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Sturgeon's House

T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD

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  1. Tank You
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to Sturgeon in Competition Suggestions   
    Next full comp, which will be no earlier than next year, will be a strike fighter competition.
  2. Metal
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to Collimatrix in Syrian conflict.   
    The US State Department and other US government organs believed their own propaganda.  Remember this?



    The US government is filled with aging Baby Boomers who feel considerable nostalgia about the social uprisings that defined their generation.  They also feel guilt about not having participated in them more vigorously, and wish to vicariously participate in such uprisings elsewhere.  They became convinced that the entire Arab world was filled with hip, Western-educated young people who aspired to live in shiny, Western-style democracies instead of shabby, corrupt dictatorships.  With a little help from their friends in Washington DC, they could make their dreams a reality!  Yes we can!
     
    Also, once the revolution was complete there were going to be some shady oil deals and whatnot to sweeten the deal for some of the people involved.  The first batch of diplomatic cable leaks have alluded to some of these.  But this isn't to say that the US government started all this chaos to get their hands on oil.  They're simply not that rational.  The horrifying thing about US foreign policy is that the US is so overwhelmingly powerful, and so completely insulated from the consequences of its actions, that the primary goal of US foreign policy is to posture and to gain advantage in US domestic politics.  If you live outside the US, you are just a puppet on a string, dancing to a solipsistic and insane tune played by the blind idiot god of America.  Unless you live in Russia or China and to a lesser extent India.  They have nukes and they're not afraid to tell the US government to shove it.  Everywhere else?


     
    So, the Democratic Party and their extended network of allies in the State Department and elsewhere decided to prove their purity and support for Democracy by assisting in the overthrow of secular dictatorships throughout the Middle East.  This was, in retrospect, and also a the time, obviously a bad idea.  While these countries did have large numbers of hip, westernized youth who were tired of the corruption and economic stagnation of their homelands, these countries had even larger numbers of Islamists who were older, better-funded, better-organized, and far better at playing the game.  The results were entirely predictable; the young, cool, hip protesters who basically wanted to turn the entire southern coast of the Mediterranean into LA were quickly displaced and cowed into silence by barbarians who want to dynamite the pyramids and conquer all of their neighbors so they can have them as rape-slaves.  Also, I want to point out that that last sentence sounds like a breezy, poetic exaggeration but it's actually literally true.
     
    This happened pretty quickly; it was obvious that Islamist elements were wearing the pants only a few months into the Arab Spring movement.  But the US government does not let mere facts stop it.  Instead of quickly pulling support and walking away while pretending nothing happened at all, the US government decided that if Islamists had taken over pro-Democracy protests, Islamists must be the true face of Democracy in the Middle East.  Seriously; that's how come you get retarded buzzfeed articles like this one lamenting the suppression of the Muslim Brotherhood.
     
    Very quickly, a number of governments that managed not to implode decided that if Uncle Sam was going to act all retarded and shit, they might as well do their best to make sure that it was directed at their enemies.  These countries, chiefly Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Israel, formed a surprisingly effective alliance of strange bedfellows that aimed at exporting their domestic political problems and at sticking it to the Persians.  Saudi Arabia has a long history of religious radicalism, and an almost equally long history of exporting those radicals so they can get killed by airstrikes from civilized countries.  Qatar is a Salafist country that is looking very nervously at their own 20% Shia minority and what's going on in Yemen and Iraq.  Turkey is run by a knuckle-dragger who stays on top because his opponents are completely retarded, and who needs displays of foreign military might to keep his base satisfied with his lack of internal success.  Israel's Likud government has a precarious hold on power and opposes an Iranian ally and long-standing rival.
     
    So, by making sure that a bit of money got into the right pockets, this coalition has kept the mostly Islamist opposition in Syria fed and armed.  Propaganda in the US, funded by the Saudis and powered by boomer egos, has mainly kept the public from realizing that this is exactly the sort of anthill that the US does not need to stick its dick into, although they have remained opposed to large-scale deployment of ground forces.
     
