Standard M8 Medium Tank without additional Armor Add-ons.
M8 Medium Tank with Additional Armor add-ons minus Heavy Explosive Reactive Armor Blocks.
Demonstrator M8 painted in Canadian CADPAT Camouflage.
Demonstrator M8 painted in German Flecktarn Camouflage.
M8 Medium tank of the 9th "Phantom" Armored Division painted in Standard Northern Cold Weather Woodland Camouflage.
Designation: M8 Medium Tank
- Name: Li Toneur
Costs:
- New Production: $8,300,000 USD
Dimensions:
- Length: 8.1m (Hull) 10.8m (Gun Forward)
- Height: 2.5m
- Width: 3.4m (+0.7m when using Slat Armor)
- Mass: 58.6/67.3 tonnes
- Track Width: 600mm
-Ground Pressure (apprx):
Internal Systems:
- Crew: 3
- Autoloader: M247 Autoloader
- Ammunition: 34+6 (Main Gun) 250 (Coaxial) 650 (Sec. Coax)
- Transmission: General Motors 2010 Heavy Duty MilSpec Automatic
- Fuel Capacity: 960L (Internal) 150L (External)
Powerplant: Caterpillar RB Model Diesel Heavy Duty 12 Cylinder
- Power: 2,200bhp
- Displacement: 36 liters displacement
- Layout: Opposed Piston
- Induction: Twin Supercharger
- Fuel Consumption: ~2.1L per 1km Average
Performance:
- Maximum Speed (Road): 65km/h
- Range: 460km
- Power-Weight Ratio: 23.2 (Approx)
Armament:
- Primary: 120mm L55 Electro-Thermal Chemical ERFB Rifled Cannon
- Coaxial: 35mm ERFB Electro-Thermal Chemical Autocannon
- Secondary Coaxial: 7.62x51mm M2HB General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG)
-Commanders Gun: M2HB 12.7x99mm Heavy Machine Gun
- Dischargers: 18x 70mm Grenade Launchers
History and Background
The M8 “Li Toneur” Medium Tank program began in a venture to provide the Pennsylvanian Marine Corps with a tank that fit all of its needs, with a budget, in terms of maximum weight. The goal of the tank was to weigh in at less than 60 tonnes if possible with as much firepower as possible. The stated armament included a 35mm Autocannon, for use against lightly armored vehicles, a 12.7x99mm M2HB, for anti-infantry, suppression, and ranging work, and a 120mm, 55 Caliber, Electro Thermal Chemical Ignition, Extended Range, Full Bore Rifled Cannon. The tank was also to have mobility, both Strategic and Tactical, as a priority over shear armor.
The tank was designed by the Pittsburgh Motor Corporation in response to the Marine Corps Request. After 3 years of work, taking design bases off of many other tanks of similar class and weight, such as the AMX-30 and Leopard 1, the tank eventually went to win the contest in a landslide event. The Pennsylvanian Marine Corps immediately proposed an order for 2,500 of the vehicles, nearly 1/3rd of all Tanks in use with the Marines, reserve and active, when the tank finished its testing.
Armament and Fire Control
The Main gun of the M8 Li Toneur is a 120mm, Electro Thermal Chemical (ETC) Ignition, Extended Range Full Bore (ERFB) L/55 gun. The choice to use the 120mm in the tank was due to the bulky size of the 140mm Gun, which was the secondary option, though that, nonetheless, the M8 retains an ability to use if needed. The choice to use a integrated Extended Range Full Bore system was to allow the muzzle velocity of a Smoothbore gun to be combined with the accuracy of a Rifled Gun, therefore, “combining the best of both worlds” in the tanks main gun.
During testing, the tank managed to hit another tank 5.5km downrange during a demonstration of its accuracy, proving the usefulness of the ERFB system in the main gun. During another test, in which a slightly modified Cannon shell, essentially a Solid Steel Armor Piercing Spin Stabilized Discarding Sabot, was fired down range to a target 500m, where it drilled neatly through a significant distance of Rolled Homogenous Armor.
