You guys play any video games lately? I've been playing Wreckfest since it got out of Early Access, it's pretty fun.
The Forenians have decided to guarantee their traditional control of the skies with a piece of ground (or ship deck) equipment: the
, a 'Ground to Air Missile' which uses active radar homing like the Saltseeker. This represents to greatest achievement in Forenian radar in some time, de-complexifying their traditional Deadliest Ray radar and providing a much smaller (but narrow focused) radar for the missile seeker. It doesn't do any fancy tracking techniques other than seeing a radar contact and pointing its nose towards it, but the long missile (typically on a rack of four) can seek a radar contact from 30km, and fly that far too thanks to a two-stage rocket booster, and has a proximity fuze based on readings from the seeker. For their revision they've made the
, a Salamander with a Sewing Machine turret mounted and a radar system for identifying targets (though the gunner still has to aim manually, speaking to the radar operator for information). What really gives it its name, though, is an optional IR seeker: the guns' electric motors can track the gun to an IR signature in 360 degrees.
Cannala has also made a missile to preserve their traditional advantage, on the sea, with the
, an AShM which is a considerable improvement over the Saltseeker, by and large, thanks to Cannala's considerable missile experience. Powered by a ramjet after a rocket launch, the Stingray reaches speeds near the sound barrier to deliver a 650lb warhead (about 300kg compared to the Saltseeker's 500kg) to a range of 40 miles. It has a radar seeker, though the lock range is less than the missile's maximum flight range. Its flight is regulated with a radar altimiter, cruising extremely close to the sea surface for the duration of its flight, but not only can it be launched by ships, it can also drop out of a Vengeful Charlotte bomber. For their revision they've made the
, which is simply a Stingray with a SARH seeker head. It's intended to lock onto the signal from a Hornet target painter, allowing ground troops to call in a cruise missile and direct it to its target, though it struggles with locking on to the relatively weak radar signal.
The Forenian Army currently has the following equipment, not including legacy equipment which can be found near the OP:
UF Weapons:
UF-MRL-40 'SARUKH': The Sarukh is a multiple rocket launcher, which fires rockets one meter long to deliver 6kg warheads at a maximum range of 12000 meters. The rockets have impressive destructive power, compared to shells they do not need thick metal casings, so most of the weight of the rocket is either warhead or propellant. The rockets are launched electrically off of rails, and the rails are in a 4x2 array. The rockets can be fired all at once, but it takes about four minutes to reload the whole launcher, so the sustained rate of fire is not better than regular artillery. However, a rocket array is extremely light compared to a cannon, and can move very quickly, firing all at once and retreating before fire is returned from the enemy. Accuracy is poor compared to shells; to reliably hit a single target with a volley they should be used within 8km. Currently available as a truck trailer. [1 Ore, 3 Oil]
UF-ASA-40 "Overcompensator" Coastal Artillery System: This is an enormous 30cm gun, made specifically for covered ground emplacements. Like a ship gun, shells and powder casings are stored below the barrel itself and lifted up by an electric hoist and ramming system, which fires a little over twice a minute. The shells weigh about 350kg and reach a range which is greater than existing artillery, but not extremely impessive for their size- except the rocket propelled shells, which can go almost 30km. It normally sits in a reinforced concrete bunker with a wide aiming slit, on the shore to aim at ships. It lacks any advanced fire control as much of the time was spent developing a barrel and breech which could withstand the pressure necessary, so commanders must find a firing solution by pen, paper and slide-rule alone, and correct their aim based on visual observation. It also needs a large steam power generator on site or nearby, which needs a bunker of its own, and the generator or power lines are a potential vulnerability. [5 Ore, 3 Oil]
UF-RTS-41 'Long Shot' A: This is a radar fire-control system, which allows radar operators to directly control the Overcompensator gun by its electric motors. This is based on the entirely-mechanical Bumblebee aiming system, the radar operator simply aligns a metal ring which slides on rails on two axes over the radar blip on his screen. With manual calibration for each unique gun and radar position, this sets the gun to a firing solution. It is crude, and imprecise to the point where it almost never hits. It has only found practical use as a means of moving the gun near where it will need to be aimed while a firing solution is calculated the old fashioned way, on pen and paper.
