From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 396 Amber's Battering Ram
"So how many rounds did you fire at this thing at the test range?"

"We fired about 120 rounds within 700 kilometers. We didn't try anything farther than that. The space provided by the Yuge family was only enough for this distance test."

Hearing Amber's question, Oans, who arrived at the front line along with the batch of experimental equipment, spoke up and said that as the deputy director of the equipment research and development center, this E-2 heavy vehicle-mounted self-propelled electromagnetic gun was one of the products he led the research and development of.

300mm track inner diameter, attack, ultra-long distance, ultra-high initial velocity, continuous fire projection, low cost of ammunition
These are the key words for this vehicle-mounted self-propelled electromagnetic gun, which is internally codenamed "Amber's Battering Ram" at the Equipment Research and Development Center.

"120 kilometers. Then the attack distance this time is 180 kilometers. Does that mean they haven't used live ammunition yet?"

Amber asked curiously as he walked towards the five-axle special vehicle equipped with a huge cannon. When he walked around the huge front of the vehicle that blocked his view, he saw that this relatively open area was distributed with 24 of these vehicle-mounted self-propelled electromagnetic guns and the same number of ammunition supply vehicles.

According to the current preliminary organization, this is roughly the size of the self-propelled electromagnetic gun battalion under the future Atlas Ground Forces Artillery Brigade.

As for the command vehicle, reconnaissance vehicle, medical vehicle, support vehicle and other vehicles belonging to the self-propelled electromagnetic gun battalion, they are now mostly staying in a hidden spot 3 kilometers away.

"We have conducted simulation experiments in the 'virtual space' of the data center, and the data has basically achieved 99% simulation. The experimental results are not bad. We estimate that the results of this live-fire test will not be much worse."

Oans said with a smile, and followed Amber's footsteps forward.

As the deputy director of the equipment research and development center, he did not need to go to the front line. This time, he applied to go to the front line on his own and personally directed the actual combat test of this new equipment.

From a mental point of view, it is almost like an old father sending his child to take an exam.

Looking at the vehicle-mounted self-propelled electromagnetic cannons scattered across the open ground, a proud smile appeared on his face beneath his tactical visor.

"Boss, 180 kilometers is not the maximum distance. This is just the distance the shell can be fired without additional boost. If the amount of warhead charge is reduced and the freed weight is used to install rocket engines and gliding kits, the maximum distance calculated by laboratory simulation is 450 kilometers."

"How many?"

Amber stopped and turned to look at Ornes, with a hint of surprise in her tone.

"450 kilometers, Boss, but the warhead charge will be much smaller, probably only 200 kilograms of TNT equivalent, because we designed this thing to go out of the atmosphere and enter a ballistic section."

"Wait, are you making cannons or missiles?" Amber was really surprised at this time.

"Hahaha, we didn't expect to come up with this data at first. Later, after using the energy management technology of the Forerunner, we found that the upper limit of the output voltage has also become higher, so we simply increased the range to the maximum."

At this point, Oans couldn't help but secretly marvel at the power of his boss, who could even get hold of the Forerunner technology.

Amber listened to what Ornes said, and then looked at the "truck guns" around him and shook his head with emotion. This was the first time he heard the limit data of these things around him.

He originally thought that this self-propelled electromagnetic gun could only fire at a range of more than 200 kilometers at most, and could be used flexibly with self-propelled rocket launchers. Atlas' future artillery combined brigade plan is 3 self-propelled electromagnetic gun battalions + 2 self-propelled rocket launcher battalions, plus other support units.
But he never expected that Owens and his team had managed to develop a self-propelled electromagnetic gun with a maximum range of 450 kilometers.

Then, he suddenly realized what Ornes had just said about the power of the extended-range warhead.

"No. After the extended range, the warhead still has a power of 200 kilograms of TNT equivalent?"

"That's right, Boss." The smile on Ornes' face became more smug.

"What if the range is not increased? What about the ammunition that will be fired later?"

"If the range is not increased, the weight of a normal high-explosive shell is close to 300 kilograms of TNT. If it is a semi-armor-piercing shell or a heavy assault shell, it will be reduced to less than 220 kilograms of TNT."

"What about the firing rate?"

"The normal rate is 12.5 seconds per round, but in an emergency it can be reduced to 10 seconds per round."

"How heavy is this thing?"

"The five-axle special vehicle weighs 25 tons, and with the gun it weighs 58 tons."

"My goodness, your weight control is incredible."

"Hahaha, I took traffic capacity into consideration, so I tried every possible way to reduce weight~"

"."

Listening to Ornes' words and looking at the heavy vehicle-mounted self-propelled electromagnetic gun developed by the equipment research and development center next to her, Amber suddenly felt that the creativity of her men was quite impressive.

It was originally used to practice the pioneer's energy control technology and accumulate technology for the "electromagnetic gunization" of all future self-propelled artillery.

After all, the performance of the electrothermal chemical gun has been exploited to its limit, and after solving the most critical energy supply problem, the remaining advantages of the electromagnetic gun can almost perfectly replace the old electrothermal chemical gun. As a result, who would have thought that Owens and his team would actually come up with a long-range strike unit with a high tactical value.

It should be noted that the long-range fire support units currently equipped by the Atlas ground forces, in addition to the 155 self-propelled artillery, are second-hand self-propelled rocket launchers captured from the Federation and the Empire.

Even with the largest 720mm caliber guided rocket, the range is at most 700 kilometers. To be honest, this thing is basically equivalent to a small tactical missile. A standard launch box can only hold two rockets - the Imperial version is slightly better and can hold three rockets.