    The biggest losers are, of course, the mainly secular, hip, westernized youth for whose benefit this idiotic operation was started.  And yes, I'm sure they would grit their teeth and side with Assad if any of them haven't been killed.
  3. Tank You
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to Sturgeon in Fiction Done Right: Designing your own MBT (1991-1999)   
    Others have said/alluded that "shot traps" aren't really a thing anymore, but I wanted to add that a big part of the reason for this now is that for the most dangerous threats a lot of the tank is simply "all or nothing". Yes it's true that fin doesn't ricochet so much, but a part of this that is forgotten is that modern tank armor is absolutely bursting at the seams, it's as much armor as anyone can stand a vehicle to have, and it's all directed at stopping the biggest threats from only so generous an angle. A really good book to read if you want the story on how tank design went from "okay we'll protect against this threat everywhere" to "we really need to be making compromises here" is Hunnicutt's Abrams, specifically the section after MBT-70. That's when designers in the West had their come to jesus moment.

    These armor arrays are so huge that shot traps are simply a cost of doing business (albeit, again, not a terribly costly one in the current environment), because there's no practical way to make a NERA-box that had flush armor arrays like an M48 has.
  4. Funny
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to Toxn in RAVEN guns; a technology that's worth watching   
    Simple solution: simply turn it around for close range flamethrowing action!
     
    "Close range flamethrowing action!" is a trademark of the stupid ideas corporation. Warning: flamethrowing has been shown to result in a number of medical issues including: first degree burns, second degree burns, third degree burns, hair loss, skin loss, ignition of subcutaneous fat, asphyxia, uncontrolled bowel movements, cataracts and death. Flamethrowing should only be done in a carefully controlled environment and under adult supervision. Use at own risk.
  5. Tank You
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to Toxn in Competition Suggestions   
    I'm on the discord and quizzed them about it a few months ago. I couldn't get a straight answer out of them on how they wanted to implement the cartridge/shell designer.
     
    We'll just have to see how it plays out I guess.
  6. Tank You
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to SH_MM in Britons are in trouble   
  7. Tank You
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to David Moyes in Britons are in trouble   
    This news is a bit old but posting now I have time:

    UK outlines future anti-armour requirements
     

    Mounted Close Combat Overwatch (MCCO) - Long Range ATGM

    Proposals by Thales, MBDA and Lockheed Martin using Brimstone missiles:

    Thales:



    "Dstl also showed a concept developed by Thales showing an Ares vehicle equipped with a remote turret that does not protrude into the vehicle’s hull and carried eight missiles."
     

    MBDA:
     


     
    "During a presentation on the capability, Dstl showcased concepts from MBDA detailing an Ares vehicle carrying eight Brimstone missiles on a swing launcher as well as a Boxer module carrying 16 Brimstone missiles on one side of the vehicle as well as its previously shown concept of a TheMIS UGV carrying a Brimstone launcher."

     
    Lockheed Martin:
     



     
    "As well as devising the Boxer module, Lockheed Martin has also developed a concept for an ISO container filled with VLS tubes and carried on a MAN SV truck. This MAN SV-based system would be able to carry 50 plus missiles." - Boxer module can carry 16 missiles


    CCAAW – mounted and dismounted effects
     
    Javelin ATGM replacement. Supposedly Spike 2 has been earmarked for this. The Army was waiting to see what the US did with Javelin.

    Sources:
    https://www.army-technology.com/features/lockheed-martin-uk-unwraps-future-anti-armour-concept/
    https://www.army-technology.com/features/lockheed-martin-uk-unwraps-future-anti-armour-concept/


     
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     
    UK Warrior upgrade cancellation makes sale of CT40 cannons likely

     
     
    Source: https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/uk-warrior-upgrade-cancellation-makes-sale-of-ct40-cannons-likely
     
     
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     

    Pretty much what I thought would happen. The Army dumping CT40. Not even keeping them as spares for Ajax is a telling sign.
    I can see Rheinmetall pushing a British-ised Lance turret.
     
  8. Funny
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to Toxn in COMPETITION Steel Chariot of The Prairie: The Lone Free State's First Battle Tank (2247)   
    This is FUTURE TEXAS, son. We measure our armour in fractions of 16ths of a mile and like it.
  9. Tank You
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to Sten in COMPETITION Steel Chariot of The Prairie: The Lone Free State's First Battle Tank (2247)   
    MUH NERA

     
    Birgus, (or Lynx, don't know yet the name) the Fulda Gap fever dream:
     

  10. Funny
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to GregHouse in COMPETITION Steel Chariot of The Prairie: The Lone Free State's First Battle Tank (2247)   
    Congratulations, it's only Monday and you win the prize for "most retarded thing I read on the internet this week"
  11. Tank You
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to Dominus Dolorem in COMPETITION Steel Chariot of The Prairie: The Lone Free State's First Battle Tank (2247)   
    East Oil company report no279.
     
