Author Topic: Emundans Aerospace Drone  (Read 1280 times)

Liam's Ghost

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Emundans Aerospace Drone
« on: 02 February 2017, 06:10:43 »
Overview

One of the last, and arguably one of the most practical and forward thinking of the Word of Blake's wonder weapons was the Emundans ("Purifier") series of Aerospace drones. With coalition forces closing in on Terra, by 3076, some factions of the Word of Blake began developing plans to continue the war in the event of Terra's loss. At the forefront of their concerns was the need to support an effective fighting force without access to the industrial and technological capabilities of worlds such as Terra or Gibson, which would irrevocably cripple their existing, heavily technology dependent forces. What the post Terra Word of Blake would need were simple, basic designs that could be assembled using the same sort of mobile manufacturing used by many of the Great Houses during the course of the Jihad.

The Emundans was the first and only design of this program to reach the prototype stage. Built around a massive, though relatively simple fusion engine and carrying only minimal armor and armament, the prototype design was intended to serve as a pure nuclear bomber. Able to carry a single Alamo class antiship missile, or a one megaton unguided air to ground rocket, a swarm of Emundans class drones could potentially overwhelm the point defense systems of even large WarShips, while a single fighter could devastate an entire city in one strike. Without pilots, the Emudans could coast through interplanetary space for months, possibly years before striking their target, making them a nightmare to defend against. Finally, with the exception of the robotic control system, the entire craft was built to technical standards dating back to before the clan war, requiring much less infrastructure to manufacture than advanced alternatives such as the Hive series of drones.

Though the design had promise, it came too late to impact the Blakist war effort. Manned testbeds were pressed into action against the Ghost Bears in 3077, with a Level II of the craft lost in an attempted nuclear strike against the WarShip Rasalhague. Production of the fully unmanned version was repeatedly delayed by problems with its shielded robotic control system, itself only in the prototype stage when Terra came under attack. In the end, barely a handful of unmanned Emundans were completed for the Blakist war effort, and only one of those saw action before blakist forces on Terra surrendered. Subsequent surveys located nearly two hundred incomplete airframes in caches scattered across the former Blake Protectorate, waiting only for their control systems.

In the post war era, the Republic continued to experiment with the Emundans. The basic Blakist model was quickly deemed unsuitable for general service, being too specialized to be useful in an era of general disarmament, however a second variant, exisiting only as a set of plans recovered from an outpost in the Bryant system, was a different matter. Intended to function as an escort for the baseline Emudans, this craft used a smaller powerplant to make room for vast improvements in firepower and armor protection. Though still not a match one on one for a modern, manned fighter, the design was still intended to be adequate to draw off resistance long enough for the bombers to complete their objective. Republic engineers improved its capabilities even further with upgrades to the armor and cooling system, producing a fairly capable multirole craft that retained the bombload and most of the acceleration capabilities of the original Emundans, but greatly improved its survivability and fighting power. These capabilities, combined with its unmanned control system and simple design, made the Emundans an ideal "emergency asset", which could be quickly brought into service in large numbers in the event the Republic needed to bolster its defenses.

Deployment:

The first squadron of Republic built Emundans completed extensive performance trials and was deemed ready for service by 3085, at which point the fighters, as well as their production facility, were immediately mothballed. An "off the books" program known only to a few outside of the council of Paladins and the production staff, the risk of the program's discovery was deemed to outweigh the advantage of keeping up production during relative peacetime. It wasn't until the declaration of Fortress Republic that the facility was ordered reactivated, a process that took nearly two years due to logistical problems following the Fortress proclamation. The first new Emundans did not begin to enter service until 3137. Squadrons are being assigned to worlds throughout the Fortress as quickly as they are available, however commanders have begun to complain about the Emundans' "basic" nature. Though willing to accept the unmanned control system as a necessity of the times, Commanders are quick to point out that the Emundans pales in comparison to a manned fighter in one on one combat, and the promised "swarms" that are meant to make up for its limitations have yet to manifest. In the absence of quantity, senior officers are calling for quality, a full upgrade and refit program to make the Emundans a more capable front line fighter.

Variants

The original Blakist designed Emundans used a powerplant that took up over half of the fighter's mass and provided seven gravities of acceleration at maximum thrust. Defensive weapons were limited to a pair of medium lasers, while a barely adequate sheath of standard plate provided protection comperable to a light craft from the late succession wars. Less than a dozen examples were completed before the production facilities were taken by Coalition forces on Terra. These would be briefly studied by Republic engineers before being recycled. Nearly two hundred incomplete airframes would likewise be disposed of in the same manner.

The Word of Blake's "escort" variant would never exist outside of blueprints. Built around the same powerplant as the Republic model, the Escort variant made do with standard armor plate, two fewer medium lasers, and single strength heatsinks.


Code: [Select]
                    AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
                                  VALIDATED

Class/Model/Name:  Emundans QF-3R
Tech:              Inner Sphere / 3085
Vessel Type:       Aerospace Fighter
Rules:             Level 2, Standard design
Rules Set:         AeroTech2

Mass:              50 tons
Length:            16 meters
Power Plant:       300 Fusion
Safe Thrust:       8
Maximum Thrust:    12
Armor Type:        Ferro-aluminum
Armament:         
    1 Large Laser
    4 Medium Laser
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name:  Emundans QF-3R
Mass:              50 tons

Equipment:                                                              Mass
Power Plant:  300 Fusion                                                19.00
Thrust:  Safe Thrust: 8
      Maximum Thrust: 12
Structural Integrity: 8                                                   .00
Total Heat Sinks:    10 Double                                            .00
Fuel:                                                                    5.00
Cockpit & Attitude Thrusters:                                            3.00
Armor Type:  Ferro-aluminum  (179 total armor pts)                      10.00
                           Standard Scale Armor Pts
   Location:                            L / R
   Nose:                                 62
   Left/Right Wings:                  44/44
   Aft:                                  29

Weapons and Equipment      Loc        SRV    MRV    LRV    ERV  Heat    Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Large Laser              Nose         8      8     --     --    8      5.00
2 Medium Laser             RW           5     --     --     --    6      2.00
2 Medium Laser             LW           5     --     --     --    6      2.00
1 Shielded ASRCS (Elite)                                                 4.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                                                    Heat: 20     50.00
Tons Left:                                                                .00

Calculated Factors:
Total Cost:        2,870,625 C-Bills
Battle Value:      1,127
Cost per BV:       2,547.14
Weapon Value:      1,485 (Ratio = 1.32)
Damage Factors:    SRV = 26;  MRV = 6;  LRV = 0;  ERV = 0
BattleForce2:      MP: 8,  Armor/Structure: 4 / 0
                   Damage PB/M/L: 3/1/-,  Overheat: 0
                   Class: FM;  Point Value: 11
Good news is the lab boys say the symptoms of asbestos poisoning show an immediate latency of 44.6 years. So if you're thirty or over you're laughing. Worst case scenario you miss out on a few rounds of canasta, plus you've forwarded the cause of science by three centuries. I punch those numbers into my calculator, it makes a happy face.

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Red Pins

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Re: Emundans Aerospace Drone
« Reply #1 on: 02 February 2017, 22:02:06 »
Interesting.
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