UF-RTS-43 'Long Shot' B: The Longshot B uses a more precise cavity radar, and the operator now controls the gun's position with two dials rather than a sliding bracket, which is actually capable of enough precise aim to hit something. This gives fine control over the gun, but any more complicated factors such as wind or moving targets must be accounted for manually.
UF-AC-41 Velociraptor: This autocannon is a revision of AC18, with several improvements. The gun is a little more tolerant of different ammo weights and the shells have been modified so that mixed ammo belts are possible. The use of more advanced materials has allowed some parts to become lighter, while a heavier bolt and stronger spring allows a rate of fire of 750 RPM, with a final gun weight of 21kg. In infantry use, it has noticeably more recoil, but this is less of a concern on vehicles.
UF-AMR-43 Horsekiller II: Heir to the name of the venerable Moskurg Horsekiller .60 caliber rifle, the AMR-43 is at its core a bolt-action rifle with similarly enormous rounds for use as a heavy sniper rifle and anti-materiel rifle. The rifle itself could be described as "chubby", with a heavy 1.2m barrel and multi-lug bolt made of manganese-steel, while the furniture and accessory mounts milled from aluminum adding up to a 1.8m length in all. The barrel is tipped with a muzzle brake. It a purpose-made 15x120mm cartridge, typically with a hardened steel bullet. Despite its size being similar to the old Horsekiller round, the modern powder in these is considerably more potent. Each round is labeled "DO NOT INSERT INTO ORIGINAL HORSEKILLER - FATAL INJURY MAY OCCUR". These are loaded into an 8round box magazine, which makes the rifle rather tall. They are issued standard with the Eagle Sight MkIII on an accessory rail, a critical part of the rifle's performance (description separate). Other accessories include a padded cheek rest and rubber stock-end to absorb the absurd recoil, as well as an adjustable bipod which is necessary to keep the magazine off the ground when shooting from prone. Lastly, it is painted in theater-appropriate camo (green, desert, or urban gray) and as a matter of tradition it includes bayonet lugs, although the primary use of bayonets on this rifle is in posing for photos. It is never recommended to shoot from a standing position, though it is quite tall making prone shooters a more noticeable target than they would be with a normal rifle. While it's powerful enough to injure inexperienced shooters, the ballistic performance is excellent and it is has an effective range of more than one and a half kilometers. [4 Ore (1 Al), 3 Oil]
UFN-ASM-44 "Saltseeker": [Expensive] The Saltseeker is an anti-ship missile which is powered by a jet engine after a rocket assisted launch, and uses active radar homing. Its guidance system, based on a simplified the Deadliest Ray radar with a comparatively low resolution to the ordinary plane-spotting version, steers it towards the radar contact of the greatest intensity ahead of it, which is determined by some combination of the size of the target and distance to it. Normally this will steer it to the closest large ship but it also gets confused by shorelines. The altitude is controlled not by the angle to the contact, but by a conventional altimeter, and the distance to the target (it flies high at first, then when the target is only a few hundred meters away, descends to sea level). Depending on the weather this can be imprecise enough to miss above the target or impact a wave. The missile is 5 meters in length and has stubby wings with elevons (the missile will only roll to keep itself level) and a rudder in the tail. The jet engine has an intake under the missile, keeps it at a speed of around 800kph, to its maximum range of 48km. The size of the radar system necessitates that the entire missile is larger than ideal, but it does carry a lot of fuel and a 500kg shaped charge warhead. [5 Ore, 5 Oil]
UF-GAM-44 "Noose": [Expensive] The Noose is an active radar homing ground-to-air missile. It has a long, slim shape, with a diameter of 32cm and a length of 5.5 meters. as the motor comprises the great majority of the missile's overall mass, with a seeker in the nose, guidance fins close to the front and rear stabilizer fins, which is quickly becoming the "standard" guided missile configuration in the Archipelago and the world. It fires from a truck bed on a four-mount which includes a radar display which shows what the next missile ready to fire is looking at, so the operator can tell which target it will follow when launched. Crucially, this can be coordinated with a Deadliest Ray radar to identify the exact angle the missile should be pointed in, which is no longer [complex] thanks to the work on this project. The missile can, impressively given its size, lock on to a target and reach it at a maximum range of 30km, to which it is propelled by a first solid booster stage and a second oxidized-kerosene liquid booster stage, at around mach 1.7 close to the end of its flight. It uses its radar as a proximity fuze, detonating when it is a meter from the target or if the target reaches the edge of the missiles view and is within 10 meters. The explosive is cylindrical, and surrounded by metal rods, which are welded together in an alternating pattern to from a "ring" of somewhat thick metal rod around the perimeter of the missile, hopefully damaging aircraft even off to its side. It is the single greatest leap forward for radar in Forenian history. [4 Ore, 5 Oil]
UF Other Equipment:
General Tereshkova: The Forenian army is led by General Tereshkov, an expert pilot. With experience spanning back to the days of the terrifying AS-19 aircraft which pilots believed to be haunting, he trains Forenian pilots to quick witted and always on guard, and out-fly their enemies.
