A45 Torka
| A45 Torka | |
|---|---|
 The A45 Torka armored car | |
| Type | Reconnaissance vehicle |
| Place of origin |  Charnea |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1945 - 2017 |
| Used by | Charnean Army |
| Wars | Agala War Ninvite War Fahrani Civil War |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1945 |
| Manufacturer | Akayon Corporation |
| Produced | 1945-1990 |
| No. built | 5,300 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 4,500 kg (9,900 lb) |
| Length | 5.620 m (18 ft 5.3 in) |
| Width | 2.260 m (7 ft 5.0 in) |
| Height | 1.800 m (5 ft 10.9 in) |
| Crew | 5 |
| Armour | 17mm steel on all sides 12mm balistic glass (windshield) |
Main armament | see Armament |
| Engine | 5,000 cc 6-cylinder engine 100 hp (75 kW) |
| Transmission | 6 forward 1 reverse |
Operational range | 300 km (190 mi), with spare cans 1,500 km (930 mi) |
| Speed | 84 km/h (52 mph) |
The A45 Torka (Tamashek: ⴰ45 ⵜⵧⵔⴽⴰ, "Chariot") is an armored reconnaissance vehicle designed and built by the Akayon Corporation to the specifications of the Charnean Army. The vehicle model has the distinction of being the first military vehicle to be domestically produced in Charnea for the ICA, commissioned and introduced into service during the Agala War. The Torka is also known as the workhorse of the ICA due to its good performance in desert warfare, for which the vehicle has earned the informal nickname of "battle camel" in reference to early modern camel-mounted Zamburak guns. The Torka was slated to be replaced in 1985 with a newer model of lightly armored infantry mobility vehicle. However, the program was cancelled with the onset of the Ninvite War which pushed the Akayon Corporation to retain the A45 in production far past the planned retirement date, only ceasing production in 1990. The replacement for the A45 Torka finally came in 2013 in the form of the A13 Abawen. According to the ICA, all active duty units have received Abawen replacements in as of 2017 which finally pushed the Torka into retirement.
Design
The A45 Torka was initially proposed as an unarmored recon vehicle intended to increase the motorization of the ICA by replacing the use of cavalry and camelry in the reconnaissance elements of army formations. The chassis, transmission and engine of the vehicle were based on the A41 armored car, a foreign design submitted for testing to fill the same role in 1941 but which was ultimately rejected. The new vehicle would do away with the enclosed armored compartment and turret in favor of a simpler open topped design with a boat hull design. The initial recon vehicle design would be modified by request of the military to be armed and armored, leading to the addition of 17mm of armor protection to the hull capable of stopping small arms fire and rounds from automatic canons up to 20mm in caliber. For ease of manufacture and in order to maintain the vehicle's low profile, the open topped design was maintained with only a collapsible canopy of waterproof canvas to protect the crew from the elements. The windshield was also equipped with ballistic glass. The fuel capacity of the vehicle was also upgraded through the addition of external racks on the hull to carry jerry cans filled with extra fuel to increase the range of the vehicle, as well as further cans filled with water to increase the range of the crew. With the added capacity, the Torka and its crew would be able to travel 1,500 kilometers before refueling and resupplying. Subsequent versions of the A45 Torka would redesign the hull to place the water and fuel cans inside the armor protection of the hull and prevent the cans from being perforated by small arms fire. The Torka was designed to house a crew of 5, with four people seated in folding chairs attached to the hull and the driver sitting in a driver's seat on the left side of the vehicle. However, the vehicle would typically be operated by a minimal crew of 3 or 4 in order to extend the time the vehicle crew could operate on limited rations of food and especially water.
Armament
All A45 Torka armored cars are armed with one 8mm machinegun on a raised mount in the rear of the vehicle, with an optional additional machinegun which could be mounted on a more limited swivel mount at the front of the car to the right of the driver. The main function of these weapons is to protect the vehicle by suppressing and fending off enemy infantry. These serve as the Torka's secondary weapons. The primary weapon mount of the vehicle was first intended to carry either a 20mm anti-aircraft autocannon, a 20mm anti-tank rifle or a 47mm canon. In the modern day, a new model of 20mm automatic canon remains the common armament of the Torka due to good charachteristics for anti-personnel and anti-vehicle use. The 47mm close support gun has been replaced by a 75mm recoilless gun which offers improved armor piercing capability with a lighter weight for use against enemy armored vehicles and fortifications.. The 20mm anti-tank rifle, which has been rendered obsolete by the armor protection of modern armored vehicles, has been replaced instead with a mounted ATGM, most often of the A97A2 Tegere Charnean made wire-guided variety. Because of this, Torka armored cars are still used in an anti-tank role particularly in conjunction with ambush tactics or in hit-and-run attacks facilitated by the vehicle's high speed and low profile.
Service History
The Torka entered service two months into the Agala War with a total of 400 of the vehicles being manufactured at the Akayon Corporation factory in Ekelhoc in time to see service during the war. The insufficient anti-tank firepower of the 20mm anti-tank rifle was not made apparent during the war due to the Agala Republic's lack of armored vehicles, while the automatic canons and 47mm guns proved effective against Agalan cavalry and entrenched infantry positions. The A45 was especially valued by the ICA in the final phases of the war for their effectiveness in anti-partisan operations in rural areas of the Agala. The light weight and high mobility of the Torka as a gun-bearing platform was demonstrated to be an effective answer to the mobile guerilla forces employed by the Agala Republic remnants. Overall, the Torka's performance during the Agala War was deemed satisfactory by the ICA which ordered 1,100 additional units in 1950 to equip its combined arms mobile formations.
The weaponry of the Torka would face an update during the Ninvite War, in which the 20mm anti-tank rifle and 47mm canon showed their inadequacy in penetrating the armor of the main battle tanks they encountered among the Fahrani forces. The canon found its new use as an effective weapon with which to destroy enemy fortifications and armored personnel carriers in support of Charnean infantry, while a new solution was sought to address the Torka's armament deficiency against more heavily armored targets. A wire guided ATGM system would eventually be fitted to the Torka's weapon mount to fill the 47mm canon's anti tank role and replace the 20mm anti tank rifle altogether. The new desert warfare tactics employed by both sides during the Ninvite War highlighted the usefulness of the Torka as a cheap to maintain, long ranged, and high speed fighting platform. During the war, many of the conventional armored vehicles used by the ICA were shown to be deficient in fighting the war across open desert leading to the advent of improvised fighting vehicles by the Charnean forces. This would also cause the ICA to order thousands more A45 units, which functioned similarly to their new improvised cousins but had the advantage of an unobstructed weapon mount due to the lack of a cab at the front of the vehicle, a greatly increased fuel capacity and thus range across the desert expanse, as well as an armored hull protecting against small arms. The skyrocketing demand of mobile fighting vehicles for the army during and after the Ninvite War led to significant praise for the proven A45 compared to more modern alternatives in ICA service due to their low cost of manufacture and maintenance which would allow the Charnean military to equip and deploy greater numbers of highly mobile units into the desert, a factor which had proven decisive during the Ninvite War.
Users
Charnea - 8,000 units used by the Central Army and border guard units.
Itayana ─ 1,440 units used by the Itayana National Army and Itayana Solar Air Fleet.