M5A2 Claymore AFV

[Commissar Brett]

M5A2 Claymore​

​

Model: M5A2 Claymore Repulsorlift Tank

Manufacturer: Keywork Engineering Systems

Ownership: Militant factions looking for a reliable, hard-hitting, Main Battle Tank. Primarily designed as an idea to provide ground support for the Rebels, but available to Non-Imperial factions (and no Hutts, because they blacklisted us).

Size:

- Length: 8.3 meters
- Width: 5.4 meters
- Height/Depth: 3.7 meters​

Weight: 94 metric tonnes

Crew:

- Minimal Operation: 2 (Driver, Gunner/Loader)
- Optimal Operation: 4 (Driver, Gunner, Commander, Engineer)​

Armor Rating:
Almost every plate of armour is composed primarily of layers of carbon-nanotubes and duraplast with spall-lining in between, and a layer of viscosity-gel STF. In the viscosity-gel lining is a type of energy-absorbing STF intended to thicken in the presence of heat and kinetic attacks, thus stopping or slowing the incursion of damage.

The armour is resistant to light blaster/laser cannons, light anti-tank weaponry, and small arms from all directions at all ranges, save for the rear of the vehicle, which is still resistant to small arms. Light anti-tank weaponry can pierce the rear armour within a range of about 100 meters. When faced with rocket launchers, medium blaster/laser cannons, and medium anti-tank guns, the armour will normally absorb the hit at distances beyond 250 meters, minus 20 for the rear armour. With heavier, properly dedicated anti-armour weaponry (mounted anti-tank guns, heavy walkers, tank-buster air support), the hull will be compromised at distances within 325 meters, minus 25 for the rear armour.

Propulsion: Repulsorlift tank with two long repulsor drives along the hull. Powerhouse is a small-scale fusion reactor.

- Max Speed: Clocked Maximum at approx. 120km/h
- Traversal Speed: 32 degrees/sec
- Turret Traverse: 34 degrees/sec​

Armament/Equipment:

Armament:

- Primary Armament:

> 120mm High-Velocity Gauss Rifle (15 rounds/min, mechanical loading system, 75-round magazine, multiple ammunition types)
> 14.5mm Coaxially-Mounted MD-HMG (450rounds/min, 2250-round magazine)​

- Secondary Armament:

> Printle-Mounted MG-270 (12.7mm Heavy Machine Gun)
> Turret-Mounted Rear-Facing MG-270​

Equipment:

- 2 Smoke-Grenade Launchers (5 tubes per launcher)
- BattleNet Comm System
- Fusion Cutter Repair Kit
- Fire Extinguisher
- 1 week of consumables
- Automated Stability Compensation System
- Inertial Dampeners
- Emergency Flare Kit (Extraction Flares and Road Flares)
​

Description:
A tank capable of fulfilling a number of battlefield roles, the M5A2 Claymore Repulsorlift Tank is the most popular mainline battle tank produced by Keywork Engineering Systems. Like most repulsor vehicles, this unit is able to traverse most if not all forms of terrain, gliding across the ground on a cushion of electromagnetic energy a meter thick.

The primary armament is actually different from most of KES’s primary weapons in that it actually uses Gauss/Coil technology as opposed to the patented MD firing mechanism. The 120mm round comes in several loads, including AP, APCR, APHE, HE, HEAT, and Submunition rounds. This enables the tank to challenge both armoured enemies, hard targets, and soft bodies with extreme proficiency and flexibility. This weapon is coupled with a 14.5mm coaxial machine gun, for larger infantry mobs.

To deal with threats from multiple directions, the tank has two mounted 12.7mm machine guns. One is printle-mounted for the tank commander, and the other one faces out the back of the main turret for the engineer. These allow the tank to deal with threats that get too close to the tank for the main turret to draw a bead.

This tank uses armour that is both capable of totally resisting small-arms fire, and acts as a massive protection system against anti-tank weapon systems. The initial tests of the STF viscosity gel have proven its capability of extending the durability of the tank against sustained fire, but all defenses have their limits. The tank’s only major weakness is that it lacks any form of energy shielding, meaning it has to rely on its advanced armour.

All in all, the tank is both capable and worthy of frontline combat, and is perfect as an infantry and armoured support vehicle.

 

[Grim]

So how is this tank heavily armored enough to stop Anti-tank weapons at such a close range yet still achieve a top speed that is that fast? While I am not sure of the average combat distance in the Star Wars universe I can say that in the real world most tank guns need to be effective at close to 4km but in what I have numbers for on hand the average distance in 1973 Yom Kippur War, was close to 2km. That means the fact that it is stopping rounds at such a close range means that is some really heavy armor.

 

[Commissar Brett]

I'm basing these number on stuff I've seen on other tank write-ups from people like Jiang in the past and from repulsortanks on the wiki. I've had this written for months. And repulsorlift vehicles are relatively fast. I was mostly working on imagining football fields in my head and judging distance compared to seeing tanks near each other-ish. It's a rather rough concept.

