Boudicca Main Battle Tank

Boudicca Main Battle Tank
Boudicca MBT of C Squadron, 11 Loweport Lancers in desert camouflage
Place of origin	Arthurista
Service history
In service	1982-2002 (Mark 1) 2002-present (Mark 2)
Used by	Commonwealth Army, Victorian Army, Lion's Rock Army, Royal Onekawa-Nukanoa Army
Production history
Designed	1974-1980 (Mark 1) 1998-2002 (Mark 2)
Manufacturer	Arthuristan Dynamics
Produced	1983-present
No. built	3,600
Specifications
Weight	65 tonnes (Mark 1), 68 tonnes (Mark 2)
Length	11.6m (gun forward)
Width	3.51 m
Height	2.95 m
Crew	4 (Mk 1), 3 (Mk 2)
Armor	Modular composite armour, heavy ERA
Main armament	120mm L/52 rifled gun/launcher (52 rounds)
Secondary armament	L6V co-ax, Sharpshooter Remote Weapon System
Engine	Arthuristan Motors AVE-2 V-12 turbodiesel (Mark 1) Arthuristan Motors AVE-A3 V-12 turbodiesel (Mark 2) 1,200 kW (Mark 1) 1,600 kW (Mark 2)
Transmission	Hydropneumatic
Operational range	550km on road
Speed	65 kph on road

The Boudicca is an Arthuristan Main Battle Tank. It succeeded the Endurance Main Battle Tank in Arthuristan service. It incorporated advances in composite armour technology, while mounting a V-12 turbo-diesel engine for a reasonable power-to-weight ratio. Armed with a 120mm rifled gun, it is capable of engaging and destroying contemporary armoured threats encountered on the battlefield.

Firepower

Boudicca MBT

L24A2

The L24A2 is a 120mm rifled cannon, the main armament of the Boudicca. It is 55 calibres in length and is constructed with electro-slag refined steel, with its bore and chamber lined with chromium to prolong its service life. It is a linear descendent of the L11 120mm rifled gun of the Endurance Main Battle Tank. However, unlike its predecessor, the L24 fires one-piece unitary cartridges in order to maximise the length of long-rod penetrators which it may utilise.

Forty two rounds are normally carried, stowed in a blow-out compartment in the turret bustle.

Anticipating that Boudiccas would need a reliable means of engaging and defeating tanks equipped with the latest generations of composite armour, a special ammunition was developed for such an occasion, the Boudicca has been made compatible with the Yisaeli LAHAT gun-launched missile, which entered Arthuristan service in 2002.

Boudicca's usually carry an ammunition load of 24 APFSDS, 12 HESH and 6 LAHAT rounds. The first KE-round to serve with the Boudicca was the DU-cored HV-2, in turn supplanted by the HV-3 in the early-90s, which was designed to counteract heavy explosive reactive armour. The current HV-4 features a greater length-to-diameter ratio and is thus considered "significantly more effective" against modern derivatives of the original Kontakt-5 heavy explosive reactive armour.

Secondary weapons

The Boudicca is armed with a L6 machine gun as a co-axial weapon. Originally, it featured a pintle mounted L6A2 General Purpose Machine Gun at the commander's hatch behind a detachable gun shield. As of mid-2015, many Sharpshooter Remote Weapon System are being retrofitted to Boudiccas in active service.

Fire control

The Boudicca features a the Thermal-Optronics Gunnery System (TOGS), an integrated fire control suite featuring an passive thermal gunner's sight mounted on a panoramic periscope mated to a digital ballistics computer.

The TOGS-2 upgrade was part of the Boudicca Mk 1M and Mk 2 package. It adds the commander's own independent panoramic optical/IR sight, allowing him to override the gunner and lay the gun himself and employ hunter-killer tactics. The gunner's thermal sight has been upgraded to a second generation FLIR system. Also added is a powerful milliband radar to the FCS, allowing the tank to track targets up to 12km away, lock onto targets based on the data transmitted via unit net from other tanks or vehicles and open fire on them with either shell or ATGM without requiring visual sighting from the tank. Another new feature is the trigger-delay mechanism, which prevents the gun from being fired if any sudden movement is drastic enough that the gunner’s aim could be thrown.

