Sturgeon

Comrade Onokoy is going to publish his article about Zlobin's AK-12

 
 

Greeble get!

Greeble get!

Promo shot from the recent ergonomics testing.

Comanche is close to being finished:


 
62.6 s.tons so far.

Comanche is close to being finished:


 
62.6 s.tons so far.

I happen to know the man personally. He's a consultant, so in that sense yes he "works" for the companies. What he does not do is actually work on these projects, he's closer to an influencer.

I would, hmmm, treat Drummond a bit like one treats a fortune from a trailer park psychic. Maybe there's something there, if you do enough interpreting but, chances are...

NASA announced Wednesday that it will send, not one, but two spacecraft to Venus this decade as part of its efforts to ramp up exploration of the closest planet to Earth.
The decision was hailed by scientists who study Venus and have felt neglected by a space agency decidedly more interested in Mars. NASA has not sent a robotic spacecraft to Venus since the launch of the Magellan orbiter in 1989. Launched by space shuttle Atlantis, Magellan made a controlled entry into the Venusian atmosphere in 1994 after collecting reams of data that have tantalized scientists ever since."

Huh, when you own a website and are an administrator on the forum that you establish you can do anything you want

who knew? fucking sorcery

Here's the cupola I designed years ago for Baberams/Caracal. It's reverse-engineered from an Abrams cupola, and more or less captures the spirit of the thing, @Lord_James

After finishing up on Derebus, the good folk at Para-allful Conglomerated decided to make a simplified model for the more down-scale customer:

The Derebus-M uses the 4" 40 cal low-pressure gun in an all-new turret. This, along with removing some of the nice-to-haves such as the coincidence rangefinder, complex fire control system and composite internal armour panels, allows the Derebus-M to be made cheaper, simpler and a bit lighter.

Who cares. This whole endeavor is stupid. A belt fed machine gun set up as a GPMG but which can't sustain fire as one? It's ridiculous.

All these "assault" belt feds are a bit of a joke. I am glad they're trying, at least.

*whelmed noises*

HOLOCAUST DENIER REMOVED!

Have you read the paper I co-wrote on the subject? http://armamentresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ARES-Research-Report-No.-7-Cased-Telescoped-Ammunition.pdf

The propellant in Textron's CT ammunition is heavily compressed, and as far as I know that's how they achieve consistent seating. According to Kori Phillips (you can read my interviews with her here, here, and here) their ammunition is somewhat more accurate than regular Army ammunition so it seems to work ok.

Textron's design uses a rising chamber. You can see a reasonable approximation of how it may work here: 
 This is partially based on the ARES design, to which it is related.

You can see how the machine gun works here:
 
 

I am going to be introducing a new recommended weight accounting method to help standardize results between contestants, and to better prepare them for the judges' ire. This method is not mandatory, however it is strongly recommended, as it is expected to be the method by which the judges weigh (literally) each entrant against each other.

First, we are requiring in addition to the standard elements included on the submission sheet, that you include the armor mass of your tank in your submission. The armor mass includes any armor elements of your tank, including in addition to armor arrays, also structural elements like a cast or welded hull body, skirts, armored engine decks, hatches, etc.

Next, to calculate the combat weight of your tank (as outlined in the submission template), you take the armor mass of your tank, and multiply it by 0.45 to get the mass of suspension components for your tank (this includes tracks, roadwheels, sprockets, swing arms, idler tensioners, return rollers, etc). The reason for doing this is that as suspended mass increases, the mass of the suspension must increase also, meaning that in successful tank designs this ratio of about 0.45 stays remarkably constant (as detailed in Technology of Tanks). Then, add the armor mass and the suspension mass together with these figures:

Gun weight: (variable)
Ammunition weight: (variable)
Ammunition racks weight: (variable, but in the absence of a modeled weight for them, 1,700 lbs is a fine figure)
Gun stabilization system and gun electrics: 1,700 lbs for a ~4.7 inch gun (cubic scaling according to caliber, with minimum of 1,000 lbs)
Engine weight: (variable)
Transmission weight: (variable)
Fuel weight: (variable, but if you haven't modeled it for your tank, then use the value required to meet the range requirement)
Fuel system weight: 750 lbs
Electrical and environmental systems (combined): 3,500 lbs
Optics, sighting: 300-500 lbs (depending on complexity)
Fitments, stowage, and installed equipment: 7,500 lbs
Any other objects you've modeled, like cupolas etc: (variable)
Crew: 265 lbs per crewman
 