Electro-thermal Chemical (ETC) ignition technology began out of the constant battle between Armor and Round during the Cold War. During the late 1980s, intelligence reports informed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that the Future Soviet Tank (FST) could exceed 700mm Rolled Homogenous Armor equivalent (RHAe) at its maximum thickness, far beyond the effectiveness of the contemporary M829 Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot (APFSDS), than in use by some of the NATO Forces present in Western Germany. It is estimated today that, in order to effectively perforate future Armor, any new tank guns would have to achieve 18MJ worth of Muzzle Energy, double what is achievable with modern Solid Propellant. The easiest way to achieve this level of muzzle energy would’ve been to adopt a new 140mm Main Gun as the standard armament, but this would’ve required a complete and total re-design of the turrets of the tanks than in use in order to accept the new main gun.
The introduction of Electro-Thermal Chemical Ignition technology allows for the use of Liquid Propellant in a tanks main gun, allowing for vastly higher power propellants to be used, increasing the shots muzzle velocity and energy. For example, the lightweight American XM-291 came close to achieving 17MJ of muzzle energy, the lower end of the muzzle energy that a conventional 140mm gun would achieve. That’s from a 120mm gun.
An Electro-Thermal Chemical gun uses a Plasma cartridge to ignite and control the rounds propellant, using an electrical charge as a catalyst to the ignition of the propellant. The most common and most efficient one is that of the FLARE, or Flashboard Large Area Emitter. A FLARE works by providing several areas of parallel strings too offer a large area of plasma or Ultraviolet radiation and uses the breakdown and vaporization of the gapes of diamonds to provide the plasma needed to ignite the shells propellant. The strings used in a FLARE setup are suspended in tubes and are mounted azimuthal to the main guns axis.
In the American XM-291 gun project, a relatively primitive 120mm light gun with a none fully developed FLARE ignition system achieved 17MJ of muzzle energy, the lower energy spectrum of a conventional 140mm main gun. If a none fully developed FLARE igniter could achieve this, one can only imagine what a fully developed one could do.
The primary coaxial weapon of the M8 Medium Tank is a 35mm Chaingun. The 35mm Chaingun is intended to be used for the destruction of Lightly Armored Vehicles, such as Infantry Fighting Vehicles, Light Tanks, Armored Personnel Carriers and other lightly armored vehicles. The 35mm, designated the M246, is also an electro Thermal Chemical Ignition gun, along with an ERFB Setup. The choice for ETC ignition was to maximize the use of the shells propellant, and to allow for the most optimum burn rate, maximizing power. The choice to include an ERFB setup in the chain gun was also to allow for the maximum muzzle velocity attainable, and to allow for the accuracy that a rifled weapon offers as well. ERFB, or Extended Range, Full Bore, works by fixing a series of Fins to the side of the shell being fired and lining them up with the rifling in the weapons barrel. When fired, this allows for a seamless environment, preventing the escape of the propellant gases, like a smoothbore, but still causing the shell to spin, giving it the same accuracy as a Rifled Weapon.
Both of the above weapons, the 120mm main gun and the 35mm Coaxial is located in a unmanned turret. The purpose of this decision was that, by moving the entire crew to the hull reduces the amount of total armored volume within the turret itself, increasing the armor efficiency of the turret.
The Secondary Coaxial Weapon of the M8 Medium tank is a 7.62 NATO (7.62x51mm) chambered General Purpose Machine Gun. The GPMG in question is a FN MAG, also known as the M240, to use its United States Army designation. The mounting of the Secondary Coax on the M8 Li Toneur is also somewhat interesting, being mounted externally on top of the turret. The choice to do this was in order to allow for the entirety of the internal area of the tank to be used for the crew and its two main weapons systems, the 120mm main gun and the 35mm Coaxial. Also located above the turret top is is the GPMGs ammo can, containing 650 rounds of 7.62x51mm Ammo. This weapon uses a thin weather covering, intended solely to keep the weather from fouling the weapon.
The Fire Control System of the Li Toneur is that of the Mark VVI Fire Assistance Control Computer. The Mark VVI FACC works by allowing the most accurate Firing Solution physically possible, thus, maximizing the chances that the First Shell will hit its target. For Ranging, the FACC uses a high power Laser Beam, which allows an accurate measurement of the distance to the target down to a centimeter, and at ranges out to 10km. This Laser Beam also measures wind speed and direction while a Infra-Red Thermometer reads the temperature of the air, all of which can affect a tank shell in flight, reducing its normal accuracy. It also measures the speed and velocity of the target. When all of this information is gathered, Range, Wind Speed and Direction, Ambient Temperature, as well as Velocity of the target, the FACC than calculates the proper spot for the gunner to aim the gun for the best chance of hitting the target tank. Other information that is imputed into the computer during this process includes the Muzzle Droop as well as the temperature of the main guns barrel.
