Designation: M8P Advanced Block II Medium tank
- Name: Li Toneur
Costs:
- New Production: $17 million
Dimensions:
- Length: 8.1m (Hull) 11.2m (Gun Forward)
- Height: 2.6m
- Width: 3.4m (+0.7m when using Slat Armor)
- Mass: 74 tonnes
- Track Width: 600mm
-Ground Pressure (apprx): 1.5kg/cm2
Internal Systems:
- Crew: 3
- Autoloader: M300 140mm Main Gun Autoloader
- Ammunition: 36 (Main Gun) 300 (Primary 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: 2,200hp
- Displacement: 36 liters
- Layout: Opposed Piston
- Induction: Sequential Supercharger and Turbocharger
- Fuel Consumption: 2.1 liters per kilometer
- Suspensions: Active In Arm Suspension Unit
Performance:
- Maximum Speed (Road): 65km/h
- Range: 460km (Internal only) 530km (External included)
- Power-Weight Ratio: 29 hp/tonne
Armament:
- Primary: 140mm LOVA ETC ERFB Main Gun
- Coaxial: 35mm ERFB Electro-Thermal Chemical Autocannon
- Secondary Coaxial: 1x 7.62x63mm Light Machine Gun
-Commanders Gun: 1x Remote Weapons Station with a 15mm Heavy Machine Gun
- Dischargers: 42x 70mm Multiuse Grenade Launchers
History and Background
The M8P (Pennsylvanian) Advanced Block II Medium Tank was a program started in response to rumors of the beginning of the Lyran LY8 Main Battle Tank and the recent development of prototypes of the Lamonian M21A2. The M8P ABIIMT (A bi mat) program was intended to increase the M8s combat effectiveness, through a series of armament upgrades, electronics upgrades, and armor improvements.
The original production M8 Medium Tank had been built at a time when it was felt that a somewhat minimalistic Electronics’ suite and a 120mm main gun would suffice in nearly all anticipated combat scenarios that the Federal Republic Armored Forces would likely see in the near future. At the same time, it was also felt that the M8 would also be able to give tanks such as the commonly used LY4A1 a fair run for its money. However, shortly after the final deliveries of the M8 were accomplished, and the only production being done was attrition replacements and parts production, it became inherently clear that the M8 was now unable to achieve most of its design goals, due to underarmament, a flawed Susquehannoc Armor Scheme and a underdeveloped Fire Control System.
For the ABIIMT program decisions were made to completely redesign the vehicles turret, allowing use of a 140mm L/50 main gun, while keeping the same ammo storage. The turret was made substantially longer and slightly taller, bringing the vehicles height to 2.4m, from the previous 2.2m. This also resulted in a roughly 15 tonne increase in weight over the standard variant of the tank.
Main Armament
The main armament of the M8P consists of a 140mm L/50 main with Integrated Electrothermal Chemical Ignition and Full bore Rifling. The choice to use a 140mm was made in order to be able to generate enough muzzle energy and to be able to fire rounds large enough to be able to penetrate most available tanks frontal armor that the Federal Republic was likely to see on the field of combat. The gun makes use of advanced production techniques, consisting of a tantalum barrel lining, in place of the normal chromium, followed by the primary carbon fibre reinforced barrel, and finally a outer coating of Stainless-Steel, to protect the two inner layers from the elements.
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.
Inside of the barrel is a Tantalum lining, compared to the typically used Chromium Lining, Tantalum offers a longer barrel life given the higher pressures seen in modern guns and propellants. It achieves this by being significantly harder than Chromium, being very resistant to corrosion, as well as having the potential to be a low friction surface in certain forms. These are all factors highly sought after in a Main Guns Lining, with the decrease in friction between the round and barrel, as well as the ability of the Barrel lining to better resist corrosion caused by repeated firing of rounds.
Encasing the tantalum barrel lining is a Carbon Fiber Reinforced Primary construction, followed by an outer casing of steel. The choice to use a Carbon Fibre Reinforced Barrel around the tantalum barrel lining was made in order to both increase barrel strength, and to decrease overall barrel weight. This results in a barrel that is both stronger than, and lighter than, a equivalent all steel construction barrel.
Full bore Rifling, also known as Extended Range, Full bore (ERFB), works by modifying the shell being fired by the gun to grip the rifling of the barrel more effectively, creating a seamless environment behind the shell, preventing the escape of any expansion gases, much like in a smoothbore main gun. This offers noticeable returns in Muzzle Velocity if used by itself, but at the same time, when used with larger and more effective propellant charges, can reach the Muzzle Velocity attained by some Smoothbore weapons, albeit at the decrease in expected decrease in barrel life expectancy.