    The development of the new MBT is going smoothly. Our design team has finally sent the first images of the prototype currently under construction.
     
    The tank has been designated the MBT1 Monolith.
     
    The Monolith is intended to be able to take on any existing or prospective threat on the continent and also to act as the basis for a heavy IFV.
     

     
  12. Funny
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to N-L-M in COMPETITION Steel Chariot of The Prairie: The Lone Free State's First Battle Tank (2247)   
    Behold, the first images of the Howling Retriever:


    The armor packages are... not small.
    The weight of the structure and armor do however converge to a reasonable all up weight, as I planned.

    For those not aware as to what a Howling Retriever is, well, it's a pre-war breed of canine from the Texas region, known for its aggressive tendencies:

     
  13. Tank You
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to Sturgeon in Estimating the Performance of Tank Guns   
    Let's say you're developing a tank with a unique (AKA non-historical) gun for one of our competitions here on SH. It would be nice to have an idea of the size of the gun, its shells, and what their performance both in terms of shell weight and velocity but also penetration, wouldn't it? Well, fortunately there is a way to do this with reasonably accurate results using your solid modeling software and some free to use browser tools.

    First, you want to have a general idea of the size and performance of your gun. For this example, I decided I wanted an optimized, high velocity 85mm caliber gun with a case about as big as the 7.5cm KwK 42 (as it happened, I ended up with a case that had significantly greater volume, but that fact is unimportant for this example). The cartridge I decided on has a 130mm wide rim and a 640mm long case, of course in 85mm caliber. My first step was to model this case in SolidWorks:


     
    You will also need to model your projectile, in this case a tungsten-carbide cored APCR round:


     
    Next, we need a bit of freeware: A Powley computer. Originally developed by DuPont engineers for small arms ammunition, the Powley computer is an accurate enough tool to use for much larger tank rounds as well! When you click the link, you'll be greeted with this screen:
     

     
    You'll note the dimensions are in inches and this thing called "grains" (abbreviated "gn"). The grain is an archaic Imperial mass unit equal to 1/7000th of a pound which is still used in the small arms field, today. Another quirk of small arms has the case capacity - a volume measurement - listed in grains as well. This is in fact grains of water (gn H2O), or the weight of water that will fill the case to the top. To find this, simply multiply the volume in cubic centimeters by 15.43 - which is also the exchange rate between the metric gram and grains mass.
     
    Finding the volume of the case is easy with a solid modeling program; simply model the interior as a solid and find the volume of that solid:


     
    Filling in my Powley inputs gives me this:
     

     
    Note that I typically use the diameter of the projectile across the driving bands for "Bullet Diameter", but it really makes very little difference.
     
    So far, though, we haven't actually produced any results. That's because our gun is well outside the bounds of DuPont production IMR powders, hence the output "Much slower than (IMR) 4831" in the lower left. So, we need to override the computer by checking the box next to the blue "Pressure" function, and typing in a pressure value in CUP that is reflective of tank guns of whatever era we are trying to represent. My tank gun is trying to represent something from about the late 1940s/early 1950s, so I'm going to use 45500 CUP EDIT: USE 41000 CUP for APCBC and 42800 CUP FOR APCR (or better yet, do your own calibration!):
     

     
    This gives me an estimated muzzle velocity of 3,964 ft/s for my L/50 barrel. Not bad! Note the outputs on the left, which tell you a bunch of fun facts about your round but aren't terribly relevant to what we're doing here today. Next, we need to put this gun's performance in terms of penetration. The way I like to do this is through comparative analysis.
     
    The first thing we need is to know to find penetration the ballistic performance of our round. We can estimate this using JBM's ballistic calculator and a few rules of thumb. When opening the calculator, the first thing you'll see is this:
     

     
    We care about basically none of these settings except BC, velocity, and maximum range. Caliber, projectile weight, chronograph distance, etc are all pretty irrelevant to us. Keep the environmental settings (temperature, pressure, etc.) set to their defaults. First, change the ballistic coefficient type from G1 to G7 using the dropdown menu. Then, change the muzzle velocity from 3000 to whatever the muzzle velocity was that was calculated by the Powley computer. Finally, set the maximum range to your desired distance - in my case 2,000 yards.