The Muzzle droop of the main gun is registered via a laser beam that originates in a small outcropping near the muzzle of the main gun, which points back to a sensor on the Mantlet of the tank. The Fire Control System than calculates the amount of muzzle droop based on how off center the lasers beam is.
Propulsion and Mobility
The Li Toneur is powered by a Caterpillar RB Model Diesel Heavy Duty 12 Cylinder Engine, developed and built by Caterpillar Inc. originally for a series of heavy duty Bulldozers designed for use in some of the Pennsylvanian Pit Mines. Despite have been designed for use by a heavy duty bulldozer, the decision to use the Heavy Duty 12 was due to its reliability, high power, and the fact that it could be relatively easily modified for use in a Tank. The engine has a very high compression ratio, and a very high power to displacement ratio, enabling the engine to put out rather high amounts of power for its size.
A opposed piston engine works by putting 2 pistons into each cylinder, allowing each pair to use the same intake and exhaust valves, and while eliminating the existence of a Cylinder Head and Head Gaskets, both of which present a weak point in a engines cylinder design. This weak point is due to the fact that, in most modern engine arrangements, such as Inline, V, W, and Flat Engines, you cannot get the highest compression ratio possible for the engine, due to the fact that past a certain point, the risk of cracking one of the cylinder heads or blowing out a head gasket becomes too great a risk. This limits the compression ratio which you can use in a engine.
An opposed piston engine doesn’t have to worry about this risk, because the design in its entirety lacks both of these weakpoints, as demonstrated by the below diagram. This, combined with the twin Supercharger, allows the engine to put out nearly 60 horsepower for every liter it displaces. This allows for the engine to be relatively small, yet still put out high amounts of power.
Tactical and Strategic Mobility was also a very important part of the tanks design, with considerations being given to ensure maximum mobility of the tank in time of war. As a result, one of the requirements was that given for the tank was that, when it did not have it Add-on armor packages applied, the tank was to weigh less than 60 tonnes, to allow for rather easy transport by air, and to allow for the tank to cross most bridges without worry of collapsing it. Even when it does have its Countersloping and Armored Skirt addons, the tank still weighs in at just 67.3 tonnes, lighter than many other tanks with similar capabilities.
Armor
The Armor of the Li Toneur is that of a Titanium-Ceramic blend, a type of armor system commonly known as “Chobham”. The result is a material that is very effective in defending against many types of Anti-Tank rounds, ranging from Kinetic Energy Penetrators to Explosively Formed Penetrators.
Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al
Resilin
Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al
Tungsten Carbide
Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al
Tungsten Disulfide
Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al
Boron Carbide
Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al
Dyneema
The First layer of the tanks armor is the Titanium Alloy Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al, a very high strength material with a overall strength surpassing most materials. The Tensile strength of the Alloy used is a typical value of 1,310ksi. This proves the Alloy to be a very strong material, and, as a result, well suited to a application as tank armor, when used in tandem with other materials. The choice to use Ti10V2Fe3Al over Improved Rolled Homogenous Armor (IRHA) was due to a higher strength to weight ratio than even the best of Steel Armors.
Right behind the first layer of Ti10V2Fe3Al is a layer of Resilin, used to help to yaw a Kinetic Penetrator to one side or the other, causing it to impact the next Titanium Alloy plate at an angle, decreasing it effectiveness. This would happen twice in the early stages of the Li Toneur s armor, as the Resilin layer was quite thick. This would, in combination, greatly reduce the effectiveness of Kinetic Energy Penetrators against the tank in places where this armor was used, as well as to affect Explosively Formed Penetrators greatly as well, do to the density changes between the Ti10V2Fe3Al and the Resilin.
Following the first layer of the armor, the 2 Ti10V2Fe3Al and Resilin sections, there is the “Ceramic plate” of the tanks armor, a layer of hard and dense Ceramics used to help break up or deflect penetrators even more than before. In this Plate there are such Materials as Boron Carbide, Tungsten Carbide, and Tungsten Disulfide. This Ceramic Plate is thick, by both volume and efficiency, able to, in tandem with Explosive Reactive Armor and Countersloping Armor to defeat many rounds that were likely to be used against the tank. The Tungsten Carbide was featured in the design for use with breaking up EFP Jets, due to its rather high density, while Boron Carbide and Tungsten Disulfide were used to help break up KEP and EFP Jets, due to density changes.