Primary Coaxial Armament
The primary Coaxial Weapon of the M8P is that of a 35mm Electro Thermal Chemical Igntion Autocannon with Full Bore Rifling, also known as Extended Range Full Bore (ERFB). The cannon is a carryover from the original M8 Medium Tank.
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. While a ERFB Equipped Cannon attains a higher muzzle velocity than a similar Rifled Cannon,
Secondary Coaxial Armament
On the opposite side of the main gun from the 35mm Chaingun is a single 7.62x63mm General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) with 1,100 rounds of ammunition. The purpose of the GPMG is for use against the most lightly of armored targets, infantry, and for suppression effects when it is deemed the 35mm chaingun is unneeded.
Commanders Weapon
The commander of the tank is equipped a Universal Remote Weapons System (URWS), designed to be able to accept and use nearly any weapon under 15.7mm. This allows for a wide variety of potential armament options for the vehicle, allowing for a nation to customize their tanks as to how they wish to see them armed.
Fire Control System
The Fire Control system of the M8P ABIIMT consist of the joint Lamonian-Etoile Arcture Designed Adepto FCS, produced under license in the Federal Republic of Pennsylvania.
Contracting with Sequoia Electrodynamics in the Lamonian allied nation of Etoile Arcture has resulted in the Adepto Fire Control System. Adepto is a Latin word, with a meaning of “to obtain, get, acquire.” Considering that the purpose of a Fire Control System is to acquire a fire control solution, Adepto is properly named for the job that it is tasked with. Standard laser filtered tank optics are included with the entire package, but the electronics fit for Adepto is first rate.
The gunner utilizes a Gyro stabilized panoramic Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CdZnTe) EO/IIR sensor, with 3x to 9.5x zoom. A Kigre Incorporated inspired, High Repetition Rate Q-switched, InGaAs laser diode pumped, Er:Glass laser rangefinder is also utilized. The two-mode laser range finder can be operated in a pulsed mode (for normal range finding), or in a constant stream, capable of being used to paint an enemy target to assist guided missiles, like the Comburo GLATGM, or the Havik II ATGM.
Er3+ doped phosphate laser glass exhibits high thermal shock resistance in combination with superior laser performance. The laser and thermo-mechanical properties of this new glass make it an excellent material to meet the demanding requirements of high repetition rate laser systems. Also included in the gunner’s sensor suite, is a weather sensor on the turret rear, GPS/INS gear, a ballistic computer, a cant sensor, and a muzzle reference sensor.
Taking a cue from the MCA-7 series of tanks, the LA-16 radar can share its information with the fire control system, which can be useful in the presence of smoke, or other battlefield obscurants. Terrain that is likely to obstruct the tank’s path can also be picked up, so that the driver knows the locations to avoid in the area (or similarly, the location of cover).
The Tank Commander has his own Gyro stabilized panoramic CdZnTe EO/IIR sensor, which shares all of the functions that the gunner’s sensor has. The driver has four such sensors, one in each quadrant of the tank. These CdZnTe EO/IIR sensors allow the driver to complete his job more efficiently, displaying obstacles that cannot be seen by the driver’s standard optics. If battle damage renders the driver’s sensors inoperable, the driver can rely on standard optics, while the Tank Commander’s sensor data can also be displayed on the driver’s video screen (which also displays all information related to the driving task, including fluid levels, and other information), which was purpose developed.
Borrowing from fire control measures designed by the Koreans for the K2 Black Panther, and implemented in Lamonian and allied MBTs, Lyran Arms and the Varessan Commonwealth's VMRDB developed a built-in trigger-delay mechanism.
Earlier platforms can be found to, despite all other fire control methods, miss their target when they fire their main gun, and hit a slight bump at the same time, a problem exacerbated, as would be expected, by movement at high speeds and/or across uneven terrain. The designers of the K2 anticipated this situation, and generated a solution for it by installing a laser emitter-receiver assembly linked to the FCS, a concept that was brought across for implementation in the main gun on the A2, and is now commonplace on Lamonian MBTs.
The emitter is fitted near the top of the barrel, with the receiver being placed at the barrel's base. The weapon can only be fired when the laser receiver array is exactly aligned with the emitted laser. To illustrate, if at the point of firing, when the gunner presses the trigger, linked as it is to the fire control system, the vehicle comes upon an irregularity in the terrain at the same moment, the laser will find itself pushed off the receiver by the sudden movement, and the FCS will delay the round's ignition until the beam reorients to the receiver again. As the barrel shakes up and down, the FCS will automatically fire off the gun when the laser finds its mark, and the barrel is judged to be on target. This system, combined with an advanced gyro-stabilizer, static pendulum cant-sensor and powerful fire control system, dramatically improves the vehicle's capacity to engage targets while moving at speed, even across broken terrain.
