Chapter 398: A Battle Back to Basics

"The shelling effect is good, but then why is there no response from their anti-aircraft positions?"

After the self-propelled electromagnetic gun battalion began to launch effective fire attacks on the permanent positions outside Gallipol, Amber suddenly realized that these rounds of shelling had not been intercepted in a decent manner.

Although it is more troublesome to intercept the shells of self-propelled artillery, for some "hedgehog" positions, relying on a large number of high-energy lasers or charged particle cannons to shoot, you can always hit a few rounds.

On the more extreme side, using the diffusion shooting mode of a heavy particle cannon is also an option.

"Their counter-battery radar and reconnaissance units are probably focused on the two brigades at the front. Our artillery positions here are probably not expected."

Owens looked at the images coming back from the front and said that as a weapon designer, he must also understand the issue of 'contradiction and confrontation'.

"And the super-heavy bullets fired this time are actually not that easy to intercept. In order to penetrate the top armor plate of the permanent fortification, they all use tungsten alloy warheads. Unless multiple heavy particle cannons are used for spread shooting, it will basically Can't stop it."

"The early warning radar detects artillery shells flying in the atmosphere at speeds above Mach 5, and then allows the air defense radar team to accurately lock the target in less than two minutes and share the information to the frontline HCP or fixed fort, allowing Did they complete the spread shot?"

Amber shook her head, and then said: "At least judging from the training level of the imperial defenders in front of us, it is impossible."

"Yes, Boss, and this is just an attack by a self-propelled electromagnetic gun battalion of 24 E-2s. If it is put into mass production in the future, attacks on this defensive position will be carried out with the firepower of the entire artillery combined brigade. By then I estimate that the general air defense system will be paralyzed."

While Orns was speaking, a hole had been made in the permanent outer fortifications southeast of Gallipol. Although during the subsequent firing, the imperial defenders also used their only anti-aircraft weapons to intercept, But with little success.

Instead, after exposing his position, he was taken care of by the 155 self-propelled artillery and loitering missiles under the two combined brigades at the front.——

Amber, Orns, Hogg and others are attacking the positioning of the E-2 heavy vehicle-mounted self-propelled electromagnetic gun.

In a sense, this positioning is very close to the familiar heavy artillery such as the ‘Big Bertha’, ‘Karl’, and ‘Stalin’s Hammer’ from ancient times – all designed to attack high-strength permanent fortifications.

This also has something to do with the reason why ground wars in this era have become more and more "returning to nature".

After various directed energy weapons spread to heavy mechanized troops, and the deflection force field developed based on the principle of 'directional magnetic field' moved from under the battleship in space to the ground combat troops, a new concept of 'armor bomb countermeasures' emerged .

The directed energy weapons most commonly equipped by ground forces are high-energy lasers, charged particle beam weapons and heavy particle cannons.

In the future, there will also be plasma cannons that fire plasma - Amber has already asked the equipment research and development center to test this thing. According to Eugene and the others, it will be weaponized soon.

High-energy lasers are much more awkward to use in the atmosphere than in space. This light-speed weapon was originally designed to have the ability to strike enemies at long distances in real time.

This can indeed be done in space, and lasers rely on the high heat of the focus point of the beam to kill, and the deflection force field cannot be used for defense. Generally, the outer laminated armor of the ship is used, and the thermal expansion coefficient is close to 0. coating, as well as a working fluid water cooling layer to resist.

But on the ground, common planets suitable for human habitation are basically close to each other in terms of planet curvature radius and topography. This also results in the visual distance of ground battles reaching the sky, which is only a few kilometers to more than ten kilometers.

At this distance, the advantages of high-energy lasers are infinitely narrowed, and lasers are subject to various restrictions in the atmosphere, especially in rainy and foggy weather, so basically don't think about using high-energy lasers to hit long-distance targets.

Therefore, the high-energy laser weapons equipped by ground forces are basically used for air defense. When the weather is good, they can hit manned aircraft, drones, cruise missiles, and other things flying in the sky.