RDN-39-2 "DEADLIER RAY" [Expensive] The "Deadlier Ray" is a more sophisticated radar than the old Death Ray, using an array of antennae on a rotating swivel, a single unit can get the direction and range of enemy aircraft to about 150km, and ships to within about 30km. It's huge though, and requires a building or an entire dedicated CV-22 ship to manage all the equipment. The operator can see contacts on a CRT display with a circular progression, it looks really cool and goes beep. [Complex]
RDN-42-4 "DEADLIEST RAY": [Expensive] The Mk. 4 version of the Forenian Radar Defense Network drastically reduces its size and power consumption using a cavity magnetron. This generatres high-frequency radio waves, which can be interpreted by much smaller receiving antennas, reflect clearly off of smaller objects, and generate a clearer image in inclement weather. It can interpret the range and altitude of ships and aircraft with enough resolution to make out how many aircraft are in a group, and their relative size. It can be operated off a dedicated truck using power from the truck's motor, as well as be mounted on a ship using the ship's generator, or used in camps and bases with a power source. It has a rotating antenna array which is about two meters across. [Complex]
UF-R4-39 'Tiger's Roar': This dramatically named radio is very similar to the Model 3, but fits in a single backpack and supports voice or morse over FM. When communicating in morse code, it can be attached to a separate Tiger's Whisper machine for coded messages.
Binoculars: Cheap binoculars are available to all soldiers.
Flashlights: The UF standard flashlight uses leak-resistant zinc-carbon batteries, in an aluminum frame. It fits on weapon rail mounts, or on helmets. It's rather heavy though, so soldiers prefer to hold them by hand when they can, possibly with a pistol in the other hand. Also includes colored lenses for signalling.
UF-PAR-41 'Trustfall': These are large, circular nylon parachutes, capable of supporting cargo crates on wooden pallets, or supporting some vehicles on a two-parachute rig with specialized wooden pallets under the wheels.
UF-ERA-42 'Blood Eagle': The Blood Eagle is a system of Explosive-Reactive Armor plates. These provide significant protection against shaped-charge HEAT warheads, the armor explodes on contact and the warhead becomes deformed, making it much less effective. The Blood Eagle armor tends to detonate all at once, so that all of the ERA on one side of the tank or the entire tank will be expended after one hit, causing minor damage to the tank. Blood Eagle plates cannot be quickly replaced as they destroy their mounts, requiring a mechanic to weld new ones. It's not very effective against traditional AP rounds. It can be retrofitted to existing armored vehicles, though retrofits will have noticeable gaps in their coverage. [Complex] [+1 Oil]
UF-RJ-42 'Fair Fight Module': The Fair Fight Module based on the Tiger's Roar radio system, but instead of modulating the signal's amplitude for communication, it sends a loud signal on the frequency used by Cannalan M1942 Proximity Fuzes. The radio includes a different capacitor for the frequencies it requires, making it incapable of resonating on voice frequencies, and a small, umbrella-shaped antenna array. When powered on, it fools proximity fuzes into detonating early. This is effective to about 300 meters. Unfortunately, putting more power into the system causes it to quickly overheat, so longer ranges aren't possible right now.
