Armored Tears

by Mark Kalina

  Instead, an entirely new class of combat aircraft was designed in response to the use of combat laser weapons, and has since come to dominate air combat and air superiority operations. Given the effectively zero flight time of combat laser weapons, the best possible defense against lasers proved to be stealth; if the sensors used by the combat laser for targeting could not find the aircraft, that aircraft could not be destroyed by the laser. Thus, the trend of development of stealth as a primary attribute of combat aircraft was greatly enhanced by the deployment of combat lasers.

  However, combat lasers could also be carried by aircraft, so long as those aircraft were large enough to house the bulky weapon. Conventional agility and air combat maneuvering was of no use against a laser-armed enemy; a conventional stealth-fighter aircraft, once detected, could be engaged instantly, regardless of what maneuvers it tried to carry out. Nor was "getting on the opponent's tail" of any real use, since a single laser weapon apparatus could be set up with several laser emitters, giving a 360 by 360 degree spherical weapons envelope. Moreover, inbound air-to-air missiles were easily shot down by an airborne combat laser, making it even harder for a conventionally armed aircraft to threaten a laser-armed aircraft. In the same manner, air-to-surface missiles and bombs also proved to be easy targets for surface-based combat lasers.

  The result was a move away from stealth-fighter bombers to a larger, multi-crew, highly stealthy, laser-armed combat aircraft of a type that became known as a "ghost." The basic requirements of a "ghost" combat aircraft are that it is large enough to mount a combat laser weapon, that it carries sensors that allow it to perform its reconnaissance mission and to effectively find and target enemy "ghosts" and that is very stealthy. These requirements have tended to create a set of common characteristics for "ghost" type combat aircraft.

  "Ghosts" tend to be fairly large (about the size of a moderate-sized airliner) in order to fit the needed sensors and laser weapon, and to allow for a multi-person crew to run these systems. They also have to be very stealthy, often with variable-geometry wings to allow for both supersonic transit flights and "ultra-stealthy" unpowered, gliding flight in combat situations.

  "Ghost" air combat tactics are based on detecting the enemy without being detected. Unlike ground-based combat laser weapons, airborne lasers have limited rates of fire due to issues of power and cooling. This means that "ghosts" are not always capable of a rapid follow-up laser shot or may have a limited number of rapid laser shots available prior to a recharge and cool-down period. (It should, however, be noted that defensive anti-missile laser fire is much less taxing in terms of both cooling requirements and power requirements than long-range anti-aircraft laser fire.) This makes an engagement between hostile "ghosts" have more in common with a late-20th-century-Cold-War-era fight between attack submarines than it does with a dogfight or an airborne missile engagement of the sort that dominated air combat in the early 21st century. Enemy ghosts will do their best to remain as stealthy as possible, often to the point of turning off their engines and gliding, which, thanks to variable-configuration wings, they are well able to do. Meanwhile they will search the sky for their foes. Once detected, an enemy ghost is engaged by means of an airborne combat laser, and the attacking "ghost" then desperately tries to minimize its own signature and shift position, so as not to be detected in turn.

  The primary military role of "ghosts" is a combination of reconnaissance and air superiority; since well armored ground vehicles are not very vulnerable to combat lasers, while ground based combat lasers can intercept air-to-surface missiles and bombs, "ghosts" do not have a strong ground attack role. However, aerial reconnaissance remains crucial. "Ghosts" are thus used in two ways; to obtain airborne reconnaissance and to shoot down other "ghosts."

  Although "ghosts" have taken over from "fighters" as the cutting edge of combat aircraft, the social role of "ghost" crews remains similar to that of the iconic "fighter jock" of the 20th and early 21st century. Laser-armed "ghosts," like the "fighters" they replaced, are still the fastest, most expensive, "hottest" things in the sky.

  Appendix 3:

  Mid-to-Late 21st Century Battle Tanks.

  The evolution of the modern battle tank from the "main battle tank" (MBT) of the late 20th and early 21st century has been fairly gradual, but none the less profound. A modern (mid-to-late 21st century) battle tank is larger, heavier, more armored, more destructive and faster than anything that has come before it.

