Key Data
Crew: 3 (Driver, Commander, Gunner)
Dimensions
Length (With Gun Forward): 10.02m
Height : 2.68m
Width: 4.1m (+ 0.60m with slat armour fitted)
Weight: 75.83 tonnes
Ground Clearance: Variable. Default at 50cm
Performance
Maximum (Governed) Speed: 87 kph (54.4mph)
Cross Country Speed: 63.4 kph
Speed, 10% Slope: 31 kph
Speed, 60% slope: 15 kph
Acceleration: 0kph to 32 kph in 6.8 seconds
Range: 660 km (556 km at operational cruising speed)
Manoeuvrability
Vertical Obstacle Crossing: 116 cm (45 in)
Trench: 300 cm (10 ft)
Suspension: Hydropneumatic
Armament
Main Armament: LY410 140mm 50 calibre high-pressure, ETC smoothbore (40 rnds)
Left Coaxial Weapon: 50mm LY106 compact autocannonRight Coaxial Weapon: 14.7mm LY60 HMG OR 15mm AGH-32 HMG OR 7.62mm LY64 GPMG
Commander's Weapon: Powered remote rotary platform with 15mm AGH-32 HMG (700rnds) OR 14.7mm LY60 HMG (700rnds) OR 7.62mm LY64 GPMG (2,400rnds) OR 7.5mm Lagash MG (2,400rnds) OR 4 x SALY28 SAMs OR 2 x TPFMI MkII 'Helios II' BVR ATGM
Additional: Laterally mounted 4 barrelled multi-purpose grenade launchers, 4 x TPFMI MkII “Helios II” BVR ATGM
Power
Propulsion: LY693 20L hybrid-electric opposing-piston multi-fuel hyperbar engine, generating 2,000 HP (1,500 kW) at 3000RPM.
Transmission: Hydropneumatic automatic transmission (5 fwd gears, 2 rvse)
Power-to-Weight Ratio: 26.37hp/ton
APU: 2 (underarmour)
Batteries: 14 x high density Li+ polymer.
Armour and Protection
Armour: Titanium-ceramic, HERA, North Point
Anti-spalling: Semi-synthetic anciniform spider silk
NBC Protection: SCFM, clean cooled air, LYMkII CBRN overpressure system.
Missile Countermeasures: GOLIATH Active Protection System.
Background and conceptualisation
The successor to the LY3-series, the LY4 Wolfhound has become one of the most widely exported and extensively utilised armoured fighting vehicles in NS-history, with millions in service in more than sixty countries. It was this very fact, however, that had begun to pose an issue that the Protectorate needed to address. During contingency planning for possible intervention during one of the almost-regular Greali civil wars, the extent of the problem became evident.
As the still-numerically predominant MBT fielded by Lyras, serious concerns were increasingly raised regarding Lyran LY4 performance characteristics... not against competing foreign systems (such as the Sumerian MCA-7 series, Lamonian M21, Antigran MT-85 or still-widespread Nakil), against whom the LY4 was perfectly capable in all regards... but against other LY4s. Lyran LY4s were so similar to exported variants that the differences were negligible, leaving the Protectorate lacking in force overmatch in tank-on-tank engagements.
The Protectorate Research and Development Commission was thusly tasked to advance the LY4A1 as far as humanly possible, regardless of cost, for Lyran and Lyran-allied use only. The new platform, to be designated the LY4A2, was to be appreciably faster, more survivable, harder to locate, more responsive, and more lethal than any of its predecessors – with the intent also that the dramatically improved performance would also translate into still-higher potency against non-Lyran platforms.
The result was a main battle tank that utilised as many technological advances as possible, as well as conceptual and doctrinal evolutions, to deliver the absolute optimum in combat performance, and in the end analysis represented a considerable step up in AFV development.
Main Armament
Perhaps the most immediately noticeable changes from the upgrade of the -A1 to -A2 standard is the provision of a new main gun, the LY410. The -410 is not simply a rehash of existing weapon systems, but on its own represents a marked advancement in the state-of-the-art, when it comes to MBT armament.
