T-110 ‘Ogre’ Main Battle Tank
Proposal Sketches of the T-110
Key Stats
Crew: 3 (Driver, Gunner, Commander)
Size
Height: 2.5 meters
Width: 3.5 meters
Hull Length (w/ Gun Forward): 8.3 meters (11.7 meters)
Weight: 73.2 metric tonnes
Propulsion
Engine: EHE 6G-4 Engine w/ 2x Integral APU & 1x Non-Integral APU
Engine Horsepower: 1,740 horsepower
Power-Weight Ratio: 23.7 hp/tonne
Maximum Speed: 65 kph
Range: 380 kilometers (580 kilometers w/ External Fuel Tanks)
Weaponry
Main: TA17 140 mm L/47 ETC
Shells Carried: 30
Coaxial: ISAW-11 Heavy Machine Gun
700
Secondary: 2x AGW-21 30 mm Autocannon
Shells Carried: 400 per gun
Commander’s Weapon: 1x ISAW-11 Heavy Machine Guns
Rounds Carried: 1,200
Defensive Systems
Armor: Anyova-II Armor w/ Marble ERA
Active Defense Systems: TFA-17 Blinder Mk II, Colossus Active Defense System, White Phosphorous Grenade Launcher
SummaryThe T-110 is the weapon of choice for the Armored units within the Lubyankan Army. Equipped with the state of the art TA17 smoothbore cannon and the most advanced passive and active defense systems available, the Ogre is a tank that can stand up to the most advanced war machines of the day. While slower than its T-105 predecessor, and significantly more expensive, the Ogre is heavily armed and armored, and can face up against the worst that its enemies can throw at it.
History and Combat RecordAlthough the T-105 Orc had its attributes, its underpowered gun, and increasingly ineffective armor had rendered it unsuitable for front line use as a main battle tank. Although it’s unusually high power to weight ratio allowed the venerable Orc to continue to serve on as a medium tank, the Lubyakan Army needed a new main battle tank if it wanted to remain competitive in the world, and they turned to Erotan Heavy Engineering to provide the solution.
The Army’s primary desire was two fold: 1) they wished for a tank equipped with a main gun that could reliably penetrate the armor/shielding of the modern main battle tanks fielded by nations like Hippostania or the Greater Pony Herd, and 2) the tanks armor had to be able to stand up to firepower from the same vehicles. Development work on the Ogre began in the late 1980s, with the final product reaching full production capacity in 1995. EHE designers produced many proposed designs, and collaborated with other major Lubyakan companies in an attempt to produce a vehicle that could satiate the army’s needs. Eventually, the current design for the T-110 ‘Ogre’ was settled upon.
Unlike the T-105 Orc, which was a mere upgrade from the T-100 Griffon that preceded it, the Ogre was a radically new design. The small hull of the Griffon--which dated to the 1960s--was abandoned, and a new, much larger hull design was utilized instead. The main reason behind this was the fact that the hull of the Griffon was simply too small to mount the turret EHE had envisioned would be necessary to mount the new 140 mm gun they had deemed necessary to remain competitive in the field. The resulting larger size of hull allowed EHE to redesign the turret to an even larger size, allowing them to mount additional equipment in the turret. Furthermore, the T-105 ‘Orc’ had still relied upon the old Anyova-I armor package, which had originally been derived in the late 1970s. Although upgraded, it was recognized that the Ogre could not use such an outdated system and fulfill the second part of the Army’s requirements. As such, research and development devised the Anyova-II armor system, which, when combined with the newly perfected Marble ERA, along with improved active defense systems was believed to allow the Ogre to fulfill the Army’s requirements for protection.
It was feared that the larger heavier tank would overtax the engine, and make the vehicle unacceptably slow. However, the solution was found in the new EHE 6G-4 gas turbine engine. Although it suffered from the same high rate of fuel consumption that had made EHE engineers declare its mounting in the T-105 infeasible, the larger size of the T-110s hull enabled them to install larger fuel tanks, and developments in efficiency of the gas turbine engine enabled the vehicle to maintain a respectable combat range, despite the nature of its propulsion system.
The T-110 Ogre was first issued to Lubyakan Army armored units in 2002, and production had been stepped up considerably since then, with all units marked to be equipped with the tank fully equipped by late 2009. At that time, Erotan Heavy Engineering was issued an export license for the vehicle, and T-110 Ogres were authorized for export to allied nations of the Dominion.
