Agriplex Auditorium, Cocula Agricultural College, Cocula, Nopah, Federated Suns, Week 3a May, 3020 Since the battle against the Capellans on Epsilon Eridani in March the 1st Mechanised Brigade had used its time on Nopah to refit damaged equipment and replace losses. While losses in the recent battle were not excessive they did use up a number of spare vehicles and captured salvage just barely making good the damage. A series of lectures presented to the battalion officers and senior company NCOs had been intended to keep the leadership up to date on events within the brigade so they could pass on developments to the troops. The lectures had been well received and the latest one was thought to be of particular importance as it was directed at the development of the Brigade’s fighting strength and plans for future expansion and procurement of the most modern kit available wherever possible.
For the past two years the command staff had been working with John Ligny II, commander of the Brigade’s Service Battalion and recently promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, and his lead engineer, Captain Edward Kent. Captain Kent was a gifted designer and had recently put the finishing touches on what was known as ‘Project 3000’. Today the engineer would be presenting his design suggestions to the Brigade’s senior officers, the battalion and company commanders, their second in command as well as the regimental and company sergeant-majors. As the staff members settled themselves in their seats Colonel’s Bedford and Ligny gave Captain Kent a final nod of encouragement and withdrew to a side table to the left of the podium.
Showing only a little nervousness Captain Kent approached the lectern, adjust the microphone and cleared his throat, the sound amplified, carried across the room stilling the remaining conversations as the audience made their last adjustments to make themselves comfortable.
“Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen”, he began. “In the past we have had held these larger briefings to roll out changes to the Brigade’s organisation or to explain the changes in doctrine and how the Brigade could make the most economical and effective use of its equipment. Today’s briefing is more theoretical as it will introduce you to plans for new equipment that does not exist at this time. “Project 3000” is an examination of equipment available on the arms markets today but looks at ways in which it might be improved or otherwise modified to become more effective and better suit our needs.”
Picking up a small remote the Captain pointed it towards a small computer and projector that came to life and lit up a large screen on the stage.
First Mechanised Brigade, Project 3000 – Future Plans for Improved Task Force Mobility and Firepower After only a brief pause the engineer continued…
“From the day the first tribal group picked up a club or pointed stick to defend its territory against other humans there has been infantry. With each technological advance in weaponry the infantry has been compelled to adapt or face certain defeat and destruction. Offensive weapons advanced from fire hardened pointed sticks, to a stone flint spear or axe, while defensive measures such as leather shields and armour were developed to protect the infantryman from attack. Ranged missile weapons, first thrown by hand, then assisted by the atlatl, then by the advent of the bow, forced the enemy to develop defensive tactics to augment shield and armour.”
“With the coming of bronze and then iron weapons came other tactical advances such as mounting infantry on a chariot or on horseback. Early use of animal power increased mobility and gave us the ‘Dragoon’ followed by the cavalryman. Infantry was again compelled to developed countermeasures by the development of better armour and improved tactics. From Egyptian axemen to Greek Hoplite to Roman Legionnaire to the medieval armoured ‘man-at-arms’ the technological leap-frog between the infantryman and more powerful battlefield weapons has continued. The coming of gunpowder gave infantry a massive increase in firepower and threatened the knight/cavalryman with obsolescence. The early machineguns and breach loading artillery develop just over a millennia ago all but drove the mounted soldier from the field and forced infantry to first disperse and then burrow underground to survive. Mobility itself was strangled in the trenches and barbed wire that could run for hundreds of miles while advances were often measured in yards.”
“The arrival of the internal combustion engine in old earth’s first global war allowed the armour, artillery and soldier to be combined into an armoured fighting vehicle that returned mobility to the battlefield and heralded a new form of cavalry. The infantry was also challenged by the arrival of the tank but soon found a way to marry itself to the mobile armoured forces by mounting itself in trucks and soon after, purpose built armoured carriers to transport them across a kill zone. Infantry was now able to close with and assault the enemy, support the tanks and also keep pace with an advance once the enemy’s tactical and operational depth had been penetrated and reserves had been exhausted. Through the period between the 21st and 24th centuries the infantryman, mounted in fully functional combat vehicles formed one leg of a three-legged stool alongside the main battle tank and ground support aerospacecraft that made up the modern air-land battlefield.”
