Aviation Monthly Options

[Cobretti]

Hey guys, this is the first installment on a magazine style review of the weapons and technology used in the ROTR world. I'll be doing most of the US aircraft first, I do plan on moving on to other faction's aircraft later on and perhaps expanding to ground vehicles, firearms, and warships. (Ever wanted to learn more about the Spirit of Freedom and it's sister ship?) Here's the first part:

Aviation Monthly: September 203x
United States Airpower, Part I
- Written by Amy Kelly
As tensions rise in Eurasia over the recent skirmishes in Africa and economic stagnation in Russia, so too has the specter of another major war in Europe and the eventual American involvement. Despite the downfall of NATO after the ill-advised US retreat from Europe 15 years ago, the Bradford administration maintains a strong anti-Russian expansionist policy and indications hint at possible military and economic action in favor of the European Continental Alliance should hostilities break out.

Ever since the Second World War, the United States military has relied extensively on air dominance to achieve battlefield superiority. As any member of the USAF or Naval Air Force can tell you, no US soldier or Marine on the ground has been killed by enemy aircraft since the Korean War. Even after the post GWOT cutbacks, the US military has maintained a strong Air Force and naval air capabilities, and seeks to further expand said capabilities in an ever more dangerous world. This article seeks to explore information about the aircraft used today by the various branches of the US armed forces.

TRANSPORT/AIRLIFT:
Though the majority of heavy airlifting by the USAF is done today by conventional aircraft such as the C-130J Super Hercules and C-17B Globemaster III, VTOL aircraft have become a more and more capable replacement for helicopters and light cargo transport.

Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey: Although the V-22 Osprey had a troubled development phase, today it serves as the main medium lift aircraft used by the US Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy. Even though newer designs such as the V-25 Goshawk are planned to eventually phase out the Osprey, it still sees heavy use as a transport aircraft by American combat forces and will see heavy use in the foreseeable future.

Bell-Boeing V-25 Goshawk: The V-25 Goshawk is one of the newest aircraft used by the US Armed forces, and is the end result of the JMR-Heavy Future Vertical Lift program. By the end of the last decade, the US Army desired a new VTOL transport to replace the aging CH-47 Chinook fleet, which had been wearing out through heavy use in the past two decades. Although the Army had declined to take part in the V-22 program, they looked with interest in the further development of tiltrotor aircraft. The V-25 Goshawk was the intermediate step between the light V-22 Osprey and the heavy V-34 Starlifter II. Compared to the CH-47 Chinook, the V-25 is capable of carrying more cargo faster, longer, and at a higher altitude. As an infantry carrier, it can transport a platoon of infantry or a single Cougar MRAP or HMMWV. In contrast to the Osprey, the Goshawk is a semi-tilt-wing with 250% more wing surface, roughly 60% of which tilts along with the engine nacelles, and a lifting body, significantly improving glide capability and allowing to remove the fancy - and heavy - transmission, converting the engines to straight-up carbon composite turbine turboprops with only standard reduction gearboxes remaining. Today, the US Army and US Navy are the main users of the V-25 Goshawk whilst the USMC and US Air Force are considering purchasing them to replace their aging Ospreys.

Bell-Boeing V-34 Starlifter II: The first examples of the V-44 entered the late prototype testing phase during the end of the GLA War, but budget cutbacks slowed its entry into service until quite recently. By the end of the last decade, the US Army desired a new VTOL transport to replace the aging CH-47 Chinook fleet, which had been wearing out through heavy use in the past two decades. Although the Army had declined to take part in the V-22 program, they looked with interest in the further development of tiltrotor aircraft. As the end result of the Bell-Boeing Quad Tilt Rotor program, the V-34 is the direct replacement of the CH-47 Chinook and the CH-53 Super Stallion, and is planned to phase out the C-130J Super Hercules. The quad tilt rotor engines give it a cruising speed of over 350 knots and allow it to land in places the C-130 cannot. It is capable of carrying around 26,000 kilograms of cargo (or several M5A1 Schwarzkopf �Crusader� light tanks or IFVs), or 110 paratroopers/150 infantry.