Although the power is indeed huge, it is somewhat inconsistent with the rocket launcher's most unique short-term fire coverage capability. Moreover, for battlefield environments such as urban sieges where a large number of civilians may be present, this large-caliber rocket is obviously not suitable.

Of course, the most important thing is that this thing is not for sale. The small amount of ammunition that Atlas currently has is captured on the battlefield. At the same time, the use value of 720mm rockets in peacetime is too low. Even the ground forces of the Federation and the Empire rarely have them, so it is basically equivalent to one less round fired - the oversized projectile is also easily intercepted by directed energy air defense weapons.
Even for the more common 300mm and 280mm rockets, although the number and cost have been reduced a lot, it is still a crazy waste of money to fire them in salvos.

Amber originally thought that it was already the age of the universe, and the rockets couldn't possibly be that expensive for me, right?

But the cruel reality told him: "Sorry, this thing is still expensive."

Even the most common plasma rocket, plasma warhead + high-performance rocket engine + high-precision integrated guidance unit + lightweight materials, when these things are added together, the rocket has nothing to do with the word "cheap".

Industrial production activities in the real world are not like those in SLG games where you can just click on technology points and start using them directly. There are many aspects that need to be considered.

In particular, if Atlas wants to fully realize "self-supply" of weapons, equipment, ammunition and other materials in the future, it must have its own set of industrial standards, and this thing requires a long period of accumulation in practice.

According to calculations by professionals, even if Atlas is able to produce on its own in the future, the cost will not be very low unless the output is huge.

After all, the production of rockets requires a complete set of assembly lines, and the production lines for rockets of different calibers and models are different. Even if a universal assembly line can be developed, only rockets of a certain caliber and model can be produced at the same time.

At the same time, the rate at which rockets are consumed in combat is much greater than their production rate. After a production line has been working hard for half a day, it may only be able to produce a base amount that can be fired by several self-propelled rocket artillery battalions.

As a result, although Atlas has become a large and powerful company with some fame, it is still not enough in terms of hard power compared to the two giants, the Federation and the Star Dragon Empire.

In this context, even if Atlas has abundant funds now, it is not rich enough to use rockets as water.

Moreover, the scenarios that require large-scale firepower coverage are not so common after all. In most cases, strikes are directed at the enemy's key targets, joints and other locations.

Therefore, a long-range support weapon that can "replace" the self-propelled rocket launcher has become an urgently needed equipment for the current ground forces.

Finally, the E-2 heavy vehicle-mounted self-propelled electromagnetic gun came into being
In the vision of Amber and the Equipment Research and Development Center, the firepower battalion under the future heavy combined brigade will only be equipped with 155 self-propelled artillery or self-propelled electromagnetic guns, and will be mainly responsible for fire support within the combat range of the combined brigade.

The artillery combined brigade under the group army will concentrate the use of vehicle-mounted self-propelled electromagnetic guns and self-propelled rocket launchers to provide long-range fire support for the entire attack surface of the group army.

This is also a compromise when there are insufficient troops - using a limited number of elite troops to control as many areas as possible and form a certain tactical depth.

Just like now, Amber and the self-propelled electromagnetic gun battalion are staying at the preset position 175 kilometers away from the attack target in a straight line. After handing over the refugee camp to the management of the hive core and subsequent new troops, the two reorganized synthetic brigades have reached the offensive position 160 kilometers away.

What? You said orbital strike support?

Atlas has indeed now fully mastered this technology, but neither Amber nor Cliffs dare to guarantee that in future battles the fleet will be able to gain control of the sky and carry out orbital strike support with ease.

What if we get into a stalemate with the enemy fleet and have no chance to provide support?
Therefore, ground forces must first adapt to fighting without orbital strike support, and must not develop the bad habit of calling for orbital strikes when encountering problems - it is also costly for warships to descend to perform orbital strikes, and there are also various risks.
The target of this Atlas ground force attack was a large automated food processing plant, or rather a large automated food processing city.

In this food factory cluster, which has reached the size of a small city, there are a large number of food processing factories including staple foods, meat, canned foods, fast foods, beverages, and drinking water, as well as residential areas built around these factories.

According to the intelligence obtained by Amber, this place provided nearly 20% of the food, drinking water and other supplies produced on Pella IV in peacetime.

Therefore, when the Federation launched an attack on Pella IV, this place was also one of the key targets of attack.

However, the imperial defenders also realized this, and had already stockpiled a large amount of ammunition, supplies, and raw materials needed for production here before the attack began. At the same time, they completely "fortified" this place through a large number of permanent and semi-permanent fortifications.

The result was that the federal offensive force suffered a major defeat here despite the support of orbital attacks, and the orbital paratroopers who airdropped into the city were completely wiped out.

According to the intelligence from the reconnaissance troops, the number of remaining imperial troops may have exceeded the original three brigade-level combat teams, and after taking in a large number of stragglers, it has reached a size close to five brigades.

The reason why Atlas chose this place to attack is very simple. Firstly, this is the nearest large-scale food processing base. If it is taken over, it can greatly alleviate the shortage of food and other supplies.

At the same time, according to the refugees who escaped from here, order has been completely lost in the food processing city, and the remnants of the empire have been maintaining "temporary martial law" by force.

It is called "martial law", but in fact it is treating other civilians and prisoners as slaves.
Therefore, if we can take this place and liberate the oppressed refugees, it will be very helpful for Atlas's work of "boosting reputation".

(End of this chapter)