This armor scheme was Nicknamed “Hannoc” during its design phase, a reference to the Ancient Indian Empire that at one point spanned what is now Susquehanna and Columbia Islands, the Susquehannocs. It was also nicknamed that due to most of its development and testing being done not too far from the home village of the Susquehannocs. Hannoc Armor was designed with the goal of providing very high armor protection to specific parts of the tank. In the case of the Li Toneur , the Lower Frontal Hull, Turret Face, and Forward Turret Sides. The choice to armor only these sections of the tank with the Hannoc Armor was due to the thoughts that these sections were the most likely to get hit by enemy fire, and as thus, required the greatest amount of armor that there was too offer. Each of these sections are the same thickness, and offering similar protection against Anti-Tank rounds, with the only difference in protection being decided by the differing slope between the different locations of the armor.
Locations of Hannoc Armor on the M8 "Li Toneur" Medium Tank
Every other section of the tank, with the exception of the rear portion of the hull, is armored to resist 35mm Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot (APFSDS) or 155mm Artillery Fragments. The Choice to armor the rest of the tank against 35mm APFSDS and 155mm Artillery Fragments was to make sure that the tank was not taken out by a “David” so to speak, or something disproportionally smaller than the tank itself.
While the main armor of the tank itself is a very formidable anti-armor system, to retain a sense of modularity with the tanks armor, an option for a “Bolt on” armor system was included. This Bolt on system includes a Countersloping Armor Addon on the front and sides of the turret, Thicker Armored Skirts, and Explosive Reactive Armor along the frontal hull and Armored Skirts.
The Countersloping armor works by providing a first hit contact for an Explosively Formed Penetrator or Kinetic Energy Penetrator. If the shell that hits the Countersloping is a KEP shot, for example, a M829A3 APFSDS, than it will penetrate the countersloping with no issue. However, upon penetrating through, the Long Rod Penetrator will immediately begin to yaw to the side, and, will, as a result, cause the penetrator to impact the main armor at a inopportune angle, causing part of the Penetrator to literally shatter against the main armor of the tank, greatly reducing its effectiveness. Meanwhile, if a HEAT shell were to hit the countersloping, than it would also penetrate with no issue, but, instead of causing the molten jet to yaw to one side or another, the jet will instead begin to spread out, reducing its effectiveness when it hits the main armor of the tank.
Combined with the fact that there is usually some form of ERA attached to most areas of the Countersloping armor, this result is a very effective defense against most types of Anti-Tank shells. The other main part of the Bolt on Armor package is that of a thicker Armored Skirt, intended to provide added protection for the vehicles tracks, and for its hull. This allows for, when the Thicker Skirt is used, for the tank to resist up to 45mm shells on certain angles.
Outside of the Hannoc armor however, there is a minimalist use of any material other than the basics, Aluminum and High Carbon Steel being the two major ones. The majority of the Chassis remains of a Steel Construction, and the Armored Skirts, and, in extension, any place on the tank other than the Frontal Lower Hull and Frontal Turret Face, is made of a mainly steel construction, with some spots being made of a very high amount of Aluminum as well. This was due to the exorbant anticipated costs if the entire tank were to be armored, even just slight, in Titanium Alloy.
Active Protection System and Battlefield Management System
The Tanks Active Protection System, or APS, the primary defense against Anti-Tank missiles, is that of the Pennsylvanian Designed Quick Shot system, designed using experience with various systems, including the Israeli Trophy and Ironfist, and the Lyro GOLIATH and WATCHKEEPER systems, which had been employed on many Lyran Designed Vehicles, which Pennsylvanian Companies produced for export, and which had also been used by several branches of the Pennsylvanian Armed Forces.
The Quick Shot system has 4 main tier, Acquisition At Range, Passive Defenses, Primary Active Protection, and Terminal Active Protection.
The First tier uses a small radar transmitter, located on the top of the turret, to scan for incoming missiles. The Radar, and its associated computer, which will be discussed in greater length in the Battlefield Management System Section, are programmed to look for small, fast moving targets approaching from a certain angle or several angles.
