| Tech Level | Infantry equipment | Infantry support | Artillery | Vehicles |
|---|
| 8 | The assault rifle remains standard, but is supplemented by the laser carbine.
The laser carbine has limited weapons potential, but is used primarily as a target designator and
range finder. Ballistic cloth flak jackets are in universal use. | The RAM grenade replaces the early grenade launcher and most specialized
anti-tank grenade launchers. Mortars are now capable of firing cluster bomblet rounds. The tac
missile's guidance system now requires that the operator track only the target, not that he guide
the missile. Advanced forms of the tac missile incorporate laser target designation. | Weapons of 15 cm and larger can now deliver tactical nuclear devices, and
guided rounds are available which home on laser painted targets. Towards the end of the period,
teleguided munitions are introduced. The first computer fire control system is introduced with
remote terminals placed with forward observers to speed response time and flexibility. Air defense artillery now includes man portable air defense missiles, all heat seekers. Larger air defense missiles are more compact and lethal, and are available for forward area defense on selfpropelled chassis. Rapid fire radar directed auto-cannons provide most point defense. | Both horizontal and vertical stabilization are in use allowing firing of main
armament of tanks at speeds up to 40 kph. Top speed for tanks is about 90 kph, with armored cars up to about 120 kph. Tank main armament is in the 10-15 cm range wlth more sophisticated battle computers. Many guns are smooth bores for firing high velocity fin stabilized
rounds. Toward the middle of the period the first laser tanks are introduced, mounting a bulky
cryogenically cooled pulse gatling-laser in a non-rotating mount. Ablative anti-laser vehicle armor is available, as are anti-laser aerosols, although the latter are expensive. Most laser tanks mount coaxial auto-cannons to scrub ablative armor off target vehicles, thus limiting the effective range of the laser to that of the auto cannon. Composite armor with a high resistance to penetration is available, although its expense initially limits its use to main battle tanks (MBT).
A special piggy-back HEAP round is capable of achieving multiple hits on the same location, giving a limited composite armor defeating capability, but the primary means of knocking out MBT's becomes dlrect hits from high caliber HE rounds resulting in crew deaths from concusson.
The air/raft comes into limited military use as a utility transport craft. |
| 9 | The more powerful and robust laser rifle replaces the laser carbine and has a
much greater lethality. Most lasers are multi-color to defeat smoke and aerosol obscuration.
Laser ablative clothing is available for infantry, although expense precludes universal use. Inhelmet
communications, light amplification, and passive IR detection equipment are available, although again not universally in use. | Tac missiles now range up to 4 kilometers and incorporate follow-up IR
sensors to achieve successive hits on composite armor. RAM grenades are also equipped with follow-up sensors. Mortars incorporate early ballistic adjustment to confuse counter-battery
radar equipment. | Heavy conventional artillery is gradually replaced by mass driver (MD) guns,
large magnetic linear accelerators which, although requiring large amounts of power, are capable of long range, high muzzle velocities, and rapid rates of fire. All artillery munitions are capable of preprogrammed deviations in ballistic paths to confuse counter-battery radar.
Course deviation programs are provided by more sophisticated computer fire control systems.
Counter-battery radar itself is upgraded to allow multiple simultaneous tracks and graceful loadshedding
capabilities, making it virtually impossible to overload by massed fires. Improved
sound and flash ranging arrays are available, and are supplemented by satellite surveillance, all
integrated by the fire control system. Man-portable air defense missiles now have an effective
range of 4 kilometers and a head-on engagement capability. Larger missile systems incorporate
televisual guidance. Ladar (laser based radar) replaces radar. | The main armament of all MBTs is now stabilized in all planes and incorporates automatic range-target adjustments from the ballistic computer. Main armament remains In the 12-15 cm range, mostly hyper-velocity smooth bores, with the capability of
launching small nuclear warheads, although expense, round storage, and doctrine make this a
non-standard round. All tanks use auto-loaders on the main armament providing a much higher
rate of fire. MBT's generally mount improved cavity-B armor, while many light armored vehicles and armored personnel carriers are partially or wholly encased in cavity-A armor. Gun/launchers can deliver a large variety of rounds, but still cannot deliver hyper-velocity munitions of the giant 12-15 cm guns. Wider use is made of the air/raft, generally armed and
armored and referred to in the military configuration as the grav sled. It is still primarily used as an airmobile personnel carrier. All vehicles incorporate ground surveillance radar. An improved laser tank mounts its armament in a fully rotating turret, the armament consisting of either a pulse gatling laser or beam laser, in either case multi-colored, enabling it to defeat most smoke and aerosol obscuration. Toward the end of the period the first grav tanks are introduced. |
| 10 | The basic infantry weapon becomes the advanced combat rifle capable of
firing a 4 cm RAM grenade. Personal uniform consists of the combat environment suit, and all
helmets incorporate radio communication gear and IR/light amplification night vision sensors. | Tac missiles range to 5 kilometers and incorporate teleguidance. Warheads for
tac missiles are expanded to include HE, flechette, and chemical capability. Mortars are now capable of delivering small nuclear warheads, but expense, storage, and doctrine make this a nonstandard round. | Field artillery is now entirely MD guns or MRL's, in both cases self-propelled on high speed grav vehicles, and with firing controlled completely by computer fire control systems. In vertical envelopment situations, artillery support is provided exclusively by remote controlled, disposable, static MRL units dropped by air. Man-portable air defense missiles incorporate teleguidance and range to 5 kilometers. In point defense the conventional gun is
Partially replaced by the plasma A gun on large grav mounts. While self-propelled, the unit must
be landed and deployed for firing due both to the high energy usage and recoil associated with firing. Long range missiles are supplemented by maser units (coherent microwave projectors) designed to cause pilot casualties rather than structural damage. The premier point defense
weapon becomes the VRF gauss gun, with much medium range work done by beam and pulse
gatling lasers. | Track-laying tanks are now completely supplanted by grav tanks and lighter
wheeled armored fighting vehicles. Grav tanks mount gunllauncher systems andlor beam lasers,
with some super-heavy varieties mounting the first heavy plasma A guns. Larger grav tanks
mount h~ghde nsity armor wi th significantly increased resistance to penetration. Light armored
cars mount gunllauncher systems or VRF gauss guns. The grav sled is used very widely in the
personnel carrier role, but large numbers of fast wheeled APC's are still used. Most vehicles are
equipped with cavity-B armor. All vehicles have an advanced target acquisition and fire control
system intqrated with the vehicles ballistic computer which consists of ground surveillance
radar and televisual scanning which identifies moving objects, trains the gun, and visually displays
the target information for the gunner. The gunner identifies the target as friend or foe.
Once identified as friend, the system will ignore the target as long as it remains in range of the
system's sensors. If identified as foe, the gunner may fire, or initiate any of a number of tiered
priority pass orders (return to target when in range, return after next target engaged, etc.) The
system may be keyed to seek targets of specified configurations (such as MBT's, infantry
etc.) and may be manually overridden at any time for direct gunner selection. Often the radar
and visual sensors are mounted in extensible pods to allow observation and target acquisition
from complete vehicle defilade. |
| 11 | Combat armor is available which can be pressurized for operation in a vacuum, or hostile environment, but expense precludes general issue. | Tac missile warheads now include small nuclear weapons, range to 6 kilometers and incorporate inertial target memory and homing. LMG's have almost totally disappeared as support weapons. Mortars are almost completely replaced by inexpensive disposable remotely triggered rocket launcher (MRL) units. Representative units are 1 meter square
and hold around 100 6 cm rockets. Each launcher can be manually placed or airdropped, and
upon activation is brought into register by the battery fire control center. Since the launchers are disposable, no effort is made to confuse counter-battery radar. HE, smoke, cluster bomblets, HEAP, and HEAP follow-up rounds are available. | Field artillery is increasingly supplanted by remotely piloted drone missiles,
although conventional MD guns and MRL's are still in wide use. The plasma B gun is now in use in the air defense role, with lighter A gun mounts supplementing the point defense capabilities of VRF gauss gun units. All fire control systems are improved by direct verbal communication by forward observers and fire direction officers with the system. The more mobile A gun is now very often used in a direct support role as 'well as in its previous role of air defense weapon. | All combat vehicles are now grav powered. The grav tank generally utilizes the more compact plasma A gun and/or tac missile racks. Very heavy grav tanks mount the plasma B gun. Light grav sleds are used for scouting, generally mounting tac missiles and autocannons. Close support sleds mount VRF gauss guns and tac missiles. All vehicles have pronounced free-flight capability. |
| 12 | The gauss rifle is introduced in limited numbers as a sniper weapon, expense
Precluding general issue. The individual grav belt is occasionally used for scouting purposes. | The PGMP-12 is introduced as a high energy squad support weapon, in many
units replacing the grenade launcher. Most other support is provided by gunships integrated at
the squad and platoon level. | Both the plasma C gun and the heavier fusion X gun are introduced in the
air defense and general direct fire role. The now highly mobile A gun completely supplants the
VRF gauss gun in the point defense role. Conventional artillery is almost completely supplanted
by drone missiles | All vehicles have sufficient free-flight performane that ground combat
vehicles effectively no longer exist, having merged with aircraft. The primary weapon of the
heavy gunships include plasma B guns, VRF gauss guns, and tac missiles. VRF gauss guns are
also widely mounted on personnel carriers, as are plasma A guns. |
| 13 | All infantry is generally now in combat armor and equipped with gauss rifles.
Battle dress is issued to selected assault troops. | The PGMP-13 is introduced as a support weapon in battle dress equipped units. The throw-away missile is introduced, incorporating televisual guidance and visual as well as inertial target location. | The first damper fields are introduced, enabling limited neutralization of incoming nuclear warheads. The fusion Y gun is introduced in the direct fire role, with the light plasma B gun taking over point defense. Gravitic compensators enable the heaviest fusion guns to fire on the move, and long-range direct fire by fusion guns executing popup maneuvers becomes standard. |
The first damper fields allow protracted storage and transportation of elements
with short half-lives. The first major use of the damper field militarily is to enable the manufacture, storage, and transportation of 2 cm californium rounds, fired from auto-cannon
mounts in remotely piloted drones. Each round is hollow and collapses on impact, the collapsed
round having sufficient mass to go critical, thus causing a small nuclear explosion. More
conventional gunships mount plasma C guns or fusion X guns along with missiles. |
| 14 | A higher proportion of the infantry is equipped with battle dress, and the standard small arm for such troops becomes the PGMP-13. | At the squad level the PGMP-14 replaces the PGMP-12, while battle dress equipped units receive the FGMP-14 in place of the PGMP-13. | Much more sophisticated dampers enable virtually complete protection of
operational areas from nuclear warheads. The fusion Z gun is introduced in the direct fire role. | More sophisticated damper fields render the californium drones obsolete.
Gunships now carry fusion Y guns or rapid pulse X guns. |
| 15 | Most infantry is by now equipped with battle dress and has converted to the
FGMP-14. The gauss rifle remains the standard arm of non-powered troops. | The FGMP-15 becomes the standard squad support weapon. | The primary direct fire weapon becomes the battlefield meson accelerator.
Although much smaller than meson accelerators used in planetary defense, it is still by battlefield
standards large, bulky, and extremely lethal. By now, the standard point defense and direct support weapon becomes the fusion Y gun. Drone missiles enjoy an increase in use as the
appearance of meson accelerators linked to an increasingly sophisticated computer target acquisition and fire direction system makes the long-range popup increasingly impractical | Gunships mounting rapid pulse X guns and heavier Z guns are virtually indistinguishable
from orbital craft. Lower performance personnel carriers mount rapid pulse X
and Y guns and missile systems. |