“The arrival of the BattleMech was thought to be the end of the conventional arms, the infantry in particular. The infantryman, when exposed to enemy firepower was vulnerable as ever to an enemy that could bring truly massive firepower to bear. However, the combination of tactics, equipment and supporting arms allowed the infantry to survive the modern battlefield and fulfill its traditional role to both take and hold ground. In fact, for the last thousand years, despite the advancements in ‘mobile’ warfare platforms, the infantryman is still the backbone of most House and Periphery state armies. A tank or BattleMech only controls the ground it stands on and, perhaps, only the area within range of its primary weapons.”
“The modern infantry force is still carried into battle by truck, armoured personnel carrier and dedicated infantry fighting vehicles. Known as IFVs, such as the tracked Goblin or the faster Maxim hovercraft, the IFV is both tank and infantry carrier combining mobility and firepower to move the infantry forward. The problem with these two advanced models is that the Goblin is slow, only as fast as many medium or heavy Mechs, and its base model is not that well armed. The Maxim is both well armed for a hovercraft and fast but the loss of a single craft can ground an entire infantry platoon. Moreover, the Maxim is not a vehicle that lends itself well to close support of both armour and Mechs due to the potential damage to its lift gear.”
“In our experience over the past five years we have found that our own infantry force have done well in its wheeled APCs and the few Goblins that have come our way. However, more firepower coupled with speed is what is required to help the infantry drive home its assaults in the company of our armoured and Mech forces within each of our task forces. With the destruction caused by the Succession Wars, including the present third war we are now engaged in, new vehicle designs have been few and far between as industry focuses on maintaining current designs. With this in mind our engineering team has designed a new IFV based on a modified Hunter light tank. The core of Project 3000, the new vehicle has the name “IFV 3000”, also known as "Warrior".
“Rather than requiring new factories or dedicated production lines to build the IFV the 3000 program requires the lower hull, chassis and drive train of the Hunter, spare armour plate and a modest industrial complex to carry out the conversion. The conversion could be done at a heavy machinery plant or service facility or perhaps an agro or industrial Mech repair or maintenance shop. That in itself is a challenge but one the command is working on solving. Let’s take a look at Project 3000 in more detail.”
Clicking the remote a schematic was displayed on the large white screen
“The IFV 3000 is a 35 ton tracked infantry combat vehicle designed to carry infantry into battle behind armour similar to the Goblin’s but with more speed and a better weapons suite. Somewhat slower than the standard APC it is still faster than the majority of heavy Mechs and tanks. The vehicle uses the 175 Magna Standard fusion engine of the Hunter but the upper hull, turret and main weapons systems are ‘rearranged’, to accommodate the new design. The vehicle possesses seven tons of Star Slab standard armour with an unmanned turret carrying its main weapons. The engine is moved forward to the centre of the vehicle to allow a rear mounted infantry compartment capable of carrying one squad and their kit, with exit doors to the rear and on the top of the rear deck behind the remote turret. The crew - driver, gunner and commander - sit in the main hull thus reducing the turret and overall vehicle profile.”
“The remote turret is broad but relatively flat and includes a medium laser and two SRM 6 launchers, each with one ton of reloads stored in the hull. Rounding off the weapons is a standard machine gun with a half-ton of ammunition. With all weapons mounted in a fully rotating turret the vehicle has excellent firepower in a 360 degree arc to protect itself and its infantry squad.”
“The vehicle stats are as follows. Note that the cost covers an almost ‘bottom up’ forecast of this build.”
Size: 1; Move: 5/8; TMM: 2; Arm: 4; Str: 2; Short: 3; Med: 3; Long: 0; PV: 20; Cost: C-Bill 569,700
“Since each infantry company in the Brigade has a mixed headquarters platoon that includes two mounted squads and two LRM APC variants, the 3000 program has also designed a company fire support vehicle to replace the APCs currently in service. The FSV 3000 is also based on the Hunter light tank but the heavier firepower and ammunition requirements mean less armour is carried than on the IFV version and infantry compartment is removed. The vehicle has five tons of Star Slab standard armour and the crew of three is again housed in the hull. The unmanned turret, once more designed to lower the silhouette, contains four LRM 5 launchers and a machine gun supplied by three tons of LRM reloads and one half-ton for the machine gun stored in the main hull. This gives the vehicle significant long range and indirect fire capability for its size but for close in protection the single machine gun was augmented by a hull mounted medium laser to discourage an enemy from getting too close. The main difference between the FSV and the standard Hunter light tank is the heavier close range firepower and it could be argued that the Hunter could fill the role but for the fact that the FSV 3000 build is considerably cheaper.”
