-efficiency (70%) single-baffle muzzle break and a 550mm extended recoil path, meaning the gun can be mounted on vehicles of the twenty ton class – such as the armored gun system of the Lynx family of vehicles.

The ammunition is stored behind the breech, in the turret bustle. The turret bustle holds forty ready-rounds in a high volume efficiency closed-loop, double-rowed magazine. This all-electric mechanical magazine rotates upon round selection, bringing the selected type of round to the robotic autoloading arm. The simple and compact loading arm brings the round to the breech and rams it into the combustion chamber. The loading arm is substantially lighter than a human, and allows the turret volume to be built around the loading arm instead of around a supposed crew pod. As a consequence, the new autoloader saves almost ten tons worth of weight as compared to a tank with a human loader! The all-electric ‘compact autoloader’ is, as inferred, hydraulic-free and thus safe, and can work when the gas turbine is turned off thanks to an under armor auxiliary power unit (UAAPU) located near the rear of the vehicle (the steel rectangular compartment seen in the image, to the rear of the chassis, is the access to the auxiliary power unit). The aforementioned autoloader can load ammunition at a sustainable rate of twelve rounds per minute – or a new round every five seconds. This matches the rate of a human loader while the tank is not moving, and can work without problems during high-velocity travel, unlike a human loader. Thanks to a lack of a non-combustible baseplate, which is normal for solid propellant guns, the chances of a jam are decreased. The autoloader can unload faulty ammunition and re-inventory the round back into the magazine. The magazine can be reloaded manually through a hatch in the turret bustle, and an additional fifteen rounds are held near the front of the chassis, while the rear compartment of the chassis can hold even more ammunition. Given the liquid propellant gun, the ammunition in the chassis does not have to be protected, saving weight and volume.

The Lynx’s co-axial armament is the G379 25mm automatic cannon that debuted with the Lince. Three hundred rounds for the cannon are held in the turret basket, near the gun breech, and the G379 is automatically loaded. All ammunition developed for the G379 on the Lince is available for export, and the advanced cased telescoping (CT) armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) can reportedly penetrate 160mm of rolled homogenous steel! The gunner’s co-axial cannon can elevate to 60º and depress to -20º, making it perfect for urban combat and also makes it useful for the anti-air role. The co-axial mounting can accept light machine guns, medium machine guns or heavy machine guns, as well – therefore, the G379 can be exchanged for an indigenous weapon, or for another preferred co-axial armament. The HammerFist remote weapon station (RWS) mounted on the turret roof is the same as that mounted on the Lince, and on a great many of the Lynx family variants. On the model vehicle, the HammerFist RWS mounts Doomingsland Defense Industry’s (DDI) MGM-2 heavy machine gun, designed for the 12.7mm caliber. This particular version of the machine gun introduces a longer recoil travel, and a greater amount of polymer parts. HammerFist, however, can incorporate any size machine gun up to 15mm in caliber. Nevertheless, given the high production rate of the MGM it’s a cheap, but very efficient, heavy machinegun. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between STS and DDI does not cover changes in caliber, but it should be noted that DDI offers the MGM-2 in 15.7mm, 12.7mm, 14.5mm and 13.3mm.

Additionally, the tank disposes of twelve 76mm electric grenade launchers (four per side and four on the remote weapon system), similar to those mounted on the Lince. Ideally, high-explosive or fragmentation grenades can be used against nearby ambushing anti-tank infantry teams – a lightweight solution. The launchers can also fire a number of passive grenade types – illumination grenades, smoke grenades, et cetera. These grenade launchers are not the grenade launchers which belong to the hard-kill active protection system (APS), however. Las Navas de Oporto manufactures a wide variety of grenades for the 76mm system which are available on the market, with the tank (see the Lince write-up for specific information on different grenade types). A number of grenades are sent with the remote weapon station. The gun systems and grenade launchers are linked through the ‘Firing Frenzy’ (FF) fire and control system (FCS) provided by a Juumanistran defense company. This fire control system is relatively cheap and is similar to that mounted on the Juumanistran Kyton main battle tank (a $24 million+ per unit tank), except for the battle management system. The Lynx’s battle management system is left empty to allow clients to incorporate their nation’s specific hardware. It’s important to consider that ‘Firing Frenzy’, although cheap, is one of the most advanced fire and control systems available in today’s market – it is effectively on par with the Lince’s FCS. Unlike the Lince’s FCS, however, all electronics and sensors are manufactured by Juumanistran defense companies. Regardless, with ‘Firing Frenzy’ the CB.70 has a very high accuracy at long ranges, including ranges beyond 3,500 meters. For desert-like, or very flat, terrain such high-range fire and control systems are perfect, but for nations with much more ‘rolling’ terrain simpler and cheaper range finders might be better appreciated – a coincidence range finder, for example, has the same probability of accuracy as a YAG laser range finder at under 500m.

Protection
The Lynx, despite its weight, achieves a very high level of protection by maximizing depth of armor. Although not as efficient as the Lince, the Lynx still achieves amazing protection coverage. This is augmented by the types of armor used, and their relatively low-cost. ‘Special armor’ is oriented along the turret mantle, turret front plates, glacis plate and the front third of the tank’s side. This is special armor is a ceramic-based non-explosive reactive armor, reinforced by depleted uranium. The armor is arranged in modules which can be applied and unapplied from the tank quickly and easily. The metallic encasement is built from titanium, and this is followed by a spacing layer of polyurethane with depleted uranium nuggets embedded in the elastic medium. The depleted uranium is meant to induce yaw on the long-rod penetrator or shaped charge, and can be considered a non-explosive reactive armor. When the titanium front plane is struck, the polyurethane will compress and consequently react to the beginning of penetration. Although there is no flier plate to intervene in the penetration, the individual depleted uranium nuggets complete this job. Thereafter, there is a thick layer of boron carbide that provides the principle stopping armor of this specific module. The integrity of the boron carbide ‘brick’ is held together by a thick backing layer of titanium, and this backing layer is followed by three thin layers of very-hard steel (VHS) spaced by S-2 glass, forming a type of bulging armor. This bulging armor is similar to the bulging armor used on the Centauro armored personnel carrier. This armor is designed to be extremely mass efficient and provides varying degrees of protection, depending on the thickness of the module (which depends on which surface of the tank it will be mounted on). For example, the modules mounted near the mantle are about 470mm thick and provide an RHA equivalent of around 1,300mm worth of protection against kinetic energy threats.

Apart from the passive armor, the Lynx makes heavy use of heavy explosive reactive armor. These modules are distributed amongst to layers – one before the passive modules, and one after. The first layer, directly after the steel structure of the chassis and turret, has a limited reaction and is much lighter than the top layer. It incorporates two flier plates, including one heavily inclined, and a thick back plate with a limited back-moving velocity (to decrease the impact stress on the structure of the vehicle) and is constructed out of titanium. This particular explosive reactive armor provides approximately 280mm against long-rod penetrators and 500mm against shaped charges. It is also only one-time use armor, although the top layer is considered multi-hit capable. The top layer of explosive reactive armor is similar to the bottom layer, but has a thicker back plate and three flier plates, as well as two additional titanium plates spaced by S-2 glass, forming more bulging armor. The flier plates are divided by this thin volume of bulging armor, giving this heavy explosive armor multi-hit capability. The top ERA is by far more efficient than the bottom layer, and has a more violent reaction, and so is attributed 400mm against long-rod penetrators and 650mm against shaped charges. It should be noted that the danger against dismounted infantry is non-existent – the reaction of the flier plates only encompasses a range measured in micrometers, and the entire reaction takes place in a number of microseconds. That said, explosive reactive armor is lightweight and highly efficient vehicle armor – the explosive reactive armor offers almost as much protection as the passive module, but at a much lighter weight! ERA is also very cheap to manufacture.

The rest of the side armor is protected with heavy explosive reactive armor, but not by the more expensive special passive armor. The side turret and vehicle rear is rated against 15mm armor piercing projectiles, and this is composed by titanium and triple hardness steel plates. Sistemas Terrestres Segovia provides modules of lightweight special armor to protect against rocket propelled grenades and anti-tank missiles, but this is not sold standard with the Lynx due to the cost considerations. Instead, the Lynx includes a high efficiency, and cheap, active protection system. Using the same phased array radar as the Lince, the Lynx can detect high velocity threats and defeat them by using high explosive grenades. Unlike the Lince’s system, these grenades rely on the shockwave produced by the explosive to defeat the shaped charge or kinetic energy threat and have little collateral damage. The active protection system, nicknamed Martillo, has 360º coverage around the tank and can protect against top-attack missiles and munitions. Active protection systems help gain full coverage against anti-tank threats without the costs and weights of additional passive armor – although the Martillo costs around $250,000 per unit, passive armor to protect against the same threats can cost even more! Furthermore, this active protection system can be interchanged by one of indigenous design and production, and it’s possible to not include the system on the tank (reducing initial production costs). However, it should be noted that an indigenous active protection system will most likely cost between $300,000 and $400,000.

For additional protection against top-attack munitions, lightweight explosive reactive armor tiles composed of an initiator plate and a single flier plate are arrayed along the roof. These can successfully stop the penetration of an explosively formed penetrator (EFP), although they are not multi-hit capable. Regardless, these bricks can be easily replaced when spares become available. Due to safety considerations, bricks cannot be carried inside the vehicles for replacements. The same lightweight bricks are applied to the bottom of the Lynx’s hull to stop improvised explosive devices, and are reinforced by a multi-layer laminate special armor to absorb and deflect the blast of an anti-tank mine. These armors are lightweight and are designed specifically to stop explosively formed penetrators or shaped charges. The bricks can be disengaged from the hull bottom when IEDs are not a major threat, and re-applied when necessary. The laminate armor, on the other hand, is not modular – however, due to the fact that special composites are used (such as glass and glass-reinforced plastics) and not steel, the armor is lightweight. Nevertheless, such extra protection is imperative against modern top-attack threats and cheap improvised explosive devices used in asymmetrical warfare. Furthermore modification packages will be made available for urban warfare, when necessary. Ad hoc protection like slat armor can also easily be applied to the hull and turret of the Lynx main battle tank, substantially increasing all-around protection against man portable shaped charge warheads at a low cost. Given the ability to always improve the armor, the Lynx offers a very high level of protection for a corresponding low-weight.

Mobility
Sistemas Terrestres Segovia has incorporated the Lince’s low-volume Turboas 1,400 horsepower advanced gas turbine. At .73m3 it saves weight and volume, making possible the increase of chassis volume available for additional ammunition or for dismounts during urban operations. Furthermore, unlike older gas turbines, Turboas’ series 600 gas turbine is as fuel efficient as any modern diesel engine due to its advanced recuperator and high operating temperature. Coupled with an electric generator, a pulsed power supply (PPS) for the main gun and an under armor auxiliary power unit (UAAPU) the vehicle becomes very fuel efficient, and can operate even when the engine is turned off. This means that a tank can turn off the engine to reduce noise and signatures, to ambush the enemy, and still operate the fire and control system (FCS), the main gun and the autoloader! At 1,400 horsepower the Lynx has a fantastic power to weight ratio of 28:1, which although not as good as the Lince’s is still high compared other main battle tanks of the same class. Due to the low volume of the engine, radical increases in horsepower will be available for little gain in weight and size. Nevertheless, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia decided not to increase the weight of the power pack to keep the weight of the tank down, and to make the power pack exactly the same as the Lince’s. Future increases in power may be available without increasing engine size or volume, but it would require emerging technologies in the gas turbine sector.

The power pack is complimented by Industria Mecánica Real’s IMR-8020-30, an improved version over the IMR-8020-20 originally slated to be used on the Lince. This new mechanical transmission transfers 82% of the engine’s power to the sprocket. The IMR-8020-30 is a hydrokinetic planetary gear shift transmission, with twelve forward speeds and six rearwards speeds. These eighteen speeds are divided into the groups – two forward and one back. The transmission is automatic, easing driving and decreasing driver training costs. Nevertheless, the IMR-8020-30 is considerably heavier than Balzán’s 800T-96A electric transmission which is used by the Lince. On the other hand, the IMR-8020 is far more efficient than its electric brethren, and is still a more conventional technology. Some weight is saved by exchanging steel parts with lighter metals, such as titanium, and many other parts are made out of aluminum or plastic, but a large portion of the transmission has to be able to stand up to the rigors of the torque of the engine. Fortunately, paired with the lightweight gas turbine the entire power pack is relatively more lightweight than it is on a conventional tank, with a conventional diesel engine. For example, the Nakíl’s power pack makes up about 20% of its weight, while the Lynx’s power pack takes up considerably less weight. Ultimately, this helps achieve the goal of the Lynx to still remain relatively lightweight – even if uncompetitive with the Lince – when taking into consideration its more conventional dimensions. Just as important, the IMR-8020-30 is far cheaper than the 800T-96A electrical transmission.

With the goal of making the Lynx more affordable, the Lynx incorporates a new and improved torsion-bar suspension, and not the high-cost active hydropneumatic suspension of the Lince. The torsion-bar suspension system is made out of steel and titanium – the latter replaces steel where it can to save weight, although for the sake of the integrity of the suspension most is still made out of steel. The new suspension is made to withstand the rigors of high-speed, off-road travel and is matted with a bump and rebound vertical deflection range of 550mm. Thanks to the union of these two characteristics the Lynx can achieve a maximum off-road velocity of 60 kilometers per hour, which is high compared to the 40 kilometers per hour of most sixty ton, and higher, main battle tanks. Originally, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia had opted to incorporate Jeuna’s active torsion-bar suspension, which was devised for the nation’s Type 90 main battle tank, but system was ultimately discarded due to cost considerations, the bulk and weight of the system as well as the undue mechanical complexities of uniting a torsion-bar suspension with a hydraulic suspension. In the end it was a choice between the torsion-bar and the hydropneumatic suspension, and the former was chosen due to low-cost and simpler mechanics. Furthermore, with the adoption of a conventional turret with a higher profile capable of allowing the main gun to depress to -8º, the tank does not need an active suspension to change the height between the ground and the hull.

Finally, the Lynx uses the same Type 640 lightweight tracks which are used on the Lince. In regards to battlefield mobility, the short chassis relative to the width still retains a low l:c ratio between the length of the track on the ground and the width between the centerlines of each track. Although not as low as the Lince’s, the Lynx still retains a very high level of agility compared to other tanks of comparable weight. In regards to strategic mobility, the Lynx retains the same ability to travel large distances at mediocre velocity, and although heavier, the increased dimensions of the tank keep the ground pressure low enough to retain the ability to traverse most soft soil types. As a consequence, the Lynx remains highly mobile in all three respects and only loses to the Lince in battlefield mobility due to the increased weight of the tank. On the other hand, it should be noted that the Lynx’s ground pressure is more acceptable than the Lince’s.

Conclusions
Apart from what has already been outlined, the vehicle can hold a fireteam, including the squad leader – up to five men. These can enter and leave through the rear door, which is electrically operated. The driver can leave either through the rear door or through the electrically-opened driver’s hatch on the glacis plate. A hatch on the turret roof corresponds to the driver, and the gunner can escape through the rear door, along with the dismounts. Hatches on the hull bottom cannot be provided in order to maximize protection against improvised explosive devices and anti-tank mines. Besides ample options for escape, the crew also has at their disposal a coffee maker in the turret basket, which the gunner can distribute amongst the crew, and a small refrigerator to store cold water. For the sake of commodity, the ‘mine resistant’ suspended crew seats are also designed for comfort, and the tank can change the internal ambient temperature through an air conditioning system. This air conditioning system also serves to filter out harmful molecules from the fighting compartment of the turret and turret basket. That said, the Lynx is a very comfortable tank to serve in and the crew panels and computer screens are all designed to elevate the tank’s aesthetic value.

In the majority of what not has been specifically mentioned, the Lynx and the Lince are the same. Both have independent thermal cameras for both the tank gunner and the tank commander, both have a dedicated intra-tank text-based communication system with a bolted down keyboard. The Lince’s battle management system, as suggested before, is designed specifically for the Castillian Army, while the Lynx’s BMS is open to further codification for the specific army it will enter service with. On the other hand, it is true that the Lynx has a larger turret, with a much larger visible surface area. This can be somewhat alleviated through the adoption of camouflage netting, like the Jungla netting designed for the Lince in the Castillian Army. However, in general the Lynx is of similar technological level as the Lince, and definitely on par with the Nakíl and other main battle tanks of the sixty ton class that are sold throughout the world.

Specifications
Manufacturer: Sistemas Terrestres Segovia
Country of Origin: The Kingdom of Castilla y Belmonte
Crew: 3

Dimensions –
Length (Hull): 7.1m
Length (with Gun): 9.3m
Length (Contact with Ground): 4.9m
Width (Hull): 3.65m
Width (Tracks): 3.45m
L/C ratio: 1.38:1
Height (to turret roof): 2.26m
Vertical Deflection Range: 510mm
Weight: 50,790kg

Main Armament –
Gun: CB.70 120mm L/55 liquid propellant electrothermal-chemical (LPETC) gun
Length: 6.6m
Extended Recoil Length: 550m
Muzzle Break: Single-chamber muzzle break (70% efficiency)
Recoil Force: 24 tons
Muzzle Energy: 24MJ
Angle of Fire: -7º - 35º
Traverse: 360º
Range (at 0º): 6,000m
Rate of Fire: 3-4 second burst fire; steady rate of 12rpm
Ammunition: 40 rounds in turret bustle
Co-axial Armament –
Gun: Calzado y Bayo G379 25mm CTA autocannon
Grooves: 15
Angle of Fire: -20º to 60º
Rate of Fire: 215rpm
Range: 1.4km
Ammunition: 300 rounds

Other Armament: DDI MMG 12.7mm heavy machine gun
Grenades: 12
Fire Control System: Frenzy Fire
Engine: TA series 600 gas turbine
Engine Volume: .73m3
Horsepower: 1,400
Power to Weight Ratio: 28:1 hp/t
Transmission: Industria Mecánica Real IMR-8020-30 hydrokinetic transmission
Power to Sprocket: 1,162hp
Efficiency: 83%
Suspension: Torsion Bar
Tracks: MecániCas Type 640
NBC: One filter. Air conditioning system. Sealed.
Fire Protection: Two fire extinguishers.
Maximum Velocity (on-road): 80km/h+
Maximum Velocity (off-road): 60km/h
Range: 550km
Slope: 65º
Vertical Obstacle: 1.4m
Wading Capability: 1.5m
Amphibious capability with preparation: 4.5m
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cost: $8.5 million

Castilla y Belmonte

21-01-2008, 18:01

Carro de Combate Lince

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/Macabees/Tanks/Lince.png

Lince, a Spanish word, translates into Lynx and this gives name to the Kingdom of Castilla y Belmonte’s new main battle tank. The Lince, or Lynx, is the union of several state-of-the-art technologies and advanced design concepts in order to perfect the main battle tank. Its cost per unit (PPU) is testament to the amount of technological work put into this very special machine. The Lince will give the kingdom a next-generation armament and will bring the kingdom’s military to parity with its neighbors, or perhaps even superiority. She will join the ranks of MAD.IICBs and JBT.24Cs in Castilla’s armor corps. The Lince is not just an improved tank, it’s a revolutionary design which inches away from the ‘constructor’s triangle’ and instead focuses on perfecting all aspects of tank design, as well as using one aspect to improve another. In that sense, the Lince’s design theory resembles that of the immortal Nakíl main battle tank. However, to completely understand the development of the Lince we must look into the history of Castilla’s armor units.

A short history of Castillian armor
The birth of the Castillian ‘Jarama’ armor division: 1896-1920
In the late 19th century the Kingdom of Castilla found itself facing a growing number of insurrections in the northern territories. The insurrections were based on century’s worth of ethnic conflict, government oppression and widespread poverty and were mostly centered in the provinces of Belmonte, Cuenca, and Alicante. In 1891 a general of Belmontese ethnicity rebelled against the Castillian government, using the wide array of armored cars at his disposal that we commanded. Despite the fact that a large portion of his army remained loyal to Cuidad Real and deserted, he was able to recruit large numbers of soldiers from the local population. Royal campaigns by Jaime IV in 1892 and 1893 failed to defeat the rebellion, and by the end of the latter year there were serious rumors about the final fracture of the kingdom. It was then that the king’s greatest military strategist suggested the use of heavy armored cars to defeat those in use by the Belmontese rebels. Therefore, in 1894 the Companía de Carros Blindados was created, incorporating mostly hastily armored tractors and trucks. These improvised armored fighting vehicles were armed mostly with 7mm Castillano-Delgado machine guns and even light mortars. Despite their crude making, the armor company succeeded in defeating Belmontese armored cars and in mid-1895 the rebellion was finally crushed after almost four years of conflict.

Given the unprecedented success of these armored cars Jaime IV ordered the design and construction of more advanced models to fulfill the requirements for a future armor division. As early as late 1895 the Royal Institute of Ground Warfare began the production of the RG-13 armored car. The RG-13 featured protection against existing semi-automatic rifles of the time and light machine gun ammunition, and was armed with a 7mm Castillano-Delgado machine gun. Unfortunately, its wheels were easy targets and the destruction of one of the steel wheels would immobilize the vehicle. Nevertheless, between 1895 and 1897 six hundred RG-13s were produced and in February 1896 they began to serve in the newly created Jarama armor division. In 1897 the RG-13 was followed by three hundred models of the RG-14 – the first tracked armored vehicle to serve in the kingdom’s armed forces. The RG-14 was better protected, although suffered the limited mobility of all wrap-around track designs. The RG-13s began to be deactivated in the first years of the 20th century, and the RG-14 was improved. In 1902 the Royal Institute of Ground Warfare introduced the RG-15 advanced light tank, which featured a 20mm cannon and enough armor to protect against large caliber machine gun bullets. The new tank weighed roughly four metric tons and was powered by a 35 horsepower gasoline engine. Three hundred were produced to completely replace the RG-13 and RG-14 designs.

Due to peace in the kingdom between the end of the Belmontese rebellion and 1910 there were no major innovations in the Castillian armored fleet. In fact, in 1905 the kingdom reduced the Jarama division’s strength from six battalions to four, with two hundred effective tanks. By the end of the first decade of the 20th century, the RG-15 light tank found itself outclassed by foreign designs, and the Castillian Army found it increasingly hard to keep them running. Therefore, in 1908 the Castillian government funded a project to introduce a new ‘medium’ tank to replace the RG-15, and a new light tank to arm a cavalry battalion of the division. The new medium tank was to weight less than fifteen metric tons, while the light tank was not to exceed six tons. In 1909 the Royal Institute of Ground Warfare introduces the first prototypes to the RG-16, a long six ton turreted vehicle – this was the first of its kind in the kingdom. It boasted a superior 20mm Castillano-Delgado machine gun, with much simpler internal mechanics, and armor to protect against new 7mm armor-piercing (AP) ammunition. The design was deemed satisfactory enough to guarantee procurement not only for the Jarama armored division, but to equip each infantry division with a mechanized cavalry company. Between 1910 and 1915 some six hundred RG-16s were produces for the Castillian Army.

Unfortunately, the new medium tank was not successful on the same level. In 1911 Empresa Fabián (EF) introduced into production the Rey Jaime Uno (King James tank – KJ-1). Between 1911 and 1914 a total of three hundred vehicles were produced for Castilla. However, the majority of these vehicles saw an upgrade kit to fix problems with a faulty transmission, poor reliability with the chains and roadwheels and an engine which frequently overheated. As a consequence, in 1916 the same company introduced the KJ-2 which had these problems resolved, as well as introduces an improved 50mm high-pressure tank gun. The KJ-2 weighed sixteen thousand kilograms, but was deemed satisfactory to replace the problematic KJ-1 – the replacements were produces between 1916 and 1918. The KJ-2 served well into the 1920s.

Regardless of the long periods of lack of development, the Kingdom of Castilla was the first to introduce many important concepts into the region (in regards to tank design). This included the use of high velocity guns and the concept of the fully rotating turret. For the kingdom indigenous tank technology would truly take-off in the mid-20s starting with the War of Succession (1924-1932). Nevertheless, the first twenty years of the 20th century provided an important foundation for the kingdom’s mechanization.

Development of a national industry: 1921-1966
The first ‘modern’ medium tank for Castilla began production in 1924, a few months before the beginning of the bloody, long and unfortunate War of Succession. In 1922 EF began development of the next-generation medium tank, to weigh twenty tons. The KJ-2 was destined to replace the RG-16 as the nation’s principle cavalry vehicle, and they would be converted into artillery pullers. The KJ-3 was the first tank which replaced the traditional wrap-around track design with a distinguished chassis and relatively low-profile turret. The turret now held three of the five crew members and was armed with a longer and more powerful 50mm high-pressure rifled tank gun. The K J-3 boasted a 60 horsepower gasoline engine which allowed it a maximum velocity of 19km/h. More important, the KJ-3 was the nation’s first tank to field enough frontal protection to defeat its own projectiles, and for a while was called the ‘the battle tank’. Production began in 1924 and was augmented with the beginning of the War of Succession in September of that year. It finished production for the Jarama division in early 1925, and then began a second batch of vehicles for the newborn Brunete armor division. The next year a third armor division was founded (the Ebro) and in 1927 Empresa Fabián finished production of a total of one thousand vehicles for the kingdom’s army, and by the end of the decade produces well over five hundred more as replacements.

Jaime IV’s successor (who was fighting for his crown against several usurpers and part of the military), Santiago de la Rama ‘Cabeza Mesada’ (nicknamed for his various orders to behead enemy prisoners of war), also pushed for the introduction of a new light tank to outfit three new tank companies in the Castillian Armada. The RG-25 as introduced in 1925 and sixty were ordered to outfit these tank companies. In 1926 they saw their first actions during the amphibious landings at Alhucemas. These tanks were not amphibious, and were placed ashore by special landing craft. They were armed with a high-velocity 50mm gun and weighed twelve tons, with enough overall protection to defeat 10mm armor piercing ammunition. The design was fully turreted, and featured the new track propulsion system. What became known as the Tercio Blindado de la Armada (TEAR) would become infamous throughout the region for its various amphibious landings all over the coastline of the kingdom, against ‘rebel forces’. They also became infamous for their willingness to die in battle for their king and the Tercio was soon integrated into the Legión Naval (Naval Legion) whose motto was, ‘¡Viva la muerte! (Long live death!). Santiago’s armored fleet soon became the spearhead of the ‘Loyalist Army’.

The War of Succession proved to be a catalyst for armor design. The forces of General Arturo Mendieta, who claimed the thrown as his, captured the industrial zones of Alicante in 1927 and started production of a copy of the KJ-3. This was called the Carro de Combate Záncara (Záncara battle tank) and featured a high-velocity 70mm gun, and armor to protect against 50mm armor piercing ballistically capped (APBC) ammunition. Weighing twenty-five tons, it suffered from poor engine design and faulty tracks. Nevertheless, the introduction of this tank to the field proved to be a shock for Jaime’s successors. In fact, the Záncara was the first tank in the kingdom to take full advantage of sloping in the front 60 º arc. The sloping proved to be so efficient that in 1930 Empresa Fabián introduced the final tank of the KJ line, copying the armor concept of the Záncara – the KJ-1930.

The KJ-1930’s design proved to be very modern for its time. It boasted of a brand-new 210 horsepower gasoline engine (a very high amount of power for the technology available in the kingdom, at the time) positioned in the front of the tank to increase protection of the driver. The tank commander (who doubled as the gunner) was positioned in the turret, along with the loader. This turret was extremely low-profile, although it fitted an improved model of the KJ-3’s 50mm high-velocity tank gun. However, this gun had a freedom of movement between -5º and 70º which provided value against low-flying aircraft. The co-axial 7mm machine gun had an elevation of 80º and a depression of -8º. The most important design improvements were the tracks – the double roadwheel tracks of the KJ-3 were improved with a single roadwheel per side. However, said roadwheel now found itself held tight in a groove between the outsides of the track. This aided in reducing the chances of the track falling off, which had been a problem in earlier designs. The new torsion-bar suspension was also a radical improvement in the kingdom’s armor, and provided superior cross-country ability – 30kph! In terms of armor, the new tank featured armor protection against all enemy armor piercing ammunition in the front 90º arc, which weighed around 7,000kg alone! The rest of the vehicle was protected against 20mm armor piercing ammunition, adding another 3,000kg of weight. The KJ-1930 was so efficient that it remained in service until 1968, alongside much more powerful vehicles. Some one hundred remained in service in 1967 in a number of infantry divisions as converted infantry carriers, and the rest were either scrapped or turned into 75mm self-propelled light artillery vehicles and other surrogates.

All sides introduced small quantities of innovative light tanks, armored trucks and armored tractors. These were normally protected against small-arms with cheap steel found anywhere where it could be found, and were armed with machine guns of all calibers. Some light tanks were even armed with 36mm anti-tank artillery cannons found in the field. These were reworked to be mounted on ad hoc light tank chassis and to be loaded by a human loader from within the chassis, or a turret if the tank had one. It’s estimated that there were around four thousand locally built armored vehicles of all types during the war – around half of these were lost due to enemy fire, a fourth due to maintenance and reliability issues and the rest survived the war. The war was also the kingdom’s first major war to see the use of anti-armor mines and there were at least eleven thousand trucks produced in all sides which were mine-protected. The War of Succession saw the birth of the successful company MecániCas, which today produces some of the most advanced armored trucks in the world.

Besides the beginning of a successful line of tanks, armored cars and trucks, and the development of new ideas, the War of Succession also allowed the development of the kingdom’s industry to a level never beforehand seen. By 1933 most of the country now had industry of some sort, given the fact that each faction had funded the construction of their own armaments industry. Over two-thirds of this industry was soon converted for civilian use, and opened to the public market. Unfortunately for Castilla, the majority of the industry opened was gobbled up by the wealthy business men of Juumanistra and Mekugi. The fact that most of the investment soon was to come from the outside, and the profit was to leave to go to the outside, didn’t help the economic situation of the kingdom. Any potential door to create a new Castillian market was closed by the end of the decade, and the poverty in the kingdom was soon exacerbated by the costs of the war and the rebuilding period thereafter. In fact, King Santiago II was forced to ask the Church to recollect money to rebuild local towns, villages and even cities and the coffers of the monarchy were almost depleted during the process of reconstruction of the capital city of Cuidad Real. Due to the lack of money tank development slowed down and several projects were shelved by Empresa Fabián. In 1942 EF declared bankruptcy and sold its factories to a foreign radio manufacturer.

In 1945 Sistemas Aranjuez opened and became the crown’s principle armaments provider until the late-1960s. It introduced a number of modernization packets for the KJ-3s in the kingdom’s cavalry and amphibious units which upgraded engine power and introduced electric energy for turret traverse. In 1956 Sistemas Aranjuez presented Santiago III (the son of the by then deceased Santiago II) two prototypes to what they called the Carro de Combate Verdeja. The Verdeja offered a powerful 85mm high-velocity gun, firing two new types of ammunition – high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) and armor piercing discarding sabots (APDS). The former could penetrate almost 200mm of steel, and the latter about 150mm of steel. The highly sloped armor, in the front, measured 50mm on the glacis plate and 205mm on the turret front plate. The Verdeja’s 750hp diesel engine, coupled with the rubber-tyred steel tracks and the steel torsion-bar suspension allowed for a maximum on-road velocity of 65km/h and an off-road velocity of 40km/h. However, Sistemas Aranjuez could not count on a modern transmission and borrowed the transmission of the KJ-1930, modernized it to handle the new engine. The transmission suffered from break-downs if the crew turned too sharply and so minimized the battlefield mobility of the Verdeja. Furthermore, the tank weighed forty-two metric tons, which was quite heavier than previous tank designs. Nevertheless, the king agreed to procure enough to outfit the five battalions left of the Jarama division – two hundred and fifty tanks. Furthermore, in exchange for a further order of fifty more tanks, the company agreed to buy the three hundred KJ-1930s of the Ebro armor division and the three hundred of the Brunete armor division. These were turned into armor personnel carriers between the next three years, and were actually sold back to Castilla in this form for more money. The three hundred KJ-1930s of the Jarama armor division were turned into bridging vehicles, recovery vehicles, artillery vehicles and around thirty were turned into museum pieces. One hundred remained in service with within four infantry divisions in four newly created armor companies, and these were later integrated into mechanized battalions when the same four infantry divisions were completely mechanized and reorganized in 1964.

Not until 1963 was a new tank introduced after that. Sistemas Aranjuez offered the kingdom, which had by then rebuilt what had been damaged during the War of Succession, the Carro de Combate Trubia. The Trubia weighed a good sixty tons and was armed by a new smoothbore 120mm L/45 tank gun. It was the heaviest armored vehicle ever to have reached prototype stage in the kingdom, and it was accepted by the elderly Santiago III. Thirty were purchased to outfit a heavy tank battalion of the Jarama armor division. These tanks suffered from a poor transmission, a poor power to weight ratio (a 900hp diesel engine) and not enough survivability to justify their cost or use. Nevertheless, the Trubia was procured and would serve for the first two years of the Castillian Civil War (1967-1973).

Armor of the Castillian Civil War: 1967-1973
In 1967 the royal province of Belmonte, along with the provinces of Cuenca, Alicante, Huelva and Ogroño seceded from the kingdom and declared themselves a sovereign nation. These formed into the Republic of United Autonomous Communities (RUAC or just the UAC). This action caused the beginning of the Castillian Civil War, which would result in over four million dead and billions of pesetas lost. The Kingdom of Castilla started this war with two hundred and fifty Verdeja medium tanks, thirty Trubia heavy tanks, one hundred KJ-1930s, and sixty KJ-3s in service with TEAR. These four hundred and twenty tanks proved to be quite an advantage over the militia army of RUAC and early rebel attempts to seize Cuidad Real (capital of the kingdom) in September 1967 were easily stopped. In fact, between September 1967 and December of that same year most believed that the rebellion was to end by the month of the following year. Unfortunately, nations with economic stakes involved soon began to pour war material into both sides.

In January 1968 the Questerian Empire began a steady flow of MBT-8/E medium tanks to RUAC forces. By next year RUAC would have no less than two thousand of these tanks in service, and over the years of war a total of twelve thousand MBT-8/Es were provided to RUAC. About half of these were lost in combat, while some three thousand were captured by royal forces and returned to service in the Castillian Army. Many of the rest were either scavenged for spare parts or remained intact until the end of the war. The MBT-8/E was a very good tank for its era, boasting of an enhanced level of lethality as compared to existing Castilian tanks, as well as high protection and mobility. At thirty-eight metric tons of weight the MBT-8 had a 125mm high-velocity tank gun, matched with a new laser rangefinder, and only was crewed by three due to the adoption of an advanced autoloader. The turret was fitted with an advanced type of composite armor, made up of steel encased quartz ceramic plates along with several layers of glass fiber. The MBT-8/E’s turret and glacis, which was sloped at a maximum of 68º, were impervious to all HEAT ammunition used by then current Castillian forces in January 1968, as well as all APFSDS. Unfortunately, the 750hp diesel engine suffered from reliability problems and had trouble starting in the Castillian winter. These problems were later resolved in later variants, although none of these variants saw combat during the Castillian Civil War (only MBT-8/Es). One of the major disadvantages of the tank was the low-survivability of the placement of ammunition and propellant under the turret ring, which frequently resulted in the loss of the entire tank through the combustion of the propellant and the popping of the turret due to the resulting explosion! After the war, Castilla modified the one thousand five hundred tanks of this type to be logistically homologous to the MAD.II medium tank and introduced a new autoloader, with similar mechanics, that showcased fireproof ammunition compartments at the expense of a slightly smaller ammunition load – thirty-three rounds.