Issues with pushing the potency of the tank's main gun have been ever more pronounced in recent years, with still-commonplace conventionally-fired rounds being less and less effective against the ever-progressing armour schemes of leading edge AFVs. A great number of methods of improving the per-shot killing power of the tank gun have been examined, including a number already featured on foreign and domestic platforms, both in-service and in prototype laboratories.
The result was a turret and main gun that, while sharing some degree of visual similarity with the turret of the LY4 and LY4A1, is considerably different in a number of ways, and has, in essence, been completely redesigned.
The electro-thermal chemical propellant ignition system, using an adaptive plasma-based flashboard large area emitter (FLARE), was selected, forming the core of a weapon which would, at its conclusion, be quite different from that of its forebears. Unlike the LY402, LY406 and LY407 weapons of the LY4/A1, LY6 and LY7 (respectively), the LY410 is fielded in 140mm. The decision to advance the MBT calibre to 140mm from the 120mm standard was not without its nay-sayers, but the improved lethality offered by the larger diameter munitions could no longer be ignored. The reduced ammunition capacity, due to the larger dimensions of the rounds being carried, was accepted as a matter of course... the chance of an MBT having to engage forty-five times its number being unlikely, and the chance of a single tank surviving long enough to fire that many rounds being judged still less likely, if the earlier rounds have not neutralised the threat. Or, put another way, if 120mm rounds aren't reliably penetrating the frontal arc (as is the case, on first-rate NS-grade tanks), then having a handful more of them is not going to help much, especially if that as-yet-unkilled MBT is returning fire. It was determined that shot lethality was a more pressing concern, and one deemed to more than make up for the one-ninth reduction in total ammunition capacity. This is particularly true given the exceptional accuracy delivered to the LY4A2 by the LY410 gun, used in conjunction with the world-benchmark Cromwell II fire contol system.
As with earlier systems, the LY410 is autofrettaged and stress-hardened to increase durability over extended periods of firing.
With careful recoil mitigation and design, and also due to the turret's being designed around the autoloader, rather than the other way around, the LY4A2 is able to burst fire six rounds in twenty seconds, with a sustained fire rate thereafter of twelve rounds per minute, the second figure being on par (in RoF terms) with – if not superior to – many existing 105mm, 120mm and 125mm systems.
With the increase in size and potency of the LY410 over the LY402, there was, as would be expected, a corresponding increase in recoil. Thus a new and larger muzzle brake was fitted, as was a new 600mm recoil mechanism, an increase of 50mm on the previous systems.
The new turret, while larger than that fielded on earlier marks of the Wolfhound, has to hold the larger 140mm system, and thus the ammunition supply held within the turret is actually smaller than that of the -A1, with 25 ready rounds, in up to seven different types of ammunition. In normal operations, however, the expected ammunition carriage will be almost entirely a mixture of AP and HEAT rounds. Unlike many (if not most) autoloader systems it can change ammunition types after a round has been loaded into the breech. A further fifteen rounds are stored in the hull, and while slower to use, are available for combat without interrupting ongoing operations.
Modifications to the LY4 turret include a number designed to facilitate faster combat-theatre turn-around times. In part designed to offset the somewhat smaller ammunition capacity, once the main gun magazine is depleted, the entire turret magazine can be removed, and a fresh one inserted, a process not dissimilar to changing magazines on a rifle, only on a larger scale. This does require the presence of a dedicated service vehicle, but takes less than 4 minutes. Should such a vehicle be unavailable, the system can be reloaded manually/conventionally.
Additional armament
While co-axial weapons are standard on the vast majority of Lyran AFVs, the LY4A2 is only the second combat vehicle, coming in after the LY7, to use dual coaxials, of differing calibre. It is also the first Lyran vehicle in a number of years to have moved away from the KWF PAK2 25mm autocannon. This is not a commentary on the capabilities of the PAK2, which remains a very reliable and highly effective autocannon, broadly speaking, but is more due to the increasing protection of medium and heavy IFVs, some of which boast armour schemes that made the use of a 25mm weapon in the anti-materiel role problematic.
