Military Equipment of the Novan Imperial Armed Forces

Post Reply
Zor
Posts: 271
Joined: Wed May 28, 2008 10:01 pm

Military Equipment of the Novan Imperial Armed Forces

Post by Zor »

This thread is for various peices of Non Spacecraft weaponry and equipment employed by the Novan Imperial Military.
---
“Many companies choose names for military equipment such as Tiger, General Sherman, Kusanagi or Champion; we have decided to be a bit more creative. We chose to give our creations a name that has been a dark word in military schools, the worst possible way of achieving victory. We give it new meaning, let them know that we can replace losses faster than they can be inflicted, that we can cover every street corner. That we can send at them wave after wave at them until their last bullet is fired and over the piles of the fallen comes fresh units that cut them down. It’s a name that says that no matter how effective a resistance fighter you are, you shall be broken under the simple number of Robots that we can send after you.”
-Jordan Matinsky, 27th Herzog Matinsky, Spokesperson for Imperial Robotics for press showcase of the first model of the Attrition series: 6/8/2119


DR-25 Mark-21 “Attrition” Infantry Robot
Height-1.3 meters general walking stance
Length-85cm torso module
Width-30cm to 52.5cm
Leg length-75cm
Weight-126.8 Kilograms
Max walking speed-45km/h
Cameras-six (one top, one spinal mounted on main gun, one forward, two side, one on flexible retractable 100cm probe)
Armament-Turret mount for modular weapons systems
-Four Foot mounted 10cm retractable electrified blades
-Power Cell overload
Armor-5mm layered alloy/battle ceramic armor.
Power source-D-32 Oroborus High density power cell, 128 hours power

In the early 22nd century AT, the Novan Empire set out to consolidate its hold of power over the local space, in doing so it soon found itself faced with a long term problem that stood in the path of future expansion, that of logistics. At this point in time, the only planet that the Novan Empire recruited from for any military forces was Herschel system. This meant that it could take months to bring in fresh soldiers to re-enforce a planet if the success of resistance mounted, which could have disastrous consequences. The result of which was that a special panel was assembled to find a way around this.

The decision they turned to was that of Robotics. The Novan Imperial Army made heavy use of robots for roles of pack carriers, combat probes, UAVs as well as in a few secondary combat roles. However, the Novan Military was not prepared to replace most of the feet on the ground with Machines and many of them required advanced factories. As such a two pronged program was ordered by Empress Susan IX in 2115 to meet these issues calling for two things…

1-A military robot capable of filling out the roles of an infantryman of an occupational army that could be mass produced at practical cost
2-A category of pre fabricated factory which could be transported and rapidly made operation capable of producing said robots.

Dozens of robotics design firms were hired for this highly lucrative program. Eventually hundreds of prototypes were created before a singular design led by Damion Bhatnagarwas found to be the most effective for its cost category and approved after dozens of competitive live fire exercises, being finalized in early 2119, with the Robot being assigned the name “Attrition” to showcase their ability to be fielded en mass. The design has proven its worth many times over, and has over the past two centuries been upgraded and continues to this day as a key part in the Novan Army.

The Attrition series of Infantry Robots was a quadrupedal machine, allowing it to handle rough terrain and navigate hazards such as mines easily. It had a highly modular construction, allowing for quick repairs, even in the field and a high level of internal redundancy. For manipulation, they have an arm mounted on a turret underneath their main body with a few tools to perform various tasks, including ordinance disposal and installation of ordinance. They are also equipped with a retractable camera equipped probe on a flexible appendage to see around corners and through cracks. Attrition War Robots are equipped with a vocorder for communications with Humans, as well as coded wireless transitions to other robots and field commanders. Attrition Robots are fairly robust, being resistant to most shrapnel, are well protected against primitive infantry scale cartridge ammunition firing guns while offering some level of protection against modern gauss and gyrorocket weapons. They can survive in the vacuum of space, beneath up to 500 meters of water and in temperatures of up to 373 degrees Celsius and can be outfitted with thermoptic camoflague

For main armament, a modular turret system was designed, each attrition robot can be equipped with any one of a variety of weapons. The most common being a standard Imperial 5mm machine gun, with other common variants including anti armor missile launchers, anti-air missile launchers, grenade launchers, smart mortars and 15mm sniper guns. Other non combat turrets exist, including field mechanic, explosives disposal and. These can be installed in ten minutes by a trained tech and a non trained person can install a turret within about twenty minutes. They are also equipped with retractable foot mounted blades for close quarters combat and the ability to self destruct, allowing them to leap onto enemy vehicles or clusters of soldiers in desperation while exploding.

Attrition War Robots have the intelligence (in rough terms) comparable to that of a smart breed of conventional dog like a German Sheppard. This is geared towards doing their job of soldiering; they can perform basic repairs on themselves. Attrition Robots do have some capacity for independent learning towards tactical affairs and have been. Attrition robots are generally employed in groups of four under the command of an organic soldier, which manages them using a highly streamlined and refined command system, although there are plenty of instances in which hordes of loosely managed Attrition robots in intense urban combat.

However, the greatest asset of Attrition Infantry Robots is numbers. The Novan Empire has vast reserves of them in storage and can quickly assemble billions if the need arises. Amongst the greatest successes of the Novan Empire is that of the Prefab Factories for planetary occupations, ranging from orbital to planet based installations that can produce ammunition and robotics components to lesson logistical burdens. Within seventy two hours, the Novan Imperial Army’s corps of engineers can set up an FRAP-2/53 factory capable of producing Attrition Robots at a rate of five dozen a day. Vast armies of these Robots have been kept in storage in hidden to assist in Guerilla activity on certain planets in case of invasion by hostile powers on certain frontier worlds. A few of these catches have been seized by the Empire’s Enemies, which have on several occasions sold them to various mercenary forces, as well as a few captured prefab factories.
Zor
Posts: 271
Joined: Wed May 28, 2008 10:01 pm

Re: Military Equipment of the Novan Imperial Armed Forces

Post by Zor »

GravRaider.jpg
GravRaider.jpg (154.41 KiB) Viewed 14881 times
"Their degenerate renegade ideology is based around military lines of thining. Show them that their tactical scenario is hopeless."
Two star General Jang Hee-sun, third Baron Hee-sun at the Third battle of Guderiansland (3/17 to 3/21 2283 AT, planet Volksland) in dealing with a number of Intersteller Protectorate Forces and Local militia held up in mountain ranges

GR-4 Bladewolf Countergravity Attack Vehicle
Introduced-5/10/2278
Weight-(unloaded) 15.25 Tonnes
Crew-Two (three command varient)
Maximum altitude-(Terra Gravity) 2.6 meters
Range-3,000 kilometers
Top speed-400 kilometers per hour
Weapons-One AVW-35 20mm autocannon (2,000 rounds of ammunition)
Two GP-32 Missile Launchers (24 missiles)
Armor-Front-35mm
Side and rear-20mm
Undercarrage-15mm
Turret-25mm
Production Run-42,750,000

Based around the same physical principles used for Hyperdrives, artificial gravity technology has numerous practical aplicaitons such as making ships more habitable. Among the more noteworthy developments in recent years has been that of the countergravity cell over the first half of the 23rd century AT. This allows has had many notable acheivements from reducing the fuel required to achieve orbit as well as applications in civilian fields (most notably in the manufacture of higher end personal vehicles after breakthroughs in miniaturization of countergravity technology around 2250). Military applications for countergrav are ongoing, mostly in regards to dropships and to gunships. Application to ground vehicles is another matter.

There have been debates about use of countergravity vehicles for military roles. Things such as limitations based on weight, powerplant output and stability in regards to firing high velocity high caliber cannons have ruled out the potential for countergravity tanks. Many generals are also untrusting of countergravity vehicles as being overcomplicated and for production costs. Despite this, one of the most common Novan light combat vehicles today is the Bladewolf Countergrav Attack Vehicle (more commonly refered to as Countergrav Raider).

The Nova Atlantean Bladewolf is native to the Lada continent, a 150cm long fast moving pack based predator which gets its name from the 6cm claws which grow from its front three limbs and three parted vice like jaws. While not as resilliant to damage as a main battle tank, the Bladewolf is fast and able to handle rough terrain that tanks can not cross. This makes them useful for recon and raiding, although they are also well suited for urban combat.