“As before the cost factors is an almost complete new build and the stats read out as follow.”
Size: 1; Move: 5/8; TMM:2; Arm:3; Str:2; Short:2; Med:2; Lg:2; PV:18; Cost: C-Bill 611,550 “Lest our tank commanders feel left out Project 3000 also has proposed a redesign of the Vedette medium tank, renamed “Cromwell”. Cromwell is designed to keep pace with the IFV 3000 as well as most medium and faster heavy Mechs. The standard 60 ton Manticore in use by the brigade is considered a bit too slow for the proposed manoeuvre tactics used in the Brigade but it is a mainstay in every military that can obtain them. The Cromwell’s hull is a stretched and reinforced Vedette chassis increasing the weight to 55 tons and replacing the internal combustion engine with a Core Tek 275 fusion plant capable of moving the vehicle at just over 86 km per hour. The vehicle is protected by 7 tons of Protec Tech 6 standard armour, which is borderline adequate for a tank of this weight. To achieve the speed required meant certain sacrifices had to be accepted. Nevertheless the armour is better than that on the Hetzer or Vedette and equals that of the Goblin despite Crowell being 10 tons heavier.”
“The turret mounts a single PPC and an SRM 6, with 1 ton of SRM reloads in the hull. There is machine gun with one-half ton of ammunition in the front hull along with an LRM 5, also with one ton of reloads. The Cromwell is a faster, lighter scaled down Manticore that gives up some armour and weapons in exchange for higher speed, making the vehicle more difficult to hit. Considering the complexity of this redesign Cromwell is unlikely to be made available until the Brigade has access to a major industrial scale workshop. The vehicle stats are…”
Size: 2; Move: 5/8; TMM: 2; Arm: 4; Str: 3; Short: 2; Med: 3; Lg: 2; PV: 28; Cost: C-Bill 2,469,348
“In summary, none of these vehicles are currently available to the Brigade nor do we anticipate their becoming available in the near future. However, with current trends in industrial recovery it is anticipated that within the next three to five years we may be able to begin procuring these designs via one or more minor arms dealers or via specific contracts or licensing deals. In the meantime, the brigade’s command is exploring providing PKR-T5 “Pack Rat” reconnaissance vehicles as combat replacements for lost APCs within the infantry companies. The Pack Rat is faster and better armed than our wheeled APCs and just as well protected. These carriers should increase the firepower of our combined arms task forces sufficiently to justify the additional cost.”
“This concludes today’s briefing. We will take a 15 minute break before opening the floor to questions or comments. Thank you.”
*****
As the gathered officers and senior NCO made their way to the various refreshment tables near the front of the auditorium Colonel Bedford caught the attention of Lieutenant-Colonel Talbot, commander of the 1st Rifles and Task Force 1.1.
“John, give the senior command staff 20 minutes to relax and mingle then have them return to the base. We will be getting our orders in the next 24 hours and I want a full report on the Brigade’s status by 0800 hours tomorrow morning.”
Noting the quizzical look on the infantry commander’s face Bedford held up a hand to forestall the question he knew was coming.
“I can’t tell you anything now but I do know it means we will likely be seeing some heavy combat. Be sure to issue 72 hours leave passes to those who are in line for it, or are deserving. I have no doubt it will be the last chance the troops will have to relax for some time. Carry on.”
“Aye, Richard. We’ll see to the arrangements,” Talbot replied.
With that the two officers exchanged informal salutes and the commander of the mercenary brigade turned on his heals and strode up the shallow stairs leading to back of the auditorium, his administrative assistant and batman following close behind. John Talbot turned to begin getting the word to the other battalion commanders.