On Lyran vehicles, the left co-axial station is thus given over to the new LY106 50mm compact medium autocannon. The LY106 fires the increasingly common (amongst Fedalan nations) 50 x 300mm caseless telescoping round, first seen in the primary weapon system of the Sumerian PIV-30 Armoured Infantry Combat Vehicle. The LY106 is a chain-operated, externally powered (by the same 4 HP motor that proved to be the most reliable element of the failed LY105 30mm cannon) weapon, which, as with the PAK2, uses a system of sprockets, grooves and clutches to not only feed, load and fire rounds, but also allows the operator to switch ammunition types, by selecting from which of the four ammunition drums to draw rounds from. Available ammunition types include APFSDS-T, HEI-T, HEDP-T, Illum and practice rounds.
Much of the weapon system is titanium, which, while expensive, is considerably lighter than its steel volume/strength equivalent, thus allowing for the weapon's mounting to be considerably lighter. Given that the total weapon is firmly secured to the MBT's turret while used in the coaxial role, the now-lighter elements of the receiver assembly do not adversely affect the weapon's recoil characteristics. A high-efficiency muzzle brake and long recoil mechanism (45mm) also lower the felt recoil signature, and provide for more efficient firing characteristics. As with all weapons on the platform, the LY106 is linked to the Cromwell FCS, and thus benefits from the attendant sensory and ballistic calculatory suite.
The barrel is 50 calibres long, putting it 2.25m from the end of the reciever, and is chrome-lined to improve durability, and allow for the provision of higher-pressure propellant charges.
Three rates of fire are able to be selected: semi-automatic, low-rate automatic and high-rate automatic, which allow single-shot, 50rpm (approx.) and 100 rpm (approx.) respectively.
The LY106 is designed to provide the LY4A2 with effective, reliable and accurate firepower for the destruction of most medium-armoured threats, including helicopters, IFVs, APCs, and even many MBTs outside of the frontal arc. In this anti-armour role, the LY106 is considerably more potent than its PAK2 predecessor, despite the earlier weapon's distinguished service record.
The right coaxial station is designed to be able to fit weapons generally of up to 35mm. Conventional armament on Lyran vehicles for the right coaxial station is the LY60 14.7mm HMG. The LY60 heavy machine gun was one of the first weapons designed and produced by Lyras, appearing in both watercooled and aircooled versions. Combat experience demonstrated that the aircooled version was highly suitable for many applications, following a modest increase in the mass of the barrel, and it is in the aircooled version that the LY60 serves today. In AA roles, the LY60 is used on several Lyran AA platforms, and serves as the primary co-axial weapon of the LY2 Mastiff series, and as the secondary coaxial on the LY7. The weapon is a belt fed, short recoil operated, open bolt, fully automatic weapon. Metallic disinitegrating link belts can feed it from either the left or right of the reciever. The quick change barrel is removable with the barrel jacket as a unit. The bore is chromium plated to increase barrel life and durability. The weapon fires the the LY112 14.7 x 115mm cartridge. The LY60 has a maximum effective range of 1400m against air targets, and 2200m against ground targets. The standard firing controls consist of a push-type thumb trigger and sear release buttons located between the dual spade grips. Alternatively, an electric trigger can be installed for mounted vehicle applications. The gun is simple in design and rugged in construction, and considered one of the most reliable heavy machine guns in service anywhere in the world.
The LY60 entered mass production as an infantry support weapon, with a tripod mount designed at the Lughenti Test Range. Within three years, the heavy Lughenti Type-I mount was replaced by a lighter design, and it is the Type-II that continues to see service within Lyran infantry formations. Guns produced prior to the arrival of the Type II mount have been retrospectively upgraded.
The infantry version of the LY60, however, had a relatively short primacy within Lyras, being replaced in numerical majority by the version fielded as primary armament for several LY219 variants. It also finds use in several anti-aircraft roles, alongside the KWF PAK2 25mm cannon.
Very similar to the Soviet-designed KPV, the LY60 provides almost double the muzzle energy of a conventional 12.7mm (ie, .50 caliber) weapon. With muzzle velocities between 960 - 1030 meters per second and bullet weights near 60grams, the LY60 generates muzzle energy of about 32 kilojoules, and, again similarly to the KPV, penetrated over 30mm of steel armor at 500 meters range and approximately 20mm at 1000 meters.