In mid-1968, due to the Questerian influence over RUAC, Doomingsland and Juumanistra began to provide armaments in massive amounts to the Castillian Armed Forces. Over the period of the civil war Doomingsland provided eleven thousand MAD.II medium tanks! The MAD.II boasts of an effective 105mm main gun and a modern 800 horsepower diesel engine – which also had reliability issues. It, however, weighs six tons more and has inferior firepower as compared to the MBT-8/E due to the smaller caliber gun and the lack of a modern rangefinder. In terms of protection, the two are more or less similar. Despite its number of disadvantages to the Questerian tanks, the MAD.II was far more modern than the kingdom’s Verdeja tank and the KJ-1930s. The MAD.II continues to serve with the Castillian Army to this day in reserve units!

Juumanistra provided roughly seven thousand JBT.14A3 Sentinel medium tanks. The JBT.14 provided the most advanced medium tank Castilla would use until the mid-80s. The JBT.14 has superior armor protection to both the MBT-8/E and the MAD.II, and is armed with an advanced 120mm L/44 high-velocity tank gun. The 900hp diesel engine provides a horsepower to ton ratio of almost 17:1, and it carries about three more rounds in its bustle autoloader. Furthermore, this autoloader isn’t as lethal to the crew as the MBT-8’s, as the bustle features turret roof blow-off panels incase of an ammunition cook-off. The Sentinel also uses a laser rangefinder, like the Questerian MBT-8/E. About six thousand Sentinels still serve with the Castillian Army, although two thousand were purchased in the mid-70s and are of the A4 variant.

The large influx of tanks managed to persuade the government to convert Sistemas Aranjuez into a spare parts producer for these new tanks. Over the years of the civil war Sistemas Aranjuez converted the small arms to the kingdom’s preferred calibers to ease logistics, although the project didn’t finalize until well after the end of the civil war – there were just too many tanks to convert! Nevertheless, no indigenous tank design was ever produced in the kingdom until the advent of the Lince. Although some indigenous tank designs are still in service in ridiculously low numbers – the Verdeja has the highest amount of tanks in service, with around two thousand (most were produced during the civil war, until the conversion of the factories) – they do no form an important part of the armor corps. Sistemas Aranjuez closed in 1985 and since then the required spare parts for the various tanks in service have been supplied by Juumanistran, Doomani or Mekugian providers. Questers no longer produces parts for its MBT-8/Es, and so these will be retired from service with the introduction of the Lince. The JBT.14 will take its place in reserve units, or will be scrapped, and the MAD.II will be either modernized and sold or will be scrapped. The Lince will form the sole main battle tank for the country’s active service armor brigades.

After the end of the civil war, and the reintegration of RUAC into the kingdom, the Castillian Army operated a fleet of a total of 15,500 medium tanks. With no heavy tank in service these were all redesignated main battle tanks in 1975. In 1984 Castilla opted to introduce a new tank into service to replace the MBT-8/E. No indigenous design was introduced, as by then Sistemas Aranjuez was bankrupt, and the kingdom procured two thousand JBT.24 main battle tanks. These were powered by a 1,500hp diesel engine and were much more heavily armored than the JBT.14. They also boasted of a longer 120mm gun (52 calibers long) and a modern fire control system. Unfortunately, they were not exactly what the kingdom wanted given the weight increment, increased cost and complexity and the continued reliance on foreign armament industries. Nevertheless, Castilla could hardly afford a better tank and had no indigenous options to choose from. These two thousand tanks served until 1996, and since then have been used as targets. They were too expensive to upkeep, along with the rest of the Castillian fleet, and did not have enough numbers to justify their use. Although superior to any tank in service, at the time, there were too few to be worth anything in regards to strategic value.

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A bunker built from a MAD.II turret in a Castillian border city, near Franberry.

The economic miracle which happened between 1987 and 1996 hardly helped the JBT.24’s case, but it allowed the kingdom to open itself to a new tank tender to look for a replacement for all their tanks. King Alfonso VI placed the date of the tender at the year 2000 and invited all tank producers to show-off their latest designs. The result was not what was expected, however.

Programa Coraza 2000: 1996-2006
In 1986 the country went through a dramatic transformation. Since the end of the civil war the monarchy had lost most of its power to the military, and for roughly thirteen years the Kingdom of Castilla was a kingdom just in name. King Arturo III died in 1984 of ‘natural causes’ – although many believe he was assassinated – leaving his twenty-six year old son on the throne. The new king, Alfonso VI, quickly reinstated the monarchy as the leading power in the kingdom by reducing the size of the army from thirty divisions to three corps, composed of three brigades each. The new army had no more than 120,000 men, and by 2000 the Army could only count on 80,000 active personnel (the reserves had been largely untouched). Most of the military leadership was fired, or forced to retire, and a new age of younger personnel appointed to command. Despite the loss of good commanders, the king guaranteed military loyalty. Fortunately for the nation, King Alfonso VI had a good understanding of the poverty the kingdom had been in for over five hundred years and introduced a series of reforms which would produce the ‘economic miracle’ of the late 80s and early 90s. Agreements with Juumanistra and Mekugi in terms of trade and investment also allowed for a quick and radical increase in the money controlled by state banks, and most of the industry and market was opened to the public. Admittedly, there was a bit of luck in the fact that state corruption had in fact decreased during the years of virtual dictatorship. Furthermore, some sort of peace had been finally established with the Northern provinces with the adoption of a new national name – the Kingdom of Castilla y Belmonte. Nevertheless, the effect was to have a profound impact on the standard of living of the nation, the standards of education and the modernization of the armed forces.

In 1996 Alfonso VI allotted funding to the army which allowed the army to begin Programa Coraza 2000. The program had in mind a number of goals for the future of the mechanized forces. In regards to vehicle procurement, Program Armor called for the development of an indigenous infantry combat vehicle (ICV), a self-propelled howitzer and a new tank to replace the score of MAD.IIs and JBT.14s still in service. Furthermore, the program asked for the development of a number of mine protected wheeled vehicles, including a new high-mobility four by four (4x4), an eight by eight (8x8) wheeled armor personnel carrier – plus, a number of variants – and several mine protected trucks (one of these is the product of a contract signed between the government of Northford and MecániCas). The entire program was worth 5.6 billion pesetas. The only vehicle with a time and fund limit was the Future Castillian Tank (FCT-1), which was to have a prototype ready for the 2000 Castillian Tank Tender. The six by six (6x6) armored truck development team was canceled in 2004 and MecániCas later continued the program privately with guaranteed procurement by the Castillian and Northfordian governments.

Apart from the modernization of the army’s equipment, the program also looked forward to the expansion of the Army from nine to twelve brigades, and the elimination of the corps system. Instead, these twelve brigades were to be completely independent. The Jarama armor brigade would be joined by the Ebro armor brigade and the Brunete armor brigade, and all three would be equipped with a future tank. The Jarama armor brigade was planned to replace all six hundred JBT.14s with three hundred of whatever tank was procured in 2000. The rest of the armor in active service, whether within TEAR or the infantry brigades, was to be scrapped as it was replaced methodically by the future infantry combat vehicle. The MBT-8Cs (for Castilla) in reserves were to be scrapped and replaced by JBT.14s – purchasing a new tank for them was deemed to expensive at the time. Therefore, the future army organization would include eight mechanized infantry brigades of about eight thousand men a piece, a single airborne brigade and three armor brigades of about five thousand men each. The future army would have a total amount of 110,000 men in active service – including three separate engineering companies, and a number of logistics teams. The army’s requeté (special forces brigade) would be modernized in a private modernization program, and the brigade would be expanded from two thousand to four thousand men.

Some nine hundred MBT-8/E turrets will be installed along the Franberrian border and modernized with an advanced fire control system to increase automation. These will be joined by about two thousand MAD.II turret, if an export modernization is not developed, to create an expansive and powerful deterrent to war. Although the Franberrian government has been close to the Castillian monarchy since the fall of the dictatorship in 1986, new foreign policies are alienating the Juumanistran and Mekugian governments and a war can’t be ruled out (even if unlikely). The installation of autonomous, or even semi-autonomous, fortified bunkers based on old tank turrets armed with 105mm and 125mm guns will be a somewhat effective way of guaranteeing an early warning of military operations in the area and will provide a limited defense. In the future, the guns may be exchanged for larger and more powerful 122mm tank guns based on that of the BSI-122 and the Tigre armored gun system (AGS). A similar coastal defense program will use old ship turrets with large-caliber naval cannons to reinforce those already in place (there are currently four 38.1cm coastal defense batteries per major naval port installed).

Programa Coraza 2000 represented, and still represents, an ambitious modernization program. It’s the most expensive project realized by the army to date. Today, over half the project still needs to be completed, although much of it has been completed by the Lince and the vehicles based on the Lince’s chassis; the program is planned to be finalized within the next three years, and for the most part the procurement stage is over. However, Program Armor is just a small part of a wide modernization of the entire armed forces. The Armada has already announced the procurement of six Triumph class aircraft carriers from the Questerian armaments firm Beaufort Naval Industries. Four more will be constructed in Castillian shipyards. Juumanistra is also providing between five hundred and seven hundred naval aircraft for the carrier expansion, and will probably see more orders. The Ejército del Aire still has not begun its procurement stage, although it will most likely begin purchasing foreign designs this year. Tecnivuelo is providing the air force with a new trainer aircraft and a close air support fighter. However, indigenous aircraft companies currently lack of the industry and money to design and produce an indigenous fighter aircraft. In the big picture, this modernization will propel the Castillian Armed Forces from a backwater third-world nation military to one of the most modern defense forces in the world. Ideally, within a number of years the military will grow into a true power projection force.

Programa Lince: Putting the Lince into production
The tank program was awarded to Sistemas Terrestres Segovia (STS), with the presentation date places as the year 2000. Between June 6 and 9 of that year the army held an international tank tender. The tank tender attracted only regional manufacturers. For instance, Juumanistra offered its JBT.35 Minotaur main battle tank, with the monster size 140mm L/44 tank gun. The original 1,800hp rotary engine was replaced by a 1,800 compact V-12 diesel and one of the fuel tanks was replaced by a compartment for a future under armor auxiliary power unit (UAAPU). Juumanistra’s Menatsuki Arms also offered the JBT.24C (for Castilla) modernization kit. New appliqué armor was fitted to the turret and glacis plate, and the original 1,800hp diesel of the M3 variant was replaced by a more compact diesel of the same power output. The gained space was allotted to a new fuel tank, although smaller than the one which had been replaced by the UAAPU. The 120mm L/52 tank gun was replaced by a longer L/55, with the option of production indigenous production of the gun. Although the JBT.24C was preferred over the JBT.35, the fact that the kingdom had gotten rid of its JBT.24M2s in 1996 meant that the new version would have to be procured brand-new, and so the cost advantage was nullified. Furthermore, the army was looking for a modern, brand-new design. Mekugi offered the Panther main battle tank, with offered the best balance. Franberry offered a local version of its own tank, named ‘Tigre’ for the tender (only the local name). The Tigre offered an improved 120mm gun, and ultimately the company made an offer to use Juumanistra’s L/55, and improved armor protection. Unfortunately, it lacked the mobility the army was looking for. Furthermore, all offered designs were too heavy.

Although no tank was ready to be presented in 2000, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia offered Alfonso VI and the Ejército de Tierra an advanced tank concept. The defense company promised an unmatched tank which could defeat any tank then on the market – this would include the Nakíl 1A1U and 1A2 when these were available on the market. STS managed to persuade Alfonso VI to end the tank tender and fund a development program for the future tank. STS promised that most of the concepts of the design had already gone through the research stage and only had to be modified for adoption into a single combat system. This combat system, FCT-1, was named ‘Lince’ by the company and in August 2000 the government founded and funded Programa Lince. This new program, part of Programa Coraza 2000, called for the integration of new state-of-the-art technologies into a single combat system. Furthermore, Programa Lince included the development of a self-propelled howitzer and an infantry combat vehicle based on the same chassis. This ambitious program meant that the Lince could not surpass fifty metric tons in weight! However, STS promised a vehicle which would weigh closer to forty tones.

In 2005 STS was allowed to join a technological consortium between several international defense companies from the states of Vault 10, The People’s Freedom and Lyras. A few months later STS left the project, as it failed to offer enough new technologies to STS’ Lince but it surrendered the technologies developed by Castilla’s companies to foreign competitors. Nevertheless, at least two concepts were borrowed from what had been presented during the joint-tank effort and STS currently offers its technologies for use in the future tanks of these three nations. It should be noted that the concept vehicles of Vault 10 and Castilla y Belmonte were from the start very similar, and no nation ‘copied’ each other. The reasoning for the joint-tank program was this very fact.

In total, twenty prototype turrets and the same number of prototype chassis were revealed to the Ejército de Tierra in 2006. Some were armed with high velocity 122mm guns and weighed over the fifty ton limit, and others were armed with 103mm guns. Ultimately, the army chose CCP (carro de combate prototipo) 6, which is described below, for series production.

Castilla y Belmonte

21-01-2008, 18:04

Lethality
Maximizing anti-tank lethality: CB-54 automatic cannon
The future armored threat requires more than an advanced version of a conventional tank gun. In other words, the single shot high-caliber artillery cannon is no longer capable of defeating the heavily protected and highly survivable tanks that are being produced and exported widely on the market. Even the best 120mm APFSDS fail to penetrate more than 2,000mm worth of rolled homogenous armor equivalent (RHAe) – let’s take, for example, the XG.457 (an elusive round only known to be used by two countries, with a solid propellant variation used by a third) which claims to penetrate almost 3,000mm of RHAe; actual penetration should be much closer to 1,800mm. Osmium alloy penetrators should actually penetrate less than their tungsten alloy (WHA) and depleted uranium (DU) counterparts. Even the XG.457 can’t defeat the frontal armor array of a tank boasting of over 2,000mm RHAe (whether not these claims are true are beside the point since the protection of any given tank will undoubtedly still be extremely high). A tank armed with an advanced 120mm tank gun will not be able to defeat an enemy tank with the first shot, except if it hit a weak point. Even a 140mm gun will probably not be able to defeat enemy armor – a 140mm APFSDS is not radically superior to its 120mm counterpart and might only achieve 150-300mm more worth of penetration. Weapons of larger caliber will jeopardize vehicle weight, profile and mobility. Furthermore, weapons of larger caliber will suffer from slower loading speeds.

A tank commander can’t rely on striking a weak spot on an enemy tank to win his battles. Although throughout history tank commanders have had to just that to defeat a superior armor threat the majority of the time these same tank commanders enjoyed superiority in their training and superiority in combined arms and have had unrestricted close air support. No nation can promise their tank commanders and tank crews these advantages in all their wars. Therefore, chances dictate that the tank without a powerful enough gun to defeat the enemy threat at all angles is the tank at the disadvantage. In fact, it might be that the tank with the first shot might be the tank at the disadvantage. If the targeted vehicle isn’t stopped or stunned that vehicle will return fire at a much more favorable angle – if both tanks are moving it’s possible that the tank that just took a hit and survived can now engage the much less armored turret side (which, incidentally, also presents a much larger target).

Originally, Astilleros Santo Domingo (ASD) had been contracted by STS to develop a future tank gun. Much of the work into electrothermal-chemical (ETC) technology has been undertaken by research teams of this very company. In 1998 ASD presented STS a new high-pressure 122mm electrothermal-chemical tank gun. The gun successfully fired two hundred and thirty rounds over a period of fourteen days. The APFSDS fired achieved muzzle energy of 16MJ and a muzzle velocity of 2,100m/s. Unfortunately, the complete gun system (barrel and breech) weighed around 5,400kg which was completely unacceptable for a turret with a planned weight of no more than 15,000kg. The next year ASD had ready a downscaled 103mm high-velocity tank gun in a compact two-man tank turret. Despite this, the gun weighed only 300kg less and the turret weighed over the specified weight limit – minor increments in allowable weights were not an option. By the year 2000 ASD had still not presented a viable armament option, and that same year ASD left Programa Lince. As a consequence, the Lince was left without a main armament.

In 2001 Calzado y Bayo was contracted to provide an advanced tank armament within the specific weight restrictions. Development on a compact electrothermal-chemical tank gun continued between 2001 and 2003, with a new prototype introduced in June of 2003. The new gun was termed the XCB.54 and was deemed perfect for the project. The XCB.54 presented the solution to the Lince’s armament paradox and complied with every restriction. These included a compact breech, with a compact recoil length, a lightweight design and, despite the decreased recoil length, reduced recoil. The gun had to fit in a compact unmanned tank turret with a narrow frontal signature and reduced side lengths. After the retirement of ASD from the development program, STS accepted the design and production of a new turret (which will be explained below). The new turret and the new main armament made a perfect team. In 2004 the XCB.54 was accepted into service – dropping the X from the designation – and ten were ordered in a pre-production procurement to arm the ten Lince prototypes to be presented the following year.

The CB.54’s breech saves roughly 750kg of weight by decreasing the amount of parts, introducing a higher amount of titanium used during construction of the breech and reducing the effective size. In that sense, the CB.54 is a lightweight, compact tank gun (CTG). Furthermore, the recoil mechanism’s recoil cylinders are made of titanium, as are the gun’s trunnions and turret gun mount. The gun tube itself, on the other hand, is constructed of high-quality steel to protect from thermal fatigue and mechanical creep. To accept higher breech-pressures the inner surface area of the tube is coated with chrome and the barrel is somewhat heavy – consequently, the CB.54 gun system uses a higher volume of propellant per shot. Between the gun tube and the breech, the CB.54 weighs only 3,060kg – lighter than most existing guns of a similar caliber and technology. Lethality is achieved through a sixty-one (61) caliber-long 103mm gun tube, achieving a total length of 6,695mm (6.695m). To save accuracy and barrel wear the CB.54 mounts a mass attenuated thermal shroud – unfortunately, mass attenuation compromises gun weight to a certain degree but it’s deemed justified given the lethality of the CB.54. Interestingly enough, this shroud is specifically designed to reduce the tank’s radar signature, as well. It achieves this capability through the construction shape of the shroud – specifically, the sharp angles. In that sense, at first-sight the CB.54 doesn’t look like a standard tank gun as with the shroud applied it isn’t at all round or cylindrical.

The ammunition’s propellant is stored in the turret, unlike in other designs. The solid propellant is exchanged with a hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN) liquid propellant stored in four separate cells around the CB.54s breech (to make the pumping mechanism as short and as simple as possible). Apart from a simple pumping mechanism, storing the propellant in the turret also maximizes its protection from enemy rounds. HAN was chosen as the propellant of choice due to the fact that it’s not toxic, unlike many other liquid propellants, and within respective storage cells HAN is stable (the cells not only provide further armor protection, and are fireproof, but also avoid evaporation of the nitrate and so avoid early combustion until the two parts of the bipropellant are introduced into the combustion chamber). In regards to the propellant’s vulnerability, HAN has actually proven to be less vulnerable than alternate solid propellants. The liquid propellant is stored in a highly armored turret and occupied about seventy-five percent of the volume which would be occupied by a solid propellant. Furthermore, the propellant can be stored in a more compact volume as it doesn’t need to be stored within a specific casing of a round. It also avoids the use of combustion cases and baseplates, saving weight and turret mechanism complexity (there’s no baseplate to get rid of). Through the use of a plasma cartridge, catalyzed by a brief electric impulse, the CB.54 electrothermal-chemical liquid propellant gun achieves muzzle energy of 22MJ! Another advantage of the liquid propellant gun concept is the fact that despite the higher muzzle energy, bore-pressure is not higher than it would be with a solid propellant. In fact, as opposed to solid propellants which decrease pressure applied to the walls of the tube the farther down it travels, a liquid propellant increases bore-pressure and the round continues to accelerate at a faster rate. As the final nail in the solid propellant’s coffin, liquid propellants cost under fifty percent less than solid propellants to produce!

On the other hand, HAN has not been developed by Calzado y Bayo to the point where it can match the same temperature independence as newer surface coated double base (SCDS) solid propellants. Furthermore, solid propellants in terms of volatility continue to be a safer option. In regards to the Lince’s use of liquid propellants, it should be understood that the choice was made with the knowledge of the tank’s systems – including the tank’s advanced autoloader.

In order to provide the necessary power for the electrothermal-chemical portion of the gun system, the Lince mounts an under armor battery array in a mini-turret bustle. The turret bustle doesn’t have the same width as the actual turret, however, and in order to decrease the profile of the turret side the ends of the bustle are angled inwards. Each electrical impulse requires less than 100kJ of energy and this is provided by a primitive compulsator – although primitive, it can store much more energy than current capacitors in a much denser volume. To give an idea, current capacitors for ETC application in existence in Castilla can store up to 2.47MJ/m3. The compulsator used on the Lince can store about three times the amount in the same volume. The compulsator is fed by a battery and a high-voltage charger. The entire system occupies roughly .1.2m3 worth of volume. It’s nonetheless, relatively lightweight at 110kg.

‘Cinta’ autoloading system
The high lethality of the CB.54 hardly comes from its propulsion system or liquid propellant use. The tank gun’s lethality is achieved through the conjunction of the gun and the autoloader. Three rounds are held in the turret itself, arrayed to occupy the least volume possible. These three rounds can be loaded onto a robotic loading arm, shared by the Cinta autoloading system, within two seconds of each other. The idea is to fire three rounds in four to five seconds. Ideally, the first round is ready in the breech. When the target is at range the first round is fired and the loading arm loads the second round and this new round is fired – two seconds have passed. The third, and final, round is loaded and fired two seconds later. If an autoloader can load a 120mm round in five seconds, and a human can load the same round in five to seven seconds, the advantage is still held by the CB.54. In other words, the CB.54 has successfully fired three rounds before the enemy has had a chance to fire one. Theoretically, the enemy target is defeated by overwhelming the armor. If the first 103mm APFSDS hits it will shatter the ceramic and penetrate the encasing steel or titanium. Consequently, after the first impact a large surface area of armor has been dramatically weakened. If the second round hits with a circular error of probability (CEP) of around one or two meters then it will strike a weakened plate. Stopping the second round should prove difficult, but the third effectively seals the deal, so to speak. In this way, the Lince can defeat enemy tanks with heavy armored turret plates. These three rounds are positioned to the right side of the gun breech, and a little bit above to make positioning into the robotic loading arm easier, simpler and faster.

Another fifty-five rounds are held in a carousel autoloader around the turret basket. Given the lack of a propellant charge, the threat posed by this type of autoloader to the turret and crew is non-existent. Furthermore, it allows a radical drop in weight and volume occupied since each round doesn’t need to go into an individually armored and fireproof case. The rounds are automatically loaded into the combustion chamber through a loading arm, and the rounds can be loaded back into its original position in the carousel. Misfires are cleared through two distinctive options. If there’s time, the misfired round can be loaded back into the carousel. Otherwise, or if there are problems encountered with the previous option, the round is automatically ejected into a bin on the turret basket floor. The Cinta autoloader has a maximum loading/firing rate of fifteen (15) rounds per minute – or a round every four seconds. Furthermore, the autoloader can inventory and rearrange ammunition in the carousel using an onboard computer system controlled by the crew. In that way, ammunition is easily unloaded through a hatch in the rear of the turret or uploaded in the opposite way. Reliability is ensured through point actuator redundancy, so that if one actuator fails the autoloader will continue loading. The autoloader has an empty weigh of 560kg, and can be readily enlarged to hold up to seventy-five 103mm rounds. Furthermore, the Cinta autoloader has very low electrical requirements and uses a hydraulic system to move the transfer unit’s actuated rammer system. The hydraulic fluid used is almost inert.

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The use of this type of autoloader presented a number of advantages for the Lince. One, it moved the ammunition from the turret to the chassis which allowed to decrease the armored volume of the turret. The turret’s compact volume is one of the most important concepts of the tank, and is one of the main reasons the things which occupy the volume of the Lince do not occupy their traditional areas in a main battle tank. In fact, major components have simply been moved to the chassis. Two, this autoloader was the only autoloader available which could load ammunition at four seconds per round, and it allowed the incorporation of a three-round ready-shot compartment in the center of the turret. Three, it provided the safest solution. The ammunition and the propellant are completely separated – the liquid propellant is stored in the turret. Given the decreased turret volume and thus increased armor protection the propellant is in a better protected area of the vehicle. Besides this, the turret roof offers a blow-off panel in case the two separate fluids of the HAN bipropellant somehow mix and cause an explosive reaction.

This is a very different case to the bad effects of the MBT-8/Es carousel autoloader which joined semi-combustible ammunition cartridges with a carousel autoloader around the turret basket. During the civil war RUAC MBT-8/Es had the unfortunate tendency to blow-up if the ammunition compartment was penetrated by a Castillian round. The result was a turret separated from the chassis by many dozens of meters! It normally concluded in the deaths of the entire crew and the complete destruction of the tank. The Lince has learned from the mistakes of this system and has introduced a completely improved design – the Cinta autoloader. Furthermore, the Cinta is lighter, much faster and much more reliable. They are not even in the same ballpark.

103mm family of tank ammunition
Calzado y Bayo produces a rather extensive family of ammunition for the 103mm caliber liquid propellant gun. Perhaps the most important is the N.174 armor piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS). The 9kg (rounded from 8.977kg) penetrator has a diameter of 50mm and a length of 1m (L:d ratio of 20:1) in its unextended length and is composed of depleted uranium sheathed within an amorphous metal matrix composite. Test conducted between monolithic depleted uranium long-rods, tungsten heavy alloy (WHA) long-rods and sheathed penetrators provided ballistic evidence that sheathed penetrators penetrated the RHA targets with higher ballistic performance. Furthermore, an advantage of using an amorphous metal matrix composite as the sheathing material is that it can be molded to form dense long-rods of varying sizes and it is a self-sharpening material (like depleted uranium). Nickel and nickel alloy jackets were also tested, but did not compare to amorphous steel. Nickel alloys were applied to both WHA and DU long-rods for testing. The N.174 penetrator when it’s fully extended is 1.75m long (L:d ratio of 50:1) – this length is based on an extension efficiency during flight of 80%, with an error of probability of plus or minus 5%. One of the advantages in using an extending rod is that extending rods have been proven to increase the diameter of the resulting crater from penetration and thus a much wider weakened zone is created if the penetrator does not perforate the target. In other words, the second round from the CB.54 can be less accurate and still reliably hit a weakened portion of the same plate. Thanks to the round’s diameter, the glacis of an enemy tank can be overwhelmed by the first shot and the effect of the turret armor’s greater thickness is not as dramatic. Penetration is further increased by the implementation of a cruciform shaped rod. Thanks to use of light composites for sabot construction, the lack of a steel baseplate and the use of plastic fins for fin stabilization most of the weight of the round can be applied to the penetrator itself. On average, the N.174 has been rated to penetrate roughly 1,200mm of rolled homogenous armor (RHA) at 2km! This is quite an improvement over earlier generation long-rods of this caliber.

The N.76 is a next-generation high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rocket-assisted round developed specifically for the CB.54. The 103mm HEAT projectile has a low-mass gold liner. For reference, a copper-tungsten alloy liner has an estimated penetration performance seven times the diameter of the cone. In this caliber, such a round would have an estimated performance of 721mm of penetration. Depleted uranium, on the other hand, has been tested and has achieved penetration ten times the diameter of the cone – or 1,030mm. Gold is superior to both depleted uranium and tungsten. Gold has been tested in both hypervelocity kinetic energy rods (with velocities higher than 2.5kg) and as HEAT liners. Using a gold liner the N.76 achieves a penetration of around 1,442mm of RHA. It’s to say, the N.76 is technically superior to the N.174 APFSDS. Unfortunately for the N.76, today’s composite armors protect better against HEAT munitions than they do against kinetic energy penetrators. Furthermore, the N.76 doesn’t provide the same area damage as the N.174 does. Nevertheless, the N.76 can easily defeat light armored fighting vehicles such as armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles. Rocket assistance allows the use of the round against low-flying targets such as helicopters, and likens the round more to a low-range multi-purpose gun-launched missile.

For long-range anti-tank work Calzado y Bayo provides the N.1040 sensor-fused anti-tank guided round (SFAT). The N.1040 makes use of six submunitions arrayed in the middle section of the round’s body to overwhelm the defenses of an enemy tank. Each individual ‘bomb’ is an explosively formed projectile with between 150 and 170mm of penetration, depending on the material being penetrated, and is guided by a small airborne radar mounted on the weapon itself. The six submunitions are programmed to attack the same target, allowing an attempt to overwhelm the tank’s active protection system and roof armor. However, the effect is much more deadly when multiple rounds are fired. The tank’s fire control system (described below) allows for up to three rounds to hit any given position provided by the satellite-linked global positioning system simultaneously – like an artillery system. So, in the case of the N.1040, three rounds can be burst overhead of a tank simultaneously providing up to eighteen submunitions targeting the same subject simultaneously. Although each round is rather expensive, the three rounds are drastically cheaper than the tank which could be potentially knocked out (admittedly, it depends on the tank).

Engineering and infantry support variations of the vehicle can use the same gun thanks to the development of the N.236 demolition round. In the most general terms, the N.236 is simply an armor piercing capped round. The round is a high explosive a hardened tungsten-alloy (WHA) cap. The cap allows partial penetration of a target, embedding the round into what it wants to demolish, and the consequent explosion provides the majority of the damage to the weakened structure through shockwaves. This round will replace the standard high-explosive plastic (HEP) round in the Castillian arsenal. The N.236 can also be used against light armored fighting vehicle and sometimes may be carried instead of the N.76. The N.236 demolition round is useful for urban operations and to demolish enemy fortifications during a conventional war. The latter includes bunkers and protected artillery systems, or even border fortifications. The N.236 will probably be exported in various sizes in the export model of the Lince (Lince 1E).

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For anti-personnel work, the 103mm ammunition family includes the N.117 Anti-Infantry Round (AIR). The round is composed of five sub-munitions carrying around eight hundred tungsten balls a piece. The length at which the sub-munitions take effect is dependent on the settings dictated by the tank’s fire control system. The advantage of the N.117 is the area effect, which means a large kill radius. Furthermore, the round can be used to clear nearby friendly vehicles of attacking infantry, without harming the vehicle. The round includes a proximity fuse near the round’s nose allowing the round to be used against low-flying targets. The last existing conventional round in the 103mm family is the N.80 high-explosive for conventional anti-personnel work. However, the N.80 will probably not be as widely issued as the N.117, N.236 or N.76. Given the Lince’s primary role as a hunter-kill it’s likely that future developments in the 103mm caliber will be centered on the evolution of the N.174 APFSDS. Interests in the export market will also force Calzado y Bayo to prioritize development of export rounds for internationally recognized calibers – 120mm, 105mm, et cetera. The large amounts of export options for the Lince will keep the work steadily flowing in all of the Lince’s development companies.

Gunner’s co-axial weapon station
The gunner, apart from the main gun, also has control over a co-axial 25mm autocannon. Originally, the Lince was to be armed with a 7mm co-axial light machine gun, but as the design of the main gun progressed it was decided that a heavier armament was going to be necessary. The design of the main gun and the autoloading system means that chances are that if a round is fired against a vehicle that isn’t a tank then the vehicle will be at a disadvantage given that it might no longer have a three ready-round stock in the turret. Although the autoloading arm can load a round from the ammunition cassette around the turret basket, chances are that if an armor piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot is fired then it’s from the three rounds in the turret. As a consequence, it was decided that any co-axially mounted gun would have to be able to defeat soft-skinned vehicles – this includes infantry combat vehicles from the side. Because a 37mm autocannon proved to be too large to fit in the compact tank turret of the Lince, ultimately it was decided that Calzado y Bayo should provide a 25mm autocannon. Calzado y Bayo were given a number of prerequisites for the contract, including that the new gun should be as compact as possible, lethal enough to penetrate 150mm of armored steel at 1,000m and that it should have a total elevation of 60º to engage low-flying helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and roof tops. Furthermore, the ammunition had to be arrayed inside the turret in such a way that it would reduce occupied volume and not affect the wideness of the turret front.

Calzado y Bayo immediately set upon the development of a 25mm electrothermal-chemical autocannon, similar in design to the 37mm autocannon on Sistemas Terrestres Segovia’s BSI-37. Although the gun’s ballistics surpassed the requirements, the gun was ultimately denied because it required an independent pulsed power supply which increased volume and weight of the turret by too large of a fraction. So, the company was told to go back to the drawing board. Some time after Calzado y Bayo presented a new prototype co-axial autocannon to the Ejército de Tierra and upon request the gun was fitted into a mock turret of similar volume to what was required by the army for the Lince main battle tank. The new autocannon features a high efficiency muzzle break (ca. 60%) and low recoil, and has a greater percentage of parts built out of titanium (such as the recoil cylinder, holding the spring). The design of an integral mount makes installation into a smaller turret much easier and combines redundant vehicle and gun parts, decreasing weight by some ten kilograms. The use of an integrated mount also makes possible the maintenance of the system by removing it through the front of the turret without compromising the strength of the mantlet around it. An improved feeder system also decreases weight by almost 20%, decreases the size of the gun system and increases the life of the weapon’s feeder through the use of stiffer shafts. The weapon was accepted and chosen to arm the Lince, and was given the designation of G379 by both the company and the armed forces. The new design uses cased telescoping ammunition, in function similar to the N.174 armor piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot. The different rounds which can be fired from the gun have different designs, although all are designed to be fired from a 25mm smoothbore autocannon. Perhaps the most important rounds are the ACC.50 armor piercing discarding sabot and the ACC.75 high explosive round. The former has been designed for velocity and perforation, while the latter has prioritized explosive mass over velocity and range. There is also the ACC.90 anti-personnel round, although the production scale of this particular round doesn’t compare to that of the first two.