Eagle Sight MkIII: A refractive telescopic sight designed with the Horsekiller II in mind. It's quite large, like the rifle it sits on, with a 54mm objective lens that provides a clear, bright picture with lots of eye relief, and a rubber guard around the eye piece. It is adjustable from 4-8x magnification with a dial, and includes a very fine crosshair with elevation and windage markings, as well as range-finding markings ("find the circle that a standing pirate fits into completely"). It also has a long sunshade, which contributes to making the already large scope look enormous. Most of all though, it and the Eagle Sight MkII are cheap to produce. [2 Ore 1 Oil]
UF-APS-44 "Burning Tiger": The Burning Tiger is a decoy flare launcher which can be integrated easily into airframes without aerodynamic issues, so it can more readily be used on fighters, and drops a lot of flares quickly using a small rocket on each one. The flares burn hot, bright, and long, so they're a good distraction from a plane's engines. Also included is a chaff launcher, which deploys rolls of aluminum foil ribbons to confuse radar. [2 Oil]
UF Ground Vehicles:
UF-39-APC "Salamander" Pattern B: The Salamander is a large amphibious APC, with a wide body to keep itself stable on the water. It is covered in medium armor, and the body is in a "hexagonal cross-section" shape, which means that any point on its sides or front is either sloping up or down, with the front being long and narrow while the sides are flatter. It has 8 large wheels, the front and rear axles both drive and steer, while the middle two axles are dummies. Water propulsion is from two small propellers. This was a necessary compromise to keep transmission weight down, but land performance isn't amazing. It holds about fourteen soldiers, or a few less if they're bringing heavy weapons and Tiger Armor. Soldiers exit double file through a watertight rear door/ramp and there's a top front crew hatch. It is armed with an AS-AC18 turret and coaxial Sorraia. [5 Ore 3 Oil] Now retrofitted with slat armor intended to defend against tandem charge HEAT.
UF-MBT-42 'Bjorn': [Very Expensive] The Bjorn is a heavy tank, with Very Heavy frontal armor and Heavy armor on the rest of the tank and turret. It is very wide and flat, to give the armor a shallow slope on all sides which extends over the top of the tracks. The armor is well-covered with ERA, and the material itself is a manganese alloy. The turret is a shallow conical-section shape which comes nearly flush with the flat top of the hull, and sits towards the rear of the tank. The tank is so shallow that the crew must crawl about the tank, and performing many simple tasks like moving ammo from storage to the cannon is difficult. The driver even lays on his stomach. It includes wet ammo storage, which spills water over rounds if it is damaged to prevent fires, and lensed periscopes which allow for view ports which don't break up the slope of the armor. It's powered by a twin-charged diesel V12 engine, which takes up much of the tank's front (theoretically protecting the crew), and has intakes and exhaust cutouts in the top armor. This gets the enormously heavy tank to an acceptable speed, and powers electric motors for the turret. It is armed with the 100mm L/55 sliding-breech Bjorn cannon, the 5.5m barrel extends shortly beyond the front of the tank in a forward position. This cannon is slow to load, partly owing to the tank's layout, but has impressive range and power. It is also armed with an M3 Sorraia coaxial to the main gun and on top of the turret, and smoke grenade launchers shamelessly stolen from Cannala's designs. Costs 8 Ore (1Mn), 5 Oil.
UF-39-APC "Salamander" Pattern F: F stands for Fire. Instead of an autocannon, this Salamander has a flamethrower powered by a strong electric pump. It fires "Napalm", a thickened fuel substance, up to 100 meters. This napalm is stored in a large tank so the weapon can be used in prolonged engagements, which reduces passenger capacity. In addition, this design includes armor slats which fit above the ERA and are not destroyed when the ERA detonates, providing additional protection against Cannalan twin-charge warheads, although its exact performance is unproven. This applies to all Salamanders.