    For my round, I now have inputs that look like this:
     


    We also need to get some idea of how fast our projectile loses velocity, something we can't know for certain without actually building a real gun and test firing it - or at least without some really sophisticated simulations. However, projectiles with the same shape tend to fly the same way, and that's something we can exploit here. To figure this out, we need a graph showing us the performance of a real-life gun. Fortunately, there is a handy one for an IRL gun similar to what I'm designing, the 90mm M3 from World War II, and its M304 HVAP-T, which is broadly similar in construction and shape to my 85mm APCR projectile:
     

     
    Based on this chart, we see that the M304 should drop from its 3,350 ft/s muzzle velocity to about 2,500 ft/s at 2,000 yards. Doing a little trial and error with JBM tells me that this means the M304 has a G7 ballistic coefficient of about 1.13.
     
    Now, our projectile will not have the same ballistic coefficient, due to it being a different size and mass. But, we can figure out what its ballistic coefficient would be by finding its sectional density and comparing that to the sectional density of M304. To find sectional density, take the projectile's weight in grains and divide it by the square of the projectile's diameter in inches, times 7000. So for M304, we get:
     

     


    And for my 85mm, we get:


     

     
    This means that the ballistic coefficient for an identical-shape projectile with our size and weight will be about 1.019/1.330 - or 76.6% as much - as that of the 90mm M304. That means a BC of 0.866 G7 should be approximately correct for my 85mm APCR round. Let's plug that in:


     
    And then scroll down to the bottom to click "calculate", which gives us a big ol' chart that goes out to 2,000 yards:
     

     
    O-Kay! Now we have some data. It looks like at 2,000 yards, my projectile holds about 2,800 ft/s striking velocity. It's important to note here that what we really care about isn't the striking velocity of the projectile per se, but the velocity and energy of the projectile's core. The core is what's actually doing a lot of work to the armor, so for now let's stop thinking in terms of the whole projectile, and take a look at these two cores, that of the M304 90mm HVAP, and that of my 85mm APCR round. The core of the 90mm M304 is an approximately 8 pound lump of tungsten-carbide that is about 45mm in width. My penetrator is also 8 pounds, but it's longer and thinner in proportion - just 40mm wide, rather than 45mm. This means my penetrator will penetrate more armor at a given striking velocity, and we can estimate how much more by taking the specific energy of the rounds and comparing them. That is, the energy in Joules of the penetrator alone, divided by the penetrator's diameter squared:
     

     


    So the specific energy at 2,000 yards is about 826J/mm^2. Now, we need to find out at what impact velocity the M304 penetrator produces this same specific energy. Do do that, we go backwards, using the figures for M304:
     

     

     
    Therefore, the equivalent impact velocity for my 85mm APCR round at 2,000 yards is 3,150 ft/s for the M304. That means, in theory, that the M304 would have to impact a target at 3,150 ft/s to produce equivalent penetration of RHA to my 85mm APCR striking at just 2,800 ft/s.

    Now, we head back to that chart:


     
    On the left side of the graph, we put our cursor on the line that corresponds to approximately 3,150 ft/s velocity, and follow it over until it hits the curved line that corresponds with the angle of plate we care about - arbitrarily, let's pick 20 degrees. Then, we follow that point straight down until it hits the x-axis:


     
    Therefore, we estimate that at 2,000 yards, my 85mm has just over 10 inches of RHA penetration - not bad at all for a lowly APCR round!
  14. Tank You
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to Sturgeon in COMPETITION Steel Chariot of The Prairie: The Lone Free State's First Battle Tank (2247)   
    Nobody's using turbines right? I didn't mention it in this thread yet, nor update the range calculator, but there's an 0.7 times modifier on range for turbines.
  15. Funny
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to Toxn in COMPETITION Steel Chariot of The Prairie: The Lone Free State's First Battle Tank (2247)   
    Some of them even make it back to the helipad they flew off from.
  16. Tank You
  17. Tank You
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to Sturgeon in COMPETITION Steel Chariot of The Prairie: The Lone Free State's First Battle Tank (2247)   
    Please note a minor rules clarification:
     
    Formerly: Tungsten is available for tooling but not formable into long rod penetrators.
     