The First tier of the system at which the system begins to actively try to fool or eliminate the missile is the second tier, which occurs at ranges beyond 100 meters. At this distance, all of the systems are passive, mainly involving passive attempts at fooling the Missile’s Seeker Head. A four point Infra-Red Laser system is located on the tank. The system has a single IR Laser on each corner of the turret, for a total of four different lasers, which can be trained on up to four different inbound missiles.
Each laser has a reliable chance of fooling the seeker head of an Anti-Tank Guided missile, though, like all systems, it is far from fool proof, and some missiles will naturally not be fooled by such a decoy system. Nonetheless, during Testing, the Passive Infra-Red Decoy system proved to be quite effective in its intended role, that of fooling, or, to use another word, blinding enemy missile seekers.
The third tier of the vehicles Active Protection System includes a trio of 6 barreled, 40mm grenade launchers. Two of these grenade launchers are located on the back corners of the turret, while the last one is located near the front of the turret, behind the Secondary Coaxial. Each of these grenades launchers contains usually a single 40mm High Explosive Fragmentation warhead, and is aimed using information input from the Tanks Battlefield Management system, and, in extension, the radar suite that is used to detect these inbound missiles. Each of these launchers is capable out to a range of about 75 meters, and, when used against incoming Anti-Tank missiles, is designed to be used at ranges between 25m and 75m.
The fourth and final tier of the system is a Shotgun like system. The basic principle as to how it fires is not all that different from an ERA tile. When a missile makes it past both of the previous tiers, the Infra-Red Laser Based Decoy system, and the 40mm Grenade Hard kill systems, than the final tier, which is another hardkill system, is the tanks last bet to take the missile out.
The last tier of the vehicles defense works in a sort of Shotgun fashion. There are 2, 360 degree rotatable launchers, each with 8 blocks on them. Each block contains about 120 pellets the size of a smaller buck or birdshot, found in common hunting shotguns. Behind this, is a small explosive charge. The device works by having the various sensory suites on the tank detect a incoming missile, and, if it passes through the 25m mark, and past the intended use range of the Tier 3 Grenade Launchers, than the Shotgun, as it is commonly called will be armed and instantly rotated to point itself at the threat. Upon the threat entering to within 10m, the explosive charge on one of the bricks on each of the launchers will fire at the threat, sending all 120 pellets towards it, hopefully destroying or disabling the missile.
The Battlefield management system of the M8 Li Toneur , and, in extension, many other Pennsylvanian Armed Forces ground vehicles, is the Aennoor Battlefield Management System. Aennoor, meaning bear in the Susquehannoc Language, is a system designed to interlink all Pennsylvanian Ground Vehicles within a certain area to one another, advising other vehicles of the status of these vehicles, and of the location, whereabouts, and status of detected enemy vehicles.
Aennoor is designed to classify enemy threats, both missile and vehicle, and to assess the status of the vehicle, and transmit it to other nearby units using Aennoor. The system classifies its threats by two main features, the Sensory suite the tank boasts, which is used mainly to classify Missile threats, and by use of the Commander designating targets, which is used to locate enemy vehicles and infantry units.
The commander does this by using his command console, which includes a touchscreen used specifically for the Aennoor system, to designate the rough area of the enemy vehicle or unit, and its type. For example, lets say a tank commander spots a enemy Armored Personnel Carrier in a tree line 3km from his position, but he is not in a good position to have his gunner engage the target. He can point out the rough position of the enemy APC on the touchscreen on his command console, and picking out the unit type, in this case, an Armored Personnel Carrier. Aennoor then sends this information out across the net to all nearby Vehicles. This allows a tank in a better position to engage to fire and destroy the target, allowing the best use of vehicle resources. As soon as the engaging tank reports that the target is destroyed, the APC is automatically taken off of the map, preventing confusion over whether or not there is a vehicle there.
The Aennoor System also has a very high digital bandwidth, allowing it to transfer large amounts of data very quickly. The average bandwidth of the Aennoor system is usually something in the area of 40-60 Mbit/s, allowing it to transmit anything the system or commander wants to near instantaneously to nearby units.
In addition to all of the above, the Aennoor system also boosts very reliable communication systems, having been designed to take relatively major bumps and even shell hits without failing. All of the communications in the tank are also Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) Proofed, meaning that, even were a Thermonuclear Warhead detonated nearby, the tanks Commo systems would continue to operate, allowing the vehicle to remain in contact with command and friendlies.