UF-MLRS-44 "Artemis": The Artemis is a mobile rocket launcher, on an amphibious truck chassis. The truck itself slightly resembles a Salamander, but lacking armor, with the same hexagonal cabin, but which cuts short for a bed. The motor is directly below the cabin, between the front two steering wheels, and powers four drive wheels and two small propellers towards the rear. The wheels have large, wide tires and sit on portal axles for clearance. The weapon system sits in the bed of the truck, and consists of a 4x10 array of 40 rocket tubes. In each rocket tube is a 120mm rocket, 3 meters in length, which rotates 360 degrees and elevates to 90 degrees (which is used for the reload process) under hydraulic power from the motor while the vehicle is deployed. The fin-stabilized rockets are accurate to 12km, and at can be fired to 15km at maximum. Each carries a 20kg warhead, comparable to a much wider artillery shell, and weighs 60kg in total with its body and solid propellant. The missiles are reloaded an entire rack at a time, while the aiming apparatus is in full vertical position, from a second truck with a hoist. To reload or fire, the Artemis must deploy stabilizers which takes about 90 seconds, and the same time to prepare to move again. Lastly it has a device called an "air conditioner" which somehow makes cold air inside the cabin through some pressure valve parlor trick, which the crews are absolutely in love with despite its lack of specific combat value. [4 Ore 4 Oil]
UF-SPAAS-44 "Sewing Machine": [Expensive] if using radar, [Cheap] otherwise. The Sewing Machine is a quad-mount turret for 30mm Velociraptor guns, mounted on an Artemis truck. An optional second truck carries a radar array which can control the gun (through hydraulic motors) based on a system similar to the Longshot. Like the Longshot, the control over the motors isn't terribly precise, and it's especially not precise enough to aim at aircraft. For this reason it's controlled manually by a gunner, the automatic-aim system moves the entire gunner seat and the gunner aims relative to where the radar is pointing the run, trying to estimate for lead and drop as well as general inaccuracy. Unfortunately this is quite hard to do. At least gunners get Horsekiller-style optical sights to help them out. When the radar is not in use, the gun can simply be aimed manually. [Complex] if using radar. [5 Ore, 2 Oil]
UF-SPAAS-44-2 "Garlic": IR Variant: [Expensive], Regular: [Cheap] The Garlic is a Salamander with a Sewing Machine turret- plus a few extra features. For aircraft awareness, it has a reduced-sized Deadliest Ray radar similar to that found in planes, with a rotating radome. The other notable feature is a sensor based on the Piracy Warning, which when turned on detects infrared light sources near the vehicle and rotates the gun towards them automatically, hopefully homing in on IR lamps used in Cannalan night vision, or helicopter exhaust. Like the truck mounted version the turret is more sluggish than what would be ideal. Almost all of the passenger space is occupied by radar-related systems (including a radar operator seat) and much larger ammo bins for the quad-mount 30mm turret. [Complex] If equipped with the IR sensor system. [5 Ore, 3 Oil]
UF Air Force:
TPD 'DOLPHIN' 38b: This is an aerial torpedo, weighing in a bit more than half a ton. It is powered by a wet heater motor, and stabilized by a gyroscope. The revised 'b' version includes a magnetic detonator to explode beneath ships, and can be dropped from considerable height and speed without failure. [2 Ore, 1 Oil]
UFS-BL-38-A 'Firecracker': This bunch of letters followed by a word denotes a 2.5kg finned bomblet, with a either a HEAT+Fragment warhead, or an incendiary warhead. These come in pods of 100 which fit on standard bomb mounts, and release their bomblets at an experimentally-determined altitude which causes them to cover a 50 meter square with roughly one bomb every 5 meters- enough to hit a group of armor, or more forgiving of error than a single 250kg bomb when trying to hit a single target.
UFAF-MTA-38 'Reckless Effect': The MT stands for Military Transport Aircraft, but nobody is sure what 'Reckless Effect' is supposed to mean other than sounding cool. This is a large cargo aircraft with four V12 engines, normally aspirated with an eye towards fuel efficiency. It has a broad wingspan with a high wing, ample cargo space, and adequate power to take off from a long runway with a four ton load, just don't expect much in the way of evasive maneuvers. Befitting its role as a dedicated cargo craft, the body terminates is a large cargo door/ramp at the rear. The frame is largely aluminium for weight. Even an L-1 Tiger truck or AS-MV-21-AL just barely fit within the size and weight limits! The door can also be opened in flight for paratroopers, or for an emergency cargo jettison. It's remarkably durable, and can keep flying even through two engine failures. [4 Ore (1 Al), 4 Oil]
