Chapter 396 Amber's Battering Ram
"So how many rounds did you fire this thing at the proving ground?"
"I think I fired more than 700 rounds within 120 kilometers, but I haven't tried it further away. The venue provided by the Yuge family is only enough for this test at this distance."
After hearing Amber's question, Orns, who arrived at the front line with this batch of experimental equipment, said that as the deputy director of the equipment research and development center, this E-2 heavy-duty vehicle-mounted self-propelled electromagnetic gun is one of the products he leads the development of. .
300mm track inner diameter, tough attack, ultra-long distance, ultra-high muzzle velocity, continuous fire power projection, low-cost ammunition
This is the key word of this vehicle-mounted self-propelled electromagnetic gun, which is internally codenamed "Amber's Battering Ram" in the equipment research and development center.
"120 kilometers. So the attack range of 180 kilometers this time means that no live ammunition has been fired yet?"
Amber asked curiously, while walking towards the front of the five-axis special vehicle equipped with a huge cannon. When he walked around the huge front of the vehicle that blocked his view, he saw that this relatively developed area was dotted with people. 24 of these vehicle-mounted self-propelled electromagnetic guns, as well as the same number of ammunition supply vehicles.
According to the current preliminary establishment, this is almost the size of the self-propelled electromagnetic gun battalion under the Atlas Ground Force Artillery Brigade in the future.
As for other vehicles belonging to the self-propelled electromagnetic gun battalion such as command vehicles, reconnaissance vehicles, medical vehicles, support vehicles, etc., they will almost all stay in a hidden spot 3 kilometers away.
"We have conducted simulation experiments in the 'virtual space' of the data center. All data have basically achieved 99% simulation. The results of the experiment are not bad. We estimate that the results of this live-fire test will not be any worse." go."
Orns said with a smile, and at the same time followed Amber's footsteps and walked forward.
As the deputy director of the equipment research and development center, he does not need to go to the front line. This time, he applied to the front line and personally directed the actual combat test of this new equipment.
From a mental point of view, it is almost like an old father sending his child to take an exam.
Looking at the vehicle-mounted self-propelled electromagnetic guns scattered across the open ground, a proud smile appeared on his face under the tactical visor.
"Boss, 180 kilometers is not the ultimate distance. This is just the distance that the artillery shell can travel without additional boost. If the warhead charge is reduced and the freed weight is installed with range extension methods such as rocket engines and gliding kits, experiment The limit distance calculated by room simulation is 450 kilometers."
"How many?"
Amber stopped and turned back to look at Orns, with a hint of surprise in her tone.
"450 kilometers, Boss, but the warhead charge will be reduced a lot, probably only 200 kilograms of TNT equivalent, because we designed this thing to break out of the atmosphere and enter a ballistic section."
"Wait, are you building cannons or missiles?" Amber was really surprised at this.
"Hahaha, we didn't expect to get this data at first. Later, after using Forerunner's energy management technology, we found that the upper limit of the output voltage also became higher, so we simply extended the range."
Speaking of this, Oens couldn't help but secretly lament in his heart that his boss had such vast magical powers that he could even acquire Forerunner technology.
Amber listened to what Oens said and looked at the "truck cannons" around him and shook his head with emotion. This was the first time he heard the extreme data of the things around him.
Originally, he thought that this self-propelled electromagnetic gun could only hit more than 200 kilometers at most, and could be used flexibly with self-propelled rocket launchers - Atlas's future artillery combined brigade plan is to have 3 self-propelled electromagnetic gun battalions + 2 self-propelled rocket launcher battalions. Plus other protection units
But he didn't expect that Oens and the others would just push the self-propelled electromagnetic gun out of its ultimate range of 450 kilometers.
Then, he suddenly realized the power of the warhead after the extended range that Oens had just mentioned.
"No. After the extended range, the warhead still has the power equivalent to 200 kilograms of TNT?"
"That's right, Boss." The smile on Oens's face became more and more proud.
"What if we don't extend the range? What about the ammunition we're going to shoot later?"
"If the range is not increased, the equivalent of ordinary high-explosive bombs is close to 300 kilograms of TNT. If it is a semi-armor-piercing bomb or a heavy-duty attack bomb, it will be reduced to less than 220 kilograms of TNT equivalent."
"What about the rate of fire?"
"Normally one shot takes 12.5 seconds, but in an emergency it can be reduced to one shot every 10 seconds."
"How much does this thing weigh?"
"The five-axle special vehicle is 25 tons, and including the cannon, it is 58 tons."
"Good guys, what kind of incredible weight control do you have?"
"Hahaha, I just took the traffic capacity into consideration, so I tried every means to lose weight~"
"."
Listening to what Orns said, and then looking at the heavy-duty vehicle-mounted self-propelled electromagnetic gun developed by the equipment research and development center next to him, Amber suddenly felt that the creativity of his people was really good enough.
Originally it was only used to practice the energy control technology of the forerunners and to accumulate technology for all future self-propelled artillery to be "electromagnetic cannon".
After all, the performance of the electrothermal chemical cannon has been tapped to the limit, and after solving the most critical energy supply problem, the remaining advantages of the electromagnetic gun can almost perfectly replace the old electrothermal chemical cannon.
In the end, who would have thought that Oens and the others would actually create a long-range strike unit with quite high tactical value.
You should know that the long-range fire support units currently equipped by the Atlas ground forces, in addition to the 155 self-propelled artillery, are the second-hand self-propelled rocket launchers captured from the Federation and the Empire.