The input and output from the Aennoor System is also well encrypted, intended to prevent enemy units from accessing the Systems feed in the middle of a battle. The encryption system works by using 10,000 random digits and letters and symbols from Civilian Satellite Traffic, and organizing them into a nearly unbreakable code to prevent opposing forces from cracking it without spending significant amounts of time, energy, and resources to the job. Because of the possibility of thousands, if not, millions of different symbols, for each individual digit in the code, means that the likelyhood of a enemy breaking the code fast enough to be used in a ongoing battle is very low, if not, impossible.
Signature Reduction
Signature reduction on the M8 Li Toneur was placed at a very high importance. The reason for this was that the fact that a tank that was more difficult to see, was naturally, harder to kill. The primary focus of Signature reduction on the tank was in its Infra-Red Spectrum.
Most of the heat generated by a tank in motion is generated by its various engine systems, like one would assume, as well as its Tracks, which are heating up by constant friction with each of the road wheels.
To help lower the Heat emissions of the Engine and related systems, the Exhaust pipe was given extra length, the result of adding as many curves into the pipe as possible, the idea being that, the more surface area that could be presented, the lesser the heat on the surface of the pipe. In addition to this, certain sections of the exhaust pipe are continually cooled by coolant fluid. The point of this was that since heat always transfers some of its energy to the lower temperature material, by applying some coolant to the exhaust pipe, the heat seen at the exhaust outlet would be as low as possible. In another attempt to lower the Infra-red Signature of the tanks exhaust, the Exhaust was placed underneath the armored skirt, to have its heat dissipated into the track heat, and as such, hidden by the Armored Skirt and Canvas Dust Skirt.
Another one of the major Signature Reduction systems present on the Li Toneur is that of the Lyro Warshroud Multi-Spectral Camouflage Netting System. Below is a quote from the article for the LY4A2 “Wolfhound” in the Lyran Arms Catalogue.
The first method by which the detection signature is reduced is through use of the Lyran-designed and manufactured 'Warshroud' advanced multi-spectral camouflage netting system. Based heavily on the Ukrainian 'Kontrast', 'Warshroud' dramatically reduces the detection ranges against known radar, infra-red and visible-band methods. The 'Kontrast' system was developed at the Institute of Automated Systems in late 2002, and was designed to address a notable and growing problem. High-potency modern weapons are able to engage ground vehicles at any angle, from great ranges, by day or by night, irrespective of weather, and with a potency that was becoming increasingly difficult to counter. The Institute's researchers faced a real challenge and, moreover, it was decided to develop a single solution, one that would take into account all noted factors and be implemented within the weight and size limitations.
In approaching this task specialists at the Institute of Automated Systems decided to proceed from the key idea behind the design of high precision weapons. High-precision, high-lethality systems universally require integration with means of detection, which of necessity requires the design of sensor sets and target locators, and the implementation of effective scanning capabilities across several adjacent or near-adjacent visible and invisible spectra, including visible light, close and long infra-red waves, and laser scans(in the infrared, millimeter and centimeter wave bands).
The developers of Kontrast took an ordinary camouflage net as the base and, utilising the latest technological innovations, turned it into a new generation signature-reduction product to combat the sophistication of modern radar systems and other contemporary military reconnaissance means. The result was the development of a surprisingly effective solution.
Developed countries traditionally have utilised a wide variety of signature reduction technologies, many of which include various after-manufacture coatings. The technical requirements of such coating are very high - their reflection capacity must be below 20 dB in a wide range of bands. This factor forced the Ukrainian – and later Lyran – research teams to examine new physical methods for reducing or amplifying reflection of radar waves to achieve effective electromagnetic concealment. With this goal in mind, the 'Kontrast' developers tried to find materials with absorptive and reflective characteristics for attenuating and amplifying electromagnetic waves. Experiments generated a series of composite materials with superb characteristics for greatly diminishing the wave reflection contrast between the protected object and its background.
'Kontrast' simultaneously employed both absorption and targetted reflection of electromagnetic waves. The array of material used within the netting the product, each of which featured at least one of the said qualities, allowed protection from a great range of known target location means. 'Kontrast' tests have repeatedly shown its superiority across a wide range of battlefield conditions to analogues from Sweden and Britain, whether the concealed unit is moving or stationary.