Weapons options on Lyran vehicles on the turret mount (and thus available to nations seeking to purchase the platform) include a quartet of SALY28 short-to-medium range AA missiles, LY60 14.7mm HMG, LY64 7.62mm MMG, or a pair of Helios II BVRATGM. Weapons of most types are compatible, though of course those produced by states other than those contributing to the LY4A2 cannot be exported by or through Lyran Arms. Such weapons are easily integrated into the LY4A2 after purchase, and include such well known systems as the Sumerian AGH-32 HMG and AGS-5 LMG, Yanitarian “Hag” HMG, Former Soviet KPV and RPK machine guns, AGL-19s and Koronet ATGMs, and such systems as the MG-3, M2 .50 cal HMG, Javelin and Stinger.
The Wolfhound also mounts two lateral grenade launchers. Each launcher is electronically-fired, and consists of four barrels which can be intermixed with either smoke, fragmentation or chaff grenades. The smoke grenades are capable of shrouding the tank from visual or thermal detection and the chaff grenades are utilised as a means of breaking up the tank's radar cross-section. Both of these measures work most effectively in conjunction with the 'Warshroud' system to maximise operational performance.
Warranting a special, independent mention, the LY4A2, as with its LY4A1 predecessor, utilises side-of-turret mounted, box-launched ATGMs, and again like the LY4 utilises the superb TPF-designed Helios II, although in the case of the -A2, four are mounted, rather than the earlier two. Helios II was developed following a decision by Prussian High Command to design and implement a new high-performance anti-tank guided missile. The decision was based on the fact that the original ATGM designed for next-generation Prussian main battle tanks and armoured fighting vehicles had been a dismal failure and something of an embarrassment to the otherwise highly effective and professional TPF military. According to High Command and the Army Office of Weapons Systems, the new missile should have the capability to destroy any MBT on the market today, with the minimum of trouble, and with a fair degree of overmatch, to ensure continued lethality against future AFVs. In addition, High Command ordered that the missiles have Beyond Visual Range [BVR] capability, to take advantage of the military's new high-tech information-orientated battlespace networking capabilities. In short, the intent was to field a system able to destroy hostile MBTs while they remained outside of visual and gun range. A number of corporations and teams began work, and in June of that year, Vickers Tank Factory won the contract.
The Helios was designed to be a high-speed, top attack, beyond-visual-range ATGM. Vickers incorporated a number of unique (or at least rare) design features to achieve this end. Helios utilises a tri-seeking warhead, which allows it to select one of a number of means to acquire and destroy designated targets. The primary seeker, which is most commonly used, is the missile's radar. Using millimetric radar, the Helios II is able to acquire, identify and track and engage enemy AFV's. This system can also switch to home-on-jamming, should EW render the primary detection method ineffective. The secondary seeker-head is a laser beam-rider. This was primarily designed to allow UAV's and special forces (and also regular infantry if equipped with laser designators), to target enemy AFV's and employ the anti-armour capabilities of an MBT from BVR. The third and final seeker is a fiber-optic guided seeker. This is perhaps the most jam-proof and secure way of guidance, but it is limited in range. In order to defeat and confuse active protection systems, which generally utilise radar for targeting, two independent counter-measures were integrated into the Helios II. The first was a high-power active radar-jamming device, designed mainly to jam the NS-standard millimeter wave length APS radar, thus allowing successful bypass of most APS systems. The second counter-measure is a conventional (albeit compact) chaff dispenser. This also allows for it to confuse the APS radar by presenting a number of false positive contacts.
Upon clearing the firing platform and reaching required velocity, the missile's ramjet fires, propelling the missile to mach 3.5. Helios then goes into top-attack mode, whereupon it identifies the target, adjusts and then dives at the target at engagement velocity.
Helios II's warhead is a tandem-charge HEAT system, with the first (EFP) charge designed to initiate any ERA while the second, a shallow cone shaped charge, provides the majority of the penetration/damage. The tandem charge also allows it to penetrate any roof-mounted reactive armor that may be present, a feature increasingly common on many vehicles.
Helios itself is designed to be gun-launched, propelled by the tanks main cannon, but can be box-launched when booster-assisted, as is the case with all marks of the LY4. When box-launched, the firing platform is able to simultaneously engage multiple targets, a feature that Lyras considered to be well worthwhile. In one notable example, a North Stornian LY4 engaged three Fehnmari Leopard2A5s, and destroyed all three in less than the time it took the Leopards to bring their turrets to bear. With two (or even four) additional missiles carried by the -A2, the effectiveness of this particular weapon system is further enhanced.