  The characteristics of the modern battle tank (as opposed to the main battle tanks of the past) are enhanced mobility, enhanced crew interface and survival systems, fourth-generation composite armor, anti-missile and anti-mine countermeasures, and a modern electrothermal-chemical propellant main gun.

  In almost all modern battle tanks, enhanced mobility comes by way of a fuel-cell powered electric drive system linked to a four-track-pod system. Instead of two tracks (one on each side of the tank) there are four independent track pods, two per side, with relatively short tracks running on each pod. Each track pod has its own road-wheel suspension system, but also, each pod is itself capable of limited articulation. Even a small degree of pod articulation allows for a very substantial improvement in a tank's ability to cross obstacles or rough terrain and an even bigger advantage in terms of steering and agility. In addition, the loss of one of the four track pods will not totally immobilize a modern battle tank, though mobility will be sharply reduced. This allows a tank that takes a mobility hit to retreat instead of being immediately immobilized. The actual tracks of most modern battle tanks are made of a light-weight carbon-composite material instead of metal or rubber. The overall result is that, while earlier main battle tanks tended to be limited to about 75kps on roads and 60kps over moderate terrain, modern tanks can expect to manage as much as 100kph over moderate terrain and 120kph or more on good roads.

  Protection on modern battle tanks consists of both active and passive armor measures. Armor can be one of several sorts of composite types. In most cases a very hard surface alloy is backed by several layers of spaced carbon-composite and ceramics, in order to provide maximum protection against shaped charge, kinetic energy and high explosive projectiles.

  In addition, modern battle tanks feature automated fire-fighting systems and crew safety "survival pods" to allow crew to eject from a burning tank. (Survival pods are a set of inflatable, fire-resistant, shaped "air bags" that rapidly inflate from compact storage to form a sealed cocoon around a crewmember. The survival pod is then ejected with a high pressure blast. The inflated pod absorbs the impact with the ground and then deflates, allowing the escaped crewmember to move towards safety.)

  In addition to armor and crew safety systems, modern battle tanks tend to feature active counter-measures for defense against enemy targeting systems and missiles. High capacity launchers for concealment grenades can be used to rapidly envelope the tank in a cloud of "hot smoke" that interferes with both laser, visual and thermal targeting. In addition, inbound anti-tank missiles can be engaged with batteries of very small "counter-missiles" and as a last ditch mode of defense, with very rapid fire point defense guns, often of the "Metal Storm" type, which consist of a cluster of barrels, each with multiple superimposed rounds that can be fired at very extreme rates of fire. (The original prototype of the system, called "Metal Storm" by its developers, was first tested in the late 20th century.) Most modern battle tanks also carry dedicated anti-mine countermeasures, consisting of assorted thermal and ground-penetrating-radar sensors and batteries of small ground-penetrating rockets to detect and detonate mines ahead of the tank.

  The armaments of most modern battle tanks feature several computer-assisted "auto-smartguns" (in effect, heavy machineguns with computer-assisted targeting) and a modern main gun.

  Modern tank guns use electrothermal-chemical propellant and feature tapered bores to attain very high projectile velocity. (Chamber diameter ranges from 75 to 90mm, but the muzzle diameter ranges from 45 to 60mm. Bores are usual
ly given polygonal rifling to stabilize the shot fired.) This makes caliber or bore size designations based on muzzle diameter not very useful, and guns are usually no longer rated or designated by bore caliber, as was the case for earlier main battle tanks. Instead, tank guns are rated or designated by the calculated muzzle energy of a kinetic shot. Thus modern battle tanks mount guns such as the iconic 41 megajoule cannon, and the somewhat more powerful 44 and 47 megajoule successors to that design.