A T-110U
The T-110 was rarely exported, unlike the T-105. Although the lessons that the Ilenan Solar Empire learned on the northern fields were analyzed, and applied to the design process, the T-110 first saw action in the 3
rd Hegemonic War, where Ogres formed the mainstay of Lubyakan armored units in their counter attack on the Hegemonic forces there. As a proof of concept, the battle was successful, and Ogres made a good showing of themselves in running tank battles with Hegemonic T-2 tanks in the open fields to the east of Peacian lines. The upgrades to the gun system and armor were proven most effective, and although some issues with the vehicles APU’s when idling were identified, they were swiftly corrected in upgrades. Lubyakan crews, in particular, fond themselves fond of the Ogre’s amenities, which proved critical to morale during the second, more defensive, portion of the War.
ArmarmentPart of the development process that helped shape the the T-110 into the tank it is now was the decision of EHE that a larger, 140 mm gun would be necessary to help meet the demands for a tank that could successfully engage the armor of other, more recent main battle tanks. In addition, it was determined that conventional solid propellants would not be sufficient to produce a gun with sufficient velocity to defeat enemy armor, even with the redesign to accommodate a 140 mm main gun. Multiple options were explored including: railguns, coilguns, as well as regenerative and bulk loaded liquid propellant guns, and electro-thermo chemical guns. It was initially hoped that the same magic-technology fusion that resulted in Marble Explosive Reactive Armor would enable the creation of a magic battery that could be used to power a rail or coilgun, but it was determined that even magic-technology fusions could produce a battery storage efficient enough to power such a weapon. Although liquid propellants provided some hope, it was determined that bulk loaded liquid propellants were too unreliable, and regenerative guns were likewise too vulnerable to damage to serve in a main battle tank (although their design was marked for consideration as a potential technology for a self-propelled howitzer gun.
In the end, the ETC design was selected as the most feasible weapon for the new gun. Painstaking effort was devoted to the design in an attempt to overcome issues with the plasma fuse system the gun design called for, but in the end the combination of the unique abilities of unicorns, along with extensive research in the field by EHE R&D division resulted in a gun of quality nearly unsurpassed in other regionally produced vehicles. In field tests, the newly designated TA17 140 mm 47 caliber smoothbore gun demonstrated the ability to penetrate armor equivalent to most modern main battle tanks with relative ease. Although flaws in the design of the TA17’s APFSDS (known colloquially as an ‘alicorn’ round) resulted in the kinetic penetrator being vulnerable to the impact of heavy ERA were discovered, the flaws were quickly corrected, and later tests seemed to confirm that any issues with alicorn rounds being defeated by heavy ERA had been corrected. In addition, an ISAW-11 Heavy Machine Gun was mounted co-axially to the main gun, in order to serve as a back up range finder in the even that the T-110's ample electronic fire control systems are somehow disabled.
The secondary armament of the T-110 was one of the more interesting design choices by EHE engineers, as the side mounted AGW-19 30 mm autocannons seemed to add needless mechanical complexity, while compromising the design of the vehicle for minimal effectiveness against secondary targets. However, the design choice was made as a result of analysis of the use of the co-axial 35 mm autocannon in the T-105. In multiple after action reports, crews reported their feeling that a 35 mm round was 'overkill' against the thin skinned IFVs, APCs and other vehicles that it was meant to engage, as well as lamenting the fact that the co-axial mount simply lacked the elevation capability to engage targets at higher elevations.
The decision to include the 30 mm guns was one of the more controversial ones in the T-110 project. Some engineers claimed that it was better to build a mechanically simpler tank, and simply encourage the sale of the new TS-105 ‘Troll’ H-IFV to provide the necessary firepower. However, it was determined that the ability to integrate the weapon system into one vehicle would cut costs over buying multiple vehicles, and as the T-110 was meant to be much more heavily armored than the T-105 based TS-105, thus making the guns themselves much more survivable. The decision to integrate some form of anti-air capability into the main battle tank platform was a major factor in the decision to include the guns, as was the realization that the twin 30 mm guns would enable the T-110 to rapidly engage and eliminate thin skinned vehicles and infantry without the need to utilize the large and expensive 140 mm ETC shells.
With size increase of the turret already planned, it was simple enough to increase the turret’s size even more to accompany the necessary ammunition storage space for the twin 30 mm autocannons. The twin 30 mm guns were mounted in such a way that they could freely rotate from an elevation of -5⁰ to +60⁰, thus allowing a weapon that could rotate quickly from low level firing engaging street level infantry or light vehicles, to high level firing engaging infantry at high elevations—or even low flying attack helicopters. Although the fact that the guns must rotate with such a large and heavy turret limits their effectiveness against such nimble attack craft, the units of Ogres are often able to utilize their guns to cover each other, creating a reasonably effective simulation of the cover a pair of TS-105 H-IFVs might provide.