Seeker: Tri-Seeker, Radar, Laser, Fiber-Optic
Warhead: One Explosively Formed Penetrator, One Shallow Cone Shaped Charge
Propellant: Gun- or box-launched, ramjet assisted.
Range: 14km
Penetration: ~1,000 IRHA equivalent
Active Protection System
The LY4A2 Wolfhound uses active protection systems, in the same manner as all of its immediate predecessors. As with earlier marks, the -A2's system has been developed in conjunction with Krupp Steel, one of the leading Prussian military technology and support corporations.
The WATCHKEEPER APS has become one of the most well-known and effective active protection systems available today, owing much of its success to the tremendous export success of the LY4 Wolfhound MBT, LY219 Ironheart series of combat vehicles, and LY6 Werewolf Assault Gun, the former two in particular being some of the most widely exported armored fighting vehicles in the world. Originally an interim solution by TPF to Lyran requirements for an APS suite, TPF designers, despite the system's success, often continued to think of it in those terms.
Responsible for a great number of saved vehicles, especially amongst the LY219s fighting on the Cancun peninsula during the Mokan Civil War WATCHKEEPER nevertheless proved to have some trouble targeting and destroying multiple threats that originated from greater than 30 degrees elevation. Thus, designers began work on the GOLIATH, which was to be a multi-tiered system that could combat multiple threat natures effectively, quickly, reliably and flexibly.
GOLIATH detects incoming missiles by two means, one by millimeter wavelength radar (mounted on seven flat-panel antennae with a combined field of 360°/6400mils), and the other by LIDAR. This dual-mode sensor input provides a higher degree of redundancy against any failures or jamming methods, and has raised reliability against a number of active anti-countermeasure systems. The system has a reaction time of 0.4 seconds.
The first defensive mechanism GOLIATH employs is a soft-kill suite. The suite includes a number of features designed to confuse or misdirect enemy guided anti-tank systems. Primarily, the system uses the 'Gold' targeting program, interlinked to the databanks of the Cromwell II, which identifies incoming projectiles, classifies and prioritises them for intercept. By way of illustration, the system would engage a Helios II, Koronet and Javelin, most likely in that order, while ignoring the three incoming RPGs. In addition, the Gold computer automatically deploys applicable alternate counter-measures including IR-suppressant smoke grenades and electro-optical jammers.
In addition to the soft-kill suite, GOLIATH also features an advanced and layered hard-kill suite. The first layer employs four 2.5 inch kinetic kill rockets. These rockets are designed to engage and destroy incoming targets out to 600 meters. This allows the tank to eliminate threats before they become of concern to the shorter ranged systems. The rockets also have an increased proportional effectiveness against air-launched ATGMs.
The second tier of the hard-kill suite is the most widely used system, and consists of four bundles of grenades, each consisting of four grenades a piece. This allows the GOLIATH to engage many multiple targets at the same time, while still providing a firm degree of protective target neutralisation. The second tier system can reach out to just over 100 meters.
The final tier is based more directly on the WATCHKEEPER, and is rarely employed, and generally only in the case of ammunition expenditure in the previous two tiers. The Cromwell fire control computer detects the incoming weapons system and calculates an approach vector. Once the attack is fully classified, the Cromwell system determines, if required, the best time and angle to fire the 3rd tier of GOLIATH. The response comes from four launchers installed on the vehicle, two on each side of the turret. The launchers can pivot/rotate on x and y axes, and can therefore engage targets in any direction that the fire control computer deems necessary. The launchers fire a spread of tungsten balls, similar to the projectiles of an M18A1 Claymore anti-personnel weapon, at the target at ranges out to 25 meters. The system is reloadable and there is a total of eight spreads.
The LY4A2 also builds on the already existing range of active ECM as a means of defeating incoming radar guided missiles, and the suite is usually activated if detection equipment determines that multiple radar signatures are illuminating the vehicle in question. Also fitted, as an adjunct to this feature, is a early warning reciever, which displays on the crew's HUDs the location and presence of any radar systems illuminating (or even simply contacting) the vehicle, allowing for their far-easier engagement should circumstances warrant, or their evasion should it not.
Networking, Sensory and Fire Control System
The LY4A2 is a major advancement on the -A1 in terms of its networking, sensory, fire-control and crew interfacing capabilities. The vehicle is fitted with a highly extensive sensor suite so as to enable the transmission of as much information as possible into any extant battlenet, while possessing substantial internal (multiple-redundant) computational facilities so as to handle required downloads from that selfsame network.
While designed to slot into any existing battlespace architecture, the LY4A2 by default utilises the world-benchmark Cromwell II. Cromwell II is an integrated and adaptive battlespace network that maximises combat lethality, performance, and output and enables command and control on an unprecedented scale. Information is sourced not only from multiple sources on the individual platform, but from every Cromwell II equipped friendly vehicle within the battlespace, which provides constant informational updates across a broad spectrum of sources, both known to the operators, and operating below their awareness. With the -A2, the Cromwell II system has begun to mature as a force-multiplier, with effectiveness of the system increasingly and exponentially evident to all but the most entrenched detractors. Image and pattern recognition software constantly interfaces with sensory systems (even while the given input is not being examined by crew), and the results both relayed to friendly and superior force elements, and also displayed for action by the vehicle operators. For example, a Wolfhound's gunner has the turret swivelled to the 2 o'clock position, trained on a suspicious-looking patch of vegetation, with the view in the HUD set to thermal imagery. While in that orientation, the vehicle's sensors at 11 o'clock register motion non-consistent with environmental movement, and the image is instantly cross-referenced to Cromwell's databanks. A pattern match is found – the front-right quadrant of a javelin MANPATGM. Performing a quick locstat recheck, Cromwell ensures that no corresponding friendly forces are in the given location. The identified target is then silhouetted (with any of a number of settings [such as colour-coding or numerical assignment] in place to illustrate level of threat, in both relative and absolute terms), and the image is displayed on the HUD. Cromwell, evaluating the javelin system as a moderately credible threat (relative to the lack of any other targets... had the vehicle been in the process of engaging a quartet of MBTs, on its own, at close range, the Cromwell would probably have marked it, but not highlighted it as a priority for engagement, given the relatively higher threat represented by the other tanks), activates the audio notification system, and informs the vehicle's operators accordingly. The target identification and crew notification process has, to this point, taken less than a third of a second, baring the half second it has taken for the auditory warning to be processed by the crew's central nervous system and brain.
The Cromwell II system utilises this information to compute a firing solution for the gunner, based upon analysis of the target, as the turret swivels to follow the gunner's turning head, concluding as the target slides beneath the appropriate reticle. This firing solution is finalised at the moment the gunner depresses the firing stud, and is completed in less time than it takes the finger to depress all the way. The firing solution that Cromwell II generates, utilising the enormous range of sensory inputs available to it, ensures a near-perfect hit percentage at standard ranges, across all conditions using any of the available weapons systems.
At the most basic level, the Cromwell II system aims to accelerate engagement cycles and increase operational tempo at all levels of the warfighting system. This acceleration is achieved by providing a mechanism to rapidly gather and distribute targeting information, and rapidly issue directives. Cromwell II's ultra-high speed networking permits almost completely error-free, high integrity transmission in a bare fraction of the time required for voice-based transmission, and permits transfer of a wide range of data formats, from a multitude of compatible sources.
Borrowing from fire control measures designed by the Koreans for the K2 Black Panther, and implemented in the LY7, Lyran Arms and the Varessan Commonwealth's VMRDB developed a built-in trigger-delay mechanism. Other contemporary tanks, up to and including the LY4A1, but not including the K2 and LY7, can be found to, despite all other fire control methods, miss their target when they fire their gun/s 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 LY7, and is now integrated into the LY410 main gun and LY106 secondary of the LY4A2.
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 reciever 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 both an advanced gyro-stabiliser, static pendulum cant sensor and powerful fire control system, dramatically improves the tank's capacity to engage targets while moving at speed, even across broken terrain.
In case of an emergency, the vehicle can be operated by only two, or even a single, member of its three crew. The FCS can autonomously locate and track visible targets, comparing them both to known hostiles (identified by datalink) or targets established by image recognition (again as available via information uplink), avoid blue-on-blue engagements and fire its main gun without needing any input from a human operator, although the absence of a human operator will adversely affect engagement tempo.