 

[Tristar]

The armour is resistant to light blaster/laser cannons, light anti-tank weaponry, and small arms from all directions at all ranges

In real life, the rear and top armor is probably the weakest portions of the tank. Even a repulsor tank can be affected by weight (Which, judging from the gear it's packing, it's probably not gonna be classified as a lightweight in a boxing championship.) Not that it won't be able to drive that fast, but that's probably pushing the engines to its maximum efficiency. Even that would pose some problems such as heat build up which requires an efficient disposal/cooling system, which is usually set at the rear of the tank because by right, if someone has your ass within their sights you're not using the tank properly (In a tank war.). And that means cooling vents. Which means weak points (and relatively weak armor so that heat can be disperse more efficiently.) at the rear. It can't be fixed by adding a more efficient engine or reactor because there's still going to be the need for some form of waste disposal. Judging by the picture as well there seems to be some exhaust/ventilation ports that seems to be used to vent heat as well and those parts sure as heck ain't nuke-proof (Hyperbolism here, but you get the point.) How long can it keep firing by the way, with 4 guns mounted on the tank itself? Its ammunition capacity must've suffered some due to the amount of space taken in by the weapons themselves.

With the extreme heat of an energy weapon, the foam will absorb the heat and force it away from the inner plating.

How efficient is this? And where does the heat go off?

I will give you props though; the curved armor plating on the front seems to be quite effective at deflecting shots at distance (though the parts between the main body and the repulsor drives seem to be one heck of a shot-trap. Just curious, not meant to provoke anything. Just want to see what's going to be the changes made.

 

[Commissar Brett]

I will edit to provide for facts such as declined rear armour and explain more in-depth about how the viscosity gel disperses the heat. Besides those minor bits, how does the tank seem?

I also did list how much ammo was available for each weapon except for the .50s

 

[Galavant]

M5A2 Claymore​

Almost every plate of armour is composed primarily of carbon-nanotubes with layered duraplast and viscosity-gel lining. In the viscosity-gel lining is a type of energy-absorbing gel intended to dissipate heat and kinetic forces. When directly in contact with air, the gel expands swiftly into a rapidly hardening foam that will usually stop a kinetic shell in its path. With the extreme heat of an energy weapon, the foam will absorb the heat and force it away from the inner plating.

Viscosity gel wouldn't do that. very well, I don't think It works because something impacting it overrides the colloids repelling each other, and thus causing them to cluster at the point of impact. A foam by its very nature would have more "space" between particles which are already spaced out, that's what makes them so good at what they do for the weight. They aren't super dense 24/7, but for all intents and purposes are capable of being dense on demand against a high velocity impact. If it formed a foam when exposed to the air that foam wouldn't be stopping anything. It wouldn't even work all that well as just a seal against the environment since it would likely be porous. Likewise making it a part of the armor system itself (as opposed to a layer designed to stop spallation which is usually a big killer) means that your tank is paradoxically weaker against lower velocity, dumdum, and pronged weapons, all of which serve to reduce the effect of the STF's ability to harden properly.

Not sure what good the nanotubes are really going to do you either considering it's Star Wars rather than Crysis, and you've already got duraplast. You're probably better off just using the duraplast.

 

[Commissar Brett]

The expansionary gel is an idea I drew from one of Jiang's old tanks, and carbon-nanotubes are just a thing, I don't see how they're radically different from using duraplast. And it is a layer of the armour, but that would make it a part of the armour. I may be misunderstanding you due to your wording, but a lot of stuff your saying seems contradictory. Foam can stop high-velocity impacts on command, but couldn't stop impacts here? I'm not making sense of it

 

[Galavant]

The expansionary gel is an idea I drew from one of Jiang's old tanks, and carbon-nanotubes are just a thing, I don't see how they're radically different from using duraplast. And it is a layer of the armour, but that would make it a part of the armour. I may be misunderstanding you due to your wording, but a lot of stuff your saying seems contradictory. Foam can stop high-velocity impacts on command, but couldn't stop impacts here? I'm not making sense of it

The foam can't stop impacts at all, and wouldn't work. What I'm saying is the way an STF works, the particles are spaced out. They come together during an impact, which in turn works better with something that's high velocity. Against something that's going at a lower velocity, or creates a bigger impact area (or multiple impact areas if you have a prong like weapon) the colloids don't really have the chance to form up into hydroclusters that stop them as effectively. A viscous fluid has to be able to thicken to stop the impact, anything that doesn't let it thicken (or become more dense) as effectively is going to have an easier time defeating it. That's what makes it work, and that's what I mean when I said dense on demand (admittedly a poor word choice) it's not a stupid big plate or anything, it's a relatively lightweight layer that works because it can thicken when it's impacted.

 

[Commissar Brett]

So you're saying I should simply remove the foam part?

Also, I feel dumb for asking, but define STF please.

 

[Galavant]

So you're saying I should simply remove the foam part?

Also, I feel dumb for asking, but define STF please.

Shear Thickening Fluid, and yeah. The foam part really wouldn't be all that effective, it'd be too porous, brittle, and weak to effectively stop anything if it's coming from the gel layer, IMHO.

 

[Commissar Brett]

Okay, will edit.

 

[Commissar Brett]

Edited

 

[Commissar Brett]

*clears throat* @Clayton, could I get a ruling on what needs to be done here?

 

[Clayton]

Yeah the speed seems high, but I imagine that would be in the desert or plains where there's room to accelerate.

Approved