    Now: Tungsten is available for tooling but not formable into long rod penetrators. It is available for penetrators up to 6 calibers L:D.
  18. Tank You
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to Toxn in Competition Suggestions   
    https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/1975/8020/ECO031.pdf;jsessionid=1D4F492F19FEAAE2F3ECAA7A5A2BEF66?sequence=3
     
    A paper outlining a bunch of methods for calculating tire/track pressure on soil. This includes the original MMP formulas.
  19. Tank You
  20. Tank You
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to EnsignExpendable in What the Hell is the Point of Interleaved Road Wheels?   
    If you're on a per-deliverable kickback scheme, getting kickbacks for the number of wheels is a pretty decent move.
  21. Tank You
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to LostCosmonaut in Bash the F-35 thred.   
    From AH dot com, of all places (apparently the one competent poster)
     
    Also, the F-35's IR sensors are pretty good;
     

  22. Funny
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to EnsignExpendable in Bash the F-35 thred.   
    Major Laurier had picked the wrong day to change meth dealers.
     
    The sharp pounding in his head had started just as the scramble alert came on. A Russian Tupolev Tu-95 bomber had blatantly violated Canada's northern sovereignity and was headed for the strategic city of Yellowknife. It was up to his squadron, No. 420 Harper's Harriers to show those Slav bastards what-for with their state-of-the-art C-35 war machines... and peacefully escort them out of Canada's airspace. 
     
    Now, he was alone. Captain Fraiser's C-35 had flown through a cloud and the moisture had torn its skin from its fuselage. The rookie, Lieutenant Dorian, had attempted a gentle banked turn and the strain on his engine was too great. His plane exploded in a hail of fire, cheap steel and packing peanuts. He didn't even have time to scream. Fucking hotshot, thought the Major.
     
    The Tupolev was zooming southeast at a blistering Mach 0.3 but he was slowly closing in on his prey. He had already dropped his external fuel tanks, all four of his bullets and his missile to stay airborne, and the airframe was shuddering like his Chevy Cavalier on the Trans-Canada Highway. The radar app had crashed an hour ago and OnStar was useless. No, I don't want to find a fucking gas station, I'm trying to intercept a warplane! Nonetheless, he had followed the contrails left by the bomber in the northern sky. He knew he was close. And then there! On the edge of his horizon, a vast twenty miles away, were the Russians. He clenched his jaw and punched up the afterburners. The plane kicked and lurched like a mechanical bull with half the gears broken. He set course to ram his plane into the hulking turboprop. I knew I wasn't coming back from this mission, he thought. I'm a C-35 pilot. We don't come back. But at least I'll take these assholes with me. His squadron's motto, FUCK EVERYONE AND PISS ON THEIR ASHES, rang in his ears as his HUD flashed a 404 error. 
     
    Meanwhile, on the Russian plane...
     
    The Major was five miles from the bomber when he heard a new and unfamiliar bang. He tried in vain to look behind him, but from the corner of his eye, he could see a great crack forming on his left wing. He knew at once what it meant. The epoxy that kept the plane together was never meant for such extreme temperatures. His plane was literally coming apart at the seams. How he wished he was in an Avro Arrow now. With a sickening CRRRACK the wing tore itself free from the plane and the C-35 went into a death spin. The Tupolev continued on, oblivious.
     
    Amidst the alarms, klaxons and spontaneous fire, Frasier bit his lip and thought of Maverick. Then suddenly he remembered his training. One of the Powerpoint slides had mentioned that the ejection seat was NOT made by Lockheed, but by a British company! Hope sprung in his breast; perhaps he might survive this ordeal, and achieve his dream of becoming a cyberathelete! In desperation he lunged at the ejector handle. The seat roared upward into the void and while the canopy didn't deploy, it didn't matter; the cheap glass was shattered easily by his hundred thousand dollar helmet. 
     
    The Major breathed a sigh of relief as the chute deployed and slowed his descent. He took one last glance at his plane, which plummeted like a meteor into the ground and exploded. It was a bittersweet sight. At the very least, he thought, he had saved half a billion dollars from the clutches of the poor, the needy, the nonwhite and Quebec. The thought made him smile. 
     
    The ejector seat landed with a soft thud on a river bank, narrowly missing some pine trees. He looked around at the bright sky, the green grass and river teeming with fish. This unfamiliar hellscape sent chills of fear down his spine. If I liked the outdoors, he thought, I would've joined in the army.
     
    Thus began Major Laurier's desperate bid for survival in the harsh subarctic summer, where temperatures could drop to nearly below freezing. In the distance, a beaver roared.
  23. Tank You
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to Serge in French flair   
    The French German Polyphem fibre-optic guide missile. 

    It was cancelled in 2002 and now we are lacking such a tool. 
    60km rang. 

    The Triton was supposed to be submarine version. 
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphem_(missile)
  24. Tank You
    T80U :DDDDDDDDDDD reacted to Alzoc in French flair   
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