Using the largest 720mm caliber guided rocket, the range is only 700 kilometers at most. To be honest, this thing is basically equivalent to a small tactical missile. A standard launch box can only hold two missiles - the Empire version is slightly better and can hold three missiles.
Although the power is indeed huge, it is somewhat out of touch with the rocket launcher's most unique short-term fire coverage capability, and for battlefield environments such as urban sieges where there may be a large number of civilians, this large-caliber rocket is obviously not suitable.
Of course, the most important thing is that this thing is not for sale. The small amount of ammunition that Atlas currently has is captured on the battlefield. At the same time, the use value of 720mm rockets in peacetime is too low, and even the ground forces of the Federation and the Empire rarely have them, so it is basically equivalent to one less rocket fired - the oversized projectile is also easily intercepted by directed energy air defense weapons.
Even for the more common 300mm and 280mm rockets, although the number and cost have been reduced a lot, it is still a crazy waste of money to fire them in salvo.
Amber originally thought that this is the era of the universe, and you can't make rockets too expensive for me, right?
As a result, the cruel reality told him: "Sorry, this thing should be expensive."
Even for the most common plasma rockets, plasma warhead + high-performance rocket engine + high-precision integrated guidance unit + lightweight materials, these things together make rockets have nothing to do with the word "cheap".
Industrial production activities in the real world are not like SLG games where you can start using them directly after clicking on technology points. There are still many aspects that need to be considered.
In particular, if Atlas wants to fully realize the "self-supply" of weapons, equipment, ammunition and other materials in the future, it must have its own set of industrial standards, and this thing requires a long time of accumulation in practice.
According to the calculations of professionals, even if Atlas can produce itself in the future, the cost will not be low unless the output is huge.
After all, the production of rockets also requires a whole set of assembly lines, and the production lines of rockets of different calibers and models are different. Even if a set of universal assembly lines can be made, only rockets of a certain caliber and model can be produced at the same time.
At the same time, the consumption rate of rockets in combat is much greater than its production rate. The production line has worked hard for half a day, and it may only produce a base amount of several self-propelled rocket artillery battalions.
In this way, although Atlas is also a big family and a little famous, it is still not enough in terms of hard power compared with the two giants of the Federation and the Star Dragon Empire.
In this context, even if Atlas is now very well-funded, it is not rich enough to use rockets as water.
And the scene that requires large-scale firepower coverage is not so common after all. In most cases, it is to attack the enemy's key targets, joints and other locations.
Therefore, a long-range support weapon that can "replace" the self-propelled rocket launcher has become an equipment urgently needed by the current ground forces.
Finally, the E-2 heavy vehicle-mounted self-propelled electromagnetic gun came into being.
In the vision of Amber and the Equipment Research and Development Center, the firepower battalion under the future heavy synthetic brigade will only be equipped with 155 self-propelled artillery or self-propelled electromagnetic gun, mainly responsible for the firepower support within the combat range of the synthetic brigade.
The artillery synthetic brigade under the group army will use the vehicle-mounted self-propelled electromagnetic gun and self-propelled rocket launcher together to be responsible for the long-range firepower support on the entire attack surface of the group army.
This is also a compromise in the case of insufficient troops-using a limited number of elite troops to control as many areas as possible and form a certain tactical depth.
Just like now, Amber and this self-propelled electromagnetic gun battalion stayed at the preset position 175 kilometers away from the target in a straight line. After handing over the refugee camp to the Hive Core and the subsequent newly formed troops, the two reorganized synthetic brigades have already touched the offensive position 160 kilometers away.
What? You said orbital strike support?
Atlas has indeed mastered this technology now, but Amber and Cliffs dare not guarantee that the fleet will definitely gain control of the sky in future battles and be able to calmly carry out orbital strike support.
What if the enemy fleet is in a stalemate and there is no chance to provide support?
Therefore, the ground forces must first adapt to fighting without orbital strike support, and cannot develop the bad habit of calling for orbital strikes when encountering problems-it is also costly for warships to descend to perform orbital strikes, and there are various risks.
The target of the Atlas ground force's attack this time is a large automated food processing plant, or a large automated food processing city.
In this food factory cluster, which has reached the size of a small city, there are a large number of food processing factories including staple food, meat, canned food, fast food, beverages, and drinking water, as well as residential areas built around these factories.
According to the intelligence obtained by Amber, this place provides nearly 20% of the food, drinking water and other materials production on Pella IV in peacetime.
Therefore, when the Federation launched an attack on Pella IV before, this place was also one of the key targets of attack.
However, the imperial defenders were also aware of this. Before the attack began, they had already stocked up a large amount of ammunition, supplies, and raw materials needed for production. At the same time, they had completely destroyed this place through a large number of permanent and semi-permanent fortifications. 'Fortified'.
The result was that the federal offensive force, with the support of orbital attacks, suffered a major defeat here, and all the orbital paratroopers that airborne into the city were wiped out.
According to intelligence from the reconnaissance force, the number of remaining imperial soldiers inside may exceed the original three brigade-level combat teams, but after taking in a large number of stragglers, it has reached a size close to five brigades.
The reason why Atlas chose this place to attack is also very simple. First of all, it is the nearest large-scale food processing base. Once captured, it can greatly alleviate the shortage of food and other materials.
At the same time, according to the refugees who escaped from here, the food processing city has completely lost order, and the remaining imperial soldiers have been maintaining "temporary military control" by force.
It’s said to be ‘military control’, but in reality it treats other civilians and prisoners as slaves.
Therefore, if we can capture this place and liberate the oppressed refugees, it will be very helpful to Atlas's "reputation building" work.