Lockheed-Martin C-130J Super Hercules, Boeing C-17B Globemaster III, & Lockheed C-5M Super Galaxy: When heavier lifting is required by the US military’s expeditionary forces, the fixed wing airfleet comes into play. Though the C-130J Super Hercules and C-5M Super Galaxy are old (yet proven and popular) designs, the more advanced Boeing C-17B Globemaster III is an increasingly common sight in the US Air Force as well as the air forces of other nations. The C-17 underwent a mid-life upgrade even before the newer export production run, including double-slotted flaps, an additional main landing gear on center fuselage, more powerful engines (F-117-PW-200 turbofans) and other systems for shorter landing and take-off distances, a LANTIRN AN/AAQ-13 pod and passive radar installed into the nose, and an optional bulkhead separating the troop bay from the cargo bay for passenger comfort.

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I hope you enjoyed the first part, stay tuned for Part 2!

This post has been edited by DerKrieger: 29 May 2014, 15:52

[Cobretti]

Going to switch gears here for a moment and do something that's not an aircraft. I have further plans for other future updates in the same vein, but I'm still taking requests in case any of y'all want to read about your favorite RotR/Generals units.


ZTZ-200H Overlord tank with mounted gattling cannon and Chinese infantry during a combat exercise in the Tarim Basin.


ZTZ-200 Overlord series: Super-heavy tanks are nothing new in the field of armored warfare. However, the immense weight of such a vehicle and the difficulty of finding an engine powerful enough for these armored behemoths, not to mention the high costs of developing and manufacturing them, made them nothing more than engineering curiosities.

It came as no surprise that the (often regarded as eccentric) People's Liberation Army General Ta Hun Kwai came up with the idea of the revival of a heavy breakthrough tank to support armored columns. Kwai's idea was extremely controversial among Politburo members and PLA strategic planners, to say the least, but it narrowly managed to attain enough funding for development of such a project.

Norinco's end result of the project was the ZTZ-200 “Overlord.� It was nothing short of excessive, with obscenely thick multi-layer composite armor and mounting twin 140mm smoothbore autoloading cannons. Initial designs had it with high velocity twin 125mm cannons based on the same gun used on the ZTZ-99 main battle tank in order to simplify logistics, but the larger experimental 140mm cannon had far more range and firepower suiting a heavy assault vehicle. Furthermore, the large chassis of the ZTZ-200 made it a perfect platform for the gun. Most interestingly, however, was the modular turret design. The Overlord could be modified in field for a variety of support roles. In all, three packages were developed for the Overlord. One was a reinforced small bunker with room for an infantry squad complete with heavy weaponry, allowing them to use the Overlord as protection. The second possible configuration was mounting a loudspeaker on the turret, allowing for broadcasting of psy-ops material to either friendly troops or the enemy. Lastly, the Overlord could mount a twin 30mm auto-targeted rotary cannon AA mount to deal with attack helicopters or targets with which the 140mm cannons would be overkill.

Regardless of the Overlord's capability on paper, the tank was plagued with problems. The presence of an Overlord on a battlefield meant that it was by its nature vulnerable to enemy fire. It was a given to the PLA that the Overlord was not to be used in combat against an enemy with air superiority as it could easily be targeted and destroyed by aircraft. The Overlord was ponderously slow, even with its notoriously fuel-guzzling turbine engines. Not only did the engines require a great deal of fuel to power the Overlord, the engines were prone to breakdown and the weight of the Overlord meant that its treads had to be frequently replaced.

There was an ingenious solution to both the problem of fuel consumption and the maintenance intensive engines, however; Chinese engineers had come up with the possibility of mounting nuclear reactors to the Overlord in order to power such a beast. Despite initial concerns about the ability to shield tank crews properly from radiation, the project was given full funding. The end result was more promising than the PLA had initially hoped; the mini-reactors, fully compatible with the Overlord's turbines, could easily be retrofitted to the Overlord tank fleet and were much more reliable and powerful than the fossil fuel based turbine engine. In fact, further development made an even smaller engine that could be retrofitted to all other existing PLA tanks. The nuclear engines would be later mass produced as a kit to refurbish PLA tanks from the Type 99 main battle tank to the Type-124 “Hopper� tankette.

An additional improvement to the baseline Overlord was personally commissioned by General Kwai for his troops. Dubbed the ZTZ-200G Emperor, the Emperor was an advanced model with additional armor, improved higher velocity 140mm cannons and a redesigned turret that had a loudspeaker installed by default at the cost of the ability to install a bunker. Though extremely effective, the tactical inflexibility and additional cost of the ZTZ-200G made it infeasible as a complete successor to the Overlord. Regardless, the improved cannons and fire control systems and applique armor made it to the ZTZ-200H upgrade to the existing Overlord fleet.

This post has been edited by DerKrieger: 3 Mar 2014, 16:28