UFAF-F39-W 'Haast': The Haast is a single-engine heavy fighter. It has a single supercharged, fuel-injected V12 petrol motor with a notably bigger displacement than those on the Falcon or Stinger. It's about at the limits of what V12 is capable of without more elaborate induction, different fuel or more cylinders. It is very heavily armed with two M3 Sorraia nose guns, and four wing-mounted AC-18's. The cabin is armored with a manganese-alloy "bathtub". It has deep ellipse wings to create the lift necessary for its considerable weight, plus that of bomb mounts- it can wrangle 1000kg of bombs on three mounts, potentially holding two Dolphin torpedoes. It doesn't outmaneuver existing fighters, and it's relatively slow. It has a large wingspan, but can fit on Wasp Nest carriers thanks to folding wings, and the large control surfaces are easier to control thanks to servo tabs. It also includes some other new features: foam-lined fuel tanks act to self seal in the event of leaks, and a new Oxygen Regulator which safely controls the pilot's oxygen supply. It can't take off of a Wasp Nest with bombs, the runway is just a little too short. [5 Ore (1Al, 1Mn), 4 Oil]
UFAF-F-40 "Thunderbird": This is a jet aircraft, powered by two of Forenia's first functional turbojet engines. It is a relatively small fighter, the pilot sits in a round glass cockpit with two AS-AC18 cannons and a Sorraia in the nose. The wings are as narrow as possible, low-mounted and swept back, and have small wing fences to prevent sweep-related instability. The tail is relatively high-mounted to put it outside the jet wash from the wings. It also features air brakes. The Thunderbird's revised aT-J04b engines are relatively small, axial-flow turbojets, and they are somewhat crude in nature. The interior of the turbojet becomes extremely hot, the moving parts are made of complicated nickel alloys, and they burn lean using excess air for cooling. The two engines burn kerosene, and lots of it, and they sit in nacelles under the wings- each generates almost as much power as a Haast engine. Overall the aircraft has a speed a significantly faster than the Stinger (though much less than what these new turbojets are theorized to be capable of), and its jet engines have a higher altitude ceiling. The air brakes are a good choice, because the jet engines must maintain a lot of thrust at their minimum speed to avoid a flame out, so landings and slower combat engagements benefit from them. Requires a long runway for takeoff. [5 Ore, 4 Oil]
UFAF-HAT-41 "Ice Giant" B: [Very Expensive] This is an enormous transport aircraft, powered by eight turbo-prop engines. Each of these engines is based on the aT-J04b, but drives a shaft which powers a propeller, which is more efficient for low-speed applications. The final result is engines which are relatively efficient, but each of them is small, as designing larger turbines would have taken too long. Most of the effort is poured into the enormous airframe, constructed largely of wood. The wing spar and some important reinforcements use aluminum beams. The majority of the frame is arranged in a geodetic structure, but it's still much less resilient to damage and fire than a metal frame. It can carry a single fully loaded Salamander, or about 13 tons of cargo. Compared to smaller bombers, it's slow and flies with the grace of an emu. It lands on eight large, partially-retracting wheels to support its weight. [6 Ore (1 Al), 2 Wood, 7 Oil]
UFAF-F-41 Lightning Streak: This is a single-engine jet fighter, with a large aT-J20 jet taking up most of the fuselage. The aT-J20 is a low-bypass turbofan; some of the air taken in by the compressor blades passes around the engine core and is not combusted. A planned afterburner system wasn't prepared, but the bypass system provides useful cooling. The Lightning Streak has a relatively fat fuselage, which widens out in the middle after the intake and narrows again at the exhaust, there there is a rudder and two tail wings directly on the fuselage. With the round glass canopy (using 15mm of heavy laminated glass) the aircraft has sort of an egg shape, with thin swept wings. The wings have no bomb mounts and are as light as possible for speed and maneuverability, it is armed solely with three AC41 Velociraptor cannons in the nose above the intake, with somewhat limited ammo. It also includes airbrakes on the body near the tail, and hydraulic controls. Since it was designed as an absolutely dedicated fighter, and the aT-J20 is larger and with better weight-specific performance than the J04b, the speed and maneuverability are remarkable. [5 Ore, 4 Oil]
APS-42 "Reality Check": This "Active Protective System" is a module bolted on to the outside of planes, which deploys 25mm magnesium flares, to distract infrared guided missiles. Each canister contains 25 flares. There are five fuses, each of which lights off five flares (and causes them to drop from the plane) at half-second intervals. The fuses are ignited electrically by the pilot. The APS is a bit of a large box which mounts on the outside of a plane and isn't aerodynamic, which is a small concern for bombers but a larger one for fighters.