The LY4A2 crew-stations again borrow extensively from the LY7, and utilise a far more advanced and adaptive control interface than that of the LY4A1 or earlier platforms. The new system integrates the data gathered by the vehicle's external sensors and projects it directly onto the HUD inside the crew's headset-visor, a feature not dissimilar to that utilised in the BALCOTH helmet. As the operator turns his head, the view pans, and the image displayed can be either a direct projection of the terrain and environs, as would be seen with the naked eye were the tank's hull not in the way, or various overlays, magnification and enhancements that can be applied or superimposed to highlight important elements (such as friendly forces), in a fashion not dissimilar to an aircraft's HUD. From this point, either physical or voice activated controls are then used as required. By way of example, the vehicle commander may look left, with the weapon mounted on the commander's weapon station following his movement (if the function is activated). With Cromwell having identified hostile dismounted infantry, the vehicle's commander simply places the targetting reticle (located by default in the centre of his HUD) upon the desired target, and presses the firing stud. Alternatively, he could centre the reticle at a target, and designate it for engagement by the gunner by either voice command or toggle. Targets can be sequenced for engagement, and the gunner may target and fire in a similar manner using the vehicle's main gun, or either of the co-axials. The gunner's station is identical to, and interchangeable with, the commander's, and either can take on additional roles if the situation requires. When used in conjunction with Cromwell II, and the new fast-traversing shielded-electric turret, the engagement speeds of the LY4A2 are 80% as fast again as that of its -A1 ancestor, on par with the LY7, and nearing double that of most other armoured platforms. Traverse speed is such that the bore of the main gun will traverse at the same speed as the operator's head (even if startled, which has lead to jokes about the effects of sneezing while in control of an -A2), allowing real-time orientation and lag-free look-shoot capability.
Continuing on a trend in Lyran hardware that was established by the LY6 and has been continuously and retrospectively fitted, the electrics of the LY4A2, more specifically the circuitry, are composed of Gallium Arsenide (GaAs), rendering the vehicle proof against electromagnetic interference or EMP-based attack, although the GaAs is itself a highly expensive addition. Given the ever increasing utilisation of sophisticated electronic and sensory systems, shielding these systems is, now more than ever, deemed a centre of gravity for the platform's protective systems. It was quickly reasoned that when operating in an environment which may include anti-strategic platforms such as the LY4032 “Rampart”, the chances of the platform encountering high levels of electromagnetic interference goes up dramatically, and the dangers presented by these and similar munitions far outweighs the relatively modest (though expensive in absolute terms) cost of the implementation of GaAs components.
The immense potential of this as a feature of military system was demonstrated in spectacular fashion during the Stoklomolvi Civil War, when Lyran warships not only saved the lives of countless Stoklomolvi civilians by defending them from nuclear attack on two seperate instances, but also then, in both cases, were able to exploit the massive EMP side-effect the 'Rampart' generates in nuclear defence. The result was a carrier battle group destroyed, to no Lyran loss. While not a land-based example, the lesson has been learned, and gallium arsenide is set to stay as a standard feature of Lyran electrics for the some time to come.
The -A2 is also the first Lyran main battle tank to feature standard and integral short-to-medium range fire-finder radar, for use in locating and engaging concealed hostile armour, and assisting in the overall battleforce's identification of (and locating of) opposing indirect fire support, be it intimate to tactical forces, or attached at manoeuver-group level. The radar is a license-built derivative of the Lamonian LA-135 Cutlass fire-finder radar, and also features a number of systems that had been first seen on the AN/SPD – 83 Observant fire-finder radar first fielded on the Battleaxe-class cruisers of the Lyran navy. As would be expected, of course, the system, being as it is considerably smaller than that fielded by the 22,000 ton cruiser, has a limited range, and very often will not actually be able to see the point at which the rounds were fired from. However, the generally predictable nature and regular form of the parabolic ballistic arc ensures that the system's projected estimation of the originating location of hostile indirect fire, matched with, and superimposed over, Cromwell-backed geographical data, is generally accurate to within 50 metres, for ranges between 5000m and 40,000m. At ranges shorter than that, the margin of error decreases considerably.