  Currently the technology seems to have reached a plateau of deliverable muzzle energy, as can be seen by the modest increases in hitting power between weapons like the "forty-one" (which is over 25 years old) and more modern weapons like the "forty-four" and the "forty-seven." (A new 49 megajoule gun is rumored to be in development by Russia, but its size and bulk suggest that the next generation of tank guns will need some sort of breakthrough to achieve substantially greater effectiveness. Electromagnetic propulsion, in the form or rail-guns or coil-guns, seems to be a likely candidate, though at present technical difficulties remain serious enough to make use of such weapons in a tank impractical.)

  Given the very high velocity and high projectile mass of a modern tank gun, recoil management is crucial. All modern tank guns use electromagnetic recoil absorption mechanisms in place of the hydraulic recoil mechanisms of earlier generations of tank guns. In the event of a failure of these electromagnetic recoil dampers, the weapon cannot be safely fired even once.

  Modern tanks guns are capable of accurate and effective fire to ranges as long as 10 kilometers, though effective range tends to be somewhat less. They are also capable of rapid fire, to the point of being able to fire accurate bursts (of up to 7 rounds per second, for the fastest guns) in order to compensate for interference with targeting or for enemy evasion (which can be significant at longer ranges.)

  Most modern battle tanks generally carry only kinetic energy rounds. These are not (as was the case with earlier main battle tank rounds) discarding sabot projectiles, and thus have substantially more mass per shot (delivered at a much higher velocity) even though weight and bulk per round has gone down to a fraction of that of earlier tank rounds. Most modern battle tanks have ammunition loads on order of 200 to 250 rounds carried.

  The energies delivered from these kinetic rounds are high enough that secondary fragmentation effects from near misses make conventional explosive warheads redundant. (For comparison, the kinetic energy of a 120mm tank gun from the early 21st century was on order of 12 megajoules.)

  A modern battle tank tends to have a crew of four; a commander who manages the tactical situation and acts as a backup to the other crewmembers, a driver to drive the tank, a gunner to operate the weapons systems, and a sensors operator to manage the tanks complex sensors suite and to remote operate deployable reconnaissance drones. (Indeed, the use of such drones has made a substantial difference in the tactical operations of modern tanks, in that they can conduct reconnaissance and detect infantry ambushes before the actual tank enters into danger.) (Note that there is no loader; modern tank guns are auto-loaders, feeding from a self-contained ammunition feed system.)

  Side-elevation schematic of a Type-51 Mk.IIIb tank:

  Appendix 4:

  Infantry Frames and Smart Rifles:

  An infantry frame is a powered exoskeleton worn by a single soldier, which allows that solider to carry more than a hundred kilograms of additional armor and gear without any notable encumbrance. A soldier so equipped is called a "framer" and is the most common form of infantry for high intensity battle operations.

  A frame consists of a back-pack mounted power system and a servo-powered exoskeleton that runs along the wearers arms (ending in wrist-and-hand reinforcing servos ) and legs (ending in ankle and foot reinforcing servos) and up their back, taking the weight of anything they might be carrying. The power system is fuel-cell based, and can operated at full power for several hours, though for the most part, framers use their frames at full power only in short bursts of activity.

  The frame allows its wearer to bear very heavy suits of armor. Articulated suits of carbon-ceramic plate armor make a framer largely bullet-proof against personal weapons. The standard combat helmet (the weight of which is taken by the "spine" of the frame) has a heavily armored visor and extensive sensor gear (such as laser detectors, thermal sight goggles, etc.) In addition to armor, a heavy pack and several heavy weapons can easily be carried.

  A frame does not allow a framer to run faster than an un-augmented human (as this is limited by the speed with which the framer can move their limbs) but does allow them to move as fast, and with as much agility, as an unencumbered human, even while carrying well over 100 kilograms of armor and gear.