The Primary armamanet of the Bladewolf is a 20mm Autocannon able to make mincemeat and shrapnal out of soldier and combat robot alike as well as a pair of autoloading missile launchers. These can be loaded with a variety of ordinance including anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles. While it's armor is nothing praticularly noteworthy and is ill suited against anti-tank weapons, it still is more than capable of dealing with most infantry weapons. For propulsion, Bladewolves really on jet engines with a protected intake (located underneith the main hull) and exaust. These are the vunerable areas of the vehicle. The individual countergrav cells are modual and armored against shrapnal and a Bladewolf can stay aloft with as few as two fifths of its cells still fuctional. One of the more noteworthy aplications of the Bladewolf is that it is easy to airdrop, allowing for rapid deployment of armored forces to an area.
Last edited by Zor on Fri May 07, 2010 8:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: Military Equipment of the Novan Imperial Armed Forces

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

It's a very nice tiny tank, and I like the lines of your drawing. It reminds me of a Scorpion, or some other scout tank variant. Perhaps special forces use it also as a kind of fast attack vehicle? Imagine putting side-mounted cradles for SF operators to sit on, while the Countergrav Raider blazes through the desert at high speeds.

I wonder if it's possible to put energy weapons on the thing, instead of autocannons, to lessen the recoil. Or would energy weapons be too bulky and complicated for such a small vehicle? How about bolters/gyrojets?

It'd be wicked for heavy arms versions of the Raider to have missile racks mounted on its sides, like a helicopter gunship.
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
Zor
Posts: 271
Joined: Wed May 28, 2008 10:01 pm

Re: Military Equipment of the Novan Imperial Armed Forces

Post by Zor »

I was thinking that the Novans would have Bladewolf varients able to launch off larger missile salvos at the expense of infantry fighting or long range point defense versions armed with lasers.

Zor
Zor
Posts: 271
Joined: Wed May 28, 2008 10:01 pm

Re: Military Equipment of the Novan Imperial Armed Forces

Post by Zor »

Image

TR-58 Powersuit

Power Armor was first introduced in the mid 2nd century AT, but were relegated to specialist operations and roles until the late 5th century. Now power armor is fairly commonly used across the developed heart of the Terran Sphere, with only a few minor planetary nations in divided systems lacking the ability to produce powersuits. Still, it takes a nation with a poweful economy to be able to feild a sizable army and equip the bulk of it's infantry with powersuits. The Novan Empire is one of these Nations, prodiving over 2.4 billion soldiers and police Advanced Responce Unit officers with TR-58 powersuits.

Despite this fact Novan powersuit technology was until the 2220s fairly primitive by the standards of the Terran Sphere. There had been little drive to develop such technology among the largely peaceful history of the Novan Empire, as the only military conflict in the Herschell system were against primitives which had at most small arms and light vehicles comprable to that of the latter half of the last century BT. Afterwards in the Empire's early FTL era, development was delayed due to the primitive nature of local defenders. It was only after numerous engagements with other intersteller powers and several campaigns featuring higher than usual casualties that the Novan Empire pushed considerable funding into R&D and industrial development programs to ensure that it's power armor systems were fully up to date.

As far as powersuits go, the TR-58 system is nothing too unusual but is in general reliable and capable of doing the job to perameters slightly above average. It masses between 18.2 and 28.54 Kilograms with each indivual suit assembled from various components which come in up to 36 diferent sizes to acomidate a broad spectrum of body types. The system is composed of three layers. The first layer is the exoskeleton, composed of layered alloy/ceramic plates on an internal framework using contracting microcable bundles for musculature, the second layer is an insulative layered polymer offering some minor shrapnal protection but is mostly used to protect the wearer from the elements. Said layer is air tight and rated for depths of up to 300 meters. The innermost layer is a biofeedback leotard for control, in special cases this is modified to be a mechanical pressure system for space combat. In terms of durrability, the TR-58 can resist fire from primitive small arms fairly well and offers solid protection against shrapnal and offers some resistance to more advanced forms of handheld weapons, such as modern assault rifles. Power suited infantry can carry up to 140 kilograms of equipment fairly easily.