Piracy Warning: [Expensive] A derivative of the Cannalan Hellfire Missile. [Complex][3 Ore, 3 Oil]
UFAF-RF-43 "VV Frightening": [Very Expensive] [With radar: National Effort] The "Very Very Frightening" fighter jet is Forenia's attempt to make the fastest conceivable jet aircraft. It's a slightly large fighter compared to the Lightning Streak. The fuselage houses two engines under the swept, anhedral wings, which themselves run much of the length of the plane giving it a wide and flat appearance, and the canopy bulges out of the top, extending past the space necessary for the pilot to create room for extra equipment. The tail is unconventional: The fuselage forks at the rear terminating in two engine outlets, and there are two vertical stabilizers supporting two rudders, each directly in the path of the engine exhaust, as a form of crude thrust vectoring. Also close to the rear, a swept "flying tail", a horizontal stabilizer which moves to serve as an elevator extends off each side of the fuselage. The engines are new aT-J30's, developed with the aid of Leipzig University, which are large engines with a low-bypass which burn a new high performance fuel blend of of kerosene and hydrazine, equipped with afterburners. Internal components and the rudders rely on rare metals to withstand the engine's intense heat. Its equipment includes two 30mm Velociraptor-based cannons in the top of the nose, with the main portion of the nose contains a severely down-powered "Deadliest Ray" Mk4 radar system connected to a display in the cockpit, the range and resolution is limited. It also contains three hardpoints, one center and one under each wing, capable of holding half a ton of ordnance or fuel in total. Behind the pilot is additional equipment space, which by default carries integrated flare modules and a Fair Fight module, as well as part of the radar equipment. It's a heavy aircraft but incredibly fast, capable of approaching the sound barrier under afterburner power. Its large power-assisted control surfaces let it make some tight maneuvers, but careless use can harm the pilot or threaten the structure of the craft. It's amazing to see in action, but wait until you see the price tag. [Complex if using radar] [6 Ore (1 Al), 6 Oil]
UFAF-RF-43-Q "VV Frightening-Q": Maintaining performance while reducing fuel use is an incredibly hard task, but even for merely reducing fuel use the aT-J30-Q fails to meet expectations. After Leipzig-based consultant Gottfried Q. Wolfram left the project, claiming an engineer had horribly insulted his family, Forenian engineers were only able to cobble together a half-completed version of the project which runs on plain kerosene to reduce fuel costs and even omits afterburners to save fuel. With the altered fuel blend, the engines are prone to flameouts at low speed (which in the two-engine design invariably leads to a dangerous flat spin). VV-Frightening-Q Variant: [6 Ore, 5 Oil]
UF Navy:
UFS-DD-38 Pattern E 'Archer': The Archer is Forenia's first combat ship. It is relatively small, and made of steel but unarmored, with two 90mm Bumblebee guns, complete with targeting system, in covered turrets on either side of a center con tower. There are also two more Bumblebees not in covered turrets, as the ones in the turrets were supposed to be larger originally. It is powered by two steam turbines, and it is relatively fast. Auxiliary weapons include an AS-AC18 on each side, and some Sorraia machineguns on railing mounts. There are also four Dolphin torpedo in launchers on deck: These are basically wooden chutes which can be aimed on a swivel, before the torpedo is released by untying a knot. [3 Ore, 2 Oil]
UFS-CV 'Wasp Nest' 38, Pattern A: Forenia's first aircraft carrier, and their biggest ship by far compared to the CV22 cargo ship and Archer. Its hull contains four of the turbines used to power the Archer, and is unarmored except for a torpedo belt. ABout a dozen planes stored belowdecks are lifted by a single hydraulic lift. The command center is below-decks, so that the wooden flight deck almost completely covers the ship, giving it a low, flat appearance. There are two Bumblebee AA guns on each side, one deck below on exposed platforms, plus several AC18's for point defense. The last important feature is a set of arresting cables on deck allowing planes to land safely, these catch hooks on the planes themselves, and are lowered out of the way for takeoff. [4 Ore, 2 Oil]