This means that if I have modeled a tank's armor, which weighs 18 tons for the hull and 12 tons for the turret (including arrays, engine deck, armored hatches, etc), my math will look like this:
18 + 12 = 30 tons hull (incl. skirts) and turret
30 x 0.45 = 13.5 tons suspension
13.5 + 30 = 43.5 tons hull, turret, and suspension
43.5 * 2,205 = 95917.5 lbs hull, turret, and suspension
95917.5 +
5300 lbs gun
2,650 lbs ammunition
1,700 lbs ammo racks
2,000 lbs gun stabilization and electrics
4,950 lbs engine
5,400 lbs transmission and final drives
3,660 lbs fuel
750 lbs fuel system
3,500 lbs electrical and environmental
500 lbs optics
7,500 lbs fitments, etc
265 lbs * 4 crew
=
134887.5 lbs combat weight for the tank, or 61.2 metric tons.
 

I am going to be introducing a new recommended weight accounting method to help standardize results between contestants, and to better prepare them for the judges' ire. This method is not mandatory, however it is strongly recommended, as it is expected to be the method by which the judges weigh (literally) each entrant against each other.

First, we are requiring in addition to the standard elements included on the submission sheet, that you include the armor mass of your tank in your submission. The armor mass includes any armor elements of your tank, including in addition to armor arrays, also structural elements like a cast or welded hull body, skirts, armored engine decks, hatches, etc.

Next, to calculate the combat weight of your tank (as outlined in the submission template), you take the armor mass of your tank, and multiply it by 0.45 to get the mass of suspension components for your tank (this includes tracks, roadwheels, sprockets, swing arms, idler tensioners, return rollers, etc). The reason for doing this is that as suspended mass increases, the mass of the suspension must increase also, meaning that in successful tank designs this ratio of about 0.45 stays remarkably constant (as detailed in Technology of Tanks). Then, add the armor mass and the suspension mass together with these figures:

Gun weight: (variable)
Ammunition weight: (variable)
Ammunition racks weight: (variable, but in the absence of a modeled weight for them, 1,700 lbs is a fine figure)
Gun stabilization system and gun electrics: 1,700 lbs for a ~4.7 inch gun (cubic scaling according to caliber, with minimum of 1,000 lbs)
Engine weight: (variable)
Transmission weight: (variable)
Fuel weight: (variable, but if you haven't modeled it for your tank, then use the value required to meet the range requirement)
Fuel system weight: 750 lbs
Electrical and environmental systems (combined): 3,500 lbs
Optics, sighting: 300-500 lbs (depending on complexity)
Fitments, stowage, and installed equipment: 7,500 lbs
Any other objects you've modeled, like cupolas etc: (variable)
Crew: 265 lbs per crewman
 
This means that if I have modeled a tank's armor, which weighs 18 tons for the hull and 12 tons for the turret (including arrays, engine deck, armored hatches, etc), my math will look like this:
18 + 12 = 30 tons hull (incl. skirts) and turret
30 x 0.45 = 13.5 tons suspension
13.5 + 30 = 43.5 tons hull, turret, and suspension
43.5 * 2,205 = 95917.5 lbs hull, turret, and suspension
95917.5 +
5300 lbs gun
2,650 lbs ammunition
1,700 lbs ammo racks
2,000 lbs gun stabilization and electrics
4,950 lbs engine
5,400 lbs transmission and final drives
3,660 lbs fuel
750 lbs fuel system
3,500 lbs electrical and environmental
500 lbs optics
7,500 lbs fitments, etc
265 lbs * 4 crew
=
134887.5 lbs combat weight for the tank, or 61.2 metric tons.
 

Well, judging by AK-12, Kalashnikov concern isn't far behind them, 

Hello everyone!
 
I'd like you all to formally meet the FV601 Cossack, here in it's three configurations (from left to right): Heavy Armour, base configuration and FIBUA add-on kit.
 

As those of you on the Discord may know, I'm basically redesigning my entire tank (yes, really). Starting with the gun, which was far too large. Here's the new gun, which you're all free to use:

https://mega.nz/file/71tgEJzZ#DhZ3JCiHIaUy60hBch2rtBNt_6X3VzVjMmygTn4gqzk


 
So much room!