'Warshroud' built on 'Kontrast' by the integration of signature reduction techniques in the IR spectrum pioneered by the LDPCU multi-spectral camouflage. The resultant product takes nearly twice as long to produce, due to the difficulty in applying a coating (which had been done away with under 'Kontrast') to the camouflage netting. Attempts are being made to shorten the 'Warshroud' manufacturing process, but it is somewhat of a moot point. Production as it stands is more than capable of keeping up with the manufacture of the vehicles utilising 'Warshroud'. The system's visible suppression includes, as with most camouflage nets, terrain-appropriate textile strips, which are soaked in a dielectric polymer that can absorb and scatter electromagnetic waves. The textile pieces are made of non-reactive, radar transparent fabric.
In 2002, tests run using 'Kontrast' on a T-84 determined that the ability of hostile weapons to lock onto a vehicle dropped nine-fold compared to an unshrouded vehicle. It was further established that T-84 MBTs fielding 'Kontrast' dropped out of visibility range of viewing devices at distances over and including 500m.
'Warshroud' builds on this, with additional substantial reduction in detectability of targets in infra-red, radio-thermal and radio wave bands. Improvements in synthetic and parasynthetic textiles have also reduced the inherent radar return in the material which binds the net together, along all detection envelopes.
'Warshroud' has repeatedly demonstrated excellent resistance to various external factors while keeping its camouflaging characteristics intact – a factor very quickly determined to be a critical capability of the system. Tests had tanks equipped with a 'Warshroud' run at their tops speeds in off-road conditions, in woods and deserts, while similarly equipped IFVs conducted amphibious landings. In all cases, the signature reduction capabilities of the equipment were unreduced to any appreciable degree. All elements of 'Warshroud' are resistant to fuels, lubricants (gasoline, diesel fuel, lube oil) and detergents. Furthermore, spinning off from research conducted into the LDPCU once again, the shroud is made of self-extinguishing materials, ensuring that flames cease to burn free of subsequent glowing, once the fire source is removed.
'Warshroud' itself consists of a number of modular components that can be put together to create a masking surface of any size and shape, with colors matching any field environment in any season.
It is currently expected that existing AFV stocks will be retrospectively fitted with 'Warshroud', as a means of contributing to the ongoing attempts to reduce detection footprints across all relevant bands.
((Excerpt directly from one of Lyras’s Writeups, unchanged))
Crew Amenities
The Li Toneur is designed to offer the greatest degree of comfort possible for the crew. Including in these are reclined seats, fitted with warmers or coolers, as well as the ability to carry nearly 40 liters of water. Included in the water lines from the tanks that carry this water are a water cooler and a water heater. The ability for each crewman to access hot water at anytime in the tank was done as a morale boaster.
The NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) Systems fitted in the Li Toneur are designed to be operated in temperatures ranging from -50C to +55C at full efficiency.
Included in the turret of the tank is a cooled refrigerator, capable of carrying some rations, soft drinks, water, or various other sorts of food and drink.
Included on the tank are both a Loudspeaker system and a phone on the aft part of the tank. The reason for this was to allow the tank commander to converse with the local infantry commander if for some reason the radios would go down. For example, the commander could use the Loudspeaker to call the Squad, Company or Platoon Commander over, and then have him/her use the phone for direct communications.
There have also been records of Pennsylvanian Tank commanders playing De-moralizing music at full volume over the loudspeakers, in a attempt to lower the Morale of the enemy they are fighting, especially in Urban Warfare. The songs chosen are usually ones that won’t affect the Pennsylvanian soldiers, but that would act as a de-moralizer to anyone who is fighting them. This has of course had mixed results.
An ability also exists for the crew to connect to the internet through the tanks Satellite Connection, albeit at the commanders discretion. This allows the crew to check their email, surf the internet, and even chat with their family when not in combat. It is also possible to connect a foot soldiers Laptop, for example, to the Satellite connection on the tank, allowing nearby infantryman to do the same.
Export
Export of the M8 Medium Tank is open to any nation that the Federal Republic of Pennsylvania does not feel poses a immediate and direct threat to the Republic or any of its allies. These tanks however Lack the Quick Shot Active Protection System, Warshroud Netting and Aennoor Battlefield Management System.
Domestic Production Rights are available on a case by case basis. Excluded from these production rights are the ability to manufacture the Quick Shot Active Protection system, the Aennoor Battlefield Management Systel, and the Warshroud Multi-spectral Camouflage Netting.
Single Tank: $8.3 million
Production Rights (Restricted): $300bn