Another feature of the Adepto Fire Control System is the digitally displayed Gunner’s sight data. Modified from a similar system found on the Leclerc tank, the TS-70 Gunner’s Sight provides the tank gunner with useful information in an easy to follow format.
Diagram of the A2’s TS-70 Gunners Sight Digital Display
1 - System error message(s)
2 – Sensor/main gun position compared to front of tank hull
3 - Selected ammunition: F = APFSDS, H = HEAT, T = Training, S = Smoke
4 - EO or IIR mode display: Red = EO, Green = IIR
5 – APS radar on/off indicator: Red = off, Green = on
6 - Measured distance to target (meters)
7 - Aim point in the form of a cross
While this digital display can be affected by battle damage, it was decided to include the technology for the purposes of streamlined presentation of vital data to the gunner.
((Above is a excerpt directly from Lamoni’s M21A2 writeup, unchanged, credit goes to Lamoni and Etoile Arcture))
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 Sequential Supercharger and Turbocharger , 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.
Armor
The Armor of the M8P is that of a revised Hannoc Scheme used on the original M8 Li Toneur. The choice to revise the scheme was due to a series of deficiencies found in the original armor scheme, which were required to be rectified in the replacement.
Any External Armor (NERA, ERA etc.)
Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al
Resilin
Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al
Titanium Diboride
Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al
Depleted Uranium Mesh
Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al
Depleted Uranium Mesh
Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al
Titanium Diboride
Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al
Dyneema
The Exterior part of the tanks armor consists of just about any sort of armor that one could imagine placing on the outside of the tank, ranging from Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) to non-Explosive Reactive Armor (NERA) slate armor for standoff use against light anti-tank missiles, to even Sandbags located in places such as along the side of the turret or hull for added improvised protection.
The next layer of the primary armor scheme consists of a layer of Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al Titanium Alloy, chosen for its high tensile strength, density, and its elasticity over the alternate, Ti-6Al-4V.
There is also a layer of Resilin Used within the Armor of the M8P, intended to help yaw a penetrating Kinetic Energy Penetrator round, such as a 3BM44 or M829A3, or assist in causing Chemical Energy Penetrators, commonly known as HEAT rounds (High Explosive Anti-Tank) to dissipate quicker because of the difference in density of Resilin compared to that of the preceding and following Titanium Alloy Layers.
Following the second layer of Titanium Alloy is a layer of Titanium Diboride, a Ceramic comprising mainly titanium and boron, and noted for its extreme hardness, high melting point, and its higher than average density, which adds in combating penetrating rounds of many different types. The decision to use TiB2 over other materials such as SiC (Silicon Carbide) was due to its better properties and behavior for a vehicles main armor, when utilized in certain methods.
The leading layer of Titanium Diboride is backed by another layer of Titanium Alloy, to prevent the ceramic plate from cracking following a penetration, allowing greater multi-hit protection.
Immediately behind the TiB2 layers backing plate, is a layer of Depleted Uranium Mesh. The choice to use Depleted Uranium over other heavy metals, namely Tungsten, was due to its better properties for the job at hand, given by its much higher density. The choice to use DU Mesh as well was made to reduce overall weight of the armor. However, this would typically result in many small indiscrete places in the vehicles armor where a round could penetrate and simply bypass the armor. To prevent this from happening, immediately behind the initial layer of DU Mesh and its backing plate is another layer of DU Mesh, used to cover the holes in the primary layer of DU Mesh, ensuring that regardless of where the shell hits, there will always be full Armor protection.
Located behind the two layers of Depleted Uranium Mesh is another layer of Titanium Alloy encased Titanium Diboride, to provide the final layer of major armor before the tanks Anti-Spalling Layer, consisting of a layer of Dyneema throughout the interior of the tank on the outside of the armor, intended to prevent pieces of material from scabbing away from the interior wall, such as that caused by the impact of a High Explosive Squash Head (HESH) Round, and maiming or killing the crew.
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.
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 M8P Advanced Block II Medium Tank (ABIIMT) is done on a case by case basis, where in the requesting nations history is checked prior to the purchase of the vehicle. Domestic Production Rights are not available, but it is possible for a request for a Production Line to be set up within your country by one of the Pennsylvanian Companies that produce the M8P, at a additional rate of $2mn per vehicle, for a grand price of $19mn for every vehicle produced outside of the Federal Republic.
Single Tank: $17 million
Foreign Production Line: $19mn per vehicle