  The primary weapon carried by frame infantry is called a smart-rifle. This is a very heavy caliber self-loading rifle designed to be able to penetrate the heavy personal armor carried by a framer. Most smart-rifle fire a heavy 8.5 or even 9mm round at velocities of over 1000 meters per second. The weapon is matched to a smart-sight system that combines targeting sensors and a fire-control system that takes over the actual firing of the weapon. The shooter selects and designated a target using a designator trigger and the sight. Once this is done, the shooter presses the "engagement" trigger and the weapon fires at the exact moment that the barrel is perfectly lined up with the target. This makes aiming the weapon very easy, and a properly delivered shot will always hit its target; unless the shooter designates the wrong target, or the designated target moves before the round arrives, a hit is guaranteed. Such weapons are quite heavy (10kg or more) and recoil is severe, but since the frame can take the weight and counteract the recoil, this is not an issue.

  Tactics with frames and smart-rifles become a matter of rapid target acquisition and rapid evasion. Volume of fire tends to be very low, as a single shot is often enough to take out a single target; most smart-rifles feed from 10 to 20 round magazines, but many engagements involve the firing of less than five rounds total.

  For close range engagements (where the process of targeting and using a smart-rifle might be too slow) most framers carry a short ranged, heavy caliber, high rate-of-fire weapon, colloquially known as a "zipper." These weapons tend to fire very large rounds (11mm caliber or larger, with projectile weights as much as twice those of a smart-rifle round) at velocities of 500 meters per second or so. These tend to be heavy weapons (6 to 7kg) with considerable recoil, despite devices such as recoil-absorbing stocks and muzzle brakes. When used by infantry without a frame, they are best utilized in very short burst. With a frame, they can lay down long bursts of fire. A long burst from a "zipper" is usually enough to be effective against an enemy framer at close range; even if most rounds fail to penetrate armor, enough rounds in the burst will hit weak spots, joints, etc., to defeat the target.

  In addition to smart-rifles and "zippers," framers often carry one or more man-portable anti-tank guided missiles. Light anti-tank missiles can mass from 5 to 15kg per round, while heavier weapons mass about 25kg per round or more. In general, a framer might carry three to six rounds of the lighter missiles or one or two rounds of the heavier version. This makes framers capable of engaging tanks (usually with multiple soldiers delivering a volley of missiles.)

  Because frame infantry is dependent on their frame power systems and cannot effectively move with unpowered frames, they are almost always deployed by means of dedicated vehicles, generally known as "frame carriers." A frame-carrier is, in effect, a very large armored personnel carrier with facilities to refuel / recharge the power systems of the framers assigned to the vehicle, and the ability to bring the frame infantry it carries into battle at a faster speed and with less power expenditure than the framers could manage on their own.

  There are many different sorts of frame carriers, from simple vehicles that are primarily intended as transportation for the frame infantry, to infantry fighting vehicles that carry substantial armament and can act, more or less, as lighter versions of tanks.

  In genera
l, any frame carrier will be a large, tracked vehicle. Because of the bulk of a fully equipped frame infantry trooper, frame carriers are usually designed to carry their framers in individual "niches," each with its own rapid-deployment access hatch (as opposed to personnel carriers for unarmored troops, where a single troop hatch can be used by all the troops being carried.) Most frame carriers are designed around a squad of six to eight frame troopers, and also have a driver and one or two extra crew to operate sensors and weapons. This means that even a light frame carrier will often be, dimensionally, somewhat bigger than a battle tank (though frame carriers are usually only lightly armored and are thus much, much lighter than any tank.)

  Even light frame carriers will mount heavy automatic weapons (auto-smartgun) capable of supporting frame infantry operations, as well as some degree of anti-missile defense. Likewise, sensors and drones are carried and provide a crucial reconnaissance capability to the framer squad. (Sometimes there is a dedicated sensors operator aboard the frame carrier; other times there is a combined gunner/sensors operator.)

  Heavy, combat-vehicle version of frame carriers will be somewhat better armored, but more crucially, will carry more advanced anti-missile defenses and will also mount batteries of multi-purpose (anti-tank, anti-bunker) missiles of their own, as well as multiple anti-framer automatic weapons. (In some cases, light caliber cannon may be mounted, though in general, extra missile ammunition is seen as a better "bang for the buck" than low-caliber cannons.)

  Appendix 5:

  Luhman-16 and Arcadia: