blogombal Chapter 257 Super Heavy Tank
Chapter 257 Super Heavy Tank
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After the transport plane took off, things didn't stop in Lorraine either.
Xu Ling and Bai Jin boarded a helicopter together and arrived at the 2001 frigate, which had completed its independent repairs. They were preparing to take the frigate directly to the large biological resource preservation center near Kauna City.
Meanwhile, Lorraine and Ouyang Nian were busy researching new equipment.
After the two arrived at the design studio, Lorraine showed Ouyang Nian all the kill rewards she had obtained.
Then, Lorraine pointed to the blueprints for the production of the miniature anti-gravity unit and the high-strength ceramic steel in the special rewards and said:
"Our armored vehicles can be upgraded now. According to the data of Tao Gang in the production blueprint, the reinforced super-heavy tanks can also withstand the fire of small war behemoths."
"Indeed, rather than letting the Platinum Control Mech dance on the edge of a knife, it's better to crush it with a massive torrent of steel."
After all, Lorraine and his group possessed nano-cores with incredible capabilities, enabling them to achieve a 99% reuse rate in the recycling and reuse of scrapped vehicles.
Next, Lorraine accessed the Level 6 database and the Spaceship Basic Technology Package, and began searching for technologies suitable for manufacturing super-heavy armored vehicles.
After Platinum initiated the ascent procedure for the biological resource storage facility through Cleveland, the two returned to the escort ship hovering above Kanna City.
When Bai Jin contacted Lorraine through the communication system, Lorraine and Ouyang Nian were already immersed in the brand-new database.
The phone rang and rang until Cleveland finally answered the call.
After the communication was established, Cleveland appeared in the frigate's cockpit, shrugging helplessly as she spoke.
"The Commander and Miss Ouyang Nian are in the design studio; they're already immersed in the database."
"Alright."
Faced with this situation, Platinum didn't know what else to say, and instead asked Cleveland about the follow-up arrangements.
"The commander has ordered you to remain here for a while, monitor the surrounding area, and wait for the assault ship to be completed."
"Understood."
The Cleveland projection nodded slightly, then hung up the communication and left.
Inside the driver's cab, Luo Lin and Ouyang Nian had a conflict of opinion.
Lorraine believes that the original design purpose of this super-heavy main battle tank was to attract the attention of the enemy's small war behemoths and use artillery to pick them off one by one. Its design principle should follow the single-turret design of modern main battle tanks.
Ouyang Nian, however, had a different opinion.
"Several small war behemoths can appear on the battlefield at once. According to the single-turret design and the caliber of the cannons equipped, a platoon of four super-heavy tanks only needs 3 to 4 salvos to kill a small war behemoth."
"Then, the minimum dimensions of this super-heavy main battle tank are a steel behemoth that is 10 meters long, 3 meters high, and 3 meters wide."
"With the addition of miniature anti-gravity units and miniature nuclear fusion reactors, this super-heavy main battle tank could have a combat weight exceeding 200 tons. Why not turn it into a battlefield fortress with a super-powerful main gun?"
Seeing that Lorraine was about to explain, Ouyang Nian cut her off with a single sentence.
"As you said before, this is no longer a modern battlefield. We are facing an endless number of enemy conventional individuals and extremely powerful enemy elites."
"And I'm not advocating for a multi-turret cult."
Ouyang Nian noticed that Luo Lin visibly relaxed after she said that. Then, she became furious and glared at Luo Lin fiercely.
"I'm not one of those old fogies from the Knights Alliance's predecessor. I've been reading a lot of war-related books lately, so please don't think of me as an idiot, okay?"
Lorraine waved his hand awkwardly with a laugh, after all, the original water tank was indeed too abstract.
The two then began to focus on discussing the tank's configuration.
The first thing to be determined was the vehicle's weapon system.
The vehicle's main gun is a composite electromagnetic cannon of the same type as the secondary guns of warships, except that its caliber has been reduced to 180 mm.
The secondary weapons and coaxial machine guns that were originally on the turret were all removed.
Meanwhile, to ensure defensive capabilities, the top of the semi-circular turret was not fitted with any hatches, ensuring its smooth surface could deflect all incoming shells.
Since this super-heavy tank is still an unmanned combat vehicle, Ouyang Nian left space for the installation of front-firing weapons under the wedge-shaped armor at the front of the vehicle.
Given the large variety of weapons available, Platinum selected a few of the more practical ones and submitted them to Lorraine.
Finally, this super-heavy tank has two configuration options for its front-firing weapon.
The first option is a 50mm rapid-fire electromagnetic railgun combined with a heavy-duty flamethrower. This approach is effective at both close and long ranges, but its ability to deal with silicon-based organisms is slightly inferior.
The second option is an 80mm mortar plus a breaching shovel. This design does not prioritize long-range firepower but rather enhances close-range breaching capabilities.
When the topic turned to the power system, their differences resurfaced.
Because the vehicle was equipped with a miniature anti-gravity unit to reduce its weight, the two designers ended up designing two different power systems.
Ouyang Nian wanted to improve the mobility of this super-heavy tank, so she equipped it with four independent tracks, which were installed on the front left, rear left, front right, and rear right sides of the vehicle.
Lorraine, on the other hand, chose to stick to one path to the end. He opted to adopt the track structure of the original Water Tank, with two thick tracks that were the same height and length as the vehicle body, but the drive structure was completely encased in thick ceramic steel armor.
Lorraine pointed to her own design and spoke first.
"Since its positioning is a mobile battlefield fortress, then let's maximize its survivability."
"Moreover, this structure leaves some extra space in the middle, which can be used to install a retractable quad rocket launcher under the armor."
Upon hearing this, Ouyang Nian looked at his own design, then at Lorraine's design, pondered for a moment, and then asked about his concerns.
"How will these armored vehicles be transported to the front lines?"
Lorraine retrieved the user manuals for these miniature anti-gravity units from Cleveland's database.
"First, four miniature anti-gravity units can form an array and work together to increase the efficiency of a single unit by at least 50%."
"A 30-meter-long and 20-meter-wide near-ground transport ship can complete a transport mission of 4 super-heavy tanks in one go."
"Secondly, the power system I designed has a huge redundancy. This power system can directly propel an unweighted super-heavy tank at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour."
"With reduced weight, this super-heavy tank can maintain an off-road speed of 60 km/h and a paved road speed of 80 km/h."
"ah!?"
Seeing Ouyang Nian's somewhat dazed expression, Luo Lin spoke earnestly.
"War machines need to have sufficient redundancy! You have to consider the movement of main battle tanks after the main power system shuts down."
Ouyang Nian scratched his head.
As a beginner, her problem-solving skills were indeed somewhat lacking.
Next is the energy system.
Although the energy system had the least room for adjustment, it was the last one to be determined. The conventional model of the super-heavy tank's entire power system consists of a micro nuclear fusion reactor and two pure hydrogen gas turbines.
Of the total power generated by the miniature nuclear fusion reactor, 70% will be supplied to the miniature anti-gravity unit, while the remaining 30% will be supplied to various devices on the vehicle.
The other two pure hydrogen gas turbines will supply 50% of their power output to the power system, while the other 50% will be converted into electricity to power the super-heavy tank's weapon systems.
The core of the vehicle—the micro anti-gravity unit—is located in the middle of the vehicle body and is encased in thick ceramic steel armor, with only a few holes left for the energy lines to pass through.
However, the installation locations of the entire energy system are extremely dispersed. The most important nuclear fusion reactor is installed in the middle and rear of the vehicle, hidden between two water-filled explosion-proof ammunition depots.
The two pure hydrogen gas turbines are located in the front center of the vehicle, directly below the gun barrel armor.
After the three core systems were designed, Cleveland began his integration work.
After waiting for 15 minutes, a slightly low-profile main battle tank appeared in front of Lorraine and Ouyang Nian.
At this point, the main battle tank was 10.8 meters long, 3.97 meters wide, and 3.69 meters high, with a combat weight of only 180 tons when fully loaded.
The entire vehicle's exterior surface is also covered with a layer of passive electromagnetic armor, serving as the vehicle's first line of defense.
As the core of the all-situational awareness capability, the radar system is cleverly located inside the turret and equipped with independent shock absorption devices to prevent the radar system from stopping due to turret vibration.
Once the integration of this super-heavy tank was completed, its production plan was sent to the shipyard in Jask port where it had been modified.
The two nanocores have started operating at full power, and the design work for the tank is expected to be completed in three hours.
The next challenge for Lorraine and Ouyang Nian is to solve the problems of transportation and ammunition.
Cleveland's calculations revealed that existing armor-piercing high-explosive shells are not efficient enough in penetrating armor, resulting in a significant waste of energy.
Since neither of them had much experience with shell configurations, they had to dig out documents from the database and start learning on the spot.
When the first super-heavy tank was built, Lorraine and Ouyang Nian had just completed the initial design of an improved armor-piercing high-explosive shell.
Relying on the rich technical data in the database and Cleveland's powerful computing capabilities, the two, who had not systematically studied the subject, managed to create an even more powerful armor-piercing high-explosive bomb through exhaustive search.
As for why not directly use the technology stored in the database?
Of course, it's because they simply don't have much time to improve their existing production lines, and their current nano-core production capacity is limited and mostly used for time-consuming tasks like shipbuilding and car manufacturing.
Just as the two were about to breathe a sigh of relief, a communication request came from the Hongfeng Island base across the sea.
The two subconsciously looked up at their watches and realized that 12 hours had passed since the shipbuilding task was assigned.
"They're really going all out!"
Lorraine sighed softly, after all, 12 consecutive hours of mental work had already made the two of them, who had been enhanced by the drug, feel tired.
After the communication was connected, Lorraine saw 12 designers who were excited but yawning incessantly.
"The entire design plan has been loaded into that mobile server. Now all of you go and rest. We'll meet back in the conference room at 7:45 a.m., six hours later."
"Yaoguang, make sure they get some rest."
Lorraine then promptly hung up the call.
"These designers have a problem; they can't resist advanced technologies and requirements."
"Their bodies have just recovered, and they've only undergone basic enhancements, yet they dare to push themselves to the limit like this."
As he spoke, Lorraine let out a long sigh, but there was nothing he could do.
After all, he had learned from historical records that the impoverished Great Yan Dynasty was built up by these selfless researchers and soldiers.
After a sigh, Luo Lin and Ouyang Nian went straight to the restaurant and finished the white porridge and pickled vegetables that Lin Shu had left in the insulated box.
"Good night."
"Good night."
"Cleveland, wake me up at 7 a.m. tomorrow."
"Yes, Commander."
Lorraine then fell into a deep sleep, only to be awakened by Cleveland the next morning.
The first thing he did upon waking up was to turn his head and look out the window.
"The rain shows no signs of letting up."
"Commander, the hourly rainfall has reached 20 milliliters and is gradually increasing."
Looking at the leaden-gray sky through the holographic system, Lorraine sighed.
"Operating in this kind of weather does make it easier to be detected, but it also greatly increases the difficulty of reconnaissance."
After washing up, he first swayed around in the driver's seat. At this time, Xu Ling was already dressed and waiting at her post to start her shift.
Lorraine then returned to the design studio and began reviewing the assault ship blueprints that had been delivered overnight.
"Breakfast is here."
Ouyang Nian's voice came from outside the door, followed by a wooden dining table extending from the wall to the side.
After connecting with Platinum, the three of them looked through the blueprints while waiting for the scheduled communication time to arrive.
At 7:45 a.m., the communication from Hongfeng Island arrived on time.
After the communication was connected, Lorraine and the others saw a group of people sitting neatly on one side of the conference room.
After a night's rest, everyone was in good spirits, without the previous excitement or fatigue. However, everyone had noticeable dark circles under their eyes.
Good morning, it seems you all had a good rest yesterday.
Seeing the eager expressions on everyone's faces, Lorraine stopped the pleasantries and got straight to the point with a serious expression.
"Let's begin, everyone."
Huang Zhihui, the chief designer, was the first to stand up, adjusted the screen, and then began his report.
"Commander, this is our design proposal."
"As per your request, we have focused on enhancing its mobility, equipping it with a high-thrust plasma thruster, four auxiliary thrusters, and 16 steering nozzles."
"In terms of weaponry, only one land attack system and eight point defense systems were retained, four of which were located on the lower part of the hull and could perform land attack missions."
"Among them, the ground attack system consists of one 130 mm electromagnetic gun and two 80 mm electromagnetic guns."
"For radar concealment, a stealth coating plus an active radar stealth system is used; for visibility, a combination of low-visibility coating and optical stealth system is adopted."
"The defense system uses high-strength ceramic steel as the framework of the armor layer, as well as the inner and middle layers of armor. The outermost layer is equipped with mirror reflective armor and passive electromagnetic armor. The entire ship can withstand four bombardments from a small silicon-based behemoth."