The ACC.50 is designed to fulfill the requirements given by Programa Lince. Specifically, the requirement was for a round able to perforate no less than 150mm of armored steel (RHA). This ballistic requirement would make any resulting round as lethal as the basic armor piercing discarding sabot used by larger 30mm autocannons around the world. The result is that the Lince can engage and successfully knock-out at least some infantry combat vehicles on the battlefield. The round measures 17cm in length, with a diameter of 8mm, collapsed. Extended, the length reaches a total of anywhere between 25-27cm. The gun is lined with chrome to allow greater chamber and barrel pressures from a larger propellant mass, giving a velocity at the muzzle of around 1,300m/s. The penetrator is composed of a depleted uranium core with a tungsten jacket. According to ballistic testing the ACC.50 can penetrate over 160mm of steel, although total penetration drops against titanium and composite armors. Unfortunately, it has also been found that the G379 20mm autocannon suffers from increased barrel wear. This has been directly attributed to the ACC.50, and it has been concluded that total barrel wear over time has a proportional relationship to the number of rounds fired in average per burst and the number of rounds fired over time for a particular barrel. Because of this, the G379 is designed specifically for the Lince, where the barrel can be changed relatively quickly and cheaply in the field. Although it’s expected that tankers will take the necessary precautions to test their equipment before leaving base, this is not always the case.

Admittedly, the efficiency of a 25mm autocannon in an urban environment is somewhat limited under specific circumstances. In current urban environments it may be the government’s policy to reduce collateral damage against civilian targets, and obviously the G379 autocannon is not a weapon system that will reduce collateral damage. Using both the high explosive and the sub-caliber round will normally conclude in several rounds perforating civilian housing walls and perhaps killing non-fighters. Many times, the round will have so much energy that it will perforate multiple walls and commit no damage when in fact the gunner had meant to traverse a wall to kill a group of enemy soldiers. As a consequence, the ACC.125 was developed for these scenarios. The ACC.125 is a fragmenting round; containing several hundred pieces of tungsten, and may resemble more a grenade than a 25mm autocannon projectile. It has a hardened steel cap to perforate a wall of any given size and past the perforation the round will begin to disintegrate and release the strips of deadly metal. Collateral damage won’t be avoided, given that the pieces of tungsten can’t distinguish between a fighter and a civilian, but reducing collateral damage was not a priority. Future urban warfare kits may introduce a new co-axial weapon for these specific cases.

The G379 25mm co-axial autocannon is positioned to the left of the main gun, as if looking from inside of the turret. The turret carries one hundred and fifty rounds of any type for the autocannon, and these are held in three fireproof bins which are accessible by a robotic loading arm. The first bin is located direct behind the gun, alongside the breech of the CB.54, while the second and third are located below and under the turret ring. The use of cased telescopic ammunition (CTA) accounts for roughly a 33% decrease in space required to stow it, which is an important trait given that the design of the Lince’s turret relies on having the least volume possible in order to increase armored weight. The autocannon has an elevation of 60º, fulfilling this requirement, and a depression of -20º. Consequently, the G379 can be used against tall buildings in urban combat, low-flying aircraft (small man-portable unmanned aerial vehicles used for reconnaissance, for example) and low-flying helicopters and against infantry. The G379 will be offered for export, alongside a number of smaller caliber co-axial weapons, although the turrets offered will be radically different from Castilla’s Lince turret. In this particular version of the Lince, the mounting is designed to be replaced by one for a smaller caliber gun (in specific, either the G3 7mm light machine gun or the G4 13.3mm heavy machine gun).

Commander’s HammerFist remote weapon station
HammerFist was envisioned to be an advanced remote weapon station (RWS) with a modular structure, meaning it could be fitted with a myriad of low-caliber guns. In this method, HammerFist could be used by a large number of vehicles in the Castilian inventory. More importantly, HammerFist was envisioned to be installed on a number of Lince surrogates, including the Tigre armored gun system (AGS), the León self-propelled howitzer (SPH) and a modified version on both the Centauro heavy armored personnel carrier (HAPC) and the Pantera infantry support vehicle (ISV), amongst others. On the last vehicle listed, HammerFist is extremely modified to the point where it’s no longer truly HammerFist (really, a larger version of the system), however it’s called HammerFist for the purpose of showing many similarities. In the Lince’s case, the HammerFist was to be armed with the G4B (B for Blindado) 13.3mm heavy machine gun. With this in mind, the contract was awarded to a relatively unknown small-arms contractor named Las Navas de Oporto (a play on words between the medieval battle of Las Navas de Tolosa and the home city of company). Las Navas de Oporto introduces the future commander’s remote weapon station two years after the contract was established, and the state-of-the-art product was accepted by the Castillian army. The machine gun is provided by the ex-state owned company Industria Real de Armas Ligeras (IRAL), designer and producer of the Iral assault rifle, and is almost the same as the original G4 heavy machine gun which is designed to be a man-portable heavy machine gun.

The differences between the G4 and the G4B are rare, but important. The G4B’s barrel length is slightly longer than that of the original G4 to increase muzzle velocity. The infantry’s G4 can’t allow this modification due to weight restrictions of the weapon system (to be two-man portable). The G4B’s butt stock and upper receiver have also been slightly modified for the HammerFist remote weapon system, allowing it to be replaced by a 24mm grenade launcher if necessary. The G4B weighs 23.2kg, while the G4 weighs roughly 19kg total. Like the G379, all G4 variants use cased telescoping ammunition. However, the G4’s ammunition is not designed to perforate certain materials and thus only has the priority of reducing ammunition size to store more. Given the fact that HammerFist requires no turret volume and stores all the ammunition outside, the size of the round is extremely important when taking into consideration the amount of ammunition available. All G4 variants fire from the open-chamber/open-bolt position, and use a gas powered long-bolt, low recoil operating system. To reduce recoil the barrel as it fires, as opposed to the bolt, and the weapon system is extremely accurate – many times as accurate as older heavy machine guns. Due to the acceptance of bulkiness on the HammerFist the G4B also has a second gas-piston moving in the opposite direction of the long-stroke gas-piston in the operating system, just like in balanced automatics. Although accuracy may be considered a triviality in a combat vehicle mounted machine gun, this particular machine gun has proven to increase accuracy substantially when mounted on a moving or stable platform and can be considered a test-bed for future man-portable technologies.

HammerFist, itself, is composed of three principle structures – the gun processing and interface unit, the operator control console (OCC) and the armored weapon and sensor platform. The operator control console is composed of an image display in the crew compartment for the tank commander, on a flat plasma screen, and the gun can be controlled through the tank commander’s modified gunner’s console pad (including elevation and traverse). The image is provided by a color zoom low-light camera, matted with a thermal sight. The system is stabilized on two axes to allow fire-on-the-move and its electronics also offer a sniper detection system, two electrically-operated smoke grenades (described in the next section), an image intensifier (II) and an eye safe laser rangefinder which is accurate up to 20km. The entire remote weapon station is protected against small-arms of up to 8mm in caliber, including the optics, and only weighs 134kg without the weapon and 157kg with the G4B installed! The only intrusion within the tank from the system is the fiber optic cable which transmits the images to the tank commander. Six hundred ready-rounds are stored in an armored sponson attached to the remote weapon station and part of the weight, while an aluminum turret sponson (stowage box) holds two other replaceable ammunition boxes, for a total of one thousand eight hundred rounds of ammunition stored. The gun is belt-fed, and so the cased telescopic ammunition is arrayed in long belts. The links are designed to be combustible to avoid jams due to used links filling the feed tray. These problems were observed on older infantry light machine gun systems used by the kingdom’s army.

Although not necessarily an advantage for the Lince, an advantage for other vehicles is that the low-intrusion characteristic of HammerFist allows the system to be attached to a variety of already produced vehicles. This remote weapon station may be installed on a variety of older pieces of equipment, and may replace the commander’s heavy machine gun on the JBT.14 main battle tanks which will be used by the reserves. This system will also be offered for export with the Lince E (E for Extranjero), along with a number of weapon systems which can be mounted on the HammerFist. The major disadvantage is cost, especially costs relative to the camera and electronic systems. A fully developed HammerFist (the system is available without the thermal camera, image intensifier and stabilization) costs up to $275,000. On average, the system is expected to cost $215,000 per Lince produced for the Ejército de Tierra. Average cost is expected to decrease with international contracts and as the system is installed in Lince surrogates and older armored fighting vehicles. Nevertheless, considering that the average MAD.II had cost Doomingsland an average of 100,000 universal standard dollars to supply to the Castillian army during the Civil war and that the average MAD.II costs around 20,000 to procure second (or even third) hand today, the HammerFist is more expensive than a forty or fifty year old medium battle tank! That said, it’s probably more amazing that the cost of the HammerFist is just a minor fraction of the total cost of an entire Lince main battle tank.

Grenade system
The Lince has two separate grenade systems – one is a passive self-defense system and the other is a subsystem of the active protection system. The grenade launcher system explained in this section is only relevant to the former. The grenades are arrayed in two rows of four electric grenade launchers to the rear of each side of the turret, for a total of sixteen grenade launchers. Each grenade launcher as a diameter of 76mm and the actual tube contains two grenades of varying type. The grenades are electrically fired from their respective tubes, and this can be done both manually by either the tank’s gunner or the tank commander and automatically by the tank’s fire control system. Each launcher is designed to be lightweight and therefore the basis is cast from titanium – the power source is the gas turbine engine’s electric generators. The passive grenade launcher system performs a very important job regarding both tank lethality and tank protection, and given the lack of an internal mortar in the turret (due to the restricted volume) the grenade system is designed to provide a similar weapon. In that sense, the ‘passive’ grenade system is both for self-defense and for the offensive.

In order to completely understand why the grenade system performs the offensive jobs it does it’s important to take into consideration the tactical requirements which had been underscored during the Civil war. Although the war ended over thirty years past, these lessons can still be applied to modern tank design. During the war, RUAC infantrymen refined anti-tank tactics which had been developed during the opening months of the war. Apart from using Molotov cocktails to damage the older Castillian tanks, they also formed into ‘anti-tank hunting teams’ using obsolete 20mm anti-tank rifles. The arrival of more modern armor didn’t do much to mediate their deadly efficiency given the fact that all foreign weapons providers also supplied to all sides large quantities of anti-tank missiles, especially wire-guided. As a consequence, even with numerical superiority in armor, Castillian armored forces found themselves plagued by ambushing anti-tank teams armed with deadly guided missiles. The immediate tactical response was the use of lightly armed armored cars with small numbers of dismounts, working together with tanks, so while the tanks provided overwhelming fire support the dismounts and armored car could neutralize any ambushing RUAC anti-tank forces. The tactic worked well during the war, but it had the disadvantage of reducing the flexibility of the tank. Consequently, the Lince attempts to reduce the disadvantage by integrating its own weapon which can neutralize anti-tank infantry in future wars.

The development of the external and internal tank mortar, such as that on the Macabee Nakíl main battle tank, makes it obvious that the threat of anti-tank infantry was not unique to the Castillian Civil War. However, external mortars are open to enemy gunfire and artillery shrapnel, while they also increase turret silhouette and may jeopardize the ability for a tank to fit in a mid-sized tactical transport. Internal mortars, unfortunately, required turret volume and in both cases the ammunition needs to be stored inside the turret. This has been deemed unacceptable, as small concessions in different areas will consequently lead to a larger turret. The strict restrictions on the weight of the turret and the volume (to increase armor protection) make it difficult to allow even the concession of a mortar. Despite these restrictions, a number of defense companies did toy with the idea and ultimately presented a number of compact designs. However, none of these were seen justified in exchange for the increase in turret volume and weight. It should be remembered that an increase in weight through mechanics is not the only increase in weight – increase in volume will require a larger surface area to be armored to a certain degree of protection, resulting in much more added weight.

As a consequence, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia instead opted for an advanced grenade launch system. There are a number of different grenade types, and these can be distinguished by the color bands wrapped around the grenade. For example, a blue band marks the grenade as the TMK-1029 smoke grenade. Using the TMK-1029 the Lince can lay tactical smokescreens for dismounted infantry in an urban environment, or a tactical smokescreen to confuse an incoming anti-tank missile (although it might be intuitive that this is part of the active protection system, it’s not – however, it can be considered part of the tank’s overall defense network). Red, yellow and purple bans refer to the same grenade (TMK-1029R, Y and P), but tinted with the color of the band. The smoke releases is much more controlled and are used as tactical markers for accompanying infantry or for communication between tanks to mark areas important during a fight, such as an enemy emplacement. The TMK-790 is the designation for the illumination grenade used by grenade launchers of this caliber and is mostly supplied for night fighting. With this particular round a tank can illuminate a certain area of the battlefield without widely revealing its position (as it would with a spotlight, for example) and can aid dismounted infantry in many types of terrain. The TMK-790 has a brown color band. A grey color band marks the TMK-2065, a phosphorous grenade, which is used for self-defense against enemy infantry, and a green color band denotes the TMK-2066, which is a high explosive fragmentary grenade for anti-personnel use. These are the two principle grenades used to defeat enemy anti-tank teams by killing the personnel. Finally, a pink color band denotes the TMK-36 which is an illuminator flare to mark the tank’s position during night fighting where the ballistic computer might not be able to distinguish the positions of friendly tanks.

These grenades are produced and provided by Las Navas de Oporto, like the HammerFist. This is due to the electric grenade design offered with HammerFist, which adds two more grenade launchers (and four more grenades) to the passive grenade defense and offense system.

(continued below)

Castilla y Belmonte

21-01-2008, 18:06

‘Mercenario’ Fire Control System
Older tanks have historically relied on optical devices to provide an accurate measure of the distance between the host tank and the enemy tank, and detect the target through eyesight, reconnaissance units or aerial sources. Although these methods have worked well for their period of time, the introduction of new technologies has had a dramatic effect on accuracy, rate of fire and the ability fire on the move. Perhaps the first tank in the Castillian arsenal to make use of new technology was the Verdeja, which used a primitive laser rangefinder to accurately measure the distance between the muzzle of the Verdeja’s gun and the enemy target. However, computerized fire control systems were relatively unknown in the kingdom until the advent of the civil war and the supply of various foreign tanks – especially the Juumanistran JBT.14. Although there was no indigenous work on tank technology in the country for a specific tank project, fortunately a number of electronic companies have had some fortunes abroad. As a consequence, as early as 1995 the army subcontracted a number of national and foreign electronic companies to design an advanced fire control system to upgrade the MAD.II and the JBT.14. Due to funding considerations and the knowledge of a new tank procurement by the year 2000, the modernization project was ultimately canceled. However, many of the fire control systems presented were purchased in singular units and studied, and this has greatly helped the development of an indigenous ‘3rd generation’ fire control system for the Lince.

This particular part of Programa Lince was subcontracted to Indra-Begón – the designers and producer of the search periscope and the photonic mast on the Type A diesel-electric attack submarine – in early 1998 and the product was presented in 2001, with refinements made until mid-2005. Indra’s fire control system is called ‘Mercenario’ (Spanish for mercenary) and is designed for precision. It’s also designed without cost considerations, and for that reason it forms one of the most expensive packages of the Lince tank – multiple millions of dollars! However, the government had specified originally that money wasn’t an issue, while accuracy and lethality was. For that reason, Mercenario by Indra is perhaps one of the most advanced fire control systems used by any main battle tank in the world today. It incorporates high technology lasers, sensors and compact computers to increase capability while reducing storage volume. Due to the size of older ballistic computers, the dimensions of Mercenario’s computers are a serious issue. The electric unit of old fire control systems has been replaced by the under armor auxiliary power unit (UAAPU) in the chassis of the tank, while the central distribution case is placed on the right side of the tank gun’s breech, behind the gunner’s periscope. The stabilization computer is under the distribution case under the turret ring, while the ballistic calculator is on the opposite side, positioned on the turret basket’s floor. The control boards are with the crew, in the chassis.

Mercenario incorporates new sensors and systems to enhance its performance. These include a third-generation forward-looking infrared (FLIR) imagine camera, a virtual viewing optical (VVO; replacing the direct viewing optical), a charged coupling device (CCD) video camera and a laser designator/rangefinder (LRF/D). To allow the highest percentage of accuracy a muzzle reference system (MRS) is matted to the gun, along with several sensors around the tank to measure: atmospheric pressure, wind velocity, temperature, apparent target motion, range data, ballistic characteristics of the round, tank velocity, gun trunnions axis cant, angular target speed, charge temperature, bore temperature, angle of fire, and others. The capabilities of the crew in relation to the fire control system will be discussed later on. In any case, all of this allows for extremely accurate shooting for all three rounds fired. The aim is to attempt to guarantee the Lince’s gunnery superiority over adversaries and their main battle tanks. As mentioned before, the price of this technological superiority is cost. The only potential importers of the system, as with the entire tank, are strategic allies of the kingdom. Ergo, Mercenario will not be offered for export.

Other capabilities offered by the system include an optical zoom which magnified the image by anywhere between two to ten times, with a digital magnification allowing four times the chosen optical zoom. The ballistic computer can track up to ten targets independently and simultaneously and provides information to the tank commander and gunner to prioritize targets. This information is based on image classification and an onboard database of known targets which can be updated depending on the enemy being fought at any given time. Consequently, the tank crew will be able to distinguish between armored personnel carriers, infantry combat vehicles and main battle tanks on their screen without having to manually checking. This allows for faster reaction times and firing rates. The tank’s accuracy and the tank crew’s targeting velocity make an extremely dangerous and deadly combination. The fire control system can also automatically fire the necessary grenades from the grenade launching system previously specified, meaning the tank can rapidly respond with necessary smoke screens or tactical markings when required without relying on human reaction speeds. If preferred, the tank commander can also manually override many of these advanced features.

The cost of manufacturing the fire control system and testing it accounts for a large part of the tank’s total price tag. To give an idea, the Mercenario fire control system costs an average of around four million universal standard dollars per tank. This price covers development cost, manufacturing costs, testing costs and installation costs. For a comparison, the cost of the fire control system on the JBT.14 cost roughly five hundred thousand to six hundred thousand per tank. Several tanks developed in the early 80s up to the mid-90s had fire control systems which cost an estimated mean of two million dollars. The Mercenario costs about eight times the cost of the fire control system on the JBT.14 and twice as much as the previous generation of fire control systems. This might make the Mercenario one of the most expensive computer systems in the world. On that note, it may not be able to compete with the fire control system on Juumanistra’s brand-new Kyton main battle tank which has had run-off development costs. It’s estimated that the average Kyton main battle tank is procured for over twenty-four million dollars!

Future Possibilities
The gun versus armor race will continue to drive the technological advancement of a tank’s lethality. Where the Lince is relevant, short term improvements in firepower will focus on improvements in the CB.54 gun system to increase muzzle energy for the caliber while not having a major effect on weight, as well as improvements on the long-rod penetrator. There are a wide number of novel penetrators being worked on by Calzado y Bayo, although most of these are still drawing board theories. Nevertheless, some are currently being tested and may be introduced in future modifications to the Lince main battle tank. One of the major priorities for improvement is the increase in diameter of the resulting crater in the enemy armor array during penetration, which consequently results in a much larger area of damage. This will increase the chances that all three rounds will hit on a damaged plate and further guarantee the defeat of the enemy target. Furthermore, there will always be work to increase the penetration of long-rod penetrators into compound and other non-steel targets. Currently, guided armor piercing ammunition is considered unnecessary due to the expected engagement ranges of the Lince and current cost considerations. However, this might become a real solution in the future. The same case exists for rocket assisted munitions to increase range and lethality at a given range. Due to weight restrictions, increased gun caliber is not seen as a viable solution in the near future. It’s not only relevant to the weight of the gun system (which might actually decrease), but to the weight garnered by increase turret volume. Due to the high protection levels of the Lince increasing turret surface area is something which Lince design teams want to avoid at all costs, and these restrictions have driven the systems which now make up this ultra-modern main battle tank.

Lethality improvements do not only concern the main gun. Design improvements will always be done on the co-axial armament, commander’s remote weapon station and the grenade launchers. Furthermore, the fire control system will go through a constant design evolution which in the future may mean that the Mercenario will be replaced with a modernized version for increased accuracy. It should be noted that lethality of the main gun relies almost exclusively on the accuracy the fire control system can provide the gunner and tank commander. Therefore, the Mercenario will always be a system where countless millions of pesetas are spent to make minor improvements – minor improvements which make considerable differences in gunnery.

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A Questerian MBT-8/E with a blown-off turret. Castillian Civil War.

One major thing drives Programa Lince and the subcontractors. This one thing is the drive to be better than everyone else. Although this mentality is chauvinistic, perhaps rude and definitely competitive, it’s a mentality which will always guarantee fast and effective improvements throughout the Lince main battle tank. These improvements will make, and already make, the Lince one of the best tanks on the field in the next two to three decades. Innovation, imagination, the will to be best, brutal competition and efficiency have built the Lince and is what makes Programa Lince the most ambitious defensive program in the history of the kingdom of Castilla y Belmonte. It is also what has allowed the Ejército de Tierra to go from being equipped with an obsolete piece of equipment to one of the most advanced ground systems in the world. Of course, these characteristics are also translated over to the rest of the development of the tank.

Castilla y Belmonte

21-01-2008, 18:08

Survivability
Indirect protection
A tank’s survivability isn’t only measured through the amount of armor it boasts on any given surface area, or its ability to deflect or break a striking long-rod penetrator. Although the Lince does have a number of very effective protective layers of passive and explosive armor, it also boasts of a high level of survivability through a number of design innovations – especially in the design of the turret. As has been mentioned above in various occasions, one of the most important aspects of the design has been the aim to reduce turret volume as much as possible. There are a number of reasons why this was a very strict priority. Perhaps the most openly visible volume restriction is through the reduction of turret length. However, a turret has a specific amount of volume it must have in order to fit the required systems and in order to seat the crew comfortably. With this in mind, reducing the turret’s sides would mean that the turret front would have to increased, given that the reduction of one means the increase of the other. This polemic issue with visible surface area has plagued turret design since the beginning of the turreted tank. However, this means that surface area will generally remain the same, as well as armored volume. Historically, armored volume and surface area has been reduced through the adoption of an autoloader. However, the reduction in turret mass and volume is not dramatic. Programa Lince was looking for an advanced turret which would revolutionize tank design and would bring opposing tank designers back to the drawing board.

The Lince’s turret reduces armored volume and armored surface area in a number of innovative fashions, although most of these have been experimented elsewhere. The standard three-man crew in the turret has been replaced with an unmanned turret. The driver, tank commander and gunner are positioned in the front of the hull (described below), behind the engine. The ammunition has, as already explained, has been moved from the turret bustle to around the turret basket, although not as volume inefficient as the old carousel autoloader used by the Questerian MBT-8/E. The long gun breech has been replaced by a compact tank gun (although with a longer recoil travel), and the turret roof has been leveled to be completely straight. This latter feature has reduced the total depression of the main gun, although this is mediated through the introduction of an independent ‘breech block’. The breech block allows the gun to depress to -7º, while also allowing the lowest possible silhouette for the tank. The unfortunate side effect is that the gun is impossible to load while the breech block is at a higher position than the rest of the turret. In order to give a quasi-solution to this problem, the Lince uses an active hydropneumatic suspension (explained in the next chapter) which can raise parts of the chassis in order to allow the tank to either ‘kneel’ or to allow it to increase the height of the hull to the rear. This last act allows a certain depression of the main gun, without actually moving the breech, and thus allows the Lince to engage enemy targets at a shallow negative angle and still reload the main gun. The breech block sides have marginally increased turret weight, but it should be noted that these sides are not especially armored given the fact that while the breech block is showing it’s not likely that the small surface areas present of the breech block will be engaged.

The length of the turret sides is eliminated in a more direct method, as they are simply smaller. This has effectively reduced turret volume by around 34%! It allows the increase of roof protection and frontal arc protection, without a radical increase in weight. The effect on vehicle weight is as dramatic as the effect on the silhouette of the turret as its turning. This makes the turret side much more difficult to see if the perspective is at 0º, in front of the chassis. Consequently, it’s much more difficult to engage the Lince than it would be most other tanks, especially at range. All the while, mantlet size also remains reduced and unaffected by the reduction in turret side length. Using this turret design the Lince can achieve weights closer to the Questerian MBT-8/E, but with the armor protection of a modern main battle tank. The decrease of turret side length is jeopardized to a degree by the light armored box holding the pulsed power supply for the CB.54, but the angular design of the box makes it very difficult to see and is specifically designed to maintain a minor turret surface area visual when the turret is traversed up to 45-50º to either side.

To decrease the tank’s thermal signature, radar signature and visual signature it also makes use of camouflage netting, which is stored in an aluminum sponson outside of the turret, called ‘Jungla’ (jungle). Although the name of the netting would suggest that it has been specifically designed for a jungle or forest environment, the netting is produced in a number of different camouflage patterns for different fighting environments. The netting makes it extremely difficult to find the Lince over long engagement ranges, and reduces the efficiency of top-attack munitions. Furthermore, the netting can be applied or taken-off at will by the tank’s crew and stowed in the proper aluminum bin. Another advantage of the netting is that it reduces the thermal image of the tank by cooling the inner volume, meaning the ambient temperature inside the fighting compartment in the chassis is also contained and cooled. With ‘Jungla’ added to the tank it can reduce visual detection by the human eye, day and night thermal viewers and cameras by up to thirty percent and the capability of infrared seekers from locking onto a target will be reduced by up to three times. Statistically, with the camouflage system fielded the Lince’s probability of being detected and locked-onto will be reduced by at least six times!

These aluminum sponsons, or storage bins, attached to the sides of the turret also have another job. They provide excellent stand-off versus shaped charges, as they initiate the shaped charge before it actually hits the turret. Consequently, it forces the shaped charge to use a large amount of energy and it helps decrease penetration into the turret side’s armor. The ability to enhance protection against chemical threats has been proven in combat before, especially during the Castillian Civil War. Furthermore, when the JBT.24s purchased in the 80s began to be used for target practice the use of aluminum storage bins to increase the stand-off distance of attacking shaped charge projectiles was studied. Furthermore, aluminum storage bins can also help protect against kinetic energy threats, although its efficiency against such threats is admittedly rather limited. In this regard, they are most effective at instilling yaw on small-caliber and medium-caliber armor piercing projectiles. Regardless, there is only so small relatively thin pieces of aluminum can do (storage bin aluminum is designed only to protect against anti-personnel small arms projectiles, not armor piercing).

Apart through the use of a low silhouette, a small visual profile from multiple angles of view, stand-off protection and a multi-use camouflage netting to establish indirect protection, the vehicle also uses everything that makes up the inner workings of a tank to protect the crew. This includes the engine, the transmission, the roadwheels, the ammunition and even the fuel. The mass attenuated gun tube and the turret are designed to maximize the tank’s stealth, which will reduce the probability of long-range detection by means of new generation millimeter wave radars being used by ultra-modern tanks to add to their lethality. Through a wonderful use of technology, engineering and physical architecture the Lince has established itself as the leading edge in vehicle survivability. In armor protection, the Lince is no less effective either.

BlindMaxx multilayer heavy armor: frontal 120º
Designing armor for a main battle tank is a difficult process which requires the testing of different materials against different threats, the comparison of these materials and the respective threats and then the integration into a combat vehicle. Furthermore, with the common weight restrictions on main battle tanks, due to ground pressure, designing effective armors against the most deadly threats is made even much more difficult. This is truer for the Lince which attempts to have the survivability of a sixty-ton tank in a forty-five ton platform. Consequently, the armor designers for the Lince were forced into looking into extremely mass efficient armors such as explosive reactive armor and ceramics. Furthermore, armor elsewhere had to be decreased in weight, although always at the right price. The engineering teams which toiled over the protection of the Lince also worked on maximizing the thickness a penetrator or shaped charged jet would have to traverse in order to perforate. For example, in previous chassis prototypes (namely the CBE – Carro Blindado Experimental) designers were able to maximize the armoring depth to almost 2,000mm at only forty-eight tons! The same result is obtained through the installation of a wedge on the turret, which the Lince does (like many other tanks). Through maximization of depth methods one can increase the actual thickness of the armor at any given point on any given tank for a low weight penalty. This theory is one that the Lince has placed a lot of hopes on in order to increase frontal protection to the level of its competitors. The Lince has also put a lot of its trust into explosive reactive armor.

The chassis and turret are welded from improved armored steel (IRHA), with a higher level of carbon, for structural reasons and for ballistic reasons. In the front and sides the steel structure is thick enough to stop a shaped charge jet tip after the shaped charge has been diced by explosive reactive armor. Although technically this is unnecessary given the thickness of the ceramic/metal modules on the Lince, it was done for the purpose of guaranteeing safety against small threats. However, the steel structure has found itself perforated in some areas to decrease the weight of the structure, although these perforations should be assumed to be miniscule in size, in all cases. The structure includes mounting points for either explosive reactive armor or ceramic armor.

The second layer of armor (all subsequent layers of armor after the structure are modular) of the BlindMaxx armor organization is composed of prestressed boron carbide, encased in titanium. According to ballistic research, against long-rod penetrators impacting at a velocity less than 2km/s boron carbide, titanium diboride and silicon carbide perform more or less equal if encased with a thick backing plate. The use of a thick ceramic/metal layer after the structure is to make use of the maximization of depth achieved through chassis and turret shape. In specific, in several points along the frontal arc of the chassis the Lince achieves an actual depth of around nine hundred millimeters. In regards to weight efficiency, about sixty percent of this thickness is composed of passive armor given the lightweight of explosive reactive armor and to account for the weight of the armored turret (the goal isn’t a forty-five ton chassis; it’s a forty-five ton tank). The first layer of ceramic armor is the thickest passive armor layer on the tank, and has a ratio of ceramic to metal of about 2.4. Of the three available materials for the expected long-rod threat, boron carbide was ultimately chosen due to its relatively low bulk density of 2,500 kg/m3 and its high Vickers hardness (HV) of anywhere between 2,800 and 3,400HV. These attributes make boron carbide an extremely appealing ceramic to use against long-rod penetrators, except for its low tensile strength and fracture toughness, which normally leads to spalling. Due to this tendency to spall, thick backing layers of metal are required. In this case, titanium is the thick backing layer and the metal that encases the ceramic. Therefore, when confined boron carbide does a stellar performance against both shaped charge threats and long-rod penetrators. This particular armor is not designed to maximize slope, given that both ceramic and titanium have been tested to perform better when the penetrator strikes perpendicular to the plate (a better mass efficiency that is). However, to increase efficiency and to induce yaw large thicknesses of the titanium are perforated, much like the perforated steel plates used widely today on tank armor designs. As mentioned before, however, these modules are specifically designed to make use of the armoring depth of the shape and angles of the glacis plate, turret wedge and front side armor of the chassis.

The third layer of armor is composed of a relatively light explosive reactive armor. The reactive armor is composed of three layers, with a total thickness of some sixty-five millimeters – a fifteen millimeter titanium front plate, a second millimeter titanium front plate of the same thickness and a twenty-five millimeter back plate of the same material. The rest of the armor thickness can be attributed to high explosive. The explosive reaction, given the relatively light mass of the high explosive accelerator, is limited to avoid damaging forward-flying plates against the spalling ceramic/metal armor in front and to avoid damaging the structure with the back plate. The two flying plates are set at different angles to account for yaw instilled on the long-rod penetrator threat or on the shaped charge jet, and are placed to strike at an angle of anywhere between 45º and 67º, although impacts at different obliquities can be expected. Nevertheless, at maximum efficiency such armor has a mass efficiency of around 2.3 against kinetic energy threats (as compared to armored steel) and over three times against shaped charges. The weight saved as compared to steel is over twenty times the weight of steel!

After this thin layer of explosive reactive armor there is a second ceramic composite module spread throughout the frontal arc, which is designed principally to have moderate efficiency versus both shaped charges and long-rod penetrators. It should be noted that this layer is much less thick than the first layer and is designed really to provide a spaced plate between the two layers of explosive reactive armor and in order to either completely stop or to instill further yaw (or to break up the penetrator – whether hydrodynamic or solid) after the first thick layer of explosive reactive armor. This time, the ceramic armor is composed of two sandwiched ceramics encased in titanium alloy metal. The two ceramics are aluminum nitride and titanium diboride. Aluminum nitride was chosen for its lower bulk density than alumina, and for its superior ballistics against penetrators (shaped charge jets) moving at faster than 2 km/s, while titanium diboride was chosen for its high fracture toughness and tensile strength. Although the latter has a high bulk density, it’s more mass efficient to have a heavy ceramic which has a low probability of heavy spalling than to have a thicker layer of metal backing. The metal to ceramic ratio of this layer is around 1.9, and the metal backing is spaced from the explosive reactive armor by a thin layer of aluminum foam (to protect against spalling) and a thin layer of air. Furthermore, like in the first layer of ceramic armor large parts of the titanium are perforated. As noted before, it should be remembered that this layer of ceramic is relatively thin.

The last layer of the Lince’s armor, at least in service with the Kingdom of Castilla y Belmonte, is a heavy explosive reactive armor designed to induce as much damage as possible to the shaped charge jet or the long-rod penetrator. It’s designed to help guarantee the defeat of the projectile in the following layers of armor by fracturing it, blunting the penetrator’s nose and by slowing it down and inducing yaw. For that purpose, the construction rights to Asteriox (used on the Nakíl 1A2) were purchased and the explosive reactive armor saw some modification. The modules are made up by an aluminum-aluminum foam box to decrease module weight and to decrease damage to nearby modules. The explosives of the metal plates designed to hit the penetrator at different points has been reduced, also to reduce weight, and therefore has reduced the velocity of the flying plates. However, instead of titanium these plates are composed of thin layers of high-hardness steel (this particular steel has Rockwell hardness (HRC) of 53 and a Brinell hardness value (BHN) of 532). High-hardness steel has a higher tendency to spall and trades high hardness for low tensile strength. However, the aim in this explosive reactive armor isn’t to increase tensile strength as much as it is to damage the incoming threat through as much momentum as possible (it can also be said that the low amount of mass lost through the reduction of the explosive was regained through the use of high-hardness steel). The three forward-flying titanium plates remain the same, although the backing plate of steel has been replaced by a lighter plate of titanium (same thickness). Although at 60º the forward-flying titanium plates shouldn’t offer better ballistics than the same thickness of steel, the mass is still lighter.

Through the use of new armor materials, new armor concepts, explosive reactive armor and the maximization of penetration depth the Lince has been able to establish a fairly heavy amount of protection along the front 120º of the tank. Although it should be understood that the armor protection between the 90º and 120º surface area of the arc is not the same as that of the frontal 90º arc, both are exceptionally high for a main battle tank – especially a main battle tank of this weight. Although through the same designs a sixty ton tank could have much more armor and protection, it was decided early on that protection would also come through mobility and thus a low-weight was established as a design goal of the tank. Therefore, penetration depth was kept lower than what had been tested on several chassis prototypes in the past decade (like the CBS). Nevertheless, the Lince has established a higher level of protection as a lightweight 4th generation main battle tanks than most (if not all) 3rd generation sixty ton main battle tanks. Furthermore, through the use of two layers of explosive reactive armor the Lince has increased the probability that the incoming round will be defeated through fracture and snapping more so that penetration depth. It should be remembered that kinetic energy penetrators of high length to diameter ratios (the same can be applied to shaped charges given that these can have L:d ratios of close to 100:1) are more susceptible to oblique impact and more susceptible to fracture. It’s important to note that the Lince has saved weight by not using high density, and thus heavy, materials like depleted uranium.

