The Emperor’s Angel of Death

"Actually, from a purely tactical point of view, I quite like this type of tank."

Perhaps to ease the atmosphere, Arash also spoke.

"The Brutal Blade itself is a very good tank. The 520 Project, which largely inherits its hull structure, will naturally not be bad either. Moreover, the lower body gives it a smaller target profile. Without so many secondary weapons, especially the front armor, it looks more solid than the Leman Russ. In the past, the most common part of the Leman Russ to be penetrated was the secondary gun on the front of its hull. However, the integrated cast turret, regardless of its defensive capabilities, although conducive to manufacturing, still has obvious shortcomings. The Brutal Blade had similar shortcomings in the past, that is, once the turret is damaged, even if it is not penetrated, it can only be replaced as a whole. The welded turret of the Leman Russ only needs to have the damaged armor plate replaced. It can only be said that there are advantages and disadvantages, but the speed of the 520 Project is indeed impressive."

As he spoke, Arash looked at the flexible screen.

"Its normal speed is already about the same as the maximum speed of the Leman Russ after adjusting the engine speed. This weight reduction is very successful. I believe what you said, it is a balanced combination of mobility, protection, and firepower."

"However, the Leman Russ is outstanding not only because of its simple manufacturing."

Mark also made his statement at this time.

"Another significant advantage of the Leman Russ is its modular design, which allows it to be easily modified for different purposes according to needs. This is why the Leman Russ has so many derivative models."

Bangula immediately changed the picture on the flexible screen, and then some armors with unique shapes appeared one after another.

"The design team also considered this issue, so the 520 Project also adopted a modular structure. It can be turned into a fire support vehicle by installing a 28-tube Judge multi-barreled rocket launcher, or the turret can be replaced with an unmanned turret with a double-barreled automatic gun, and two sets of Whirlwind multi-missile launchers can be installed on both sides of the turret to become a fire support vehicle. The existing turret can also be replaced with a plasma turret, and the rotary loading machine at the bottom of the vehicle can be replaced with an energy regulator of the same size, or even the weapon can be removed and a large mechanical auxiliary arm can be installed to become a front-line armored repair vehicle."

"This sounds like a very complex project."

"First Company Commander, although the Leman Russ is said to be a modular design, its many variants are not simply replacing the turret. For example, the Leman Russ Executioner requires modifications no less than redesigning and manufacturing a new tank. The complex plasma turret alone limits its production location, not to mention the chemical coolant storage tank installed at the rear of the vehicle, and the Leman Russ Eradicator, which needs to be changed from manual ammunition supply to automatic ammunition supply. The internal structure of the vehicle, including the fire control system, also needs major changes. In fact, there is no such thing as modularity that can complete the change of purpose by simply replacing a few parts, at least not in the Empire yet."

"I don't think it makes much sense to just talk about these things. It's better to let it move around in the field and fire a few shots. Maybe we can understand it more thoroughly."

Ninth Company Commander Texel's words were immediately recognized by everyone. Bangula also said frankly that he had already prepared test projects and venues, so everyone rushed to the surface test site excitedly.

Soon, in the dazzling sunlight, a brand new 520 Project began to gallop on the yellow sand of the test site, while the people in the observation tower watched with relish, and even Kayan came to join in the fun.

The speed of this tank is indeed amazing. It runs as if it is flying on the ground, and its obstacle crossing performance and climbing performance are not weak, and it can also ford. Basically, it can go anywhere the Leman Russ can go, and the reliability of its suspension and power system is no worse than the Leman Russ.

After that, it also performed shooting. It hit ten out of ten moving targets at different distances, and when it started moving and shooting, it could also achieve a very high hit rate, showing a high level of fire control and stability.

At the same time, the 520 Project's acceleration cannon also demonstrated excellent performance. When using the same armor-piercing projectile, its ability to penetrate armored targets is much stronger than the Leman Russ' combat cannon, and it can already threaten super-heavy armor such as the Venom Blade and Knight mechs, although this process may require certain skills.

The final test was the protection test. Twenty turrets were installed separately on a platform, half of which were 520 Project turrets and half of which were Leman Russ turrets. Then, starting from automatic cannons, all kinds of medium and large caliber guns were fired one by one, all the way to laser cannons and combat cannons.

The result was that there was basically no possibility of penetration by medium-caliber artillery. Large-caliber artillery such as combat cannons had almost the same probability of penetrating the front of these two types of turrets, and the 520 Project was even slightly better. The overall integrity of the turret was stronger, and the defensive capabilities of the sides and even the rear of the turret were much stronger than those of the Leman Russ turret. Obviously, Ulan Huda had indeed put a lot of effort into smelting technology and integrated casting.

As for the defense of the vehicle body, the same test was also done, and the result was surprising. The defensive capability of the Leman Russ vehicle body was far lower than that of the 520 Project. The key was the weak defensive points formed by the "extra accessories" on the front armor of the Leman Russ, while the 520 Project inherited the front structure of the Brutal Blade and optimized it, giving the two a qualitative difference under the premise of the same armor alloy thickness.

Of course, both would have the same result under destructive attacks such as plasma cannons or melta cannons.

But this was enough to convince all the Space Marines present.

They were all soldiers, they had a deep enough understanding of weapons, and they were not bound by the dogmas of the Mechanicum, so the result was self-evident.

Soon, three Tech-Priests were brought to a group of Astartes. The trio consisted of two men and one woman. None of them had very excessive mechanical modifications, that is, they had added some mechanical arms or secondary limbs, and from their pale faces, it could be seen that they were not very old, and looked like they were in their thirties or forties.

"Chapter Master, these three are I. Balam, Kurodin, and Alexandrovich. It was these three who led their team to create the 520 Project."

Facing the huge Space Marines, the three Tech-Priests seemed a little nervous, all with their faces tense. Sorshayan then said in a deep voice:

"Salute to the great creators of science!"

The other Space Marines also spoke in unison.

Salute to the great creators of science!

This made the three people even more nervous and at a loss. The lady said stutteringly:

"We... we just borrowed a combination and a little bit of new ideas, not invention and creation..."