The final piece of the puzzle in terms of the Ogre’s armament is a single ISAW-11 heavy machine gun mounted in a remote weapon station. Almost identical to the weapon mounted upon the Orc that preceded it, the heavy machine gun exists to provide the commander both a better view of the battlefield than periscopes alone might provide, as well as serving as a defensive mechanism against hostile infantry, who may seek to engage the large Ogre at close range, in an attempt to take advantage of the slow rotation speed of its heavy turret, and length of its main gun.
DefensesWhile EHE performed well with the design of the Ogre’s new weaponry, the issue of armor had become a major issue to be considered. The Anyova-I armor that had served as the primary passive defense of the T-105, and the T-100 before it was successful in its time, but the modern guns of some tanks that the T-110 was meant to face on equal terms greatly outweighed the defensive potential of even multiple layers of Anyova-I armor--especially when accounting for the extra bulk that mounting multiple layers of armor would entail. A new solution was needed for the T-110 to serve properly as a main battle tank.
Instead, Anyova-II armor was developed as a new form of passive defense for Lubyakan main battle tanks, with the T-110 being the first vehicle it would be fitted to. Anyova-II armor retained the basic structure of the Anyova-I armor system that preceded it, but added several additional methods of protection. In addition to increasing the thickness of the two layers of Rota Armor, and the ceramic layer sandwiched between the two, additional layers of armor--and changes in the existing layers of armor--were added in order to increase the efficiency of the armor.
The first change was an additional layer between the first Rota armor plate, and the ceramic second layer. This new layer was filled with aerogel, serving as spaced armor for all portions of the vehicles that have the Anyova-II armor attached. The spacing was meant to provide an additional layer of protection against HEAT weapons, insulating the interior of the tank against flame or heat based weapons, as well as allowing the layers beneath to be placed in such a way as to take hits at much shallower angles than the sloped hull exterior would imply, thus limiting the number of ceramic plates even a glancing hit which penetrated the first layer of the Anyova-II armor would damage while at the same time allowing the outer hull of the tank to be curved enough to potentially deflect hits. The layout of the ceramic layer was also changed. Instead of being composed of single large plates of ceramic material, which tests found were quickly pulverized by multiple impacts, the new ceramic layer was composed of many--much smaller--tiles, arranged in such a way as to further prevent a shell impact from shattering too many such panels in one hit, thus crippling the tank’s protective systems. On top of the redesigned ceramic plates, a new formula for the ceramic plates themselves was introduced in the T-110, providing a much harder plate than the ones found in the T-105. The increased hardness of the tiles helps to increase the resistance they provide to more conventional kinetic penetrators. In addition to the spaced armor layer and improved ceramic, Anyova-II armor incorporates a depleted uranium mesh on top of the ceramic layer in order to provide a backing for the ceramic, as well as providing a potential back up for the tank’s protection after the ceramic layer has been damaged by combat operations. Unlike Anyova-I, in addition to the second Rota backing plate behind the ceramic layer, Anyova-II armor incorporates an aluminum layer, to provide a final stopping layer for any kinetic energy rounds that may have penetrated the rest of the tank's armor. The final layer is mounted within the tank itself, and consists of a spall liner made of YellowApplan produced spider silk to stop any fragments from impacts to the tanks outer hull from injuring the crew inside.
In addition to its armor, the T-110 is equipped with a TFA-17 Blinder Mk II laser jamming system. An improved version of the TFA-15 Blinder Mk I, the Mk II is utilized to interrupt the guidance system of laser and infrared guided ATGMs, thus serving as a softkill active defense system. However, unlike the T-105, the T-110 also includes the Colossus Active Defense System. While the Blinder Mk II is a soft kill system, using jammers and other such equipment to defeat an ATGMs guidance system without destroying the missile itself, the Colossus ADS uses a more direct approach, using a doppler radar system in conjunction with a high speed computer to direct a series of small rockets arrayed around the base of the turret at incoming anti-tank missiles and/or shells, hopefully destroying them before they impact the T-110’s armor.
Graphic Explanation of the Colossus ADS in Action
An inbound hostile ATGM (4) is detected by the doppler radar assembly (2) at approximately 50 meters (5). The radar instructs the rocket launcher assembly (1) to fire a projectile to intercept and destroy the inbound ATGM. (3)
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In tests, the system has been shown to be reasonably effective, destroying: ATGMs launched by both ground troops and aircraft (including attack helicopters), small tube rockets as fired by infantry, and in some cases even successfully intercepted high speed tank rounds. The installation of the Colossus System did place a strain on the vehicles APU power when the engine was switched to idle, and thus necessitated the installation of a separate APU dedicated solely to powering the Colossus. Although the system increased the weight of the vehicle by nearly a ton, the increased survivability was judge to be more than worth the weight.