Perhaps one of the most innovative features is the use of two layers of explosive reactive armor. The high mass efficiency and thickness efficiency of explosive reactive armor makes it a very lucrative type of protection for any vehicle. Through the optimization of the momentum and force exerted by the various plates one can design a heavy explosive reactive armor that can be fitted as layers – or more accurately, two different explosive reactive armor designs which can be used cooperatively to increase protection. To give an idea of the protection made available through heavy explosive reactive armor it should be considered that an explosive reactive armor from the 90s could increase the armor protection of a tank with 900mm of RHAe (rolled homogenous armor equivalent) by over forty percent! This level of protection, at low weight, was looked for by the engineering teams which made-up the ballistic protection of the Lince. Multiple layers of explosive reactive armor is not something unique to the Lince, admittedly, but it’s one of the first tanks with this type of armor put into mass production or actually used by an active army.

Maximization of armored depth in the chassis has been discussed quite a bit, and the turret has been largely forgotten except for the use of a wedge along the frontal armor array. It should be remembered that the small size of the turret allows for a heavier weight in armor given that there is less of a surface area to cover. Through minimization of armored volume, high thickness values are achievable on the turret front and front sides. In any case, given the lack of a crew in the turret the protection priority is oriented towards the chassis. Penetration by a long-rod into the turret does not guarantee a kill, in regards to killing the tank’s firepower. Through the use of spalling layers and compartmentalization of the turret (including the breech block), the damage to the gun through spalling of the round can be kept at a minimum. In other words, there are chances that the Lince will survive a perforation of the turret armor (assuming the turret armor is perforated, of course). The true threat is if a shard of hot penetrator achieves to set-off the propellant, although the use of a bipropellant helps decrease the chances of this happening given that the reaction of the propellant is catalyzed through the mixing of the two main ingredients of the liquid propellant, not through temperature ignition.

Although relatively light as compared to the thirty-nine ton armored weighs of sixty ton battle tanks, the Lince still saves weight in other areas. These areas include the rear side chassis and the rear of the chassis, where the use of metal is kept a minimum and the use of composites and fibers kept at a maximum.

Side and rear protection
Although the Lince has achieved a high level of protection for a low weight trade-off along the 120º frontal arc of the tank, several weight decreases have to be made elsewhere. Some have already been discussed and outlined: the small size of the turret, the lightweight main gun system, lightweight secondary armaments, and a compact and relatively lightweight ammunition storage system and tank gun autoloader. There are several other weight savings that will be discussed later, however, major savings have to be made in the armor which covers the rest of the tank. In order to understand what weight savings can be conceived without jeopardizing protection in case of ambushes one must study the relevant threats. These threats include, above all else, machine gun fire (up to 15mm armor-piercing) and rocket propelled grenades. The threat of rocket propelled grenades has been studied in depth by most tank producing nations of the world and has started an armoring trend which includes urban armor kits. The Lince takes a page from the Nakíl design in the way where it saves weight by focusing armor development in the rear areas of the tank against small-caliber armor piercing threats and, most of all, man portable shaped charge warheads. The ultimate aim is to optimize protection against the relevant and most frequent threat, and at the same time save weight. The disadvantage is almost entirely in cost – specifically, in several millions of dollars. However, given that the Lince is expected to be exported in large numbers to at least one strategic ally, the cost has not been set as important. Besides, the low production run of the Lince for the Castillian army makes high prices affordable since the allowable budget is for a multi-thousand tank army (when in fact only nine hundred will be procured in the first production batch, for three brigades).

The rear areas of the tank are protected through an armor sandwich known as ‘PA-1’, composed mainly of fiber reinforced glasses and plastics. The requirement of the Lince’s rear protection is not necessarily to defeat a large diameter shaped charge (mainly unguided man portable in the region between 80mm and 110mm in diameter), but to absorb so much of its energy that it no longer poses a threat to the survivability of the tank. In the Lince’s case, the rear compartment is composed of open space which can be used to carry more ammunition. The rest is occupied by subsystems of the tank and electronics, which were moved from either the front of the tank or from the turret. Consequently, a shaped charge without a lot of remaining energy doesn’t prove to be a fatal threat to the wellbeing of the tank. Furthermore, since the ammunition is largely inflammable there is no threat of a resulting ammunition cook-off. Therefore, any protection in the rear is designed specifically to reduce the damage and then contain it (internal compartmentalization). Protection against large caliber machine gun rounds is guaranteed by the basic armor protection levels of the Lince, while physical protection against unguided shaped charges and even guided shaped charges will be provided by an urban armor kit.

PA-1 is a modular sandwich composite armor placed over the structural steel protection. It’s designed to give all-around protection against heavy machine gun fire and to act as an energy absorber during shaped charge impact. Two principle materials were looked at for implementation, E-Glass and S-Glass. E-Glass has a low density for an armor material (although high for a plastic composite) of 2.6 g/cm3 and has a high tensile strength (3,500 MPa). S-Glass has been tested to be similar and mechanically superior, although costlier. Due to the ‘no cost is too much’ mentality of the Lince project, the result was the use of S-glass. The layer of S-glass saves over half the weight of steel for the same level of protection, and PA-1s capabilities are reinforced by the structural improved armored steel that composes the Lince’s hull. However, materials such as E-Glass or S-Glass require disruptor plates to inflict most of the physical damage to the incoming threat, while they absorb it. Consequently, a dual hardness steel plate (DHS) is added to the front. This particular plate is face hardened to provide a hardness of around 600 Brinell down to around 400 Brinell, in a gradient. PA-1 is not designed to outright defeat shaped charge threats, which has been left largely to the active protection system.

Originally, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia opted for a second layer of armor. This was to be composed of multiple non-explosive reactive armor (NxRA) blocks, with multi-hit capability. Although this system was to weigh less than regular lightweight explosive reactive armor it was eventually opted not to include it. The weight increase was calculated to be around 1,200kg which is moderately light, however it was decided that any weight saving would make it easier to make more crucial weight decisions at a layer point. Furthermore, urban ambushes were not expected to be the tank’s main threat on the battlefield and thus STS opted to instead develop an urban add-on armor kit if the situation developed. This add-on kit, amongst others, will be available for export along with the Lince E. For a more lightweight protective suite STS has opted for a number of indirect protection solutions which will be explained below, along with the active protection system.

The three fuel tanks arrayed to the rear of the vehicle’s chassis can also be considered a level of protection. The protection offered by the fuel tanks has already been taken advantage of in the Nakíl 1A2’s design. If any given fuel doesn’t have contact with compressed air or a flammable gas, then it will conveniently increase protection against shaped charge penetrators. In fact, tank fuel helps distort the jet and cause an early break-up between the jet-tip and the jet-base (amongst various points). These effects have been studied before and may have been used in a wide variety of armored fighting vehicle designs, especially armored personnel carriers, to increase protection versus chemical energy threats in the rear arc of the vehicle. The Lince uses fuel to increase protection in the left rear of the tank (looking from the rear), and in the two rear sides of the hull (parallel of each other). In order to avoid leakage of the fuel during impact and to avoid accidental combustion, the fuel tanks use fire-proof and explosion-proof composites to surround the fuel tanks. These characteristics are exhibited by self-sealing foam, and protect from a temperature over a large volume and with a high intensity of up to 1,800ºC. With a coating of roughly 5mm thickness it’s extremely difficult for a fuel tank to suffer a chance of exploding or combusting by means of a hot shard of metal or by means of a shaped charge penetrator.

Mine Resistance
The threat of mines exists both in a conventional war and in a low intensity war against guerilla forces. According to information revealed by the Castillian defense company MecániCas in the brochure of the Tiznao-60 advanced armor truck, thirty-nine percent of the destroyed tactical armored supply trucks during the Castillian Civil War are attributed to land mines. According to the Ministry of Defense, of the Kingdom of Castilla y Belmonte, twenty-eight percent of lost tanks were lost due to land-mines with a charge weight of over 10 kg. Explosive charges were recorded to be as high as 100kg, and the result was almost completely annihilation of the impacted tank. Although it’s impossible to offer the physical protection to a tank to survive charges of these sizes, there are methods to avoid having a tank even encountering them. As for other mine sizes, anti-mine armor can help save the life of the crew and can help keep the tank running in any war. Due to the weight increases in mine protection armor, only so much can be added without risking damaging the tank’s mobility. Therefore, more reliance has been placed on electronic protection systems than on physical protection systems.

The heavy physical armor for the Lince will be available through one of the urban armor kits manufactured by Sistemas Terrestres Segovia. These will probably be purchased to give an ability to readily outfit a third of each of the three foreseen armored brigades, if the country ever finds itself in a situation where it will be operating in urban terrain. The nation’s recent entry into NATO makes urban operations much more possible, which may have spurred the armor kit design. Although the detail of this armor kit will be reserved for another time, it is worth to know that several anti-mine armor kits will be available on the export market with varying weights and with capabilities against a variation of different threat levels.

On the basic Lince, anti-mine armor protection is composed of a double floor board construction, designed of ballistic steel and titanium. The two floor boards are properly spaced and divided by a composite designed to absorb the explosive energy produced by the detonation of an anti-tank land mine and of an improvised explosive device. The spacing layer is also designed to absorb as many of the mechanical shockwaves as possible. Therefore by definition, the material that makes up the spacing layer must have a high fracture toughness and high tensile strength to remain intact even under high stress impact loadings. The same material has to be able to contain the deformation of the titanium layer closest to the ground and to avoid the deformation of the top-most steel floorboard through energy absorption. In most armored fighting vehicle designs, to date, the spacing layer material selected has been rubber. Although rubber was considered, ultimately it was decided to rely on closed aluminum foam cells. There has already been considerably experience with this type of armor due to its usage on the recent BSI-30 advanced lightweight infantry combat vehicle and the BSI-122 light tank, as well as on the Tiznao-60 armored truck.

Tests conducted on composite armors with and without aluminum foam have all helped to understand the mechanical properties of this type of armor. Closed cell aluminum foam modules have proven to decrease the propagation of mechanical shockwaves into the backing metal material. Aluminum foam has high resistance to high-stress impact loading, which makes it an ideal armor for anti-mine work. Furthermore, it’s lightweight and saves weight through reducing required metal floor board thickness. But, the protection offered by this rudimentary floor sandwich structure is admittedly limited. Although the 35mm-50mm sandwich structure could most likely defeat an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) of an improvised explosive device (IED), it’s doubtful that the same armor can defeat a 10kg shaped charge threat. The Lince, with this base armor, can probably survive a level 2 mine threat (a 6kg explosive under the center of the chassis, or under the track) or a level 3a threat (a 8kg explosive under the track), but would probably succumb to any greater threat that those mentioned. Due to the all important weight restriction of the Lince, mine-protection must be offered through other, lighter solutions.

Furthermore, the use of a v-shaped hull is impossible in the Lince’s case due to height restrictions and weight restrictions. A v-shaped hull floor basically does the same as what the turret wedge armor does on many known tank designs, and what the Lince does in the design of its glacis plate. A v-shaped floor basically maximizes the depth of penetration an anti-tank land mine or improvised explosive device must travel through by forming a v down the center of the vehicle. For the sake of a comparison, it’s a wedge which starts from the hull’s floor and finishes any given distance from the ground. Explosions in the center have to travel through an extended amount of armor, while explosions elsewhere are deflected. The amount of protection which results is incredible, and this solution has already been adopted by dozens of armored fighting vehicles across the world. However, the Lince doesn’t have the luxury of being able to adopt such a hull floor design because a v-shaped hull still has to have an adequate stand-off distance from the ground for the sake of ground clearance and tactical mobility, and therefore it invariably increases the height of the tank. It also increases weight of the vehicle since there is much more armored mass. This doesn’t mean it’s weight inefficient. It’s more mass efficient than a similar level of protection by parallel steel floorboards, but the Lince can neither afford a v-shaped hull or the same amount of protection through more conventional means.

Therefore, an extra layer of protection is offered by new electronic technology. This refers to the PAMEM-10 electromagnetic mine protection system (EMPS) designed by Indra-Begón. PAMEM-10 offers high survivability against mines with magnetic fuses by prematurely detonating them. The system can prematurely detonate mines ahead of the tank and beside the tank, as the tank is moving forward, or behind the tank as the tank is moving in reverse. As a consequence, the landmine threat will be neutralized before it can damage the vehicle. The electromagnetic kit is lightweight, weighing only eighty-five kilograms and has a low power consumption of .8kW, which can be taken from the power pack. The system also requires a low volume of up to around fifteen liters, and most of it can even be added to the exterior of the tank in a modular kit which can be added when necessary (although the low weight makes it attractive for permanent installation). Its ease of installation makes it a prime candidate to be retrofitted into existing armored fighting vehicle designs of the kingdom’s armed forces. The only disadvantage is that the system has trouble working properly at velocities greater than 40km/h, and one of the Lince’s goals is a high cross-country velocity. Nevertheless, when an anti-tank landmine threat exists, it’s expected that an armored fighting vehicle will slow during an advance. In the end, it can be considered that the survivability of the crew and the tank relies on their own judgment.

Protection against spalling
One of greatest threats to the survivability of the tank is not necessarily the impacting projectile, whether a shaped charge formed hypervelocity penetrator or a long-rod penetrator. When an impact occurs along a surface of a vehicle’s armor a series of mechanical shockwaves propagate throughout the armor, normally cracking and fracturing the armor. These properties have been exhibited with steel, but are much more obvious in new lightweight armors such as aluminum or ceramic, and especially in new armors which exhibit high-hardness but low tensile strength like high-carbon steels (high-hardness steel (HHS) and very hard steel (VHS), for example). In other words, spalling occurs in greater quantity when the material in question is more brittle relative to another. The fracturing of the armor, or spalling, can sometimes do the most damage to an armored fighting vehicle because it’s what will have the largest volume effect. In simple terms, the showering of sharp and sometimes hot metal or composite fragments will probably do more damage than the remnants of a shaped charged jet. Another type of spalling is the fragmentation of a long-rod penetrator during penetration. As the penetrator defeats the armor, the armor succeeds in breaking off pieces of the long-rod throughout the penetration process and if the long-rod succeeds in perforating the target a showering of shards of long-rod penetration into the inner volume of the armored fighting vehicle normally occurs. These shards normally exhibit extremely high temperatures, and if they penetrate into the crew cabin they can kill, wound or blind the crew.

Spall liners may have been in existence before the 50s, but they began development after the introduction of all-aluminum armored fighting vehicles. Spall liners are lightweight inner armor protection which ‘catch’ and absorb the spalling before it enters the vehicle, and adds yet another dimension to armor protection. Interestingly, many spall line materials are also used to encase ceramic modules in infantry body armor. This illustrates the idea fairly effectively. These materials absorb the fragmentation of the ceramic and keep the ceramic in place, increasing ballistic efficiency and saving the life of a fortunate soldier. These materials are normally very light – especially when compared to the weight of the accompanying ceramic – and are fairly cheap. Since the introduction of more mass efficient armors, and especially new composite materials, spall liners have made an important presence in the design of armored fighting vehicle armor. In the Lince’s case, a spall liner is extremely important throughout the vehicle’s internal surface area. Throughout the front 120º of the vehicle, for example, the spalling of the thicker structural steel, ceramic and encasing titanium is a threat to the wellbeing of the crew in the chassis and the continued working of the main gun, as well as the autoloader. Elsewhere throughout the sides of the chassis and turret, the spall liner protects from the spalling of the S-Glass and the structural steel, as well as spalling of small-caliber armor piercing projectiles and shaped charge penetrating jets. Importantly, the spall liner protects the entire tank from the deformation and spalling of the two spaced metal plates which provide the tank’s anti-mine armor protection.

Several materials were available to choose from for the Lince’s spall liner, although particular interest was placed in the use of a metal matrix composite. Early tests with metal matrix composites did not prove as fruitful as one would hope, as little evidence was shown that metal matrix composites helped increase the mass efficiency of any type of armor. During tests with high velocity cylindrical tungsten penetrators, impacting at around 800m/s, materials reinforced with metal matrices did exhibited better ballistic characteristics than non-reinforced materials. Historically and scientifically speaking, interest into metal matrix composites arose originally for space shuttle protection against high-velocity impact of meteorite fragments or orbital debris. In 1995, a series of tests in a number of defense companies which worked for the government for the development of new and advanced manned space shuttles and unmanned orbital satellites rated the efficiency of a metal matrix reinforcing an aluminum plate. Aluminum was chosen given that its ballistic properties were already well tested and recorded in a number of declassified papers. During impact, it was found that the reinforced aluminum plate did not spall. Therefore, it could be said that the information on the ballistic efficiency of metal matrix composites is not positively exaggerated or necessarily negative.

Aramid was also researched and tested given the advantages it has over a number of other materials. These advantages include low density (1/5 the density of armored steel), high specific strength, low elongation, good shockwave absorption and cost. Historically, Aramid (also known as Kevlar) has been used widely as a spall liner material throughout vehicles which are currently sold on the international market. It’s light and effective, and ballistic research was conducted on Aramid fabric reinforced by a metal matrix. It was found that the efficiency of the new Aramid composite increased slightly. However, other materials were also studied. Ultimately, Dyneema was chosen due to the fact that it’s a third lighter than Aramid and ballistically comparable to fiberglass. It’s worth to note that given that all the names of the armors tested are capitalized – their names do not denote the material used, but the name of a product. Unfortunately, the original manufacturers of this material are no longer known and these fabrics are manufactured throughout the world under the same names. In any case, Dyneema was reinforced by a metal matrix and applied to the inside of the Lince in varying thicknesses. One can imagine that the thickness is greater where the threat to the tank is more acute. In other words, thick liner protection can be witnessed along the floor of the vehicle, inside the turret and on the sides of the chassis which protect the crew compartment and the engine. A thin liner of this reinforced fabric is also installed on the moving breech block of the main gun, to protect the mechanics of the gun against shards of armor piercing projectiles – at least, as much as possible.

Armor protection against top-attack munitions
Top-attack missiles have long been a threat, and large diameter shaped charges are hard to defend against – especially when the turret roof is relevant. In fact, it’s probably near impossible to protect the turret’s roof against a shaped charge with around 600mm of penetration. The Lince’s protection requirements in the roof area are different from other tanks given that the Lince’s turret is completely unmanned. The areas of the most necessary protection are the gun breech and the liquid propellant cells. The ignition of the liquid propellant in the turret will effectively put the tank out of action until the turret can either be repaired or replace – in other words, a long time. The new generation of threats to a tank includes top-attack submunitions, such as radar guided explosively formed penetrators. These new weapons are small and powerful, with the ability to perforate up to 150mm of steel, and they are hard to defeat with active protection systems due to their angle of attack and the quantity they attack with. The use of the ‘Jungla’ netting helps protect the tank a bit, by making it extremely difficult for a top-attack weapon to lock-on, but a physical layer of armor is desired.

To illustrate the problem at hand it’s best to use the example provided by the Nakíl 1A2 export brochure. During the Battle of Ishme-Dagan, where hundreds of thousands of tanks operated simultaneously in a much reduced field of battle, top-attack munitions fired from tanks and large caliber artillery systems reigned supreme. Entire tank platoons, or even companies, were eliminated in artillery bombardments on known tank positions. The appearance of these anti-tank weapons rendered massed tank attacks risky and inefficient, given that they could be broken up by a combined artillery strike. Although detection reduction methods will help curve the efficiency of top-attack explosive formed projectiles, massed attacks will always be a threat to a tank and a tank formation of any given size. These weapons are cheap and are plentiful. A single 155mm artillery round can hold more than six. Assuming six, a battery of ten guns with the ability to ray up to five rounds simultaneously by using different trajectory rounds for each round can thus attack a tank formation with no less than three hundred top-attack submunitions! Three hundred in technically a single artillery salvo (all fifty rounds will impact simultaneously). This threat is no joke.

Many new tanks have included thicker layers of ballistic steel to increase protection on the roof, while others have begun to use roof-mounted explosive reactive armor boxes. The Lince design team has opted for the latter, given that it’s one of the most lightweight solutions available. However, instead of explosive reactive armor the design team has designed to apply non-explosive reactive armor (NxRA) panels integrated into the turret roof. These are more lightweight and offer multi-hit capability – something light explosive reactive armor doesn’t. The panels are constructed out of aluminum and are completely modular, making replacement easy. The reaction is caused by expanding gasses, instead of an explosive, and the reaction is much more limited. NxRA not only offers a high level of protection against explosively formed penetrators, but it helps stop the growth of the metal slug. These lightweight panels add less than 350kg of weight to the turret roof, are cheap and extremely effective. The ballistic plates are constructed out of titanium and S-glass, which are mass efficient against such chemical energy threats. Another advantage of NxRA over explosive reactive armor is that it’s completely passive and doesn’t have a chance of damaging the structure of the thin steel turret roof. On the other hand, lightweight explosive reactive armor admittedly offers far more protection for its thickness and mass. Nevertheless, it’s arguable whether that level of protection is required. Furthermore, it’s hard to give explosive reactive armor multi-hit capability without using multiple impact plates which invariably add mass.

The non-explosive reactive armor modules on the Lince’s tank roof can protect from multiple explosively formed penetrator impacts on the same module (two to three impacts, notably) and can be replaced quickly, cheaply and in the field. If there is an artillery strike on a tank formation made-up by the Lince, the tank formation will have a high chance of survival given that the chances of the threat locking-on have been reduced, and the tank’s roof is protected by an armor system which can receive multiple impacts before being rendered obsolete. However, they can’t protect against the more powerful shaped charge munitions which offer penetration capabilities in the area of 500mm or more. Although the modules will help absorb the energy of the jet and break it up, the jet will most likely still perforate the roof’s steel construction. Protection against such threats is largely up to the camouflage netting and to the active protection system built into the tank.

Castilla y Belmonte

21-01-2008, 18:08

‘Ariete’ Active Protection System
Active protection systems are a relatively new defensive system developed around the world at different times – and many times independently. They are a response to the requirement of lightweight protection against a myriad of threats. Originally, active protection systems were useful for defeating unguided rocket propelled grenades, and the processing speed of the computers which control these systems has sped up in response to the velocity increase in the more modern anti-tank guided missiles. Some of the newest active protection systems are said to be effective against long-rod penetrators during flight, although most of these are marketing ploys and tests are composed of an active protection system defeating a long-rod penetrator from a known angle of attack, know velocity and an early warning. Reliable defeat of long-rod penetrators is not an established trait in any known active protection system of this era. Nevertheless, over the years active protection systems have helped increase reliability, accuracy and efficiency against rocket propelled grenades and large anti-tank missiles. For example, early active protection systems developed during the early 1990s and tested in the field report an efficiency of over 80% (meaning, 80% of the target rocket propelled grenades were destroyed in flight), while newer systems report efficiencies of up to 98%. That means that current active protection systems can defeat singular threats almost guaranteed, and can destroy multiple threats simultaneously with a high chance of success.

The Ariete system on the Lince tries to achieve this rate of success with new technologies that will decrease system size, without trying to spiral up costs. One of the major areas of work is the respective radar of the system. Phased array radars used on early and recent systems suffer from having huge antennas which had to hide. Fortunately, there have been successful integration of X-band phased array radars into active protection systems – these radars are many times smaller than the originals. Furthermore, cheap active protection systems (cheap in cost) only have an effective frontal arc of protection (300º), while in order to provide 360º of protection a tank must have multiple sensors or a rotating radar mast. Many of the more recent active protection system which have made a debut on a number of new main battle tanks use millimeter wave radar as their detection system of choice, stating excellent detection capabilities from a compact radar source. This may not be true. Millimeter wave radars suffer from problems with ground clutter, and the filtering of ground clutter is imperative for any tank-borne radar system. Although ground clutter may not be imperative in an active protection system given the detection and engagement ranges in question, it’s intuitive to believe that the longer the radar can detect a threat the more the system has a chance to counter it. With this in mind, it’s also true that longer detection ranges will make engaging and destroying long-rod penetrators in flight will be a much easier task. However, ground clutter isn’t the only problem. Millimeter wave radars have trouble distinguishing targets in rain, with the intensity of the rain playing a large role in the efficiency of the radar system, and targets covered and surrounded by snow. In respect to these problems, it was found during testing that millimeter wave radar with bandwidths of around 35 GHz preformed better than those with bandwidths of 95 GHz.

The Ariete uses wideband X-band phased array radar, with an active antenna, as its detection radar. Ground clutter is avoided through the use of a high-temperature superconducting high-purity local oscillator. These are highly effective and compact as compared to their older technological brethren. The radar antennas mast is located on the turret roof, to the rear, and rotates to provide 360º protection. The antenna is smaller compared to the phased array and millimeter wave radar masts currently in use in other vehicle designs, and is amongst the most effective. Not only is the detection range increased, and the efficiency against aerial and ground clutter augmented, but its capabilities versus stealth targets have also been incremented in the face of new stealth tanks and stealthier anti-tank missiles.

The new phased array radar is matted with an electromagnetic warning system with all-around coverage of the tank using a number of sensors (one per reception arc). This system helps detect guided anti-tank missile threats by detecting when the tank has been locked-on by an electronic source. These systems are in wide use and in this case the Lince offers no technological improvements. The system can work in tandem with the radar to decrease the time required to detect a threat, and increase the allowed time to respond to any given threat. This includes tank-gun threats, like long-rod penetrators, which rely on the tank ‘lasing’ the Lince with a laser rangefinder (LRF). The electromagnetic warning system is of 3rd generation (current generation) and is relatively light weight. The sensors are protected against artillery shrapnel, and include electrically moving shields to protect from rocks and small-caliber anti-personnel gun fire. For example, the sensor for the frontal arc of the tank is included in the tank commander’s main sight which is protected by an armored flap.

The Ariete active protection system is a multi-layer defensive aid suite (DAS), and includes a soft-kill mechanism. The grenades used by this soft-kill system have already been explained in the lethality section, above, but it should be noted that these can be used by the system to lay a smoke screen to confuse a laser guided or radio guided missile. The soft-kill system also uses a small laser blinder located on the gun mantlet, to the opposite side of the co-axial 20mm autocannon, which is designed to ‘blind’ incoming anti-tank missiles along the frontal arc (for example, gun-launched missiles or missiles launched from an infantry combat vehicle). The protection capabilities of the soft-kill suite are dubious, but it adds an important and lightweight defensive layer to the tank. In other words, nothing is extraneous when it comes to tank survivability! Well, to a certain extent, of course!

The hard-kill system is offered by a number of grenade launchers arrayed along the turret and even on the toe glacis plate of the tank. The grenades launched are specifically designed to deal area effect damage on a long-rod penetrator or on a missile. The grenades are packed with thousands of tungsten balls and upon fragmentation these are dispersed in the air. The result is the destruction of the incoming rocket propelled grenade or anti-tank missile, or the yawing of the long-rod penetrator which will either decrease penetration into the tank’s armor or steer it off course completely. Due to the rotating mast, the hard-kill system covers a bubble around the entire tank and matches (or exceeds) the efficiency of current hard-kill active protection systems against missile threats. Like what has been said above, the system is nowhere near reliable against kinetic energy threats such as long-rod penetrators. However, the technology is being developed to make the defeat of long-rod penetrators a real possibility.

Gazing into the crystal ball
What exists in the future of armor protection? Sistemas Terrestres Segovia will always be looking into the development of advanced armor materials which can substitute current materials to increase the mass efficiency of armor. Furthermore, current materials will be perfected in order to increase the efficiency – this includes optimization of the ratios between backing material and ceramic material for the frontal array armor on the Lince. Given the modularity of the Lince’s armor, it’s effectively much easier to replace the tank’s current armor protection with more advanced modules should these become available in the future. In the end, it saves development time and development costs which would have to be put into the development of a brand-new tank. Instead, the Lince can continue to be modernized and improved over a long period of time. Given the Lince’s lightweight, the chassis will continue to be relevant for a long while. When foreign tank producers devise their own ways to decrease tank weight, the Lince will already be there – in other words, the Lince will not suffer from antiquation in the next-generation of tank design. Sistemas Terrestres Segovia is sure that the Lince is one step ahead of all current generation main battle tanks.

Other necessary developments in armor materials include more effective spall liners which will allow increasing thickness and therefore increasing internal volume existent for all the mechanisms which make up a tank. This will, in turn, allow for empty space to be used for other purposes (spare ammunition, for example). Material science will continue to progress where relevant to lightweight plastic and fiber reinforced glass armored materials which the Lince can use to replace current state-of-the-art armor panels along the side and rear of the turret and chassis. The ultimate goal is to decrease the weight of the armor as much as possible, to the point where the Lince might be able to weigh less than forty tons. Although this is not currently possible, with the required protection levels, in the future it might be. These new armors include electromagnetic armor, electric reactive armor and smart armor. The latter, as an example, will be able to optimize the threat-defeat mechanism through the use of embedded sensors which can determine impact location, projectile velocity and diameter and can detect the optimum time to react to the threat. Smart armor has the capability of being highly mass efficient. In other words, smart armor is a highly advanced and efficient form of explosive reactive armor.

Developments in active protection systems will always be flowing through Sistemas Terrestres Segovia and the subcontracted companies. Reductions in radar size, for example, are bound to happen, as well as the increase in power and efficiency. Processors will be designed to allow almost instantaneous reactions to inbound threats, increasing hard-kill system efficiency versus kinetic energy threats like long-rod penetrators in flight. Advances in laser technology will also increase the efficiency of existing soft-kill systems, to the point where their inclusion in armored fighting vehicles would be a completely requirement. Protective suits like active protection systems promise high levels of protection for a low corresponding weight. In other words, when active protection systems gain faultless reliability they may be able to replace physical armor, given that by then physical armor will be obsolete. Of course, the chances of anything become faultless is close to zero and so most likely active protection systems will always be matted to some sort of physical armor protection. However, the thickness required for the armor protection on the vehicle will reduce considerably.

Over time new lightweight protection systems will be devised to enhance survivability of an armored fighting vehicle against anti-tank land mines, improvised explosive devices, and top attack munitions. This includes the use of more advanced electric reactive armor which may be able to completely neutralize a chemical energy threat of any given size. Advanced electric armor will have to be accompanied by smaller and more lightweight power supplies, capable of offering the required electrical output. Nevertheless, reliable and lightweight electric reliable armor is not a long distance away, and new pulsed power supplies being developed will manage to offer more than the electrical output required to defeat any given chemical energy threat. However, advances need to be made on giving this type of armor multi-hit capability. Over a large surface area this capability can be provided by building the armor into independent modules. However, this technology will require more time in order to develop lightweight module systems and efficient electrical providers to power multiple modules without the necessary wiring.

Despite the necessary technological advancements in order to provide future protection systems, the area is promising. Small nations, with limited defense budgets, are continuously looking at lightweight protection for their lightweight cavalry vehicles (a line of vehicles based on a common chassis, which can be transported by aircraft – like the BSI). Given the high demand for these technologies, most defense companies around the world will continue to invest heavily on lightweight protection schemes. Furthermore, lightweight protection development is not only specific to armored fighting vehicles. Like always, naval protection schemes go hand in hand with tank protection schemes. For example, there are several international projects to adapt electric reactive armor to an all-electric aircraft carrier. Not to mention that the development of lightweight alternatives to steel interest both fields of defense. With this kind of optimism in mind, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia is certain that the near future will reveal new lines of advanced technologies.

Castilla y Belmonte

21-01-2008, 18:10

Mobility

Suspension
The velocity at which a tank can move cross-country is normally limited by the comfort of the crew and not by the power offered by the tank’s engine. To give an idea, some tanks sport very poor power to weight ratios and yet have superior cross-country mobility than other tanks with far more powerful power packs. Crew comfort during movement is termed ‘ride’, and superior suspension systems can offer superior ride. Some tanks have introduced all-steel torsion-bar suspension systems which have drastically reduced the amount of force felt during high velocity cross-country movement. Discomfort during cross-country movement is a product of the jerking of the human body, to the point where serious injuries can occur. Consequently, most tanks have been limited in maximum off-road velocity. However, the Lince had a number of goals in mind, including quick acceleration (more relevant to the engine) and an extremely high cross-country and on-road velocity. To accomplish these goals the Lince design team abandoned the classis torsion-bar suspension which had been used on all of the Castillian tanks since the 1940s, and instead install an advanced active hydropneumatic suspension system.

Coupled with the high-output TA serie 600 advanced gas turbine (AGT), the new hydropneumatic offers the Lince incredibly high on-road velocities without maximizing engine output and without sacrificing torque. Off-road velocity is increased, as well, although the engine output is largely irrelevant in this case. A standard hydropneumatic suspension system has proven to improve ride considerably, as compared to the torsion-bar system. Hydropneumatic suspensions are not new technology and are widely available on the civilian market for civilian automobiles. In these applications, hydropneumatic (or hydrogas, as known in some nations) suspensions have shown to require less roadwheel bump vertical deflection range to ensure comfort of the crew. Furthermore, energy transferred to the crew is decreased by the use of anti-mine crew seats (explained in greater detail in the ‘fightability’ section), given that these are suspended from the floorboards to help the crew avoid bone crushing mechanical shockwaves of an explosion of a powerful anti-tank land mine. These seats also help to do the same during cross-country mobility, as the crew will feel less since the energy of the ride has a far more troublesome time traveling to the crew given that the seats are suspended. In any case, the active hydropneumatic suspension used by the Lince achieves an even greater ride and decreases to an even greater extent crew discomfort. Through computer processing, the suspension can react better to any type of terrain and can calculate the optimal movement lengths of the suspension. In this way, such a suspension can make a tank feel as if it was moving through air, so to speak. Velocities never beforehand thought possible on a tracked vehicle are now completely possible, and the reduction of movement in the vehicle due to better energy absorption also helps increase the gun’s accuracy on the move and reduce the processing requirements of the ballistic computer. Furthermore, active hydropneumatic suspensions are lighter than torsion-bar suspensions, contributing to the Lince’s drive to lose as much weight as possible wherever possible.

Ride comfort also has a lot to do with the vertical deflection movement of the roadwheels, as already alluded to. To give an idea, a tank of the 1960s normally had a vertical deflection range of anywhere between 240 and 380mm. The next-generation of main battle tanks increased this movement range of the roadwheels to up to at least 430mm, and some have it as high as 600mm! However, increasing the range in which a particular roadwheel can bounce and rebound will increase the height of the chassis, and thus of the tank system. Therefore, achieving a more comfortable ride by increase the range of vertical deflection is a trade-off. Fortunately, given that hydropneumatic suspensions re quire less distance to provide the same comfort then the roadwheels don’t require as large of vertical deflection ranges. The Lince’s roadwheels can bounce and rebound within a vertical deflection range of 510mm, which is considerable. This is effectively 130mm more than the Juumanistran JBT.24 main battle tank.

However, ride tolerance is not only a question of the crew, but a question of the quality of the parts which make up the suspension. The more stress any given part of the suspension has to put up with the larger the chance that it will break. Consequently, all parts of the Lince’s active hydropneumatic suspension system are built out of high quality steel. Thus, the Lince’s suspension is highly reliable and can tolerate high off-road velocities in very rough terrain. Given the predominance of agricultural roads in the kingdom this ability is very important, since most of these roads are poorly maintained. Furthermore, the Lince’s suspension had to be designed to be compatible with the mountainous terrain of Vault, given that during a short period of time the development of the Lince had been joined to the development of a future main battle tank with three other nations. With the construction of the suspension, roadwheel deflection and in quality of the parts the Lince can achieve cross-country velocities of around 90km/h! This breaks many conventional restrictions on the velocity of tracked vehicles off-road, and is very close to the goal of over 100km/h set for hyper mobility. In comparison, most main battle tanks can only achieve off-road speeds of around 40km/h. Some heavy main battle tanks – of the sixty-five ton class – have achieved cross-country speeds of 60km/h through the use of roadwheel deflection ranges of over 600mm and through extremely reliable suspensions, but the ability of the Lince is unique (or very close to it).

The Lince can possibly reach cross-country mobility of 100 km/h, however field testing of the suspension has to be recorded first in order to completely understand the effect of extremely high velocities on tracked vehicles. For example, the effects on track lifespan have to be studied, as well as the capability of suspension parts to withhold the vibrations during fast velocity movements. Currently, a governor limits maximum off-road velocity to 90km/h although much slower speeds are more frequent during tactical movements. Nevertheless, the opportunities in moving from cover to cover are now almost endless – or at least, drastically increased. Furthermore, with the introduce of ‘quick-fit’ rubber pad inserts (explained below) for tracks, damaged rubber pads can be replaced quickly meaning a tank can now afford to have as high an on-road mobility as a wheeled armored fighting vehicle without fear of damaging the roads or the tracks.

TA serie 600 advanced gas turbine
The vehicle’s power is provided through a new advanced gas turbine. Originally, Santa Barbara Sistemas had offered an international contract for an advanced high output diesel engine for the Lince – the nation’s indigenous diesel industry focused on technology for lower output engines for military trucks and even light armored fighting vehicles. However, Turboas – a local gas turbine producer – managed to show a prototype for a new gas turbine with the fuel efficiency of a diesel engine with an advanced cycle for use in a heavy military vehicle. As a consequence, the international contract was dropped and instead the army decided to fund further research into gas turbine technology. The weight and volume of the new engine envisioned by Turboas was unbeatable by any other defense contractor, especially by diesel manufacturers. Up to now, tank turbines have had the issue of gas expenditure since classic vehicle gas turbines have used as much fuel during idle as when it’s at 60% efficiency. Consequently, the issue in gas mileage is mostly related to decreasing the burning rate of fuel when the gas turbine is idle. Most new tanks with gas turbines have solved the problem through the use of an auxiliary power unit (APU) which allows the tank to turn off the engine when it’s idle and turn it back on when the tank wants to move. However, Turboas also aimed to increase fuel efficiency when the engine was working. Ultimately, Turboas presented the series 600 gas turbine for use in the Lince.

The series 600 gas turbine produces a little bit over of 1MW worth of energy, or 1,400hp. With said output, the Lince has a power to weight ratio of over 30:1, which is considerable. Comparable vehicles have power to weight ratios of around 24:1 and have engine outputs of over 1,500hp. This rather high power to weight ratio is necessary for fast acceleration, especially over rough terrain, which consequently improves battlefield mobility (in the ability to move from one cover to another). The serie 600 has a volume of about .73m3 and weighs a bit over 600kg, which is roughly three times lighter than a comparable diesel. Furthermore, the series 600 has about a forty percent reduction in parts meaning it’s less complex and easier to maintain. Its lightweight design also allows fast field power pack replacements by the tank crew. Furthermore, its fuel efficiency, power output and low volume make it ideal for a hybrid power system – like that used on the Lince. Coupling the series 600 gas turbine with a high-output electric generator allows considerable volume reductions in regards to the engine.

The biggest change in gas turbine design with the series 600 is the placement of an advanced recuperator in the air stream of incoming air. Recuperators, as their name suggests, recuperate energy lost as heat and reinsert it into the turbine cycle. However, not only does this recuperator do this but it also serves to preheat the incoming air used by the turbine, increasing energy efficiency. Through the use of alloys cycle temperature can increase from around 1,315º © to 1,537º, increasing energy efficiency and fuel efficiency. These alloys include replacements for steel and the use of nickel coatings and ceramics for gas turbine blades. Furthermore, the series 600 achieves a pressure ratio of over 60, which is considerable for a gas turbine and is based on technology developed for aircraft gas turbines. Further volume reduction, as said above, is done through the incorporation of a 24,000rpm high speed generator using the same cooling, lubrication and bearings as the gas turbine. Thermal efficiency of the series 600 is rated at 65% through the use of a combined cycle, which is an improvement over the 45% achieved through a simple cycle. This means that no more than one-third of the engine’s power output is lost to heat, meaning the series 600 is considerably more efficient than most other engines currently on the market.

Engine life is enhanced by a use of turbine diagnostic system (TDS) which is composed of a number of sensors built into the turbine which can detect when the engine needs to be repaired, or if it’s close to breaking down. More accurately, this system gives the tank crew and maintenance crew the necessary information to make an assessment of the tank engine and to make sure that the engine is in its maximum shape before it enters the field. Through the use of this system engine lifespan is enhanced because it will help avoid operating the engine under non-ideal conditions. Given that the series 600 gas turbine will remain in the army’s inventory as the power producer for the Lince for a long time to come, engine life is very important. It will help save money over the long run and will help keep tanks moving on the field. As a result, less field maintenance issues are expected and fewer tanks will need engine replacements during maneuvers. Field breakdowns will be kept at a minimum, meaning more tanks will be available for any given tactical battle.

The engine is combined with an under armor auxiliary power unit (UAAPU), which is easily installed and maintained through a hatch near the toe glacis under the hull. The battery provided is a lithium-ion battery, and is able to keep the tank’s electronic systems running while the engine is turned off. This not only keeps a tank fully operational while the engine is turned off when the tank isn’t moving (avoiding gas expenditure at idle), but allows a tank to utilize at its maximum available stealth to ambush an enemy. The former is extremely important, especially when taking into consideration the large amounts of time a tank engine can spend in idle. The reduction in gas expenditure is immense. In the latter’s case, that means that there is almost no heat production coming from the tank engine and no noise. The tactical advantages during an ambush should be obvious.

The use of new turbine technology has increased all the advantages of a gas turbine system (low volume, low weight, smaller amount of parts and lower noise production) and negated the disadvantages (fuel consumption). Nonetheless, advanced in gas turbine technology will always be looked for given that the technology used in the series 600 will most likely soon be on the open market, even though the series 600 will not be exported. Rumors exist that Turboas is currently working on the series 610 gas turbine which will decrease volume further and increase output. One of the most important exporters of gas turbines in the world, Vault 10, is also rumored to make available equally as efficient gas turbines for use on main battle tanks. This engine may make an appearance in the nation’s future main battle tank, which should resemble to a high degree the Lince. Some has suggested a technological partnership between Turboas and the respective Vault manufacturer, but that’s pure speculation.

Balzán 800T-96A electric transmission
The design of the tank’s transmission system proved to be one of the most difficult areas of development throughout the entire program. A number of options were presented by various different companies. The most advanced conventional transmission presented was Industria Mecánica Real’s (IMR) IMR-8020-20 hydro-kinetic planetary gear shift transmission, with four forward and two reverse gears. The transmission transmitted around seventy-eight percent of the engine’s power to the sprocket – in this case, sprocket power was rated at 1,092hp. This is a considerable improvement when compared to other transmissions – on average, horsepower at the sprocket is rated at approximately 1,000hp from a 1,500hp engine (a 67% transfer rate). The new transmission was neither heavy for its class, nor light, being similar in weight to comparable transmission systems. Other automatic transmission systems were showcased, but none of them offered the transfer power of the IMR-8020-20, and furthermore IMR’s transmission was not more expensive than the competition. IMR’s only competition was provided through Balzán’s 800T-96A electric transmission. The major advantage of this transmission over any mechanical transmission is weight loss – Balzán’s transmission weighs over half as less than IMR’s, which is of major importance for a tank with a weight goal of forty-five tons. On average, a power plant can consume an average of 20% of a main battle tank’s weight. Using this figure one can assume, for example, that the power plant on a sixty-five ton tank weighs 13 tons. This is a considerably amount of weight since that’s effectively the maximum weight limit of the Lince’s turret Therefore, priority on weight loss had to be put over cost (to an extent).

Balzán’s new electric transmission delivers about 75% of the engine’s power to the sprocket, or roughly 1,050hp. Better efficiency is provided through more suitable conductors, although electric transmissions remain less efficient than their mechanical brethren – at least those which are ready for integration into a combat vehicle. Although Balzán’s system has been implemented into the Lince as an advanced lightweight transmission, it still hasn’t eliminated other heavy parts of standard transmission systems – the clutch, reduction gear and differential gear. Most of what today is considered a transmission would disappear through the use of magnetic electric drive motors attached to the roadwheels, designed to deliver high torque. Testing is still underway in order to increase rotational velocity to maintain high vehicle velocity, since current motors reduce speed in order to producer higher values of torque. Although this type of transmission is much more efficient than an electric transmission electric roadwheel motors are not understood or developed to a stage where they can be successfully implemented.

Furthermore, extreme cost is still an issue. The issue remains if a twenty million dollar vehicle is as lethal as the vehicle would be if it cost closer to ten million. The argument takes into consideration that a country can buy an effective ‘third-generation’ main battle tank for an average of eight million dollars if the vehicle is widely produced. That means that for a platoon of ten twenty million dollar vehicles the enemy can have a platoon of twenty-five eight million vehicles. That constitutes an advantage of 2.5:1. This has been exemplified by the recent Juumanistran procurement of the Kyton main battle tank for an average of twenty-five million per vehicle. At what point does cost become an issue? It becomes an issue when money is a limiting factor in the amount of vehicles a nation can procure. Although larger nations, with larger budgets, have expectations that they can procure what they want in the numbers they want this becomes untrue under the circumstances that a nation has to maximize procurement – such a total war. For a nation like Juumanistra this might not be important, given that the threat of total war is low. However, it is when it comes to export. It makes little sense for Castilla y Belmonte to purchase the Kyton at twenty-five million per tank, even assuming the tank was four times as effective as the JBT.14 (which goes for about two million per tank). The kingdom can procure more than twelve JBT.14 tanks per Kyton, which is important to consider. Let’s assume that Castilla goes to war with a nation of equal economic capability. That enemy buys a total of one thousand Kyton main battle tanks for 25 billion dollars. Castilla spends the same amount of money (similar economic purchasing parity) on the JBT.14, buying 12,500 of them. If the Kyton is four times as effective that means that theoretically one Kyton can knock-out four JBT.14 tanks. Let’s say that one Kyton has been knocked-out and four JBT.14 tanks destroyed – suddenly, the odds are 12.09:1. Let’s assume that in the war one hundred Kytons have been knocked-out and four hundred JBT.14 tanks – the odds are now 13.5:1! Despite the greater loss of the inferior tank (four times as much, as theory suggests), the odds in battle grow in the inferior tank’s favor. That is when cost becomes an issue. At one point technological superiority becomes irrelevant and inferior to quantity.

This must be taken into consideration when one begins to second guess the Lince program’s procurement policies. Cost is not an issue to a certain extent, but some limitations in money allotted to development and construction must be set or else the technological advancement of the tank is outstripped by the cost. That’s why an electric transmission was chosen over the mechanical transmission, but not the independent motors for the roadwheels. Balzán’s transmission was more expensive than IMR’s, but not exponentially so. It was a cost worth the advantage, in other words.

Track design
Tracks have evolved a long way since the introduction of the tank, especially in durability and weight. Today, a tank can expect to travel up to 5,000km without requiring a track replacement! The tracks constitute an important part of any tank design, and their influence is largely ignored by most tank designers around the world. Today, a track set on a sixty ton main battle tank can weigh around 5,592kg! Most of today’s tanks use a double-pin connector track with a cast monoblock body. These tracks reduce stress on the track bolt, increase track lifespan and decrease manufacturing costs. And although they have a considerable weight, it can be largely assumed that track weight has decreased by small amounts over the decades. However, 5,500kg would constitute about 12% of the Lince’s weight (although the total track weight would be considerably less on the Lince, due to the smaller length of the track)! As one can imagine, quite a bit of effort has been put in the reduction of track weigh and has led to several different ideas. There were tests with aluminum tracks, which garnered a weight of about 75kg per meter of track, but aluminum was found to be an insufficient metal to deal with the stresses imparted on the track and therefore the project was abandoned.

Admittedly, the idea of continuous band tracks was toyed with given that these are lightweight and produce considerably less noise. The use of a continuous band track makes more sense on the forty-five ton Lince than it would on a sixty ton tank, but even then it was found hard to justify the lightweight for the remainder of the disadvantages. Given that the track isn’t made out of independent track links, in order to replace a track on a tank the tank would have be tipped over. Furthermore, small damages which would normally be resolved by changing a track link have to be repaired by complete replacement of the track. Consequently, the use of a band track was found to be unfavorable with the design goals of the Lince. There have been developments in continuous band tracks produced out of rubber, but these are for armored fighting vehicles in the low weight class (ten tons).

Ultimately, the Lince program reverted back to steel tracks, but searched for a more lightweight design. One of the available solutions was a new track system that had the sprocket tooth interact with the track body and not with the external connectors, relieving the track bolt from much stress. Therefore, the end connector can be made much lighter since it doesn’t have to deal with the impact stresses the original track had to. Although the track body has an increased service life, the rubber pads don’t – reduction in rubber pad size has led to increased pad wear. Although this is not a major problem, there was an alternative track to choose from. MecániCas offered a lightweight track design with a weight of around 95kgs per meter of track composed of two lightweight steel bodies on two hollow steel pins with rubber bearings, and they’re connected by two end connectors and a steel center connector with an integrated center guide. Pads are replaced through a ‘Quick-fit’ system and are locked in by a latch, which increase the service life of the rubber pads. The classic rubber pads have been replaced by an elastomer which can withstand higher temperatures, and thus putting up more favorably with high-speed vehicle travel. These tracks achieve a service life of 5,000km on a forty-five ton vehicle and save nearly half the weight! MecániCas’ track, called the Tipo 640, weighs around 1,800kg for the set of tracks on each Lince.

As a comparison, take into consideration that the average track weight of a sixty-ton tank is 5,500kg – this is nearly 1% of the weight. The Lince’s tracks made up roughly .04% of the vehicle’s total weight, which is almost three times the improvement. Originally Sistemas Terrestres Segovia was looking into the possible use of ceramics and composites to make the tracks and roadwheels from. However, none of the available materials compared to steel. It was found that a composite roadwheel could better survive the explosion of a land mine given its flexibility, but the service life was found to be ridiculously low. However, if materials of this type are developed to replace steel that could constitute a further loss in weight by a large margin which is one step further to the development of a forty-ton, or less, main battle tank. The Lince E export project will exhibit a number of different tracks for export, meant for different weight classes of tanks, and the development of tracks for the export market may lead to development of innovative ideas for the Lince. Furthermore, the Lince E export project will probably attract foreign defense companies to cooperate with the project and sell a number of their products as possibilities for a ‘home-made’ Lince. This means that there may be cooperation between indigenous track companies, including MecániCas (a trucking company, for the most part), and foreign track companies.

For quick repairs the Lince offers a mounting on the upper glacis for up to four track links. This organization goes back to the development of the KJ-1930, which organized spare track links on the glacis to increase protection (given that at that time protection was based on steel). The KJ-1930 also included two spare roadwheels in an open-air bin on the chassis, but the Lince includes two spare roadwheels in an aluminum storage box on the side of the chassis. The maintenance tools for the new tracks are considerably lighter than those for previous track designs, and less are required – these are stored in an under armor storage box towards the rear of the chassis, with the rest of the maintenance tools used by the crew. If a track is damaged and there are no spares a crew is expected to begin the process of repair by themselves and have it ready for when the maintenance crews arrive. Castillian armor doctrine teaches to shorten time between field repairs as much as possible, which is evident with much of the design doctrine of the tank (lightweight power pack, for example). This maintenance doctrine and the use of high service life tracks go hand in hand.

Tactical mobility
Tactical mobility is defined by a tank’s ability to move cross-country, using either small agricultural roads, trails or other unpaved routes. It can be assumed that a tank’s proficiency in this area is especially relative to the terrain the tank is fighting on. The Kingdom of Castilla, for the entirety of its history, had an agricultural based economy – the slow industrialization of the country can be considered one of the principle causes for the economic poverty the kingdom has faced for hundreds of years. Therefore, the majority of the country’s terrain is composed of rolling hills and large-area savannas split up into small plots of land. Soil quality changes from square kilometer to square kilometer – one town can have soft, rich black soil and the next can have rocky and hard soil. These areas are crisscrossed with small agricultural dirt roads, which although well designed and built, are not paved and not maintained by the national government. The recent large scale construction of highways and toll roads throughout the country has led to the construction of bridging to unite divided agricultural roads. In the kingdom highways aren’t built by digging, they’re built at a higher elevation than the surrounding landscape (cities are exceptions, where highways are built completely underground). Consequently, agricultural bridging is normally made-up of bridges with extremely high slopes. Any Castillian indigenous tank has to be able to climb those slopes without problems – not only on the paved section of the bridge (all bridges are mass manufactured and built out of concrete, so they can be considered paved), but up the sides of the slope as well.

The decade (and more) of development for the Lince was spent with various test vehicles of varying weight to test soil strength and the effect of different ground pressures on the various soils that make up the kingdom’s terrain. Given the lack of dedicated tracked vehicles, and the lack of money (most of it had to be left aside for the Lince), tractors with add-on weights were used. Local farmers from the towns visited were paid to rent out their tractors to government scientific teams to test soil strength and find out what the theoretical vehicle cone index for the Lince on each type of soil tested. The ultimate aim was to allow the making of a tracked main battle tank capable of comfortably traversing all the terrain in the kingdom without leaving a major footprint in the area and with the maximum comfort possible. This included the relatively minor mountain chains in some areas of the country.

The tank’s ground pressure is jeopardized by the small track contact with the ground, due to the reduction of the length to offer far more maneuverability. This jeopardizes the tank’s ability to move over the softer soils of the kingdom’s terrain. Nevertheless, the majority of the kingdom’s terrain is navigable by wheeled tractor, and no wheeled tractor can match the ground pressure of a tracked vehicle. Therefore, the Lince has little problem traversing the different soils and terrain types of the kingdom. Given that the kingdom is not expecting any major war on foreign soil in the near future, even with the recent induction of the kingdom into NATO, the ability of the Lince to easily traverse soils such as soft and sandy deserts is not a priority. Nevertheless, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia offers a number of alternative tracks with extended widths which can replace the standard track design on the field. These are designed and manufactured incase the army ever finds itself in situation where it’s at a disadvantage with the lightweight standard tracks. This includes during rainy seasons, when agricultural roads can suddenly change to mud. Although this doesn’t happen in Castilla y Belmonte, the situation might be radically different on foreign soil. Nothing can be discarded, and the Lince has to have ready alternatives to make it a viable weapon in any scenario.

The tank, however, does have a relatively large sprocket to provide a large quantity of torque. The Lince’s design priorities changed when the kingdom entered in agreement with other tank producing countries for the design of a join-tank. Vault 10’s mountainous terrain required a tank capable of traversing high slopes and rocky passes. Although the capability of climbing steep slopes was shared with Castilla, due to the bridging policy previous described, Vault’s requirements were for long-term ability to climb slopes of an average of 20º - mountain passes are longer than a bridge’s slope, after all. Consequently, the Lince includes a heavyweight torque converter box and a large drive sprocket in order to give the tank the capability to climb mountainous terrain. Although Castilla left the project soon after joining it, it was found cheaper to incorporate technologies already developed for the joint tank program. Furthermore, the possibility of exporting the Lince to Vault 10 has never been discarded; given that the Lince can be modified to meet other of the partner nation’s specifications (these included two redundant engines and a smaller gun caliber). The original Lince has also been cleared for export to The People’s Freedom and Lyras should those nations decide to abandon the joint-tank program, or their own tank program, and just purchase the Lince which is the closest thing available to the original ideas of the joint-tank program.

Another important aspect of tactical mobility is the ability to cross rivers. Castilla has a large number of minor rivers crisscrossing the country, and most urban areas are built up along the banks of rivers. In fact, repopulation programs between the 12th and 16th centuries based their new towns and villages on minor rivers to guarantee a water supply and to promote agricultural fishing to reinforce the ever weakening national economy. The Lince includes a lightweight low-diameter snorkel. A large-diameter snorkel is available for export and will be offered with the Lince E – the larger snorkel is the diameter of the average human, allowing the crew to escape the tank if required. Problems with snorkeling capability are alluvial soil’s tendency to collapse and soft soils due to osmosis of water into the soil. Consequently, normally special reconnaissance is required before a tank formation can cross a river by snorkeling, which doesn’t go hand in hand with unrestricted tactical mobility. Fortunately, during the summer most of the nation’s rivers are either extremely shallow (enough for a human to walk through them) or dry and during the winter most rivers don’t tend to fill up remarkably. Furthermore, many provincial governments are currently undergoing programs to cover a river’s soil with concrete to avoid loosing water. However, these programs have experienced furious negative comments from fishermen which are important for the local village’s economy, given that the reinforcement of the river bed with concrete has the impact of killing much of the fish population. The problems with limiting a tank’s freedom through rivers is that the enemy can easily find the ideal crossing points of any given river and orient their defenses to that point – or mine it. Although in a defensive war this might not be a completely important problem, it can be if much ground has been lost and the defending army is carrying on a counteroffensive.

As a consequence, the Lince’s tactical mobility can only be accurately rated from nation to nation depending on that nation’s soil type. The Lince E will offer so many export kits that most resulting products will be completely different from the original Lince, meaning that this might not be a problem in a custom Lince E design. Nevertheless, given the limited amount of nations the original Lince has been cleared for exports for, its tactical mobility over these nations’ soil is an important problem. Some solutions will have to be devised on a case by case scenario.

Battlefield mobility
This type of mobility is defined by the speed and freedom of any given tank during contact. The principle component of battlefield mobility is exposure time, and in that area the Lince excels. Exposure time is defined by the time a tank requires to move from one cover to another, regardless of the fact of whether or not that tank has already fired a round. The longer the tank has been exposed during movement the longer the enemy has to get a ballistic calculation and engage. Exposure time is not all controlled by the tank; distance between cover and the type of terrain between cover will have a major impact on exposure time. Nevertheless, the tank also plays an equally large role – especially when the separating terrain is navigable. Exposure time is dependent on a number of non-fixed variables: mobiquity (the percentage of terrain which a tank can cover), agility and power. In all of those, except the first in some cases, the Lince is at the top of the line.

Agility is defined by a tank’s maneuverability. As has been mentioned before, agility has been a priority during the Lince program. The excellent electronic transmission is durable during sharp turns, even in succession, and the track design gives the tank inherent excellent agility. The ability to make sharp turns is not entirely dependant on the transmission, although a durable transmission can make an inherently non-agile tank make sharper turns than it could have without that specific transmission. Nevertheless, the ability for a tank to turn is decided by the relation between the length of the track’s contact with the ground and the width between the centerline of each track. In the Lince’s case, contact with the ground is roughly 3,900mm (3.9m) and the respective width is 3,000mm (3m), giving a ratio of 1.3:1. Generally speaking, ratios above 1.5:1 make turning more difficult, to the point where most transmissions will break when a tank turns at a certain angle (during movement, of course). Most tanks have a ratio (the ratio is called the L/C ratio) of around over 1.4:1, which makes the Lince a very agile tank. The short track length on the ground is what makes lightweight technology paramount on the Lince, given that minor increases in weight can have detrimental effects on the tank’s average ground pressure. Nevertheless, during contact the Lince has a high probability of being much more agile than its opponent. Some turretless tank designs have accomplished L/C ratios of 1.1:1, thanks to low weight – a turretless version of the Lince might be designed with this design goal.

In terms of power, the low engine volume and high horsepower output makes of the Lince’s gas turbine is very important. With a horsepower to ton ratio of over 30:1, the Lince is superior to most tanks currently serving in foreign armies and even in the Castillian army. This gives the Lince beforehand unseen acceleration capabilities in short times – 0kph to 60kph in under ten seconds isn’t rare in the Lince’s automotive performance. The result is a serious deduction in the time the Lince will spend in the open during tactical movement from one location to another. This aspect is important in both offensive and defensive battles. On the offensive it will give the enemy less time to lock-on and accurately fire, while it will make the Lince’s job to get as close as necessary to get off a good shot much easier. On the defensive it will allow the Lince to move from one predefined shooting location to another to avoid enemy artillery reappraisals and blind shooting by an enemy who knows the Lince will remain in the same location (so one round has to hit). Coupled with the Lince’s agility, on a one-on-one basis the Lince is a very difficult opponent and probably superior.

Thanks to the Lince’s suspension, the Lince can also fire when moving at fast velocities and the crew ride tolerance is much better than it otherwise would be. This makes fast accelerations possible given that cross-country mobility is limited both by engine performance and ride tolerance. Different nations have different tendencies, which should be discussed. The Questerian MBT-8/E and the Doomani MAD.II both had similar mobility goals in mind – both tanks aimed at high road speeds and high road range over agility and mobiquity. Nevertheless, both tanks had relatively high agility since they had an average L/C ratio of 1.41:1. The JBT.14 only stressed mobiquity on certain terrains (mountainous) and leant towards agility. The JBT.24 was far more centered, leaning towards road speed but largely balanced between road speed and agility, with no so much importance placed on mobiquity. In theory, the Lince is much like the JBT.24 in this aspect. The Lince, however, tries to use technology to enhance both, without ignoring the other. Mobiquity is hard to remedy, but the soil type of the kingdom is largely forgiving.

Mobiquity will have to be improved in a case by case method by exchanging track type. This will limit agility, but for a given terrain agility might be less important than mobiquity (such as muddy conditions). Agility will be improved over time with more advancements in gas turbine technology allowing more power to be produced per volume (engine size increase is not acceptable), better electric transmissions and improvements in the active hydropneumatic suspension system. If further reductions in weight are allowed at some point, mobiquity will be improved to a certain degree by decreasing ground pressure. Lightweight technologies for an acceptable price will always be something the Castillian Ejército de Tierra will keep its eyes peeled for. These includes new high durability composites, and especially in the plastics sector. Any future modification of the Lince might see a larger use of strong plastics to replace steel in many aspects of the design, including some parts of the tracks, the transmission box and the suspension. Lightweight plastics capable of taking the stress of acute vibrations during tank movement already exist and the only thing left is a further understanding of how they work in order to integrate them into a lightweight tank design. It’s envisioned that multiple tons of weight will be saved by exchanging steel with high-strength polymers. The kingdom’s agricultural mechanization industry has already experimented with several new products made largely out of plastic (including in the transmission and fuel tanks).

Strategic mobility
Strategic mobility is synonymous with operational mobility. Both are defined by the ability of a tank to cover long distances by road quickly and reliably. The Lince achieves a high road-speed through the use of a modern active hydropneumatic suspension system, a high vertical deflection range for its roadwheels and by suspending the crew from the vehicle’s floor. It’s lightweight and high engine power gives it the ability to make possible fast velocities over many types of terrain. Furthermore, its tracks are capable of sustaining movement for multiple thousands of kilometers. By what has been presented, the Lince has excellent strategic mobility. What is this good for? The purpose of operational mobility depends completely on a nation’s doctrine. A large quantity of armies believe that their tanks should be able to cover large distances without the aid of trucks or trains, and this belief is large based on the requirements which a future war will hold. The development of deep operation, lightning war or whatever else one wants to call ‘high mobility warfare’ means that in the past fifty years (or more) mobile battles have been fought in areas of an average of 10,000 km2 (based on an operational depth of 100km and a 100km front). During the Castillian Civil War penetrations into the enemy’s rear could require penetrations of over 200km! In nations where available operating space is much larger than that of Castilla it’s possible that the operating depth could be many times 200km. For example, the tank battle of Ishme-Dagan was fought in an area between 15,000-20,000 km2 in size. Some believe that a tank successful in these types of operations should be designed to successfully traverse long distances during peacetime maneuvers and during mobilizations to prepare for war.

Most large nations can’t afford this due to the expanse between one city and another and the required size of their armed forces to defend this territory. At its maximum size, for example, the Macabee army could count on some twenty-six million soldiers (representing less than half of a percent of the empire’s population) to protect the 700-900km front against the Havenic invaders. Starting in the first month of the second year of war, the Macabee Empire built three hundred thousand Nakíl 1A2 main battle tanks! Logistically, these would have been impossible to maintain had they been expected to cover large distances out of battle. During the war the Macabee nation built one of the most impressive locomotive and automotive armored fighting vehicle transport architecture ever devised in the history of modern warfare. The Ejermacht had to juggle armored forces between the Weigari Front, Havenic Front and the Sarcanzan Front. An early peace treaty with Stevid saved the Macabee Empire from what would have been a costly amphibious operation against the Stevidian island with over twenty thousand tanks – it would have been one of the largest amphibious operations in history; the Macabee Empire planned to put no less than two million soldiers on shore within the first three weeks, fifty thousand tanks, two hundred thousand other armored fighting vehicles and millions of tons of logistic materials. For these types of operations, alternative tank transports become imperative given that relying on their own tracks massed amounts of tanks would be too costly to allow.

For small, defense-minded nations like Castilla the need for a tank to cover huge tracks of land in small amounts of time is less important than a tank’s abilities to defeat other tanks in short range combat. In a defensive war, assuming that the ground army would have to abandon large portions of the kingdom’s territory to trade space for time, the maximum depth of operations is expected to be around 250km. For amphibious operations (most peacekeeping operations with NATO and any invasions would have to be amphibious) the kingdom accounts for a number of brand-new strategic projection ships, and once on the ground tanks will move on trucks or on train unless an enemy force impedes it. For the sake of deep operation, the Lince’s tracks, engine and transmission can survive long hauls without maintenance. Nevertheless, the army’s doctrine does not require a Lince to travel tens of thousands of kilometers to get to a battle – it relies on alternate means of mass transportation. By doctrine, each tank will have means of transport at any given time. The standard transport truck can carry two Lince tanks, meaning that the three armor brigades will require about four hundred and fifty transport trucks. The nation’s rail system can also comfortably transport the three armor brigades within a short time to any part of the nation. On the other hand, one shouldn’t assume it’s an operational lightweight – the priorities placed on the ability to move cross-country at high velocities, reliably, and the track’s service life alludes to the fact that the Lince can have a fine appreciation of operational mobility if need be.

Logistics has a large impact on operational mobility. Generally speaking, the heavier the tank the more expensive it will be to maintain it. The Lince is relatively easy and cheap to maintain, and not only because of its weight class. The reduction in parts in the power pack, power train and mechanics makes maintenance in these areas much, much easier and cheaper. Keeping a tank up to standards during large-scale movements over long-distances is not as much of a hassle as it was with the JBT.14 or the JBT.24, and maneuvers between armor brigades will put the Lince’s endurance to the test. The power pack can be changed on the field in less than thirty minutes, while the armor’s modularity makes replacing damaged armor much, much faster. It also means that a tank which had been impacted, but not destroyed, can go back into battle in a matter of hours because it will just require a new armor module. The strategic implications are amazing to comprehend – an army outfitted with the Lince will ultimately have more tanks on the field due to the ease of repair. It’s no longer viable to score a mobility kill, or to damage the armor to the point where it would be unwise for the tank crew to ride into battle without a new tank, given that these damages can be fixed in under an hour. A greater percentage of ‘lost tanks’ will be brought back on to the field in record times. It’s a general’s dream to not have to contemplate about ‘wounded in action’ – the Lince comes several steps closer to making this true for tanks.

Castilla y Belmonte

21-01-2008, 18:11

Conclusions

Fightability
Much of the volume and weight reduction in the turret is thanks to the movement of the crew to the chassis, and the use of a three-man crew. A two-man crew was experimented with in a number of pilot chassis however there are a number of disadvantages which dissuaded the Lince designers to adopt a reduced crew. It’s generally accepted that a tank commander and a gunner can be merged into one crew member, since it has been done with other armored fighting vehicles, but it’s done at a cost of gunnery efficiency. On an infantry combat vehicle the earned deficiency might not be important, or noticeable, but the situation is different on a main battle tank where the vehicle is a dedicated hunter-killer and thus efficiency is increased when there is a dedicated hunter (the tank commander) and a dedicated kill (the gunner). Perhaps it’s a product of dogma and a lack of faith in new revolutionary concepts, but the adoption of an unmanned turret suggests otherwise. Furthermore, a three-man crew allows longer sleep shifts since there is one more man to pull guard duty. The Lince keeps a three-man crew, although it’s possible that some units will experiment with two-man crew tanks (the third man will sleep while the other two operate, and therefore two men are always available to operate the tank while a third is resting). Nevertheless, it should be remembered that a three-man crew configured in the hull will require less volume than a three-man crew configured in the turret.

Regardless, there are disadvantages to using an unmanned turret. First, the tank commander is buried in the hull and therefore the vehicle loses the commander’s direct vision of the battlefield. It remains true, within the bounds of modern technology, that the human eyeball and brain can’t be replaced by electronics. However, the Lince’s designers have attempted to do the best possible to supplement them. The Lince uses two independent periscopes – one for the gunner and one for the tank commander – linked to their helmets by fiber optics. These periscopes base their ability to raise themselves on an electric elevator which extends down into the turret ring – the diameter and length of the sights’ roots – and the periscopes are, in simple terms, charged coupled devices matted to a camera system. The periscope can move with the crew member’s head, meaning it resembles his own eye movement – a two-eyed plastic transmitter covers the crew member’s eyes. It perhaps can’t match a human’s resolution and perception, and peripheral vision, but it comes close. Future advances in vision devices for hull buried crews might further justify burying the crew into the hull. However, this limits the commander’s ability to work with the gunner to make gunnery faster and efficient – the tank commander loses the ability to lay the gun after the gunner has killed the target he’s tracking. Another disadvantage an unmanned turret was said to have was increased side profile. This isn’t true for the Lince, as has already been established. For externally mounted guns this might be true, given that there is no turret basket for the gun to depress into – however, the existence of a turret and a turret basket means that this doesn’t necessarily apply to the Lince. Another minor disadvantage is the inability to easily solve jamming problems with the co-axial gun and to fix much of the electronic equipment still inside of the turret when the tank is moving. These issues can only be handled with the tank stopped and a crew member working from the outside. This was one of the reasons why the 20mm autocannon uses combustible links – to avoid having the weapon jam. Residue buildup is probably worse, but long-term jams are seen as a lesser evil as compared to short-term jams. A future co-axial weapon might use caseless ammunition to avoid extraction jams, if these become a problem – although the ejection port is designed larger than normal to decrease the probability of a spent casing jamming the ejection port.