When the weather is not good, you can also lay it flat to hit "soft targets" at close range.

Charged particle beams, heavy particle cannons, and plasma cannons that will be popular in the future have gradually replaced various barrel artillery and become heavy weapons for ground units.

But these weapons can be defended by deflection force fields. It is nothing more than a matter of instantaneous power competition.

At the same time, charged particle beams, which are near-light speed weapons, and heavy particle cannons, which are two-hundredth light-speed weapons, can occasionally serve as air defense units.

This is also the reason why the status of the tactical air force in the atmosphere is getting lower and lower, and it has basically become a "mobile arsenal" for launching hypersonic weapons outside the defense zone.

In the early days, the situation of carrying aerial bombs to support ground troops, or even directly licking the ground with machine guns, is completely gone. After all, no pilots are willing to attack the ground with directed energy weapons that have almost no attack delay.

In this context, ground warfare has become a very retro confrontation—after air defense is done, focus on a new armor-based missile confrontation between directed energy weapons, deflection fields, and laminated armor. '.

This is just the current situation. If the technology developed according to what Amber knows, the ancient military building of "fortress" will also reappear.

The outer wall of the fortress is constructed with a large number of laminated armor and composite armor plates, a large deflection force field array covering the entire fortress, a hedgehog-like anti-aircraft weapon array, and various fixed turrets equipped with directed energy weapons and hypersonic missile silos

This is basically an upgraded version of the outpost built by Atlas before, or Amber made this kind of "fortress" that will gradually become popular in the future appear in advance.

When the important nodes on the surface of the planet are fortified, the planetary landing war becomes more difficult. Even if the attacker successfully sends the troops to the ground, they will have to face a large number of turtle shell-like fortresses.

As long as the attacker wants to occupy the planet, rather than "burning glass" or "growing mushrooms", they have to bite the bullet and rely on conventional forces to gnaw.

In Amber's memory, some famous fortresses can even withstand orbital strikes - not those tactical thermobaric bombs dropped from outer space, but direct fire from the main guns of battleships.

The methods to deal with these fortresses are also very simple and unpretentious. Either send special forces to sneak in in advance to carry out sabotage operations, or let the insider directly shut down the deflection field generator.

If the first two methods cannot be done, then we can only rely on high-density firepower delivery to overload and fail the deflection field generator.

In this process, the fortress defenders will definitely counterattack and find a way to eliminate the attacker's long-range attack position, so a unit that can deliver efficient firepower at a sufficiently long distance is very important.

Hypersonic weapons can indeed kill into the last distance with their unique penetration capabilities, but this type of weapon, which is not cheap, is more used to deal with time-sensitive targets rather than to hit an immobile turtle shell.

Self-propelled artillery can ensure the continuity of firepower, and the shells are also quite cheap, but the attack distance of dozens of kilometers makes the artillery position not very safe. Whether it is the defender's anti-artillery, missile attack, or the rapid assault of an HCP squadron, it will cause a fatal blow to the self-propelled artillery.

Whether it is now or in the future, the multiple rocket launcher system has been proven to be an extremely effective means to fight against fortresses in an environment where tactical nuclear weapons cannot be used.

The short-term ultra-high firepower projection and plasma warhead are definitely a tricky enemy for some small fortresses.

However, the multiple rocket launcher system also has defects. One is that the firepower is not continuous enough and the reloading cycle is too long. If a round of salvos does not "break the defense", by the time the reloading is completed, the deflection force field of the fortress has actually recovered almost.

Another drawback is that the cost is relatively high, and ammunition is relatively difficult to resupply. Sometimes the fire commander has to make a choice, whether to launch a round of fire coverage on the enemy's heavy armored group, or to smash the turtle shell in front of him, or to provide fire support to the troops that sent a request for support?

But the emergence of the E-2 heavy vehicle-mounted self-propelled electromagnetic gun is, to some extent, a more economical solution.

Under the same technical processing level, the cost of electromagnetic gun shells, especially those without extended-range booster components, is very different from that of long-range rockets.

Amber roughly calculated that the cost of a 300mm long-range rocket with a range of 180-200 kilometers is equivalent to nearly 20 electromagnetic gun shells that can hit 180 kilometers.

Moreover, when facing the fortress-level deflection field, the super-heavy bomb, a weapon with higher kinetic energy, is obviously more difficult to deal with than the plasma fireball of the plasma warhead.

The latter can also rely on the electric field to set off fireworks, but the former can only rely on pointing to the magnetic field to twist hard.

Not to mention, in Amber and Ornes's plan, there is also an ultra-heavy vehicle-mounted electromagnetic gun that uses an 8-axle special vehicle to launch a 500-1000 kg warhead.

And it may consider using a suspended train with gravity control technology to launch a behemoth train electromagnetic gun with a warhead of 1500-3000 kg

Big is good, more is beautiful. Since the future ground battlefield will become more and more extreme due to the "contradiction dispute", Amber does not mind being more extreme on this basis.

Don't you see that the next door studio is also playing the World War I cavalry death charge in the interstellar era? The so-called tactics are formulated based on the technological level and combat style of the warring parties.

Of course, the salvo of long-range rockets and the killing effect on the assembled troops are definitely not comparable to self-propelled electromagnetic guns, which is destined to make them difficult to be eliminated in a short time.

If you are poor, you can intersperse tactics, and if you are rich, you can blow me up.

If it is for a big country, equipping the troops with long-range rockets may be a matter of closing their eyes and paying the bill, but for Atlas, it must be calculated carefully.

After all, Atlas is essentially a company, and the operation of a company must consider key indicators such as cost and cost-effectiveness. On the battlefield, if a target can be smashed through with 100 yuan, it will never be smashed with 110 yuan of ammunition.

Money is saved in this way, and Amber has a deep understanding of this.

Just as Amber and Owens were discussing the subsequent production of E-2, the front-line attack forces also began tactical maneuvers under the cover of the self-propelled electromagnetic gun battalion and the brigade's self-propelled artillery battalion.

The HCP assault force led by Murat, relying on the outstanding mobility and protection capabilities of the improved "Holy Shield", directly and boldly set up a "gun line" on the front line, attracting most of the firepower.

Those new floating main battle tanks were completely unrestricted by the terrain that was artificially destroyed by the imperial defenders before the war, and they advanced to the front of the permanent fortifications almost as if they were walking on flat ground.

The imperial defenders who survived by chance did not even have time to retreat to the second line of defense, and saw with their own eyes that these main battle tanks that had never seen them were too lazy to use barrier-breaking bombs, and directly raised the suspension height to cross the anti-tank barricades.

Then these defenders were quickly harvested by the coaxial electromagnetic machine guns and the close defense lasers and chain guns of the automatic weapon station. The fixed turrets that did not have time to turn their direction were also destroyed by the electromagnetic reconnection guns of these floating main battle tanks.

However, the heavy troops that advanced to the first line of defense did not continue to advance, but began to stabilize the front line with the help of the wreckage on the position. While waiting for the follow-up troops to follow up, they were also ready to deal with the counterattack of the imperial defenders at any time.

The first to "attack" the city of Garibal were the suicide "bee swarms" that followed the heavy troops and the cruise missiles fired by the firepower battalion under the heavy brigade (2 self-propelled artillery companies + 1 cruise missile company).

Since the terminal defense weapon groups such as close-in defense guns and short-frequency lasers deployed outside Garibal were basically deployed together with permanent fortifications, they were basically wiped out by the attack of the self-propelled electromagnetic gun battalion.

The terminal defense weapon groups on other lines of defense obviously could not support this gap, so they could only watch these dense suicide bee swarms and cruise missiles rushing along the streets to the rear defense line like mercury.

Amber, who was 180 kilometers away, saw this scene through the command terminal and couldn't help feeling a little painful on her face.

"This is purely burning money to reduce casualties."