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]

Due to request, I've decided to do something on the Kodiak and Sentinel Tanks next.

T-90M2 Kad'jak “Kodiak�: Following the reorganization of the over-budget and constantly delayed T-99 Armata program in 2017 due to the newly elected President's desire to focus on other priorities, the Russian Army searched for an affordable replacement for their aging T-72 fleet. Uralvagonzavod's ultimately successful entry was an upgraded version of their T-90A tank, currently in service with the Russian Army. Costing only a fraction of the cost of the Armata program, the T-90M2 Kodiak was a fairly conservative design featuring a 6-roller chassis, an improved 1300 hp diesel engine, & a remotely controlled turret with a 2A46M-5 125mm smoothbore maingun capable of firing the Refleks ATGM, Kord heavy machine gun, and separated turret bustle for ammunition storage. The advanced integrated tactical system, Catherine-FC thermal imaging sensor, and GLONASS navigation system on the Kodiak in addition to Relikt ERA and composite armor give it more combat effectiveness than the earlier generation of T-90 tanks.

Reports have shown lately that the Russian Army has pulled a number of T-80 tanks out of storage and given them similar upgrades to the T-90M2, as well as at least one example with its 125mm cannon replaced with a railgun, dubbed the T-80R. It is likely that the T-80 was chosen as a test bed for the railgun due to its powerful turbine engine. This tank is likely a test bed for a tank mounted electromagnetic cannon, a possibility compounded by recent reports of T-90M2s armed with experimental electromagnetic cannons and even man-portable railguns. The CIA and DIA suggest that Russian development in lightweight super-conducting materials as well as compact reactors have allowed them to miniaturize electromagnetic weapons to such an extent; previously railguns were reserved for warships such as the Zumwalt Flight II destroyers and Gangut class cruisers due to the energy requirement and scale of the weapons themselves. With the recent development of the conventionally armed T-100 Ogre and T-279 Golem, however, it seems unlikely that railguns will be standard issue on any future Russian tanks at this time.

Micro capacitors and fusion reactors have made smaller railguns as well as the practical development of directed energy weapons possible; DARPA briefly considered developing armored vehicles armed with railguns, albeit the downscaling of the railguns in order to mount them on tanks and IFVs lowered their power and range to scarcely above that of conventional chemical-powered munitions. DARPA therefore decided that it was a better plan to invest in the more effective laser weaponry for infantry and vehicles/aircraft.

NT-28M3 Ochrannik “Sentinel�: The development of the ZTZ-200 Overlord led to the development of similar super-heavy breakthrough tanks in several other nations. Two of the more notable designs coming out of Russia and Eastern Europe were Uralvagonzavod's NT-28 Ochrannik and the T-88 Bastion assault tank designed by the Charkiv Morozov Design Bureau. The original NT-28, first seen at the 2014 Victory Day parade, was generally seen by the Russian Army as a white elephant made solely to poorly counter the Chinese Overlord tank, and only saw a very limited rate production run. It was equipped with dual proprietary 160mm cannons that were seen as a logistic burden, and its turbines were at least as malfunction prone as those found on the Overlord.

Its closest rival aside from the Overlord was the T-88 Bastion, designed and built shortly before the Russian integration of the eastern Ukraine. The T-88 was also heavily based on the Overlord but was in many cases seen as a more practical improvement; featuring twin 135mm main guns derived from naval guns, dual turret mounted 30mm AA autocannons, Warden anti-aircraft missiles, and a full active defense and advanced ECM suite, the T-88 was nearly as fearsome as the ZTZ-200 Overlord in a smaller, lighter weight package. In addition, the Bastion featured a nuclear reactor as a power source by default, giving it more than enough power to run its defensive systems and engine. Regardless, the Bastion was not chosen as an successor to the first-generation Sentinel tank when the eastern Ukraine was absorbed into the Russian Federation due to the high per-unit cost of the Bastion and the Russian government's desire to support indigenous Russian designs. The T-88 Bastion would live on as a tank exported in small numbers to Russian allies in Eastern Europe such as Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria and it would end up influencing the design of the later models of the Sentinel tank.

Both Morozov and Uralvagonzavod were tasked with designing a new model of the NT-28 Sentinel from the ground up. First off was the main armament; the Overlord had originally been equipped with twin cannons as to simplify logistics, but the engineers in charge of the new Sentinel project postulated that a superheavy tank would be better served armed with a single high-calibre cannon instead of two normal tank guns. To this end a monstrous 220mm heavy gun, more akin to an artillery piece than a tank gun, was developed for the NT-28M1. A new drive train was created, based on prototype designs from the 20th century; the NT-28M1 would move on quad articulated treads that would better distribute the massive weight of the tank. As with the previous model,the NT-28M1 was powered by a miniature lead-bismuth-alloy-cooled fast-neutron reactor based on that designed for the next generation of Russian naval vessels. The Warden missile system and Arena active defense had been part of the Sentinel project since the beginning, but subsequent upgrades such as the M2 and M3 improved upon the systems. Like all Russian armored fighting vehicles it is fully compatible with Relikt ERA.

The revised Sentinel would prove its worth in conflicts in the Caucasus, Africa, and Europe. Many times ECA forces would find Sentinels a tough opponent to crack, especially in the later phases of the war as the ECA and US forces launched their counter attack. The Sentinel's slow speed was of little concern when on the defensive and when the tanks were covered by sufficient air support or SAM cover. Prior to the Russo-European War, India took interest in the Sentinel tank and purchased export models dubbed the “Vidhwansak.