Nevertheless, burying the crew into the hull has a number of advantages. Armor protection along the glacis can be increased due to the loss of armored volume in the turret, and the crew is much better protected by armor and by the engine. Furthermore, putting all three crew members into a unified volume decreases overall volume requirements since the crew members now effectively share working space. Should penetration occur there is a much greater chance of all three crew members dying, however this is seen as a necessary evil given that survivability has increased due to the much smaller chance of being hit. Furthermore, in the hull down position a penetrator is much more likely to engage the turret and not the chassis. Given the shared volume a crew can also operate much more comfortably, given that it seems as if there is a greater volume to work in – even when it’s actually smaller. It also makes the organization of electronics and screens much easier and simpler. These reasons have justified the increase cost of using two dependent periscopes to recreate top vision and the loss of dual tracking between the tank commander and gunner. In the end, it’s much up to the nation’s doctrine and personal choice. A buried crew will likely remain a controversial issue for many years to come, although more and more armored fighting vehicles are throwing in the towel and using the concept. It’s definitely true that new technologies are making it more possible.

The crew disposes of a coffee maker (tea is not Castilla’s style), and the fighting compartment is air conditioned. Fortunately, given the lack of a gun in the fighting compartment, expensive and bulky air filtration systems can be avoided and instead the Lince uses a single air filtration system for nuclear, biological and chemical warfare – this filtration system works cooperatively with the air conditioning system. For personal defense the fighting compartment includes a rack for three personal defense weapons – the Iral model R, which is a shortened version of the assault rifle for vehicle crew members. There’s a wedge which is between the engine and the transmission, close to the vehicle’s floor, which holds a fridge and is accessible by the tank commander. The refrigerator is large enough to hold beverages and is also used to hold food rations, although these food rations can be stored in ambient temperatures. Although it might seem silly, these types of condiments aid in raising crew morale and their willingness to fight. Other things which might seem silly to many, but are entirely effective, are the use of large and neat labels, a well designed and aesthetically appealing control board, flashy technology (such as the eye pieces to the new tanker’s helmet) or the ability for a crew member to interact with another (which in this particular design, contact is difficult not to achieve). The crew suspended seats are built for comfort, and help keep a crew member’s head in place during an explosion to avoid damage to the spine or nerves.

Although smoking isn’t suggested and is actually condoned, a crew member can actually smoke in side of the fighting compartment. The air filtration system and the air conditioning system do good jobs in cleaning the air and help avoid the discomfort of two crew members due to the necessities of one. Although all floor hatches have been eliminated, the crew still has the driver’s electrically opened hatch under the turret – a man can escape when the turret is facing the same direction as the chassis – and there’s a rear door/hatch in the tank. Access isn’t easy, but it’s possible underneath the ammunition carousel. The knowledge that one can escape is extremely important for a crew, otherwise a lack of hope might exist. These small feelings may seem non-existent or ridiculous, but designing a tank to take them into consideration can work wonders to improve morale and crew efficiency.

The Lince does its best to make the fighting compartment livable, including appealing colors and enhancing aesthetic value. It’s common policy for a unit to allow a crew to customize their fighting compartments – some crews, for example, have installed compact disc players and a sound system in their JBT.14s. Crews which have used the Lince say that from all the tanks they have served with (MAD.II, MBT-8/E, JBT.14 or JBT.24) the Lince is the most comfortable. It’s the Lince’s policy that fightability is just as important as lethality, protection or mobility.

Advantages for the national industry
Industrially, the Lince has opened a series of new opportunities for the kingdom’s economy. The production of heavy vehicles for the Castillian Army hasn’t been undertaken since the early 60s, and the recent design of the BSI series and the Lince have not only justified, but have forced, expansion of industrial complexes. It’s envisioned that foreign sales of the tank will bring in enough revenue so that Castillian defense companies can even start buying out foreign competitors – it would be an economic empire based on merges and purchases much like what Macabee Kriegzimmer has done (albeit on a smaller scale). In regards to production, the Lince E is bound to bring in more revenue than the original Lince, given that export of the Lince described here is severely restrained. Nevertheless, the Lince will probably become the most produced tank in the history of the kingdom. However, the Lince has not only served to make Sistemas Terrestres Segovia a world renowned manufacturer and defense organization. The Lince Program has also served to bring other companies out of the backwaters, as subcontractors. For example, Indra might have the possibilities of working on electronic systems for foreign vehicles.

The benefited companies include not only Indra, but MecániCas (an already large defense company), Balzán and Turboas. Turboas has begun the development of a line of gas turbine engines which it will attempt to export for a number of foreign tank modernization programs, and Turboas remains a part of the Lince E export program. Balzán is moving into the mechanical transmission department and will provide a model for the Lince E, while it will work cooperatively with foreign contractors for other tank programs. Most of the vehicles subcontracted for the Lince will remain in the project far after the Lince begins production. The Lince chassis will be used for a large quantity of other vehicles, including a number of artillery systems, an infantry support vehicle, a heavy armored personnel carrier, an assault gun and many others. Chassis production cost is destined to decrease disproportionably than the rest of the tank given that the chassis will be produced in ridiculous quantities for export (as surrogates). The companies also continue research on Lince improvements, and it can be assumed that work is already progressing on the next modification of the Lince (it would be named Lince 1A1).

The amount of money to be cycled through the nation’s market is unprecedented – both from the government, and from foreign sources. Furthermore, many of the technologies developed for the Lince will be spiraled into civilian products. New technologies will be made available for the civilian population, spurring investment and the growth of the national economy. New technologies will also spur foreign populations to invest into Castillian companies and manufacturers, and purchase their products. The new dimension for the nation’s industry is unprecedented. Although the Lince forms only a part of this cataclysm, it’s a fairly large part. Other armament systems have also played a rather large role. MecániCas has recently scored a very large contract with the nation of Wagdog for the construction of their new Tiznao-60, and Sistemas Terrestres Segovia has signed a contract with Tyrandis over the BSI-30 and will most likely sign another contract with Doomingsland. There are also potential contracts which will be made between Sisnaval and client nations over the Type A diesel-electric submarine. Although the Castillian defense economy is not comparable to the defense empires of Kriegzimmer or the HTC, these small steps forward are promising.

Politically, these new contracts have achieved the future projection of Castillian power abroad. Recently, Northford has allowed the construction of a major Castillian naval base in the Eastern coastal waters – a special naval detachment has already been created, with two aircraft carriers, and a new independent mechanized amphibious brigade (1º Regulares) has joined the order of battle of the army (although not recognized as an official part of the future twelve brigade strong army). If similar treaties are signed it will spur a radical increase in armed forces manpower, which will increase demand for production of war material.

In terms of Castilla’s industrial relationships with other countries, Program Lince has greatly aided in establishing research and development agreements with foreign defense companies. In the future, Castillian industries will work in close cooperation with foreign providers in order to create much improved products. Ultimately, it’s hoped that Castillian industry will become project leaders and will drive world wide production which will benefit the kingdom. In other words, Castilla is looking for an economic empire of its own. Although it has to compete with the giants of Juumanistra, Mekugi, Questers, Doomingsland and Automagfreek, in the area of defense it might be able to compete through the introduction of superior products. Growth in the defense sector will lead to growth in the civilian sector, and soon enough Castillian made coffee makers and tea brewers will be used in Northfordian or Spizanian households. Ideally, Castilla y Belmonte will go from being the smallest nation in the region to one of the largest (economically), and will go from being a follower to being a leader.

Spurred largely King Alfonso VI’s new economic policies, the Lince is one of the new products which spearheads the modern industrial revolution within Castilla. The kingdom is no longer a backwater dictatorship, and it has high hopes of being an economic leader throughout the world. Innovation, determination and the lack of remorse are the characteristics which currently drive the kingdom’s economic expansion. The economic growth spurs political growth in the areas of importance and leadership, while the military will have to respond to protect this newfound wealth.

Lince production and deployment
The current twelve brigade army envisions three armor brigades – Ebro, Jarama and Brunete. This calls for a total of nine hundred tanks available at any one time, which means that a reserve of around two hundred will be kept to replace tanks being maintained. That said, total production for the twelve brigade army envisions one thousand one hundred Lince tanks in the first batch. However, there are pressures which are trying to persuade a further expansion of the army. Nevertheless, apart from the main battle tank all the brigades will require large amounts of infantry vehicles of all types, meaning the chassis might be produced into the tens of thousands of the kingdom’s needs alone. Production for foreign orders will many times the amount produced for the nation – the Lince production plants which dot the country and will soon dot foreign countries are not under threat at any point in the near future of running out of work. Continuation of vehicles currently developed will definitely continue for at least a decade, while modifications will keep production plants running for multiple decades. The Lince chassis will most likely remain in service for close to a hundred years.

However, the pressures which call for army expansion includes the nation’s recent induction into the NATO alliance, which means that the kingdom will have to send troops abroad to aid allies in peacekeeping operations and in wars of aggression. Furthermore, if the kingdom signs an economic treaty with any given amount of nations in the near future (1º Villa de León Conference) its armed forces will be required to be ready to keep trade routes open through military conflict. Furthermore, ships will have to be actively patrolling to defeat piracy. This calls for the expensive expansion of the navy, and will most likely require expansion of the army past the envisioned twelve brigades. Some generals have suggested reforming the army into divisions, based on brigades instead of battalions, and increasing the army to its original size – twenty-one divisions strong. This would increase manpower to over 250,000 men, twice as large as it’s currently envisioned to be. Such an army would require perhaps a total of two thousand five hundred Lince tanks in active service. Furthermore, Lince production could increase if the army requires the reserve forces to replace its MAD.IIs with the Lince main battle tank. If that happens, Lince production will increase to over ten thousand units. Although this pales in comparison to armies with hundreds of thousands of tanks in their ranks, the Castillian army prefers a touch of economic realism – the country doesn’t want to afford the ability to maintain that many tanks, and doesn’t need to.

In regards to export potential, Doomingsland is rumored to have acquired a contract. The amount of tanks which will be produced for the Doomani army is currently undefined, and there is no information on Doomani requirements for surrogate vehicles. Nonetheless, production of the Lince itself will most likely run into the tens of thousands. Sistemas Terrestres Segovia is also hoping to open contracts with a number of NATO nations – many of these nations use the Nakíl. Some nations in NATO have been ruled out given their insistence to use their own tanks; however Sistemas Terrestres Segovia is looking at replacing Nakíl fleets in NATO. Allanea for example, has purchased over a million Nakíl main battle tanks in both 1A1 configuration and 1A2 configuration – Sistemas Terrestres Segovia is hoping to replace the Nakíl fleet in Allanea. This nation is known for its extravagant defense expenditures, and may be willing to spend the money for the transformation. Other nations which Sistemas Terrestres Segovia is hoping to persuade include Automagfreek, Tyrandis and Scandavian States. Outside of NATO, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia is hoping to cater to the defense requirements of Franberry for a replacement for their antiquated armor vehicle fleet.

The export version of the Lince, no doubt, will have much more economic success. The Lince E takes advantage of the Lince’s modularity and will present a number of options for the foreign market. The export project includes the ability for a customer to custom pick its weapon of choice, whether it be large caliber or small caliber. Different turrets will be offered for production, and the client will be able to tailor the vehicle to its needs and national requirements. Sixty ton Lince Es will most likely not be rare. This type of ‘tank market’ is unprecedented and promises large sales. Sistemas Terrestres Segovia has hopes of selling more Lince tanks than Kriegzimmer has sold Nakíl main battle tanks. This means that there will have to be over eight million exports, but the Lince has not given up hope.

The Lince has truly revolutionized several aspects of the kingdom’s industry and military, and will probably have severe influences on foreign tank design. Through new technologies the Lince is a new tank concept built on modularity, lethality, unprecedented mobility and high levels of protection. It achieves the capabilities of a sixty-five ton main battle tank on a forty-five ton platform – twenty tons less. The Lince is truly the ‘future main battle tank’. Its introduction into the Castillian armed forces represents a technological leap from a JBT.14 to a Kyton main battle tank, or from a MAD.II to a MAD.V. Through the Lince the Castillian armed forces will find themselves technologically on par with their allies, and the Lince’s industry will spur developments into other weapon systems. Castilla has entered the modern age riding on a lynx.

Castilla y Belmonte

21-01-2008, 18:18

[OOC: Some of the write-up might indicate otherwise, but this is a serious design.]

Centauro Sparks Armored Personnel Carrier (APC)

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/Macabees/Armor/CentauroAPCfinished.png

Background
The Centauro Sparks is born of the international REQUIREMENT for airborne mechanized infantry operations. The vehicles name stems from the mythical half-horse half-man creator of ancient mythology, and from the pagan god of airborne-amphibious warfare Mike Sparks. Sistemas Terrestres Segovia, of the Kingdom of Castilla y Belmonte, has finally realized the wisdom of the words of this mythical military strategist, and the name underscores the vehicle’s utility. The Centauro Sparks is a high-speed (Centauro), multi-mission (Sparks) platform. As previously mentioned, the Centauro Sparks is fully airborne capable; at about sixteen and a half tons of weight it can be carried in tactical transport aircraft, and the suspension and electronics are built to withstand the high shock loads of a parachute reinforced landing. Consequently, in land-based operations the Centauro Sparks has a high tactical value, as it can operate in both mechanized and airborne formations. It provides the infantry the necessary armoured support behind enemy lines, and gives them a lightweight platform to move quickly and without restriction. This vehicle is also fully amphibious capable, using a double hull construction (the original welded steel support and a second titanium ‘hull’) and an appliqué trim vane; two water jets on either side of the hull provide the vehicle’s propulsion in the water, while the vehicle’s turbine provides the multi-use power pack. As a consequence, the Centauro Sparks can be purchased for all armed forces’ infantry units – naval infantry or marines, airborne infantry, mechanized infantry, motorized infantry, armored infantry, et cetera.

Why is the Centauro Sparks superior to any infantry combat vehicle (ICV)? At almost seventeen tons the vehicle can be transported by the sheer majority of tactical transports. For example, the C-130H/E can fly 2,800 nautical miles without a payload, however, with a maximum payload of 20,411 kilograms the maximum range decreases to 240 nautical miles – it’s important to note, also, that can mean the trip to the target location and back; consequently, maximum range can decrease to 120 nautical miles! With a 16,500kg payload the same aircraft can fly over 1,000 nautical miles (return trip included). Perhaps just as important, with the Centauro Sparks the same aircraft can successfully undergo assault landings, while this isn’t true for heavier vehicles – the Centauro Sparks is just under the maximum weight limit; this weight limit takes into consideration the 60,000 kg total weight limit, the 40,000 kg of the weight of the aircraft, and the 3,175 kg worth of fuel. JUST AS CRUCIAL, the L113 has the PROPER DIMENSIONS TO BE LOADED INTO SMALL TACTICAL TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT! Larger ICVs do not have this luxury, and therefore often have to be shipped in pieces – this is not an issue with the L113 Centauro Sparks.

The L113 is also lighter than any modern turreted infantry combat vehicle, and boasts of a high level of firepower (high-pressure 13.3mm autocannon); the L113 is also easier to turn into surrogate vehicles, such as the L113-C50 anti-tank vehicle, equipped with six anti-tank missiles, or the L113-T90 artillery re-supply vehicle. The amount of infantry combat vehicles light enough to be used as airborne mechanized platforms, amphibious assault craft and mechanized infantry carriers are close to none. Furthermore, while newer infantry combat vehicles can carry nine or ten men, the L113 Centauro Sparks can transport any squad size up to fifteen men large, plus the driver and dedicated gunner – seventeen men total. The L113 is spacious enough to carry multiple litters, and therefore can double as an ambulance during airborne or amphibious operations where dedicated ambulance variants are unavailable. Furthermore, using troop hatches to the rear of the vehicle, mounted infantry can fight upright – the vehicle also makes use of a number of remotely controlled light machine guns which can be dismounted and used by infantry on the ground. The L113 is far more fuel efficient than heaver infantry combat vehicles, and has a small gas turbine which can be replaced on the field at a very quick velocity. In regards to survivability, the frontal arc of the vehicle can defeat standard 30mm armor piercing sabots, and has all-around protection against shaped charges using light non-explosive reactive armor. (OOC: Thank you Mike Sparks, for your wisdom – this write-up wouldn’t be possible without your multiple articles on the M113 FIGHTING GAVIN.)

Perhaps one of the most important features to consider, when weighing small armored personnel carriers against infantry combat vehicles, is that the L113 is ridiculously LESS EXPENSIVE! A modern wheeled or tracked infantry combat vehicle can cost between five and six million dollars, and with the most advanced technology the price can skyrocket to over eight million dollars. Even older infantry combat vehicles will cost more than three million dollars. On the other hand, the L113 is currently priced at FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND dollars – in other words, the L113 is almost EIGHT TIMES CHEAPER than the least expensive infantry combat vehicle and SIXTEEN TIMES cheaper than most current infantry combat vehicles. The affordability is obvious; a government can purchase sixteen L113s for every one infantry combat vehicle, although this should also be weighed with the FACT that the L113 can carry many more dismounts. As a consequence, an army, navy or air force will spend MUCH LESS on the much more capable multi-mission L113 than on an infantry fighting vehicle. It’s simple math – if an army needs to outfit a battalion of 1,000 men with some sort of mechanization with dismount capability it will cost less than twenty-seven million dollars to procure enough L113s to mechanize the entire battalion; on the other hand, it will cost over 333 million dollars to do so with a three million dollar IFV, or more than double with a more modern IFV. With six hundred million dollars a government could acquire one thousand five hundred L113s - enough for 22,500 men! In other words, for what it costs to outfit one battalion with infantry combat vehicles you could outfit over THREE INFANTRY BRIGADES. It’s clear that for a much lower cost, the L113 allows for greater versatility versus the latest infantry combat vehicle.

Firepower
The vehicle’s main weapon the single HammerFist remote weapon station platform fixed near the front of vehicle. However, due to the modular nature of HammerFist, the fact that infringement on the internal volume of the vehicle being minimal and the ample surface area on the roof of the L113 Centauro Sparks up to three more remote weapon stations can be applied to the vehicle. The three mounting rings, around the three hatches to the rear of the vehicle, can mount light and medium machine guns of all kinds, offering more firepower to the vehicle’s dismounts; these can be controlled from the inside of the vehicle through a lever. To save costs, the HammerFist remote weapon system is not fully developed – tens of thousands of dollars are saved considering the fact that the remote weapon station does not need ample panels in the fighting compartment, like it does on the Lince. The HammerFist used on Castillian L113s costs $160,000; the cost of the remote weapon station makes up almost half of the cost of the vehicle, as most of the vehicle’s electronics are integrated into the remote weapon station. Therefore, it should be assumed that the addition of more HammerFist on the vehicle will radically increase the price per unit (PPU) – in fact, the use of only one weapon station on Castillian L113 is largely due to cost considerations. It should be remembered that the HammerFist is the same remote weapon station which can be found on the Lince and Lynx main battle tanks – as production continues, prices will decrease considerably.

Castillian L113s mount the same heavy machine gun that is mounted on the Lince – the G4B 13.3mm HMG. The remote weapon station mounted sponson, or ammunition box, carries six hundred 13.3mm rounds and additional ammunition can be carried in aluminum sponsons mounted onto the vehicle itself. The G4B uses fully combustible links to avoid jamming, although the fact that the remote weapon station is mounted outside of the vehicle makes it a better idea to use link less feed, or standard belt and link – the jam can be easily fixed by the vehicle’s gunner or dismounts. The HammerFist remote weapon station can accept large automatic grenade launchers and any light and medium machine gun, and heavy machine guns of up to 15mm. Modified HammerFist stations can mount heavier armaments, including 20mm, 25mm and even 30mm automatic cannons – however, these modifications are heavy; a similar modification is designed for the Pantera infantry support vehicle, although the weapon is entirely turret and HammerFist is turned into an internal weapons mount. Regardless, the point is that the remote weapon system can use foreign machine guns of similar or lesser caliber and therefore does not pose an obstacle for nations that use different caliber ammunition than the Kingdom of Castilla y Belmonte. Furthermore, as mentioned before, the HammerFist can be customized by individual nations based on the technology level desired and cost considerations. It’s important to remember that the HammerFist RWS allows for accurate fire on the move, and is largely designed for tactical warfare – one of the best options for an infantry carrier like the L113 Centauro Sparks.

As mentioned before, the three infantry hatches at the rear of the chassis can mount light and medium machine guns on the hatch mounting ring. This will give dismount infantry a much larger amount of firepower when in the vehicle, augmenting the vehicle’s self defense. Dismounts can also stand straight up in the vehicle and fire outside of the hatches with their assault rifles or whatever other weapon is issued – in other words, squad automatic weapons and platoon level medium machine guns can be put to use while physically mounted onto the hatch rings, while other infantry can fire using their assault rifles or side arms. The can also mount a 60mm roof-mounted mortar to increase its firepower against infantry anti-tank teams, or other clusters of enemy ground units – the mortar can also fire smoke rounds, illumination rounds and even projectiles with a limited amount of submunitions. Sometimes, the hatches to the rear can be seen partially surrounded by a ‘bird cage’ to increase the protection of firing dismounts – these bird cages can be applied by a unit at will and easily, and are mostly of national fabrication; in other words, the bird cage is not issued with the vehicle – it’s an additional element of protection which can be added on. Regardless, this type of self-protection system is very versatile because infantry can dismount the machine guns on the vehicle and apply them to their operations on the ground. If the remote weapon system is outfitted with an infantry-capable heavy machine gun, then this too can be dismounted and used on the ground – the G4B is not capable of this due to weight considerations, and the length of the breech; it’s specifically a vehicle mounted machine gun. However, the option always exists if the L113 is going to be used in high intensity tactical warfare.

As has already been said, the L113 is easy to modify, and such modifications may be desirable to increase the versatility of the vehicle in service with your nation. For example, the L113 can easily mount a number of ‘heavy’ anti-tank missiles – these can either be infantry portable anti-tank missiles near the 100mm diameter, or can be heavier pod mounted anti-tank missiles in the 150-170mm area. Such missiles can give the L113 excellent anti-tank capability, and still carry infantry – depending on the amount of missiles the vehicle might also be able to make use of its single remote weapon station. Therefore, if mixed at platoon or company level the modularity of the L113 makes for an excellent combined-arms combination. The L113 can even mount a heavy mortar, such as in the 120mm caliber! There are few infantry combat vehicles cheap enough to allow for such a modification, and given the amount of base vehicles you can purchase with the affordability of the L113 modifications of sufficient enough mortar carriers to intermix at company level. The L113 can even be outfitted with recoilless launchers, and makes a perfect chassis for an urban assault vehicle – four recoilless launchers, a remote weapon station with heavy caliber cannon and enough dismounts for a fire team or squad! In simpler words, the L113 chassis is so cheap, modular and versatile that multiple chassis aren’t required to provide a unit with combined arms mechanization – it can all be applied to the L113. In fact, dozens of variations of the L113 are possible with a little imagination. In terms of firepower modifications, the Castillian operates quite a few and will introduce new modifications in the near future. Existing variations include: L113-C50 anti-tank vehicle, L113-M120 120mm mortar carrier, L113-A10 urban assault vehicle (prototype stage), and L113-M85 85 mm airborne flexible mortar and L113-MH90 mountain howitzer.

Protection
One of the L113’s greatest features is its lightweight and effective protection system, which is completely modular. This latter fact means that the armor can be exchanged to decrease vehicle weight where heavy armor is unnecessary, or increase armor weight where heavier armor is required. Field application of heavier armor is completely possible, and is a fast process, meaning that once the vehicle is on the ground units can strip existing armor blocks add heavier or lighter armor blocks depending on their mission. One can no longer argue that lightweight armor personnel vehicles are obsolete due to low protection, given that the L113 can achieve superior levels of protection than any infantry combat vehicle for the same weight. These add-on packages can vary from enough armor to stop heavy caliber infantry weapons – such as 12mm armor-piercing projectiles – to heavy explosive reactive armor to stop up to high-caliber armor piercing fin stabilized sabots. The standard armor blocks provided can protect against man portable unguided high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rockets and against medium caliber armor piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabots. Furthermore, the armor offers excellent repeatability and is considerably lightweight compared to more conventional armor systems. This armor is arranged in bolt-on panels which are placed over the vehicle’s side armor and upper and lower glacis plates. Similar packages can be added on to the vehicle’s rear surface area if required, even to the electrically deployed rear door for dismounting infantry. Perhaps one of the most persuasive factors of the armor is that it’s CHEAP and EASILY MANUFACTURED.

The standard armor is mounted to the second ‘hull’ titanium plate armor, and is non-explosive reactive armor – or ‘bulging armor’. Consequently, it offers high protection against shaped charges and extremely low weight for the level of protection offered. The module’s protection against medium-caliber armor-piercing projectiles is mostly offered by the steel encasement and the new materials used by the bulging armor which makes it more effective than older bulging armor applied to foreign main battle tanks. Particularly, instead of steel or aluminum thin plates the L113’s armor uses titanium bulging plates to erode penetrating shaped charge warheads and offer some level of protection against armor-piercing ammunition. These thin plates are placed between thicker layers of S-Glass – glass armor has shown a great propensity for ‘spring-back’ behavior, due to its high compressibility. For bulging armor, this is a highly desirable characteristic. Classical bulging armor have used rubber or polyurethane as the spacing material, but glass should increase the bulging velocity of the ‘flier plate’ and will increase the mass efficiency of the armor – greater effect and lesser weight. Glass has also proven to be an extremely capable lightweight protection measure against ‘high-caliber’ shaped charge warheads by itself, which increases its value when used in bulging armor (Held, Manfred, Glass Armour and Shaped Charge Jets, Propellants, Explosives, Pyrotechnics, Vol. 23, 1998, pp. 105-110). In the future, the S-glass may be replaced with another material of lower density, although a material of similar compressibility must be found. Nonetheless, it has been found that maximum bulging velocity can be achieved if the inter-layer material has a density between 1-1.5g/cm3 – although the relationship between interlayer material and bulging velocity is not linear (Rosenberg, Z. and Dekel, E., A Parametric Study of the Bulging Process in Passive Cassettes with 2-D Numerical Simulations, International Journal of Impact Engineering, Vol. 21, No. 4, 1998, pp. 297-30.5)

Bulging armor, or non-explosive reactive armor, is limited against kinetic energy threats because the reaction of the compressible interlayer material is heavily reliant on the impact being hydrodynamic (Held, Manfred, Study of Jet Interaction with Interlayer Material of Bulging Armor, Propellants, Explosives, Pyrotechnics, Vol. 29, No. 6, 2004, pp. 349-353). A penetrator becomes hydrodynamic when its moving at the speed of sound of its own material and of the material it’s penetrating – for heavy and hard materials this can be as high as 4,000m/sec (Ferrari, Georgio, The ‘Hows’ and ‘Whys’ of Armour Penetration, Military Technology, October 1998). Therefore, the standard armor protection of the L113 is very effective against high-caliber shaped charge warheads, but not so effective against any caliber armor-piercing ammunition. Therefore, these protection modules also include a relatively thick layer of triple hardness steel and titanium. Protection of the side modules near the front is rated against short 30mm armor piercing projectiles, and to the rear the armor protects against 15mm armor piercing projectiles. The front modules include protection against long 30mm armor piercing projectiles in the upper glacis, and short 30mm armor piercing projectiles on the lower glacis – the protection levels is a function of the allowable weight. Nevertheless, this protection is on par with the protection of a standard multi-million dollar infantry combat vehicle. Generally, most ICVs protect against 30mm APFSDS on the glacis plate and on the frontal turret plating, but not on the sides. Therefore, areas where the entirety of the vehicle can be engaged prefer the L113 to larger and less protected infantry combat vehicles. It should be noted that bulging armor is multi-hit capable, meaning it will continue to offer a high level of protection after it has been engaged for the first time – this makes it an extremely lucrative armor. It should be noted that other vehicles have used similar concepts to bulging armor, including modular expanding armor (MEXAS).

The standard bolt-on armor bricks on the L113 include ‘integrated’ slat armor – the aluminum ‘blinds’ are integrated in order to force projectiles of all-kinds to begin penetration at an angle. Bulging armor has a greater effect against threats if these threats attack at any given angle of incidence, although it should be noted that glass performs better when acting perpendicular to the projectile. Nevertheless, a greater level of erosion by the flier plates is experienced if they interact with the threat when said threat has been induced by a degree of yaw. The integrated ‘blinds’ give the vehicle a very strange appearance, and it looks like a massive radiator given that the armored grill under the engine looks very similar. This doesn’t mean, however, that the addition of slat armor on the field may not be necessary – by adding another ‘layer’ of slat armor during urban combat, enemy rocket-propelled shaped charges will be detonated a greater stand-off distance, and any armor will react more positively if the shaped charge has been detonated before or after its preferred stand-off distance. Furthermore, as mentioned, heavy reactive armor can be applied to the L113 – including mixes between explosive reactive armor and bulging armor. Vehicle protection can also be increased to protect against greater kinetic energy threats, at the cost of greater weight. However, modular armor makes changing values of protection cheap and easy to apply on the field.

Finally, the vehicle also features increased protection against mines and improvised explosive devices. The floor plating is protected by a multi-layer armor designed to absorb and deflect the blast of a heavy anti-vehicle mine or an improvised explosive device – an explosive formed penetrator will not penetrate the floor plating of the L113. The crew’s seats will increase survivability by reducing the effect of the shockwaves and jolting on the crew – the dismounts are not equipped with the same bulky seats, but their rudimentary seating includes head braces to avoid having their necks snap if the vehicle jolts abnormally during an explosion. In this regard, the L113 is better protected against mines and IEDs than previous armored personnel carriers. A V-shaped hull was not incorporated due to weight considerations. To defeat anti-tank missiles and rockets a new active protection system has also been included - this is a variation of the APS on the Lince, and is used on the Lynx. Instead of relying on shrapnel and explosive, the active protection system's munitions rely on the created shockwave to induce yaw on the threat or destroy it. This decreases collateral damage and increases lethality.

Mobility
The engine’s power pack is composed of an all-electric transmission and a gas turbine engine. The Centauro keeps the same Balzán 800T-96A transmission as on the Lince, although the export version of the Centauro uses Industria Mecánica Real’s IMR-8020-20A mechanical transmission. Although heavier, the advantage of the latter is that it deals a greater amount of energy to the sprocket (82%) and is the same as the transmission used on the Lynx main battle tank. The engine is a variation of the TA serie 600 gas turbine on the Lince. Specifically, energy output is reduced to 900hp in return for a much smaller engine – between .59 and .63m3. This means that the Centauro’s power pack is incredibly lightweight and ridiculously small, making power pack swaps much easier and faster on the field. Furthermore, the gas turbine is simple and easy to maintain. Furthermore, the power pack includes a small auxiliary power unit (APU) to keep the vehicle running while the engine is on idle, increasing fuel efficiency of the power pack. Low noise production is coupled with a low heat signature due to the materials used to insulate the engine and the recuperator which uses a lot of the energy wasted as heat – inevitably, the recuperator also increases the working temperature of the engine and increases the efficiency of the gas turbine. As mentioned, this is the exact same technology that is currently used on the Castillian Lince and the export Lynx main battle tank. The 900hp engine gives a power to weight ratio of 54:1 – the engine can be considered oversize, but the TA serie 600 can only work effectively at a minimum power output of 900hp. Currently, Turboas is working on a high efficiency micro turbine which may be incorporated into the L113 at a later date.

The vehicle’s tracks are continuous band tracks, used for the simplicity in design, cheapness of manufacturing the tracks and for the low noise production during movement. The low-weight of the vehicle makes repair of the tracks much easier than a heavier main battle tank. Furthermore, on the L113 the band tracks are composed of three segments which are connected through end-connectors, making replacing the track much easier. Classical band track require the vehicle to be lifted, since the tracks do not feature links of any kind – this poses as a severe disadvantage for heavy tanks, since heavy lifting equipment would be made necessary. On low-weight vehicles band tracks are an option, and with the introduction of segmented continuous band tracks they are much more desirable for low-weight armored fighting vehicles. Furthermore, the L113’s rubber continuous band tracks are extremely lightweight – they are weighed at 26kg/m, instead of the classical 64kg/m. Band tracks are seeing greater use in international armored fighting vehicle manufacturing, although the L113 remains one of the first vehicles internationally to incorporate these types of tracks – nevertheless, band tracks will probably not be used on the heavier vehicles of the Lince/Lynx series. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to compare weights – standard tracks composed out of aluminum weigh a minimum of 74kg/m (although, aluminum was discarded due to its inability to cope with the stresses imposed of vehicle tracks), while the Type 640 lightweight steel tracks on the Lince weigh 95kg/m. In other words, the tracks on the L113 weigh almost a fourth of the weight of lightweight steel tracks per meter of track length!

The vehicle’s crew and dismounted infantry can tolerate high off-road velocities thanks to the high vertical deflection range of the roadwheels and to the all-steel torsion-bar suspension. A torsion bar suspension was chosen over a hydropneumatic suspension due to the export Lynx’s torsion bar suspension and because the torsion-bar suspension is a cheaper option. Furthermore, the all-steel suspension can withstand the shock of being parachuted into the landing zone during an airborne operation. The vertical deflection range is the same as that on the Lince – 550mm of bump and rebound. This conglomeration of features allows the L113 to reach off-road velocities of 65km/h over relatively rough terrain, which is fast for a vehicle of this type. The vehicle’s extremely low ground-pressure also makes a greater extent of terrain capable to withstand the weight of the Centauro Sparks. This increases the vehicle’s versatility, as it can operate on terrain where heavier armored personnel carriers and infantry combat vehicles can’t. This is an important advantage to consider for nations with very soft soils. On that topic, the L113 is also more capable for operating in mountainous terrain, and forest or jungle type areas. The high level of protection makes it less susceptible to ambushes in this latter type of terrain, as well. Consequently, it can only be concluded that the L113 is FAR SUPERIOR IN GROUND BASED OPERATIONS!

A recap on the mobility features of the L113 is necessary. The L113 has SUPERIOR cross-country mobility to any wheeled vehicle and is on par with any tracked vehicle. If that isn’t enough, the L113 CAN TRAVERSE A GREATER PERCENTAGE OF TYPES OF TERRAIN. The L113 is AMPHIBIOUS, meaning it does not need to undergo preparations to cross a river and only needs a trim vane to make it capable for amphibious landings on foreign beaches (an easy addition to the glacis plate – the design includes two lugs for the application of a lightweight steel trim vane). The L113 is the PERFECT lightweight armored personnel vehicle to mechanize AIRBORNE INFANTRY – the L113 and variants based on the chassis can add combined arms armored fighting vehicles to a historically non-mechanized type of unit. The L113 boasts of a high amount of dismounted infantry, increasing employment flexibility, and can fit in small tactical transport unlike heavier infantry combat vehicles. In other words, ‘low speed’ units can suddenly turn into HIGH SPEED AIRMOBILE MECHANIZED UNITS OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION.