UFS-CV-40 'Zheleznogorod' B: [Expensive] This is Forenia's biggest ship yet; an aircraft carrier with two vertically stacked flight decks. Each deck is longer than those of the Wasp Nest, and built of steel. The lower flight deck is directly connected with the hangar deck, and can only launch aircraft. The upper flight deck can launch and recover aircraft with an arrester, which are transported from the hangar deck with a lift. Each flight deck terminates in a "ski ramp". Between some space on the top flight deck, the hangar deck's floor, and cable winches from the hangar deck ceiling, the Zeleznogorod can carry about 36 planes, but only 20 are able to quickly deploy. However, planes stored on the ceiling are prone to swinging about and often damaged during ordinary ship maneuvers. There is a steam catapult launch assist system, on the lower and longer flight deck only.. This system, broadly speaking, works: heavier aircraft are accelerated enough to take off, but a launch fills the hangar deck with smoke for a few minutes and the rocket motors are lot more expensive than a steam system. There is a con tower as well, but no radar. The space taken up by the two flight decks, hangar, and living quarters leaves fairly little space for the engines. The ship is armed with a few AS-AC18's for point defense only, and armored with a moderate torpedo belt. It is top-heavy, and neither fast nor maneuverable. [6 Ore, 5 Oil]
UFS-CV-50b 'Sea Lift': [Expensive] This is a ship based on the Zheleznogorod hull, but used instead to transport cargo. It includes its own crane and is lightly armed with a Bumblebee and some AC18's. It provides 3 TC, and serves for general purpose logistics such as moving tanks and soldiers to areas with docks. [6 Ore, 4 Oil]
UFN-CA-41 Catraphract: The Cataphract is a cruiser built to rival Cannala's ships. It is armed with 3x3 150mm gun turrets, each using a fully electrified loading system based on the moderately-performing Overcompensator, except that the 60kg shells are moved in one piece. Each gun can fire 8 times a minute. It has an armored citadel with 300mm of nickel-steel armor (Heavy), and a torpedo belt as well. The deck is also heavily armored, at 120mm (Light) to defend against plunging fire, plus an extra splinter deck. The turrets are similarly armored but take advantage of mangalloy for greater durability. There is a central director in the con tower which controls all the electrically-driven turrets, though there is no advanced firing calculator. Additionally there are three turrets with two bumblebees on each side of the ship, capable of firing on aircraft or ships, and miscellaneous autocannons wherever there is room. It is powered by oil-burning steam turbines, and there are a lot of them though with its considerable armor it only musters moderate speed. [5 Ore (1Mn), 4 Oil]
UFN-BB-41 Vodka: [Expensive] This is a direct copy of the Cannalan Victoria Battlecruiser, from stolen plans. The radar system is not included, and it uses gun turrets derived from the domestic Overcompensator design. Like the Victoria, it has three turrets with two 30cm guns each, a gun control system, heavy citadel armor, and under-performing diesel-electic engines. [7 Ore, 4 Oil]
UF-LST22-42 "Wooden Spear": This is a lander based on the AS-CV22 hull, which has large clamshell doors on the bow and a keel capable of beaching safely. On the lower deck with direct ramp access, there is space for four vehicles, and above there are living quarters to support infantry. The clamshell doors are prone to being wedged shut on the sand when the ship beaches itself, which can make exiting the ship extremely difficult. They also leak constantly and require pumping, if the pumps fail for any reason the ship is endangered.
UFN-MAM-43 Whalesong Acoustic Mine: The Whalesong is a huge bomb floating off an underwater tether. It's triggered by sound received into a piezoelectric quartz device instead of direct contact, and can be configured to be sensitive to different frequencies, with the intent of targeting smaller or larger ships (or both), and it also has a delay fuze. Its large explosive charge and acoustic trigger mean can be effective some meters away from its target. (2 Ore, 3 Oil)
UF Design Doctrines:
Vehicle Radios: Most vehicles are equipped with a Model 3 Radio set, in a configuration suitable to the size and power source of the vehicle.
Retractable Landing Gear: Unless noted otherwise, aircraft are fitted with retractable landing gear.
Oxygen Regulators: Aircraft are equipped with oxygen systems which are self-regulating and allow the crew to operate at a significant altitude.
Fuel Tank Liners: Unarmored combat vehicles have foam fuel tank liners which can stop or slow leaks if the tank is punctured.
Warheads: Missiles, shells and bombs of various sizes can have various types of warhead attached, such as high-explosive, HEAT, incendiary, and so on. Developing a new warhead type means it will be available in other applications where it could easily apply, and new sizes of shells or bombs are available with various warheads.
Pintle Mounts: Following old Arstotzkan design doctrine, machine guns are placed on pintle mounts where possible, to give them a good vertical aiming range capable of hitting ground and air targets.
UF Resources:
Transport Capacity: 1 by land, 3 by sea, 2 by air
5 Ore, using 1 TC by air, and receiving 1 from the Axis
4 Oil, using 1 TC by sea, and 1 TC by air
1 Aluminum
1 Manganese
