SX.26.B Chariot

SX.26.B Chariot
Type	Main Battle Tank
Place of origin	Blackhelm Confederacy
Service history
In service	2006 - present
Used by	Template:Country data The Macabees Griffincrest Oil Incorporated
Production history
Designer	Atmos and Ilíard Electronics
Manufacturer	Kriegzimmer Conglomerate
Unit cost	$5.6 Million
Produced	2006 - present
Specifications (SX.26.B Chariot)
Weight	56,500kg
Length	8.7m
length	6.75m (gun)
Width	3.2m
Height	2.2m
Crew	3
Armor	Titanium-composite-reactive
Main armament	135mm Lightweight Electrothermal-Chemical Line-of-Sight Cannon
Secondary armament	1x 7.92mm Co-Axial 12.7mm Heavy Machine Gun 60mm Internal Mortar
Engine	Griffincrest diesel 1,356hp
Suspension	Tracked
Speed	80km/h

Background

Griffincrest's sudden international belligerence in the quest for petroleum stocks in small, indefensive nations gave rise to new military needs that had not been considered before. This included some sort of heavy mechanization, such as the tank. Prior Griffincrest armored forces consisted primarily of T-55's and other vintage stock available on the black market, but as the corporation came under increasing pressure from hostile nations, it became obvious that there was a need for a new tank. . It was quickly discovered that insufficient armour against nations which although small may had had a potent defensive armoured force made of tanks with the 'battlecruiser' ideology. To overcome this problem, Griffincrest turned to Kriegzimmer.

Kriegzimmer was interested but didn't have the time nor the money to put it into a foreign tank design, especially when it had already begun funding for the Nakíl upgrade project [the 1A2]. After accepting the project it turned it over to Atmos, the fastest growing non-Kriegzimmer tank producing plant in the country, and the FGT-1 [Future Griffincrest Tank One] was born. The idea was to design a tank that was light, potent and had enough survivability to make it worth while on the battlefield. The end result was the 'battlecruiser' effect, whereas low armour offered the tank low weight and high manueverabilty, yet the firepower of the tank was also quite high. In that sense the FGT-1 followed the same line of design thinking as the Leopard 1, or many of the Soviet tanks. Soon the FGT-1 would turn into the SX.26.A Chariot main battle tank. This first prototype tank would be released in November, 2016 [Macabee calendar], after the most important upgrade programs for the indegenous tanks fielded by the Ejermacht for Ishme-Dagan.

The SX.26.A had a 120mm high velocity solid propellant gun with an energy output of almost 14MJ for the entire round. Unfortunately, it was thought insufficient and so there was a firepower upgrade program for the SX.26.B, which would be the first model set for mass production in the Griffencrest Corporation - it would ultimately be the 135mm electrothermal-chemical gun. Given the Empire's obsession with the Nakíl 1A1, and the 1A2 indegenous upgrade, however, the SX.26.A [or B, for that matter] was never designed to compete, although in the hands of a well trained crew it could put up a more than equal fight against a lesser trained crew in the a Nakíl 1A1 under foreign service. Nevertheless, the Nakíl 1A1 would remain much more glamorous, and in terms of quality in comparison to the Nakíl the SX.26 would resemble more Atmo's R.95U Broadsword-Tizona Upgrade. Nonetheless, the SX.26 was built to be a fine tank, and a competitor in any war against any piece of armour.

Firepower

The SX.26's baby is the large 135mm electrothermal-chemical cannon mounted inside the turret. With a calibre length of fifty, or 6.75m, the SX.26's RTIS.76 has a muzzle energy of 22.7MJ for the penetrator, and 25.3MJ for the entire projectile. Originally the idea was to mount a liquid propellant gun similar to that of the Nakíl and Broadsword, but ultimately it was decided to keep that specific technology in the hands of Kriegzimmer and whoever they wanted to export to. It's important to note that this would be the first tank since the original Broadsword, contructed by the Empire, to field an electrothermal-chemical gun, and it signifies the fact that both Atmos and Kriegzimmer are once again secure with the technology. This may signify something important for the Nakíl 1A2, although anything to date is simply rumours - however, it's doubtful that the Nakíl 1A2 would be a pure electrothermal-chemical gun. Irregardless, the SX.26 certainly has the firepower to match the majority of main battle tanks deployed in the current world, and it has the potential to be upgraded at a later date if it begins to fall behind. All ammunition for the RTIS.76 is manufactured by the Griffencrest Corporation, given the total design inequality with Macabee armour [105,120 and 140mm]. Finally, this 135mm gun is covered by a six-piece Ilíard thermal shroud.

Secondary weapons include a 7.92mm co-axial machine gun. This is a stark contrast to the standard .221 machine gun normally mounted on Macabee tanks, and it underscores the fact that this tank is solely made for export to Griffencrest. The tank commander has a heavy 12.7mm machine gun at his disposal on the turret, and can fire it while buttoned up by means of remote control. Nearer to the mantlet it also mounts an internal 60mm mortar, like the Merkava, which can be used for infantry suppression or for field illumination.

The fire and control system resembles the Keystone system used by the Empire, although much less complete, and the foward-looking infrared system is notably less advanced than that of the Nakíl, yet relatively on par with the rest of the world [given that the Nakíl is the first NS tank, probably, to field a 4th generation FLIR]. Coupled with all sensors the Chariot has an indentification range of 11 kilometers, which means that if it has the range and the power to do so it can engage at that range [although, note, penetration would probably be extremely low, if it's a main battle tank]. Nevertheless, this fire and control system is probably the most important part of the tank, and it allows the larger gun to respond just as rapidly since it can probably respond sooner than it's opponents. This makes the Chariot much more dangerous than it originally seems. Although this knock-off system is much less advanced than Keystone, not much is known in public about it - much less its engagement ranges.

Protection

The SX.26 Chariot uses a very inexpensive and simple armour scheme. The frontal turret area is protected through two bolt-on panels which engulf the mantlet and weakened zone, as well as the front turret corners. The bolt-on panels are steel cavities full of titanium diboride and alumina to provide enhanced protection against both HEAT projectiles and incoming kinetic energy penetrators. The purpose of a bolt-on composite armour panel is to give the ability to replace these when better technology arrives. The base armour of the tank, behind these bolt-on composite armour panels is made of a thinner front titanium plate with a rubber filled spacing between this plate and a much thicker steel hull plate. This spaced armour concept is taken to a much greater level along the upper glacis and the toe glacis, which also incorporates an appliqué plate of steel over the titanium to increase protection of this area. The side armour is composed of simply thinner spaced armour protection, and the rear is composed of a thick steel hull plate.

The front turret is almost completely protected by integrated explosive reactive armour tiles, covered by flapping initiator plates. This explosive reactive armour is designed to break incoming APFSDS penetrators by using a thin front plate to react frontally to induce yaw, three inner plates to increase this effort, and a thicker backplate to then almost stop the incoming penetrator and passing it on to the actual standard armour. Although the RHAe rating is not that decisive, the methodology of how the ERA and armour works should stop all but the most advanced incoming kinetic energy penetrators. This heavy explosive reactive armour also covers the upper glacis, the toe glacis, and the side hull.

Finally, to increase protection decisively there is a hard-kill active protection system fitted to the tank which can defend from threats along an entire 360 degree circumference. The combination of this armour, the active protection system, and the lethality makes this tank a very difficult opponent to overcome.