Conclusions
The dismount compartment in the rear of the vehicle contains a coffee maker, which can be interchanged with a tea brewer for Redcoat countries. The dismounts can escape the vehicle from the rear door - for normal dismount operations - or from the three electrically driven hatches on roof the vehicle. The crew can escape through the rear door as well, as the fighting compartment is well articulated with the rear of the vehicle. No belly hatches exist to increase protection against improvised explosive devices and mines.

No other vehicle in existence has this perfect blend of mobility, protection and lethality. The Centauro Sparks is the ULTIMATE MULTI-MISSION armored fighting vehicle of the next-generation. Cheap and highly mobile it’s the perfect response for a large, or even small, army looking for ultra mechanization. From airborne forces to amphibious marines, the L113 can provide the mechanization needed for high-speed operations. Furthermore, the lost cost of the chassis and armor makes it the perfect platform to create a ridiculous amount of variants for different uses – anti-tank vehicle, mortar carrier, ammunition re-supply vehicle, ambulance, mechanized mountain self-propelled howitzer, GODLY SUBMARINE SPECIAL FORCES INSERTION VEHICLE, SELF-PROPELLED ANCIENT WARFARE BALLISTA EQUIPPED WITH GREEK FIRE FOR TELEPORTATION INTO 600 B.C.E.! The possibilities are ENDLESS. If you still haven’t bought the L113 you’re Hataria.

Cost Per Unit: $400,200

Cotland

21-01-2008, 19:59

______________________________

To: Chief Executive Officer, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems
From: Ministry for the Defense of the Realm, The Realm of Cotland
Subject: Substantial Vehicle Order
______________________________

Dear sir/madam,

After the recent reorganization of the Royal Cottish Army and the subsequent retirement of the old M113 and M3 Arrow armored personnel carriers (APCs) and its variants from active service with the Royal Cottish Army, we are on a search for a replacement vehicle for these two very important vehicles. It is this search which has brought us to Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems.

After reviewing your catalogue, we have come to the conclusion that your company offers us the best product at the best price, and we will therefore place our order with the sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems.

Therefore, we hereby place an order for a total of (100 000) Centauro Sparks APCs for the Royal Cottish Army, which will mostly go to equipping our Motorised Infantry Divisions. We do have one request to make about the APCs though, and that is that they be sent to us without the 13.3mm machine gun mounted, as we wish to attempt to fit the primary heavy machine gun in use by the Royal Cottish Military, the Doomani MGM2 which is chambered for the 15.7x131mm round. If this proves unsuccessful, we will fit it with our own 12.7x99mm L126A4 Heavy Machine Gun, which we believe matches the HammerFist remote weapons station fitted.

Furthermore, we would like to order a total of (85 000) Centauro chassis' with power plant and driver's position intact, but with the rear area of the vehicle unequipped and open so that we can modify the chassis' to suit our own needs. These needs will include the modification of the chassis' to include up to (44 000) Mortar Carriers equipped with a indigenous 120mm heavy mortar; (22 000) ATGM carriers, which will be armed with the Doomani-made Corona ATGM; (17 000) artillery ammunition resupply vehicles; and roughly (1 000) command vehicle variants equipped with indigenous systems.

We have calculated the total cost of this procurement to come to a total of seventy-four point zero three seven billion Universal Standard Dollars ($72.037B), which will be wired to your account upon confirmation of this order.

We hope that this will be the start of a prosperous and rewarding relationship for both ourselves and for your company, and that we shall return here many times in the future in order to improve our military vehicular inventory.

Sincerely,

Viseadmiral Ørjan Bakke
Procurement Division
Ministry for the Defense of the Realm
The Realm of Cotland

Castilla y Belmonte

21-01-2008, 20:45

To: Ministry for the Defense of the Realm, The Realm of Cotland
From: Marketing Director, STSLS
Re: Substantial Vehicle Order

Mr. Ørjan Bakke,

Thank you for your interest in Sistemas Terrestres Segovia's L113 armored personnel carrier. We hope that Cotland's initiative in procuring from our company will provide impetus for other foreign nations to do the same - we have found it incredibly difficult to found a successful defense industry without a well-known national name behind us. Furthermore, we are equally glad that you are looking forward to replacing your M113s and M3s - I think that your armed forces will find that the L113 is a more survivable, better armed, more mobile and far more spacious M113. Also, we'd like to thank you for your kind words on the product we offer.

The order has been confirmed, and the modifications to the vehicle are acceptable and are very possible. The HammerFist can fit the MGM2 in any caliber, and the 12.7mm version has been fitted to the Lynx main battle tank. In fact, the HammerFist was constructed expecting to be matted commonly with Doomingslandi machine guns, given the world wide exports DDI has been able to guarantee in these past years.

In regards to production, does Cotland want to partake in the production, or will Sistemas Terrestres Segovia produce the vehicle on its own? Either option is acceptable, but it should be noted that production by STS may be slower than coooperative production between STS and an indigenous factory. We can guarantee a total of one thousand (1,000) Centauros produced per month by Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Greater Dienstad Land Systems, as we have to keep factory grounds open for simultaneous production for other possible orders. This means that it would take ninety-five months to complete production and the order, or almost eight complete years. Local production may alleviate the burder and will decrease the necessary time span to complete the order for your armed forces. Furthermore, it will substantially decrease the cost per vehicle since your armed forces will not have to pay for our labor (and costs which are added as labor costs, but are actually profit).

Regardless of your decision, the order is confirmed and will begin production immediately,

Marketing Director, Diego del Alzar

Castilla y Belmonte

21-01-2008, 20:46

BSI-37 Infantry Combat Vehicle

Born of a contract awarded to Sistemas Terrestres Segovia (STS) by the government and armed forces of Tyrandis, the BSI is designed to provide a fully amphibious and air-mobile family of lightweight tracked vehicles. The principle component of said family is the BSI-37, a compact, lightweight and mobile infantry combat vehicle (ICV) for airmobile and amphibious forces. The BSI-30 has three outstanding contracts – one with the Tyrani government, another with the Tercio Blindado de la Armada (TEAR) and the last with the single parachute brigade in active service in the Castillian army. In the latter’s case, the vehicle will replace antiquated and obsolete MAD.II medium tanks which were originally supplied to the Castillian government in the late 60s, during the Castillian Civil War. The new vehicle is scheduled to be partnered with the BSI-103 light tank in the unit for additional firepower support during amphibious operations. The BSI-37, as well as other vehicles of the family, will be available on the export market and STS is capable of fulfilling several orders simultaneously. For TEAR the BSI-37 introduces an all new facet of warfare and is the first infantry combat vehicle in use with the Castillian armed forces (the Ejército de Tierra will be armed with the Puma infantry combat vehicle, based on the Lince main battle tank’s chassis).

The vehicle is based almost entirely on the requirements of the Tyrani air force and army. Although their tender had already been fulfilled by rival defense companies, none of the designs presented to date were considered correct for procurement and therefore they turned to Sistemas Terrestres Segovia. The army and air force jointly required a lightweight infantry combat vehicle, with the volume to carry an infantry fireteam, and the ability to be completely airmobile in a small, tactical rotordyne. Armor protection was required to be ample against infantry small arms, including against 15mm armor piercing ammunition (AP or API) in the front and against 8mm all-around. At first there was a conflict between STS and TEAR over armor protection, but STS has solved the armor problem through the use of add-on armor modules which can be applied before going into combat. Consequently, TEAR’s BSI-37s (denominated BSI-37Cs) don better armor protection, although the vehicle is considerably heavier. Finally, in order to satisfy TEAR’s need for an amphibious infantry combat vehicle, the BSI-37 is fully amphibious through a trim vane on the toe glacis.

The BSI-37 has another important distinguishing factor. It’s the first armored fighting vehicle designed indigenously by the Kingdom of Castilla y Belmonte since the beginning of the Castillian Civil War, and insofar with just one foreign order it also may be one of the most successful internationally.

Organization within TEAR and the brigada paracaidista
TEAR, with the introduction of the new vehicles, is completely reorganized. The Tercio, now forming part of the naval legion, is composed of ten mechanized banderas of one hundred and seventy-one infantry each. Each bandera has to have the ability to be deployed anywhere anytime, and so each infantryman must have a constant means of transportation. Consequently, each bandera has thirty-eight BSI-37s, for a total of three hundred and eighty BSI-37 infantry combat vehicles. Beyond this, each bandera has its own tactical artillery support which will be provided by a battery of ten BSI-110 self-propelled howitzers based on the BSI-37 chassis and each bandera will have two platoons of amphibious light tanks (BSI-103) with a total of eight of these per bandera. Consequently, TEAR will have a total of three hundred and eighty BSI-37s, one hundred BSI-110s and eighty BSI-103s, amounting to five hundred and sixty BSI chassis produces for TEAR. There is the potential of the integration of other vehicles of the family into TEAR at a later date, such as an ambulance and a rocket launcher vehicle.

Within the next two years a second tercio will be established (2º Tercio Blindado de la Armada) within the Naval Legion, and it’s planned to completely reorganize the Naval Legion with just five tercios. This would be a dramatic expansion of the Castillian marines, who would then have over six thousand men serving.

The parachute brigade is composed of roughly five thousand men and is subdivided into two battalions with fifteen companies a piece. Each company has seventeen squads, and there are four ordenes. Each company is expected to have at least two ‘orders’ with the capability to be operational at any one time and each order must have enough vehicles to mechanize five squads (even though three out of four orders within a company will have four squads). This means that each company has to have twenty BSI-37s in working condition at all times, so the number augments to thirty to make-up for the potential of out-of-service vehicles. This means that the parachute brigade has a total of nine hundred BSI-37s! At the moment, there is no planned expansion of the Ejército de Tierra except the creation of two new armor brigades and a new mechanized infantry brigade (which will be mechanized with the Puma). Parachute BSI-37s will be armored at Phase I, with the option to armor on the field to Phase II status. However, even at Phase II and Phase III the BSI-37 should be able to be airlifted in the majority of tactical aircraft and rotordynes, at the cost of a lower air range.

Specifications
Manufacturer: Sistemas Terrestres Segovia
Dimensions: 2.95m (width) x 5.9m (length) x 1.8m (height to top of chassis/top of turret is 2.44m)
Weight: 17,900kg
Weight of Turret: 2,700kg
Weight of Transmission: 950kg
Weight of Tracks: est. 870kg
Dismount Capabilities: 4/5
Motor: MC serie 700 1.4MW gas turbine
Motor Volume: 1.26m3
Water Propulsion: 2x high-speed high-volume capability waterjets
Velocity (amphibious): 17 knots
Velocity (on-road): 85km/h
Velocity (off-road): 75km/h
Transmission: IMR-8020-10 automatic transmission
Suspension: Active hydropneumatic
Armament:
- 37mm hypervelocity automatic cannon
- 7mm S3 light machinegun remote weapon station
- x8 76mm grenade launchers
37mm Ammunition (ETI; electrothermal ignition):
- BM.14AP: Armor piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot.
- BM.14HE: High explosive.
- BM.14APER: Anti-Personnel
Ammunition Stowage:
- 266 37mm
- 3,200 7mm rounds stowed in four storage-bins of 800 each.
Main Armament Angle of Fire: -11º, +60º
Rate of Fire: 600-1,000 rpm
Armor:
Phase I:
- Frontal arc: 13mm IRHA @ 60º vs. 15mm API
- All-around: 15mm IRHA vs. 8mm API
- V-shaped hull with spaced titanium floor plates
Phase II:
- Frontal arc: 25mm energetic ceramic matrix encased with aluminum foam and titanium @ 60º vs. 30mm APFSDS @1,300m
- All-around: Protection vs. 15mm API.
- Weight of package: 1,000kg
Phase III:
- Frontal arc: Light aluminum explosive reactive armor tiles adding roughly 300mm versus shaped charges.
- Side chassis: Non-energetic lightweight reactive armor (NERA) adding roughly 150mm versus shaped charges.
- Weight of package: 700kg
Self-Protection System: Matador soft-kill/hard-kill active protection system using millimeter wave radar and eight 76mm grenade launchers. 360º protection.
NBC Defense: Air conditioning system, in conjunction with two air filters. Chassis and turret are sealed and electric hatches are lined with rubber.
Sensor Equipment:
- Retractable commander’s independent thermal viewer
- Retractable main sight
- 4 driving cameras
- Driver’s periscope
Cost: $7.1 million

Castilla y Belmonte

21-01-2008, 20:47

BSI-122 light tank/fire support vehicle

Development history
The BSI-122 is born from an operation requirement specified by the Tercio Blindado de la Armada (TEAR), now forming part of the 1º Legión Naval. Given that the BSI-37 will be introduced into service with TEAR, replacing obsolete MAD.II medium tanks, TEAR requested a complimentary fire support platform. Sistemas Terrestres Segovia’s (STS) solution is the BSI-122, sporting a 122mm high velocity tank gun in a narrow mantlet, low profile, gun turret. TEAR’s request for a new amphibious infantry combat vehicle was put through in the mid-90s when the modernization program of the armed forces finally allotted money to the armada. Ultimately, TEAR’s amphibious vehicle project was grouped with a Tyrani request for an airmobile infantry combat vehicle. From that merging the BSI-37 was born. Unfortunately, the weight restrictions of the BSI-37 put a severe handicap on the possible armor protection levels of any vehicle. STS managed to increase armored weight through the reduction of dismount volume – the BSI-37 can only carry five dismounts – and through the use of add-on armor panels which can be employed in the field. Although these add-on panels work on BSI-122 and BSI-37 alike, the BSI-122 has different armor requirements.

TEAR requested a light armored fighting vehicle with a large caliber tank gun with the ability to defeat enemy tanks, and with enough protection to guarantee a minimal protection difference between them and the enemy. However, the BSI-122 still has the requirement of being airborne friendly due to its partnership with the BSI-37 on the export market. Consequently, STS created a separate development group for the BSI-122 which specialized on the turret and vehicle add-on plates for increased armor protection, while the first group focused on the BSI-37. The BSI-122 uses the same chassis, thus the classification as ‘BSI’ (which refers to the family of vehicles). The armor development was ultimately subcontracted to Blindés – the same developer for the Lince’s armor package.

TEAR has ordered eighty BSI-122 fire support vehicles (FSV). These will be organized in platoons of four vehicles, and each bandera has two platoons worth of light armor. The tank platoons are designed to work cooperatively with unit sizes down to fire teams. The BSI-122 is expected to be a formidable line-of-sight artillery piece during amphibious landings, as well as have the ability to defeat a tank (although it’s not expected that the BSI-122 will be on par with any main battle tank). The kingdom’s airborne brigade has put in a purchase for a tank platoon per orden, amounting to a total of four hundred and eighty light tanks. Unlike with the BSI-37, all companies will have an active light tank service which means that if required tank squads from non-operational orders can be attached to operational orders to increase firepower.

The BSI-122 was originally considered by the mechanized infantry brigades of the army, but they have decided to wait for the Tigre armored gun system. Nonetheless, the BSI-122 makes a superior system for armies which use tactical transports with lower carrying capacity – around the twenty ton limit.

Design
The turret is designed to be a narrow mantlet turret, and there is no ammunition stored above the turret ring. The ammunition stowage has replaced the dismount compartment, and there are eleven 122mm rounds stored in the vehicle which can be autoloaded. Another twenty rounds are stowed farthest to the rear and can’t be accessed by the robotic loading arm (RLA). The gun is a high-velocity powder gun which incorporates electrothermal-chemical technology. Consequently, the turret is wedded to a lightly protected (against machine gun fire) bustle which can’t be accessed from the inside – the bustle holds the required battery and capacitor system which adds around 230kg of mass to the vehicle. The gun itself is low-recoil, although high weight, and is relatively compact. The extended recoil length has been increased to 650mm and the gun features a single chamber muzzle break with about 65% efficiency. Gun depression, which isn’t a priority for the design, is done through an independently moving mantlet and armored breech which literally sticks above the turret roof when depressed. The gun can elevate up to 57º, which is enough to engage high building structures and engage low-flying aircraft.

The turret, with gun and gun mount, weighs 6,300 kilograms without add-on armor and is constructed from high-carbon armored steel and titanium which guarantees protection versus 15mm armor piercing ammunition along the frontal arc. In shape, the turret is a long rectangle, although it abruptly ends about a meter from the end of the gun breech (in order to install the fire control system and the ballistic computers). All sights are retractable to ease air transportability.

Phase II and Phase III armors are field applicable. Phase II is a high strength ceramic/titanium module, similar to the armor applied to the Tiznao-60. However, it doesn’t use boron carbide as the principle armor and instead uses alumina ceramics. This armor, arrayed on the front, protects against 60mm APFSDS and is designed to be fitted on the turret front, front side turret and glacis plate. The rest of the chassis applies the same Phase II armor as the BSI-37. Phase III armor is the application of heavy explosive reactive armor which can defeat many 120mm APFSDS, although it’s rated at only 400mm worth of RHAe against APFSDS and 680mm against ERA (therefore, the ability to stop the APFSDS is dependent on the ability to break the long-rod penetrator). It’s rumored that this ERA is similar to the ERA which will be used on the Lince. These field add-on modules are much heavier than those of the BSI-37. The Phase I add-on armor for the frontal arc weighs roughly 1,700kg, while with the BSI-37 Phase II armor applied to the sides the weight increase is around 2,300kg. The Phase III armor adds another 1,500kg of weigh. Therefore, BSI-122 fully armored weighs 25,300kg – or 25 metric tons! A Phase II improved (Phase IIi) will be introduced in the near future, after the beginning of production for the Lince, which will enhance protection level without terribly increasing weight. This armor will be shared by the Tigre, Puma and BSI-122, amongst others.

The BSI-122’s gunner/commander also has access to a remotely operated weapon station (RWS) fielding the S4 13.3mm heavy machine gun. This gun performs anti-personnel work, can engage low flying aircraft and is useful for defeating soft-skinned vehicles. In an aluminum stowage box held on the opposite side of the ejection port there are six hundred rounds, and a further three thousand rounds are stored in three separate aluminum sponsons attached to the turret side. The vehicle makes use of eight 76mm grenade launchers to lay tactical smoke screens, and can also produce smoke through the engine grill to provide larger smoke screens for moving infantry. However, the forward position of the engine makes this action awkward.

Specifications
Manufacturer: Sistemas Terrestres Segovia
Dimensions: 2.95m (width) x 5.9m (length) x 1.8m (height to top of chassis/top of turret is 2.24m)
Weight: 21,500kg
Weight of Turret: 6,300kg
Weight of Transmission: 950kg
Weight of Tracks: est. 870kg
Dismount Capabilities: 0
Motor: MC serie 700 1.4MW gas turbine
Motor Volume: 1.26m3
Water Propulsion: 2x high-speed high-volume capability waterjets
Velocity (amphibious): 15 knots
Velocity (on-road): 78km/h
Velocity (off-road): 60km/h
Transmission: IMR-8020-10 automatic transmission
Suspension: Active hydropneumatic
Armament:
- 122mm L/50 low-recoil compact tank gun
- 13.3mm heavy machine gun remote weapon station
- x8 76mm grenade launchers
122mm Ammunition (ETI; electrothermal ignition):
- BM.122AP: Armor piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot.
- BM.122HE: High explosive.
- BM.122APER: Anti-Personnel
- BM.122DR: Demolition Round
- BM.122HEAT: High-explosive anti-tank
Ammunition Stowage:
- 11 120mm ready-rounds; 20 stowed rounds
- 3,600 13.3mm rounds stowed in four storage-bins.
Main Armament Angle of Fire: -5º, +57º
Rate of Fire: 10 rounds per minute
Armor:
Phase I:
- Frontal arc: 13mm IRHA/titanium @ 60º vs. 15mm API
- All-around: 15mm IRHA vs. 8mm API
Phase II:
- Frontal arc: 50mm ceramic/titanium armor @ 60º vs. 60mm APFSDS @1,000m
- All-around: Protection vs. 15mm API.
- Weight of package: 2,300kg
Phase III:
- Frontal arc: Heavy explosive reactive armor rated at 400mm versus APFSDS and 630mm versus shaped charges.
- Side chassis: Non-energetic lightweight reactive armor (NERA) adding roughly 150mm versus shaped charges.
- Weight of package: 1,500kg
Self-Protection System: Matador soft-kill/hard-kill active protection system using millimeter wave radar and eight 76mm grenade launchers. 360º protection.
NBC Defense: Air conditioning system, in conjunction with two air filters. Chassis and turret are sealed and electric hatches are lined with rubber.
Sensor Equipment:
- Retractable commander’s independent thermal viewer
- Retractable main sight
- 4 driving cameras
- Driver’s periscope
Cost: $8.2 million

The PeoplesFreedom

21-01-2008, 21:15

Joint Army and Marines Purchase Order
Greetings. We have found that the Lince Main Battle Tank will be suitable for adoption buy our military. As previously discussed via private channels, this is our official order for 10,000 Lince Main Battle Tanks to be produced in our factories and the 86 billion to be paid immediately to STS upon the blueprints and specialized machinery arriving.

As a further note we may in the future be interested in acquiring an additional 10,000 Lince Chassis for use on the variants. We will furthur discuss this at a later date.

Castilla y Belmonte

22-01-2008, 18:22

To: The Peoples Freedom, Army & Marines
From: Sales Representative, STSLS
Subject: Order Confirmation

The order is confirmed, and liked was discussed in our previous contract production will be indigenous.

[signed] Sales Representative

Cotland

22-01-2008, 19:09

______________________________

To: Marketing Director Diego del Alzar, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems
From: Ministry for the Defense of the Realm, The Realm of Cotland
Subject: RE: Re: Substantial Vehicle Order
______________________________

Dear sir,

We are very pleased with the rapid reply we received from the Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems, and are glad to see our order processed and confirmed so rapidly.

The Realm is interested in participating in the production of the Centauro vehicles alongside Sistemas Terrestres Segovia, and we wish to divide the production of the vehicles in a ratio which will allow for the delivery to be completed in five years. We wish for the majority of the production of the baseline APCs to be carried out by Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Greater Dienstad Land Systems, while our factories concentrate on the empty chassis', as this would allow us to fit the relevant systems as construction progress instead of carrying out two seperate construction phases. If this is agreeable with the Sistemas Terrestres Segovia, we wish to start construction of the vehicles as quickly as possible.

Additionally, we are wondering if it is possible to add various indigenous systems after delivery of the weapons. In particular, we are considering adding a Cottish-made Active Protection System (APS), navigational and communications systems to the vehicles in question.

Sincerely,

Viseadmiral Ørjan Bakke
Procurement Division
Ministry for the Defense of the Realm
The Realm of Cotland

Malatose

24-01-2008, 06:50

To: Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems
From: Imperial Department of Military Procurement

Dear Sir,

As previously stated through private channels, The Continental Empire of Malatose would like to officially place its order for 50,000 Lince Main Battle Tanks. In addition, we'll be willing to produce our own vehicles in our factory complexes, to ensure quick and efficient delivery to Imperial Military Divisions. We'll begin production as soon as official permission and blueprints are transmitted to us.

Signed,
Imperial Director General of Military Procurement
Velix Vlan

Castilla y Belmonte

26-01-2008, 16:19

Quick response to both orders - In general, confirmed; Cotland, you can add any indigenous systems you want. The more the L113 varies across the world, the more it will turn into the M113!

Castilla y Belmonte

26-01-2008, 18:08

León Self-Propelled Howitzer

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The León is a lightweight self-propelled 160mm L/50 howitzer, designed to be air transportable in tactical aircraft. The chassis is the same as the Lince’s, although in internal structure it closely resembles the Centauro armored personnel vehicle. In fact, the Leon’s turret is designed to be easily fitted into a modified Centauro – although, such an upgrade would require the modification of the vehicle’s armor panels, and some minor modification of the internal volume. The turret can incorporate a 155mm howitzer, as well, and anything smaller. The León is designed, specifically, to be deployed in airmobile and airborne brigades and divisions world wide, and therefore the turret can only hold a single gun. The León’s brother, the heavier Titán, has a double howitzer turret and will be slated to be deployed with heavier mechanized infantry brigades and divisions. The idea for the León stemmed from the Lince’s increasing importance in foreign airmobile divisions, in armies that are keeping their older and heavier main battle tanks for heavy mechanized battalions. The León is the perfect howitzer to partake a similar role in the same units, and works hand in hand with the Lince. Furthermore, both use the same propellant and the same engine (although the Leon’s engine is smaller – the same as the Centauro’s), and therefore the vehicle presents itself as a wiser solution for the need of a lightweight air transportable self-propelled howitzers. Airborne divisions will no longer have to rely entirely on lightweight fixed howitzer batteries for artillery support. Furthermore, despite being a lightweight design, it should be noted that the León is one of the most advanced single-howitzer systems currently on the market.

Castilla y Belmonte will be acquiring four batteries of eight howitzers a piece for its sole airborne brigade, totaling thirty-two pieces. As the Castillian Ejército de Tierra continues to grow the parliament may acquiesce to a further procurement of another thirty-two pieces for a second airborne brigade. The army is also exploring the adoption of the howitzer for its mechanized infantry brigades, which will receive a large number of other Lince variants – including the Centauro armored personnel carrier – and may be transformed into lightweight mechanized infantry brigades. These eight brigades may be allotted a total of eight batteries each, for a total procurement of five hundred and twelve more. The three armor brigades are also considering the León and may outfit two batteries per brigade or one if the Titán is adopted. Currently, these heavier brigades are juggling between the heavy Titán and the lightweight León. Although the Titán offers insuperable firepower, the León is far more lightweight and may offer the army more operational flexibility. Some believe that the mechanized brigades should adopt a majority of lightweight artillery batteries, and a number of heavy weight artillery batteries which would need strategic air lifters. In total, the kingdom may procure six hundred and twenty-four units – this is if the Titán is not chosen in its place. Sistemas Terrestres Segovia is hoping to sell the unit to a number of foreign armies, especially those who have adopted the Lince as their tank of choice. Like all other Lince variants, the León will also be offered on the open market. STS is hoping to cater to clients with large airmobile formations, or the general need of lightweight self-propelled howitzers.

The León incorporates a number of design priorities and ideas that maximize its utility in both conventional warfare and asymmetrical combat. The vehicle itself is designed to be as lightweight as possible, but with enough protection to defeat relevant anti-artillery threats. As a consequence, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia has incorporated a number of light-weight armor innovations, and has designed a lightweight gun similar to that used by the Lince. High mobility is also imperative, especially when supporting quick-moving armor units, and therefore the León introduces a mix between a capable suspension and a high-power engine. Just as importantly, the modular nature of the vehicle allows easy modifications for different clients – in other words, the León can be customized to your needs. Besides, the León has a large growth potential, meaning that it will most likely be modified and modernized throughout its lifespan, improving its capabilities and eliminating disadvantages as new technologies are developed. These include improved liquid propellants (perhaps a liquid propellant modular charge), improved barrel liners to increase barrel pressure, new types of ammunition and superior fire control radars. Given that the León will definitely be deployed within the Castillian Army, clients can be reassured that new technologies will always be integrated to improve system performance. There are few self-propelled howitzer systems available on today’s market which offers this type of firepower, mobility, protection and the reassurance of cheap replacements – modification. This is all compounded by the light weight of the vehicle and the gun, which make the system easily deployable.

Sistemas Terrestres Segovia will begin producing thirty-two pieces per year for the airborne brigade, and will increase production depending on further orders from the Castillian Army or Navy. As a consequence, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia has the ability to fulfill large orders for foreign nations. Recently, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia has also acquired a number of large factories in Malatose and Doomingsland, which are fulfilling orders in those countries for the Lince main battle tank. Despite the simultaneous production of this tank for its respective country, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia is now able to produce in very large quantities any piece of equipment it sells. Otherwise, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia also makes available ‘limited’ indigenous production of the León – a nation can produce a preordained number of units, established in a contract with Sistemas Terrestres Segovia. Simultaneous production split between STS and home factories is also possible. STS makes procurement very flexible and production easy, and aims towards arming your military as fast and as comfortable as possible. Future modification packages (starting at the León A) will also be made available for indigenous production and application, given the proper contract is established. Nevertheless, STS guarantees that equipment purchased from their engineers will always be maintained and modernized to stay at the top of the line.

The principle weapon is Calzado y Bayo’s CBH790 160mm L/50 rifled howitzer, designed for long-range and precision strike using base-bled artillery munitions. The CBH790 uses a HAN-based liquid propellant for ignition and is stored and pumped in large volumes to increase range and velocity. In order to withstand higher barrel pressures, therefore allowing for a larger volume of propellant to be used per shot, the cannon’s barrel is lined with chromium. This propellant is the same propellant currently being used with the Lynx and Lince main battle tanks, and actually commits less barrel wear than an equal volume solid propellant. Using an extended-range base-bled high explosive projectile, the León has a maximum range of fifty-two kilometers – it has been proven that rocket assisted projectiles (RAP) can reach ranges of almost eighty kilometers, and this may be integrated into a future version of the León. The gun’s recoil cylinders and part of the breech are constructed out of lightweight titanium alloy. This substantially decreases the weight of the breech and the gun mount inside the turret. Despite the caliber of the gun, a lightweight design is imperative to allow for the vehicle to be airmobile. The León’s gun features a single-baffle muzzle break with 70% efficiency, much like the Lynx main battle tank, and a longer recoil travel. An efficient gun-based recoil dampening system (muzzle break and recoil travel), matted with the hydropneumatic suspension system, allows the gun to fire at a high rate of fire without relying on spades to fix the vehicle in its firing position. Furthermore, with the high-efficiency muzzle break the Lynx chassis can survive the impulse of the recoil without problems.

The gun is mounted in an aluminum turret, designed only to offer enough armor to defend against relative threats – light small-arms ammunition and counter-battery fire large-caliber artillery shrapnel. Therefore, the sides and front of the turret are less than 100mm thick on all sides, constructed out of aluminum, and the aluminum structure of the turret has an Aramid backing plate to protect against excessive spalling. The turret can be fitted with mounting points for a lightweight explosive reactive armor to protect against man-portable shaped charge warheads on the field, and this armor is designed to limit the velocity of the back-plate to make it fully compatible with the lightweight design of the turret’s structure and armor. A similar lightweight explosive reactive armor, although with a much more limited reaction caused by a less impulsive explosive, is mounted on the vehicle’s roof to protect against top-attack small shaped charge submunitions and explosively formed projectiles. Using two thin titanium flier plates, and two more thin plates backed by S-2 glass, this lightweight explosive reactive armor is composed in very small bricks to increase multi-hit impact – however, the small size makes them relatively worthless against kinetic energy weapons. Nevertheless, the explosive reactive armor can defeat top-attack shaped-charge submunitions and their weaker brethren, explosively formed penetrators. This doesn’t include man-portable top-attack anti-tank missiles, and if these become a threat an active protection system can easily be applied to the vehicle. The chassis has a similar protection level, with all-around protection versus 15mm armor-piercing small-arms ammunition (the turret only against 12mm armor-piercing bullets). This armor is composed of laminated aluminum, titanium and very hard steel (VHS; between 550 – 630 BHN), and has a total thickness of around 60mm on the glacis plate up to around 80mm on the sides and rear of the vehicle. The vehicle’s hull is protected by laminate titanium and triple-hardness steel (laminated steel plates composed of rolled homogenous steel (RHA), semi-hard steel (SHS) and high-hardness steel (HHS)) and can deflect (due to bulging) and absorb a blast from an improvised explosive device or an anti-tank land-mine.

CBH790 160mm howitzer is joined by an advanced fire control system (FCS); both the commander and gunner have retractable (during flight) independent sights, including thermal sights, infra-red sights and a laser rangefinder. The fire control system monitors a number of variables and factors them into the ballistic equation to increase the accuracy of the León. A radar sensor near the muzzle computes muzzle velocity, while the fire control system also has a wind sensor, a global positioning system, a satellite communications ‘radio’, a sensor to measure the temperature of the barrel, and more. Together with the -3º and +70º of the barrel, an automatic gun laying system can aid to provide an accuracy of a 1 millimeter probability of error! This accuracy and efficiency is increased by the use of a laser inertial artillery pointing system which gives the gunner information relevant to the exact position and bearing of the barrel, and how it relates to the target. The fire control system can also guarantee simultaneous impact of up to six to eight rounds, and coupled with the automatic loader can fire a total of twelve rounds in the first minute.

The León stores up to fifty 160mm howitzer rounds throughout the chassis – thanks to the compact hybrid gas turbine power pack – and these are robotically loaded to a center carousel, with the ammunition facing face-down. A robotic loading arm unloads the ready-ammunition from the carousel into the chamber. The entire operation is done electronically, with brushless servo electric motors – there is no hydraulic system mounted on the vehicle. The autoloader can be loaded with different types of ammunition and the system includes a computer to sort the type of ammunition available – all the gunner has to do is select the ammunition he wants to use. Ammunition cases are automatically ejected through a fairly large elliptical hatch on the right side (looking from the rear) of the turret to avoid the build-up of gasses inside the turret. Ammunition can be loaded manually through the rear door on the vehicle, which normally refers to manual loading during war-time operations from ground stocks (for sustained fire). This ammunition is simply autoloaded into the center carousel; of course, once the carousel is relying only on manually loaded ammunition the rate of fire will decrease. Otherwise, ammunition can be automatically loaded by the artillery re-supply vehicle (ARV) designed specifically for the León, and also designed on the tracked Lynx chassis. Automatically, loading fifty rounds of ammunition will require about five minutes completing, as opposed to perhaps double from a human crew. The autoloader’s computer will sort the ammunition in the carousel, once the round is due to pass through the carousel.

Apart from the howitzer, the León also counts on the tank commander’s remote weapon station mounted on the turret (not seen on the picture) with a heavy G4B 13.3mm machine gun – like always, this machine gun can be changed with another caliber, or another weapon system which can fit the HammerFist remote weapon station. The turret also mounts a total of eight 76mm grenades per side (also, not seen in the image) which can fire fragmentation grenades, high-explosive grenades, smoke grenades and signal grenades. The commander, driver and gunner all have at their disposal an Iral model R short assault rifle, similar to the Lince’s tank crew, for self-defense in case the crew needs to evacuate the vehicle. As mentioned before, the vehicle can mount an active protection system and the modular armor system allows for the application of heavier protection if this is found necessary. The vehicle is currently protected against EMP charges and is prepared for NBC warfare. Its signature can be reduced through the application of Jungla netting – the same camouflage netting on the Lince. Furthermore, the chassis and turret mount two fire suppression systems, and the liquid propellant cells are located under the breech to avoid breaching the cells from the breech’s overpressure. Currently, the Lince is a very safe vehicle, although it is not designed to operate behind enemy lines or in areas where ambush by infantry is a very real possibility. For these scenarios, the Lince’s protection can be radically bettered to improve its survivability in these situations.