For combat awarness, it has a broad sprectrum scanner for night combat, a targeting computer and built in communication systems. It contains an internal water resovour, liquid waste reclaimation system and can be equiped with either a gas mask or to an inclosed rebreather system. It is powered by a high density power cells, offering 48 hours of general combat preformance. It can be hooked up to a thermoptic camoflauge system but its most important feature is a series of command interface software and controls, allowing for the easy transmittion of orders to attrition series infantry robots, as it is common practice for each human soldier in most scenarios to command a fire team of said combat robots.
Last edited by Zor on Thu Sep 02, 2010 5:13 am, edited 2 times in total.
Zor
Posts: 271
Joined: Wed May 28, 2008 10:01 pm

Re: Military Equipment of the Novan Imperial Armed Forces

Post by Zor »

CombatUACV.jpg
CombatUACV.jpg (139.38 KiB) Viewed 14765 times
"For their crimes against the empire we shall make the very skies the subject of their nightmares, for we shall fill them with with our eyes and talons"
-NIA Brigadier General Nikita Yamashiro, 5/5/2268, in a pacification campaign against partisans on the Delta swamplands of the Sub Continent of Alicia, New Florida
DRA-74 Shrike Light Unmaned Combat Air Vehicle
Introduced-1/15/2266
Weight-(unloaded) 287.2kg (unloaded)
Maximum altitude-(Terra Gravity) 6,300 meters
Range-4,500 kilometers
Top speed-650 kilometers per hour
Weapons-One AVW-25 5mm Machine gun (800 rounds of ammunition)
-Four GP-28 Missiles
-Self Destruct Charge (2kgs)
Armor-Front-5mm
Side and rear-None
Undercarrage-5mm
Turret-none
Production Run-12,800,000,000

The Novan Military makes extensive use of Combat Robots, from Robotic Supply Trucks to the overwhelming hordes of Attrition Series Robotic Infantry. Among one the most prolific areas in which robots are employed is in one of the oldest feilds, that of Unmaned Ariel Vehicles. Many varients have been used, but recently the most widespread of these has been the Shrike. Only outnumbered in terms of sheer number of units in service or reserve by the attrition the Shrike is prolifically employed by the Novan Military. Most Companies have at least one Shrike assigned to them for ariel recon.

The Shrike is not the first Combat UCAV employed by the Novan Military, several other models have been employed. The Shrike was put into production due to the advent of countergravity systems. This allows the Shrike the ability to be much more energy efficient than if it relied exclusively on it's jets, especially when hovering in place. There small size and VTOL capacity allows shrikes to operate with a notable amount of flexibility. Shrikes are powered by a of High Density Power Cell which can be swaped out fairly quickly and recharged by vehicle reactors. Mechanical systems are highly modular and can easily be repaired.

While ususally used for recon, Shrikes are also used for patroling areas and supression. Their mobility has also proven adventagious in urban combat. Shrikes can be remotely controlled but are generally operated by their AIs under supervision of a human commander. On occasion large forces of thousands of Shrikes have been employed to scower large areas of forest or similar enviroments for targets such as partisans. In combat they are capable of laying down respectable fire as well as being able to launch missiles against targets (either fragmentation or anti armor), but are fragile. Shrikes on combat missions often have a Kamikaze program installed, if they are shot down they will try to fly into whatever shot them down and explode.
Zor
Posts: 271
Joined: Wed May 28, 2008 10:01 pm

Re: Military Equipment of the Novan Imperial Armed Forces

Post by Zor »

Image

TR-65 Powersuit

The TR-65 Powersuit is the heavier counterpart to the TR-58. Put into production in 2243, the TR-65 was created to replace the venerable but dated TR-22 series, which had seen the Novan Empire through a century of conquest, but was lackluster in comparison with the heavy suits used by the Commonwealth and the Union. A considerable improvement, it managed a considerably greater degree of flexibility, dexterity while slightly improving durability and power cell lifespan, while most importantly keeping production costs low.

The TR-65 weighs in at 224.2 to 252.8 kilograms, depending on who it its fitted to. It has considerably greater strength and durability to the TR-58, although this does come at the cost of ability and maximum speed, at most capable of speeds of 22 kilometers per hour. The increased weight has some disadvantages, namely making it vunerable to pitfalls, dificulty of transit and the fact that the wearer can not move in it in case of mechanical failure. Its increased strength and weight allow it to carry heavier weapons, including gauss machine guns (as pictured). Like its lighter counterpart it has systems to allow for the easy command of attrition robots. Due to increased costs and aforesaid vunerabilities its use is limited to specialized heavy infantry forces.
Post Reply