Finally, the T-110 is equipped with the same white phosphorous grenade launcher that was installed about the T-105. Like the T-105, these grenade launchers are used to create smoke screens that mask the tank’s visibility both to visible light, and to infrared sensors. They are also used in last ditch scenarios to keep hostile infantry away from the tank.
EngineThe extra weight of all the systems that had been installed on the T-110 meant that the use of the diesel engine that had powered the T-105 would have left the tank relatively underpowered, and incapable of the performance expected of a main battle tank. While the loss of range was regrettable, it was finally determined that the only way the tank could achieve a level of performance that approached that of previous main battle tanks was to move for the installation of a gas turbine engine.
Eventually, the 6G-4 was selected as the engine for the job, as--although it retained the high fuel consumption inherent to its class--the engine was efficient enough to grant the T-110 a range of nearly 500 kilometers with external tanks, without requiring a major redesign of hull interior space to allow for increased fuel capacity. In addition, the 6G-4 cam equipped with two integral APUs, which were able to completely power all of the tanks crew amenities and sensors with the main engines switched off. This arrangement guaranteed that the tank would be capable of maintaining a defensive position, while still maintaining the fuel supplies necessary to switch into an attack operation without having to be refueled by vulnerable resupply vehicles.
Electronics and Crew AmenitiesDuring the design process of the T-110, experience from the actions of T-105s and previous generations convinced EHE engineers that increased guns and armor could only go so far if the electronic systems guiding such weapons and vehicles were of sub-par quality. As it was, EHE sub-contracted engineering of the computer systems on the T-110 to Turvokan-Farmer Aerospace (TFA), recognizing the superiority of TFA’s experience in the computer field. Cooperation with TFA allowed EHE to install computer systems of the highest quality into the tank.
While the specifics may have improved, the basic concept of the T-110’s computer systems remain the same. Like the T-105 before it, the fire control system of the T-110 track potential targets as they are detected by the vehicle’s sensors, and then provides the vehicle’s gunner with potential firing solutions as they are requested. The computer systems of the T-110 are improved over the T-105, and are capable of tracking at least 8 individual main battle tank sized targets at any one time.
However, perhaps the biggest change in the T-110s’ computer systems would be the inter-tank communication systems. Using high-speed encrypted data links, the T-110’s computer systems are able to share information with any vehicle--or unit for that matter--tied into the HIVE Battle Command System (HIVE-BCS). This allows even small units to coordinate their fire, and may even allow a tank to fire upon a target that it can not see, but was spotted by infantry on the ground, a scout pegasus, or other such systems. T-110’s computer systems can also be granted a software upgrade in order to turn them into ‘command tanks’, and when paired with an appropriate hardware upgrade, a single command T-110 can seamlessly coordinate battalion sized forces tied into the HIVE-BCS. T-110s can serve as command vehicles for larger formations, but they are often paired with a modified BTR-110 which holds the communication equipment necessary to handle the bandwidth required to properly coordinate such large forces.
In addition, EHE sought to make the life for the tank’s crew as comfortable as possible. Like the T-105, the T-110 incorporates air conditioning and heating in order to provide a climate controlled environment for the crew regardless of location. In addition, the T-110 incorporates a fully isolated computer system that the crew can use for their own personal use--and can connect to the internet via any civilian wireless connection, thus allowing troops to remain in contact with home as much as possible. The design also incorporates internal and external speakers, which can be fed music via a standard civilian MP3 or CD player connection. The design also incorporates a larger refrigeration chamber, allowing the crew to hold onto supplies of cold beverages without leaving the vehicle, along with a boiling vessel to allow for preparation of MREs within the hull. All in all, these systems are designed to help maintain crew morale, no matter the situation.
A Pair of T-110s on Exercise.
NOTE: The flamethrowers mounted upon these vehicles appear to be crew modifications, and are not a part of the T-110 design.
ContractA single unit of the T-110 Main Battle Tank is available for the price of NS$ 5,500,000 per unit. The purchase of more than 1,000 T-110s authorizes the user to domestic production rights of the vehicle’s ammunition and spare parts, although Anyova-II armor and Marble ERA must be purchased directly from EHE or any other authorized supplier, as DPR for such equipment remain unavailable.
Domestic Production Rights for the T-110 are available for NS$ 95,000,000,000. DPR grants production to the T-110, and a steep discount on the purchase of Anyova-II and Marble ERA.