Perhaps another important consideration is the 900hp engine – the same as used on the Centauro – and the hydropneumatic suspension system. Apart from decreasing the effect of the recoil on the vehicle and suspension, the hydropneumatic suspension matted with a low-volume and high-output gas turbine can achieve cross-country and on-road velocities similar to that of the Lince and Lynx, meaning that the León can keep up with the operational velocity of mechanized and armored brigades and divisions without a problem. In other words, the León can provide direct and indirect fire support for fast operations – this is joined by the fact that, due to its weight, the vehicle is also airmobile. Finally, the vehicle has an on-road range of five hundred and fifty kilometers.

Specifications
Manufacturer: Sistemas Terrestres Segovia
Crew: 3 (commander, gunner and driver)

Dimensions –
Length (hull): 7.1m
Contact with the Ground: 4.9m
Width (hull): 3.65m
Height (to roof): 2.25m
Vertical Deflection Range: 550mm
Weight: 23,700 kilograms

Main Armament –
Gun: CBH.790 160mm L/50 liquid propellant howitzer
Length: 8m
Extended Recoil Length: 550mm
Muzzle Break: Single-chamber muzzle break (70% efficiency)
Angle of Fire: -3º - + 70º
Traverse: 360º
Rate of Fire: 12 rpm
Ammunition: 50 rounds in the chassis

Secondary Armaments –
HammerFist remote weapon system
16x 76mm grenade launchers
3x 7mm short assault rifles

Engine: TA series 600 900hp hybrid gas turbine
Volume: .63m3
Output: 900hp (minimum)
Transmission: Industria Mecánica Real IMR-8020-30 hydrokinetic transmission
Efficiency: 83%
Suspension: Hydropneumatic
Tracks: MecániCas Type 640
NBC: One filter. Air conditioning system. Sealed.
Fire Protection: Two fire extinguishers.
Range: 550km
Slope: 65º
Vertical Obstacle: 1.4m
Wading Capability: 1.5m
Amphibious capability with preparation: 4.5m
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cost: $4.3 million

Castilla y Belmonte

28-01-2008, 18:19

JBT-14 upgrade, once the NSDraftroom decided to work for me.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/Macabees/Armor/JBT-14Ctank.png

Castilla y Belmonte

30-01-2008, 16:14

Sistemas Terrestres Segovia – Nakíl 1A3

Journal of International Armed Forces

Sistemas Terrestres Segovia (STS) announced a partnership with Macabee defense export giant Kriegzimmer for a new modification to the infamous Nakíl main battle tank. This new upgrade, termed the Nakíl 1A3, will be conducted on all previous chassis – 1A1, 1A1U, 1A1GU and 1A2 (apart from the last variant, all the chassis are the same). The new variant will be sold through the Castillian export conglomerate, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems (STSLS), to all of the public. Kriegzimmer and the Macabee government have agreed to STS’ proposition after Kriegzimmer’s declaration that it would stop exports after the war, to focus on the reconstruction of the region of Greater Dienstad. As a consequence, Kriegzimmer will start to rely on the expertise of STSLS to export equipment developed jointly. For the Nakíl 1A3 project, STS has announced that while most of the funding will come from Kriegzimmer, the project will be run by Castillian engineers. This is important news, given the prestige of Kriegzimmer as one of the world’s foremost leaders in the military industry. There are also rumors of the sale of Kriegzimmer factories to STSLS, including the mega factory complexes in Allanea – although, the Allanean government has been reassured that the factory will continue to produce Kriegzimmer products for the Allanean armed forces. Nevertheless, this might clearly indicate STSLS as the inheritor of Kriegzimmer’s armament empire, although Sistemas Terrestres Segovia and the other Castillian defense companies that make up STSLS are still not a world known business, despite the recent production of the Lince main battle tank.

However, this decision might be of no surprise when one also learns that the Macabee Ejermacht (ground army) will begin to procure armored fighting vehicles from Sistemas Terrestres Segovia and MecániCas. The Macabee Empire is known for its little acceptance of foreign equipment, despite recent acquisitions of foreign small arms. Regardless, this is a clear indication that the Macabee Empire has decided to reorient investment in civilian goods, especially considering the recent acquisition of most of Guffingford, and Northern Safehaven. The Kriermada has also announced that is likely to begin procurement of new naval vessels from foreign providers, although the Kriermada is currently receiving new ships of existing classes. Alternatively, some believe that Kriegzimmer will begin to focus on large military vessels, due to the company’s ability to build them, while Castillian naval companies Astiversal and Sisnaval focus on smaller warships and diesel submarines, respectively. This considers an important union between the Macabee defense industry and the growing Castillian armaments export sector. It is also important news for the export conglomeration of STSLS, given that this may provide what is necessary to boost sales. Currently, the Nakíl has sold over seven million copies world wide, adding the three hundred thousand Nakíl 1A2s procured for the Macabee Ejermacht and the eleven thousand Nakíl 1A1s procured for this same institution in the early stages of the War of Golden Succession. With the massive sales of the Nakíl 1A1GU and 1A1U it’s likely that the 1A3 will also sell. One can thus deduct that adding the Nakíl 1A3 to the list of equipment in STSLS’ catalogue will stimulate Castillian exports impressively – although, their indigenous main battle tank, the Lynx, may fall short of expectations.

With news of the decision, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia has also given some hints of what is to come for the 1A3 upgrade kit. Reportedly, the modification includes the development of a new turret resembling that of the Macabee 1A2, with additional modular armor. The company promises to reduce the total weight of the turret and armor, although will keep protection at a similar level. Survivability will increase thanks to the lower turret profile and to the visible surface area on the new turret mantle. Like the 1A1GU, the new armor will be hybrid, including passive and active elements. Believe it or not, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia’s recent modification of Castillian JBT-14Ms to JBT-14CMs offers potential insight. The JBT-14 turret is similar to that of the Nakíl 1A2, and so the 1A3’s turret may offer similar hybrid arrays to the JBT-14CM, giving it a much more sleek appearance. Nevertheless, given STS’ design history, what STS has to offer is always a pleasant surprise. Protection along the frontal arc will not be the only area to see improvements. The vehicle’s protection against large land-mines will be augmented through the application of new layered floor plates, and the explosive reactive armor on the current Nakíl 1A1GU will be upgraded to 1A2 status or beyond. In other words, in terms of protection STS is providing an upgrade kit which is either on par with the Nakíl 1A2, or superior. The company declares that the new armor will be ‘much more effective’, ‘much lighter’ and ‘much cheaper’ – although the latter seems largely improbable.

The Nakíl’s gas turbine will be exchanged for an improved gas turbine from Turboas. It is still unknown if this means that the Nakíl 1A3 will mount the TA series 600 gas turbine, which has seen its latest incarnation as the 1,800 horsepower power pack in the JBT-14CM, an older version of the same engine (series 500) or a more advanced version (the so-called series 610, which is rumored to be designed for a future Lince modification kit). If the TA series 600 is mounted it will mean a reduction of the power pack’s volume and weight, increased power, simpler mechanics and a far superior gas efficiency (the gas efficiency of a diesel engine). This is likely to be paired with an electric generator and a nearby auxiliary power unit (APU). If this is the case, the Nakíl 1A1GU’s under armor auxiliary power unit (UAAPU) will be eliminated and the area replaced with armor protection or a new fuel tank. Whatever the future may be, it can be assumed that the Nakíl’s mobility will be radically improved. However, the company has declared no outward modifications of the vehicle’s chassis. Although new series vehicles will be produced for first-time clients, the 1A3 turret will be offered for existent users of the Nakíl – so the turret has to be made to fit in existing chassis. Therefore, the original chassis will be used for both vehicle upgrades and for brand-new tanks. No changes with the current transmission have been reported, and the company has made no hints towards applying the electric transmission used on the Lince. It is true that the Nakíl’s transmission is one of the most efficient on the market and therefore offers a higher sprocket power output than other transmissions of similar weights, and therefore may not need modification. Some components may be made lighter through the use of plastics and titanium to replace steel, but Sistemas Terrestres Segovia has remained silent on this matter. What is known is that that old tracks on the Nakíl will be exchanged for the newer Type 640 lightweight tracks offered by MecániCas, which are used on the Lince, Lynx and JBT-14. According to unofficial sources, the application of the Type 640 tracks will reduce track weight by 600 kilograms and will reduce sprocket and roadwheel weight due to the necessity of introducing a new sprocket, roadwheels and idler wheel for the new tracks.

The Nakíl’s firepower may or may not be improved. The current gun is high successful, although Sistemas Terrestres Segovia may adopt to exchange the current solid propellant in the Nakíl 1A1GU’s electrothermal-chemical tank cannon for a HAN-based liquid propellant, like that of the Nakíl 1A2. This technology is already offered by Sistemas Terrestres Segovia on the Lynx, and so it makes no sense for Kriegzimmer to block the sale of this technology. A source from within the engineering team of the vehicle’s new gun has announced that the original cannon tube and breech, manufactured by Macabee Company Atmos, will be manufactured by Calzado y Bayo. Therefore, it’s possible that Calzado y Bayo will simply opt to introduce a modified version of the 120mm gun mounted on the Lynx and will be similar to the 122mm gun on the JBT-14CM. Given new armor threats, the new gun may be more powerful than the old, although Calzado y Bayo has offered us no details on the future armament of the Nakíl 1A3 (if there is to be one). The existing remote weapon system, which is primitive compared to existing technologies, will be replaced by the successful HammerFist remote weapon system with varying levels of complexity and cost. This RWS can mount any machine gun with a caliber up to 15mm and an automatic grenade launcher with a caliber of up to 40mm. Furthermore, the system mounts its own grenade system and the existing four grenades can be increased to a module of up to eight or sixteen grenades per side. The new remote weapon station also calls for the modification of the existing fire control system, or the introduction of a new fire control system based on the Lince’s Mercenario. Details are unknown. Other changes have also remained hidden.

The Nakíl 1A3 promises to be innovative and a deep modernization of the Nakíl 1A1GU. Well, modernization might not be the correct word, given that the Nakíl 1A1GU and 1A1U are still considered some of the most advanced tanks on the market. Nevertheless, knowing Sistemas Terrestres Segovia, this upgrade kit is not likely to be anything less than spectacular. As mentioned before, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia is a growing defense corporation which specifies in chassis and armor design and production. Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems has little to do with the defense company, except its partnership and its factories, and is an export conglomeration between STS, MecániCas and various other defense technology businesses in the small kingdom. Up to date, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia and the other companies in the conglomerate have collaborated on the design and production of the CM modernization package of the JBT-14C (known internationally as the JBT-14A4), the Lince main battle tank, the Lynx export tank, at least twenty surrogates of these two previous tanks, and two amphibious armored fighting vehicles. MecániCas will begin to export a variety of mine resistance ambush protected wheeled vehicles, including the Tiznao-60 advanced MRAP truck and the upcoming Tiznao-10 VAM (Vehículo de Alta Mobilidad). Several of the member companies in STSLS have also aided in the development of other products, including Sisnaval’s Type A advanced diesel submarine and the future F-100 advanced multi-mission frigate by Astiversal. Although the Castillian defense industry remains relatively unknown on the market, their new products are innovative, advanced and show promise. For example, the Lince main battle tank is currently being produced for four foreign nations, apart from Castilla, and will ultimately number almost one hundred thousand produced between current customers. STS’ L113 Centauro armored personnel carrier (APC) has also seen widespread production and is being produced for the nation of Cotland.

Kriegzimmer’s system brochure for the upcoming Nakíl 1A3 claims a cost of around three million dollars per kit, which suggests that the electronics will also be improved. In the end, one can expect that the package will cost between 2.5 million and 5 million dollars. If one takes the original price of the tank, which was between 10 and 13 million, the upgrade cost may increase the cost of the vehicle by up to a half. This should be weighed against the claims that it will reduce maintenance costs, and that it will increase the lifespan of the current tank. Regardless, it’s cheaper than buying a brand-new vehicle. With the rapid introduction of new technologies and new threats it is difficult for an armored fighting vehicle to remain current for a long time, and therefore expensive kits are required to continue the modernization of the line. The new Nakíl would not be as expensive as Kriegzimmer claims if the upgrade did not include the production of a brand-new turret. But, the new turret shape is thought to be superior the more rectangular turret of the Nakíl 1A1, 1A1U and 1A1GU. Given cost considerations, it’s possible that he 1A1U/GU will be upgraded to the protection and mobility equivalent of the Nakíl 1A3, without the increased cost per unit. This would be offered to nations unwilling to pay the price for the triangular turret slated to enter production for the Nakíl 1A3.

Castilla y Belmonte

30-01-2008, 18:25

Tiznao-60 Armored Truck

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)

The PeoplesFreedom

30-01-2008, 19:58

Joint Military Purchase Order

The Holy Reich is interested in purchasing a total of 500,000 Tiznao-60 armored trucks for use in our military. These trucks will be critical to our logistics forces in zones where convoys may be targeted by partisans or insurgents. Indeed, during the few insurgencies that we have fought against, we found that our convoys were very venerable to not only mines, but also to small arms and machine gun fire. We were forced to convert some of our six tons trucks to gun trucks with machine guns and grenade launchers and using armor which even included sheet metal. We were also forced to escort these convoys by using troops that would be better used in the front lines.

Thus, we will buy the Tiznao-60 and quickly equip or logistics forces with these fine motor vehicles.

Castilla y Belmonte

31-01-2008, 17:37

Communiqué To: The People's Freedom
From: Sales Representative, STSLS
Subject: Sales Confirmation

Greetings again,

We're glad that your Army and Marines have looked into Sistemas Terrestres Segovia to provide further service in terms of necessary equipment. MecániCas can begin production of the Tiznao-60 immediately, and if your home companies are interested we can award a contract for indigenous production as well. Nevertheless, in terms of what we can produce for export, MecániCas can currently produce about forty trucks per day for the purpose of export to The People's Freedom. This means that it would take roughly thirty-four years to complete the order! Nevertheless, MecániCas factory complexes are growing and we are even building new complexes, therefore the second year of production can see a doubling of total production (80 per day), and this would slowly grow as time goes on. Nevertheless, it might be pertinent for The People's Freedom to start simultaneous production at home.

Thank you for your time,

[signed]Diego de la Mancha, Sales Representative

The PeoplesFreedom

31-01-2008, 17:46

Military Purchase Order

Yes, we figured this may be a problem. Luckily, we have two contractors, Krupp Industries and Liberty Steel Works who have factory complexes that will be able to produce these machine. We suggest that we produce all but 30,000 of these trucks while Castilla y Belmonte will construct 30,000. However, Liberty Steel works has informed me that they have a factory complex that can produce 200 trucks a day that they would be willing to sell or loan to you.

Castilla y Belmonte

31-01-2008, 17:50

Communiqué To: The People's Freedom
From: Sales Representative, STSLS
Re: Sales Confirmation

This is agreeable. As for the available complex, currently MecániCas is partnering with other companies forming part of STSLS to begin the construction of new factory complexes for production of all the goods in the catalogue. Furthermore, MecániCas is looking into the beginning of production in newly acquired factories in Doomingsland and Malatose - it's not the lack of grounds, it's just that the company has not had enough time to begin production on foreign territory. Nevertheless, we will produce 30,000 of the vehicles at a starting rate of 40 per month, which will increase to 80 per month by the second year of production.

[signed]Diego de la Mancha, Sales Representative

OOC: Is the NSD working for you?

The PeoplesFreedom

31-01-2008, 17:56

Military Purchase Order
Yes, this is most agreeable. Thank you. We will pay the sum over the course of the next five years, with the first payment being paid upon us recieveing the blueprints and technical advisers.

OOC: Yes.

Castilla y Belmonte

02-02-2008, 20:56

A new crappy logo!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/Macabees/Mecanicas.png

Castilla y Belmonte

04-02-2008, 17:20

Progress on the HIM-TAC (http://z4.invisionfree.com/NSDraftroom/index.php?showtopic=2103)!

Castilla y Belmonte

05-02-2008, 19:14

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/Macabees/Hardware/VAM.png[/center]

The High Mobility 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.

Brydog

05-02-2008, 20:06

To: Sistemas Terrestres Segovia
From: Wolfenhaller Federal Police

Dear Sir or Madam,

The Wolfenhaller Federal Police like to acquire 25 4dr model HIM-TEC with medium protection for use by the Federal Emergency Service Teams.

Signed,
Commissioner Robert von Wolfenstein
Wolfenhaller Federal Police

Castilla y Belmonte

05-02-2008, 21:37

To: Wolfenhaller Federal Police
From: Sales Representative, STSLS
Subject: Order Confirmation

Dear Mr. von Wolfenstein,

The order processed by Brydog's Federal Police has been confirmed. We will begin production of the ordered HIM-TECs at a rate of five HIM-TECs per day; the order will thus be completed within five days. Our merchant ships will provide these in a single tranche.

Thank you for your business,

[signed]Diego de la Mancha

Greal

06-02-2008, 10:26

TO: Sistemas Terrestres Segovia
FROM: Greal Military

The Greal army is interested in purchasing 20,000 Lynx Main Battle Tanks for a total of 170 billion dollars. We request that this order is delivered quickly, and to the eastern coast of Greal. Our number of tanks have dwindled in recent years, and we hope this purchase will boost Greal's tank numbers.

regards,
Greal Minister of Defense
Jason Park

The PeoplesFreedom

06-02-2008, 17:47

OOC: Just as a heads up Greal, that purchase would mean you now have 3 types of MBT, the Wolfhound, Nakil, and Lynx. That would do horrors to your logistics. Furthermore under the new terms you are not allowed to buy arms and the ships develiring these would be seized and sent back.

Castilla y Belmonte

07-02-2008, 16:59

Castilla y Belmonte

08-02-2008, 17:44

Calzado y Bayo Partakes in the Beginning of Coastal Defense Program

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/Macabees/Astiversal400mmcostalgun.png

The heavy armaments company Calzado y Bayo has been recently subcontracted by the Ministry of Defense for the design and construction of an undefined number of heavy naval cannons, which will be positioned near Castillian and friendly naval bases in the country, and outside (in the Northfordian military base, for instance). These are the largest guns to be built by Calzado y Bayo and to enter service with the Castillian military. Not much information on the new defensive system has been given, but from the little information on Calzado y Bayo's new role it's apparent that large caliber coastal defense guns will become a large part of the program. Apparently, the company is also being subcontracted for the development of an electromagnetic advanced cannon for the nation's future Buque de Artillería Naval - it's possible that these coastal cannons will implement similar technologies; for example, coastal cannons may serve as a test bed for future electromagnetic cannons for naval application.

The main contractor has not yet been established, but it will likely be handed to the construction industry, with the defense industry playing only as subcontractors - supplying the equipment.

McPsychoville

08-02-2008, 18:05

Wagdog

08-02-2008, 18:22

From: FM Eileen Millenhaus, Revolutionary Commonwealth of Wagdog DoD
To: Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems Sales Department
CC: MecaniCas Sales Department

Our forces having operated the Tiznao-60 armored logistical truck for a short while now, and to their excellent satisfaction with it I should add, I must express my government's pleasure at the expected availability of the Tiznao-10 HIM-TAC and thus a lightweight counterpart to MecaniCas' debut vehicle. Considering the needs of our logistical forces, we believe another large order is due, which per consideration of still-growing Castillan industrial capability we'd be happy to allow be tasked out to MecaniCas' factories within our nation so as to allow reasonable production rates; and of course these factories are available as agreed for any subcontracting that large HIM-TAC or other orders from third-party nations may require.

Believing as we do in nonlinear warfare, whatever the intensity of combat in a given theater high or low, we feel this order for five-hundred-thousand HIM-TACs in the four-door version should entirely consist of the medium-panel version (totalling $160,000,000,000 USD) as is appropriate for a utility and light logistical vehicle. However, we would also wish to import an equal number of armor kits for conversion to heavyweight-panel armoring (totalling $50,000,000,000 USD) should refits prove necessary, so that we're not caught on the wrong end of any 'surprises partially of our own making' as it were. Our total thus comes to $210,000,000,000 USD and is ready for wiring as a high-priority expenditure.

Yours,
Field Marshal Eileen Millenhaus
Adjutant-Marshal to the Commander-in-Chief, Stewardess Christine Friedrich
Secretary of Defense, RCW Supreme Directory

Cotland

08-02-2008, 19:07

I'm interested in your products, but this storefront seems to have fallen to curse that blights so many others in that it turns off the people it's supposed to appeal to. Using myself as an example, I buy from storefronts because I don't have the technical aptitude to design non-wanky but useful weapons and vehicles, but equally I don't want to have plough through reams of text to try to pick out the usable bits of information. If I wanted to do that, I'd be doing my corporate investment homework right now. If you want to write the massive, massive paragraphs, I'm not going to tell you to stop, but you might want to consider including a summary at the end so customers don't have to wade through it.

[OOC: Psst. Remember the Kriegzimmer storefront operated by the Macabees and the extreme success it was, having the same kind of long-ass detailed descriptions of the equipment being sold? This storefront is being run by the same guy under a new alias, so I think he knows what he's doing.]

______________________________

To: Diego de la Mancha, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems
From: Ministry for the Defense of the Realm, The Realm of Cotland
Subject: Potential contract
______________________________

Dear señor de la Mancha,

The Realm is very pleased with the vehicles we have purchased from STSLS, and has decided to reward the excellent craftmanship and flexibility displayed by STSLS by offering the Sistemas Terrestres Segovia corporation a contract to produce and install a gun-based coastal defense system around vital Cottish naval bases and waterways. This contract has been calculated to be worth well over $485 billion USD. If our offer is accepted, we wish to meet with representatives from the Sistemas Terrestres Segovia as soon as possible to discuss the frames of this contract.

[signed]
Viseadmiral Ørjan Bakke
Procurement Division
Ministry for the Defense of the Realm
The Realm of Cotland

McPsychoville

08-02-2008, 19:16

[OOC: Psst. Remember the Kriegzimmer storefront operated by the Macabees and the extreme success it was, having the same kind of long-ass detailed descriptions of the equipment being sold? This storefront is being run by the same guy under a new alias, so I think he knows what he's doing.]

[Yes, I gathered from him saying "i.e. this is the Macabees" in another thread. Doesn't mean I have to like having to take a bunch of textbooks with me if I want to understand a fucking thing that's being said. I buy from storefronts because I like not having to do that.]

Cotland

08-02-2008, 19:38

[Yes, I gathered from him saying "i.e. this is the Macabees" in another thread. Doesn't mean I have to like having to take a bunch of textbooks with me if I want to understand a fucking thing that's being said. I buy from storefronts because I like not having to do that.]
OOC: Then don't. No need to read this thread if you don't like the layout of it.

Why don't people just use common sense anymore?

Castilla y Belmonte

08-02-2008, 19:50

[OOC: I like my 'customers' to know that what they're buying has quality, and I like to explain why some things are integrated and why other things aren't. Therefore, my write-ups tend to be long - they try to explain as much as possible. I mean, if you like sub-standard write-ups that don't make you read (which is ironic, given that NationStates is entirely about writing and reading) then buy from providers that give you that. I won't change the style of write-ups, especially because normally I like the subject and therefore writing about it enthusiasms me (also why I'm writing 'Informatives' for the NS Draftroom.]

Communiqué To: FM Eileen Millenhaus, Revolutionary Commonwealth of Wagdog DoD
From: Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems, Sales Representative
Subject: Follow-on order confirmation

Greetings Mr. Millenhaus,

I can say, representing the entire export conglomerate, that STS Land Systems is glad that the Wagdian Commonwealth's military has found that the Tiznao-60 serves its requirements. The Tiznao-60 is our debut vehicle in the international market, and we hoped that it would lead to the marketing of MecániCas' name abroad. We see that, at least in the case of the Revolutionary Commonwealth, this has proven to be true. We were sure that the quality in our mine-resistance ambush-protected vehicles would attract clients! There is no question that the order of the 500,000 HIM-TAC vehicles has been confirmed and production will begin as soon as the orders to begin production are sent to the factories which will be set aside for the order. MecániCas home factory has grown from around 1,000 workers to 3,000 workers and the enlarged factory can construct around 4,000 HIM-TACs per month [OOC: This is comparable to the 3,000 Cheetahs that Force Protection Incorporated will be able to build in real-life, although I'm not sure about the work force this will require; currently, Force Protection has a little under 1,000 worders]. Therefore, while our production capacity has indisputably increased, we agree that the factories in Wagdog should be mobilized to produce simultaneously (besides the fact that the Commonwealth's military probably prefers indigenously produced vehicles).

Therefore, the Commonwealth's Department of Defense can expect between 8,000 and 10,000 HIM-TACs per month, with production augmenting after each subsequent month. Therefore, let's set an average of 9,000 produced in total for the first twelve months - or, a total of 108,000 for the first year - and augmenting to an average of 11,000 per month for the second year - 144,000 (total of 254,000 produced) - and 15,000 thereafter (180,000 per year - a total of 434,000 produced in three years). Therefore, the order should be fulfilled in less than four years completed, which is unprecedented in regards to Castilla's defense industry. The individual armor kits will be produced simultaneously, with the vehicles, albeit at a much faster rate. Vehicles produced in Wagdog will be able to be put into service almost immediately after production, although vehicles produced in Castilla will have to await shipment, first - shipments will be made bi-monthly.

We hope that these terms of production are acceptable. Admittedly, Wagdog has served as the principle impetus for MecániCas to increase production capabilities. Wagdog is, by far, the largest user of MecániCas MRAP vehicles, insofar - even The Macabees has procured only around 120,000 HIM-TECs, although these will be produced in Kriegzimmer's colossal factory grounds. Furthermore, we again wish to thank the Revolutionary Commonwealth for their business,

[signed]Diego de la Mancha, Sales Representative

__________________

Communiqué To: Ministry for the Defense of the Realm, The Realm of Cotland
From: Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems, Sales Representative
Re: Potential Contract

Dear Mr. Bakke,

Although Astiversal's 400mm coastal gun is not yet ready for production, we are willing to discuss the possibility of manufacturing coastal guns of this caliber for the Cottish military. The specific terms of the contract will have to be discussed, including production of the actual fortified bunkers - the bunker's protection will depend on their placement; Castillian bunkers will be integrated into nearby terrain, if possible, which means only frontal protection, but some will be protected all-around. The bunkers, due to lesser weight restrictions, will largely be designed to withstand 762mm artillery fire (30 inch) along areas most likely to be hit. The top of the bunkers will be able to withstand top-attack munitions and anti-bunker missiles. Much of the installation will probably have to be subcontracted to Cottish construction businesses and to Cottish labor.

We are happy to discuss this further,

[signed]Diego de la Mancha, Sales Representative

McPsychoville

08-02-2008, 20:41

[Mother of Christ, I get all this shit. I'm just making a fucking suggestion that maybe including all that technical shit isn't the best idea. When did people become so sensitive that THAT'S a crime?]

Akimonad

08-02-2008, 21:30

-gripegripegripe-

I don't see how detail can be bad, given it serves to clear up some things that might otherwise be dubious if not outlined, and when used in an RP. If you don't like it, then you needn't buy the stuff, but you've no place to criticize the designer for his hard work. Write-ups are not easy things to make.

That said, why not just post "tl;dr" instead of your rant if you're so bent heavily towards concise-ness?

McPsychoville

08-02-2008, 21:59

Cotland

08-02-2008, 22:13

[Explain how you're not just trying to irritate me. I don't like the ridiculous length of the entries. I say so. Topic creator says "Cool but I'm not changing it so sod off". Other people decide they need to take arms to defend the topic creator. I start wondering how brain matter looks splattered over the wall, but realise I have no gun to find out. Yes, I'm making a criticism - it's not a petty issue, I'm not doing it because I don't like the topic creator; it's not alone, I've given reason for it, and it's not derogatory, I offered suggestions to try to make it constructive. Now please, PLEASE, if you're going to continue you this, do it through telegram because doing it in here is completely needless. Macabees/Castilla, sorry for these people clogging up your thread.]
OOC: If you're so annoyed with this kind of threads, then don't fucking read them! It's as simple as that! You sir is the one who is clogging up this thread with OOC nonsense. Castilla, sorry for this but it needed to be said.]

______________________________

To: Diego de la Mancha, Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems
From: Ministry for the Defense of the Realm, The Realm of Cotland
Subject: RE: RE: Potential contract
______________________________

Dear señor de la Mancha,

Thank you for the swift and positive reply. This is most acceptable, and we hereby invite representatives of STSLS to come to the Ministry in our capital city of Eeobroht for further discussions regarding this subject.

[signed]
Viseadmiral Ørjan Bakke
Procurement Division
Ministry for the Defense of the Realm
The Realm of Cotland

Castilla y Belmonte

09-02-2008, 20:19

[OOC: I actually don't mind, since it bumps my thread.]

Wagdog

11-02-2008, 04:24

*SNIP for not my argument nor wanting to beat a dead or dying horse in joining it.*

Communiqué To: FM Eileen Millenhaus, Revolutionary Commonwealth of Wagdog DoD
From: Sistemas Terrestres Segovia Land Systems, Sales Representative
Subject: Follow-on order confirmation

Greetings Mr. Millenhaus,

I can say, representing the entire export conglomerate, that STS Land Systems is glad that the Wagdian Commonwealth's military has found that the Tiznao-60 serves its requirements. The Tiznao-60 is our debut vehicle in the international market, and we hoped that it would lead to the marketing of MecániCas' name abroad. We see that, at least in the case of the Revolutionary Commonwealth, this has proven to be true. We were sure that the quality in our mine-resistance ambush-protected vehicles would attract clients! There is no question that the order of the 500,000 HIM-TAC vehicles has been confirmed and production will begin as soon as the orders to begin production are sent to the factories which will be set aside for the order. MecániCas home factory has grown from around 1,000 workers to 3,000 workers and the enlarged factory can construct around 4,000 HIM-TACs per month [OOC: This is comparable to the 3,000 Cheetahs that Force Protection Incorporated will be able to build in real-life, although I'm not sure about the work force this will require; currently, Force Protection has a little under 1,000 worders]. Therefore, while our production capacity has indisputably increased, we agree that the factories in Wagdog should be mobilized to produce simultaneously (besides the fact that the Commonwealth's military probably prefers indigenously produced vehicles).

Therefore, the Commonwealth's Department of Defense can expect between 8,000 and 10,000 HIM-TACs per month, with production augmenting after each subsequent month. Therefore, let's set an average of 9,000 produced in total for the first twelve months - or, a total of 108,000 for the first year - and augmenting to an average of 11,000 per month for the second year - 144,000 (total of 254,000 produced) - and 15,000 thereafter (180,000 per year - a total of 434,000 produced in three years). Therefore, the order should be fulfilled in less than four years completed, which is unprecedented in regards to Castilla's defense industry. The individual armor kits will be produced simultaneously, with the vehicles, albeit at a much faster rate. Vehicles produced in Wagdog will be able to be put into service almost immediately after production, although vehicles produced in Castilla will have to await shipment, first - shipments will be made bi-monthly.

We hope that these terms of production are acceptable. Admittedly, Wagdog has served as the principle impetus for MecániCas to increase production capabilities. Wagdog is, by far, the largest user of MecániCas MRAP vehicles, insofar - even The Macabees has procured only around 120,000 HIM-TECs, although these will be produced in Kriegzimmer's colossal factory grounds. Furthermore, we again wish to thank the Revolutionary Commonwealth for their business,

[signed]Diego de la Mancha, Sales Representative

__________________

*SNIP*

You're too kind. These arrangements are quite acceptable, and do forgive my delay in confirming such. Current contingencies and fervid reports from the State Department have been piling my desk and I can only now send this. We're also pleased to hear our co-production arrangement has aided your economy, since Commerce was particularly keen on that and an objective confirmation always helps; especially for getting one more stream of memos off my desk so I can focus on my real job for which you indeed have my gratitude.

Regards,
FM Eileen Millenhaus, SECDEF, RCW DoD

Greal

12-02-2008, 07:17

Communiqué To: Greal Minister of Defense, Jason Park
From: STSLS Sales Representative
Subject: Potential Order

Sistemas Terrestres Segovia is willing to begin production of the Lynx main battle tank, but the problem of shipment persists. We don't want to lose the economic value of our production, so either the money will have to be offered up front, or the order will not be processed. STSLS cannot afford production in vain, and therefore the purchase must be insured by its worth. On the other hand, the contract will cost more if STSLS is hired to establish a factory in Greal, to begin indigenous production. This plant, however, would be a subsidiary of Sistemas Terrestres Segovia (probably called STS Greal, or something along those lines). Furthermore, STS will soon offer a modernization package for the Nakíl 1A1 which will increase standards and logistically bind it with the Lynx. We can also offer a modernization package for the Wolfhound, which would be ready for indigenous production (through the proposed STS Greal) before the Nakíl 1A3.

We await your response,

[signed]Diego de la Mancha

To: STSLS Sales Representative
From: Greal Minister of Defense, Jason Park

The Greal Government is interested in hiring STSLS to build a factory in Greal. We do offer some land near Sasha city, where half of Greal's armament factories are located. If we do accept the modernization package for the Wolfhound, how much will the whole project cost? Including the original purchase made by the Greal Republican military.

regards

Jason Park

OOC: TPF, I was originally planned to have it as a reserve....

Castilla y Belmonte

12-02-2008, 20:20

OOC: So, what's the current situation between TPF and Greal? We'd like to build a factory, or buy out one of your defense contractors - but TPF is a client.

Greal

13-02-2008, 02:39

OOC: Just build a underground factory.....:D

Castilla y Belmonte

13-02-2008, 20:47

OOC: Just build a underground factory.....:D

OOC: The problem is, that as what would be considered an ally (due to the procurement of the Lince) we can hardly operate against the interests of The People's Freedom. Some sort of accord would have to be established.

Castilla y Belmonte

27-02-2008, 15:56

Coming soon: The Nakíl 1A3

[Poorly disguised bump.]

Castilla y Belmonte

06-03-2008, 16:55

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

Greal

07-03-2008, 09:09

OOC: TPF pulled out now, you may deliver the shipments.....

Castilla y Belmonte

07-03-2008, 17:17

[OOC: Shipments of the twenty thousand [20,000] Lynx main battle tanks will commence, then; expect a rate of around two hundred tanks per month.]

Castilla y Belmonte

11-03-2008, 20:10

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

Castilla y Belmonte

12-03-2008, 19:18

CB.125 125mm L/55 ‘Special’ Tank Gun

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.

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Sistemas Terrestres Segovia (STS) Land Systems