Protection

Passive armour

The Boudicca Mk 1 represented the forefront of composite armour technology when it was first developed in the late-70s. Contrary to the slant commonly taken in the press and on the internet, which emphasises the use of ceramics, the primary basis of Chobham armour is non-explosive reactive armour ('NERA'), specifically, rubber laminated with thin layers of steel and, crucially, set at an 45- to 60-degree angle from the envisaged direction of strike. This transfer maximum energy from the rebound of the steel plate towards the HEAT-jet or kinetic energy projectile and minimises penetration.

What rests behind this NERA stratum is a quadruple backing layer, intended to serve as a 'backstop' to catch whatever remains of the projectile of HEAT jet. It consists, from front to back, of rolled homogenous steel, triple-hardened steel, 'mixed metallic/non-metallic modules' (likely steel-encased ceramics), and finally a perforated plate of heavy tungsten alloy.

In the Mk 2, the passive armour suite became more modular in composition in order to facilitate rapid repair in the field. Titanium components are introduced to reduce the weight of the armour suite.

The crew compartment is lined with a layer of dyneema and ballistic kevlar for anti-spalling defence.

Explosive reactive armour

The Hoplon explosive-reactive armour was developed with Yisraeli assistance. It consists of panels filled with plastic explosives sandwiched between steel plates. They are capable of significantly enhancing the survivability of the tank against HEAT munitions. Hoplon modules are generally not fitted during peacetime.

Redoubt Automatic Countermeasure System

The Redoubt Automatic Countermeasure System was developed for the Boudicca Mk 2. It is an integrated suite combining automatic hardkill and softkill countermeasures with a variety of sensors. Its sensors component consists of a millimetre-band miniature radar array capable of detecting incoming missile or RPG rounds. Once a threat is detected, it is defeated using on-board countermeasures.

The softkill component uses automatic decoy and smoke-dischargers effective against all relevant electro-magnetic wavelengths (derived from the MASS decoy system in use in the Commonwealth Navy.

The hardkill component uses a pod of sixteen vertical-launched missiles mounted on the rear of the turret to intercept incoming threats. The missiles are shaped like small mortar bombs equipped with a proximity sensor, with a shell made of a fully-combustible material, designed to neutralise incoming ordnance with blast pressure alone. It is thus cheaper than 'hit-to-kill' solutions, as it does not rely on complex interception-generating systems, while at the same time unlikely to generate as much collateral damage to the surroundings compared to fragmentation-based setups, an overall design which the Ministry of Defence feels offers the best compromise.

Signature reduction

The latest upgrade package equips the tanks with active thermal panels to achieve some degree of IR stealth. Radar-absorbent coating helps to lower the tanks' signature and help to avoid detection, while counter-laser bloomers have been installed to destroy laser range-finding gear targeting the vehicle.

Mobility

Boudicca MBT during a live fire exercise

The Boudicca features a V12 turbodiesel developing 1,200KW of power in the Mark 1 model and 1,500KW for the Mark 2. Maximum on-road speed is 65km/h.

Networking

Boudicca Mk 1M and Mk 2 tanks are equipped with the Arthuristan Dynamics Digital Battlefield Management System which integrate vehicles in one or multiple units into the combat network (the ARES Battlenet in the Arthuristan Army), allowing them to communicate efficiently and share valuable intelligence, whether with other tanks and vehicles, UAVs, CAF aircrafts providing CAS, or any other platforms or 'information nodes' of the Arthuristan military. Such tactical data are displayed on the commander's tablet computer, which can be mounted in a bracket at his/her station. Enemy sightings, targeting information and other intelligence gathered by the tank's sensors are also automatically transmitted across the ARES battlenet and thus made available to all other platforms linked to it.

Variants

Tank variants

• Boudicca Mk 1
• Boudicca Mk 1M (Mark 1 tank with Mark 2 network, FCS upgrades and countermeasures, but not the enhanced modular armour)
• Boudicca Mk 2

Other variants

• Boudicca AVLB (armoured bridge-layer)
• Boudicca ARRV (Armoured Recovery and Repair Vehicle)
• Boudicca AVCE (Armoured Vehicle Combat Engineers)
• Arbalest Missile Carrier