[High-Tech] Military Equipment: Global War on Terror edition

[Michael Thayne]

Okay, here's my first go at stating a current US military vehicle:

A-10 Thunderbolt

ST/HP: 105
Hnd/SR: +1/3
HT: 12f
Move: 3/220
SM: +5
Occ: 1SP
DR: 3
Range: 2,580
Loc.: g3WWi
Stall: 69

ST/HP is a bit less than the "cube root times 4" rule would suggest, I'm using existing aircraft as a guide there. Hnd/SR is a wild guess. SM +5 is debatable, it's 53 ft. 4 in. long and I went with the lower number in part based on it being a 1 seater.

Weapons include the GAU-8/A Avenger, which has a number of advantages over similar caliber autocannons including the use of APDU rounds. Dmg. 6d×6(2) pi++ inc, Acc 6, Range 3,000/10,000, Rof 65, Rcl 2. Credit for these stats goes to HANS. Options for rockets include 70mm Hydra rockets (High-Tech) and 5” Zuni rockets (GURPS SEALs in Vietnam).

Missile options are Sidewinders (again in High-Tech) and AGM-65 Mavericks. The latter is a 30 cm (!) ATGM, whose damage stats should probably be something like Dmg 6dx30(10) cr inc + linked 6dx14 cr ex [15d], Acc 4, Range 350/8800.

Cockpit has DR 75 from the sides/below (thanks to HANS and Varyon for catching this).

Electronic gadgetry is probably similar to the Viper in Pyramid #3/53, "Dogfight Action!". I'll leave bombs alone for now.

Update: This was edited to clarify that the Thunderbolt's ATGM missile is the AGM-65.
Update II: Added HANS's GAU-8 stats.
Update III: Added cockpit armor.

[Phantasm]

Do we have stats for the AGM-65 Maverick Air-to-Ground Missile? It's my understanding that those are common on A-10s for hitting tanks, IFVs, and other heavy materiel.

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

Do we have stats for the AGM-65 Maverick Air-to-Ground Missile? It's my understanding that those are common on A-10s for hitting tanks, IFVs, and other heavy materiel.

That would be the Thunderbolt's ATGM. Edited above post to clarify.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

A-10 Thunderbolt

Using Spaceships, the A-10 Thunderbolt's weight is on the low end of SM +5, but too heavy to count as SM +4 (it's roughly 10 tons empty, which is SM +4, but Spaceships vessels are calculated based on loaded weight, which for the A-10 apparently can range from around 15 tons to 20 tons; nominal weight for SM +5 is 30 tons). Note being streamlined means it's targeted as SM +4 when targeted from the front or the back, SM +5 otherwise. SM +5 implies ST/HP 200, although the lower weight of the A-10 might justify around 160 (HP is higher than you've calculated because Spaceships uses a multiplier roughly halfway between Unliving and Homogenous; your number matches better with existing examples, so just go with that). It apparently only has a single armor system, but that's all you need for a streamlined craft anyway. Titanium implies Light Alloy (DR 15, although it's concentrated so might justify a higher DR over less area), although Metallic Laminate may also be an option (DR 20). Hnd/SR is nominally -1/3 (TL 8 is -1, otherwise it would be 0/4), but the thrust/weight ratio (which apparently ends up giving you acceleration in G's) is low enough for -1, for -2/2. Being winged and streamlined* means its atmospheric Hnd/SR (which is all that matters) is actually 2/3, however (+4 Hnd, +1 SR).

*Its low top speed (439 mph) implies less streamlining than nominal Streamlined (which would have a top speed of 1500 mph), but more than nominal Unstreamlined (which would have a top speed of 150 mph).

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Using Spaceships, the A-10 Thunderbolt's weight is on the low end of SM +5, but too heavy to count as SM +4 (it's roughly 10 tons empty, which is SM +4, but Spaceships vessels are calculated based on loaded weight, which for the A-10 apparently can range from around 15 tons to 20 tons; nominal weight for SM +5 is 30 tons). Note being streamlined means it's targeted as SM +4 when targeted from the front or the back, SM +5 otherwise. SM +5 implies ST/HP 200, although the lower weight of the A-10 might justify around 160 (HP is higher than you've calculated because Spaceships uses a multiplier roughly halfway between Unliving and Homogenous; your number matches better with existing examples, so just go with that). It apparently only has a single armor system, but that's all you need for a streamlined craft anyway. Titanium implies Light Alloy (DR 15, although it's concentrated so might justify a higher DR over less area), although Metallic Laminate may also be an option (DR 20). Hnd/SR is nominally -1/3 (TL 8 is -1, otherwise it would be 0/4), but the thrust/weight ratio (which apparently ends up giving you acceleration in G's) is low enough for -1, for -2/2. Being winged and streamlined* means its atmospheric Hnd/SR (which is all that matters) is actually 2/3, however (+4 Hnd, +1 SR).

*Its low top speed (439 mph) implies less streamlining than nominal Streamlined (which would have a top speed of 1500 mph), but more than nominal Unstreamlined (which would have a top speed of 150 mph).

I'm not really using Spaceships at all here on the grounds that existing published stats for vehicles don't. Instead, they seem to go by length.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

Okay, here's my first go at stating a current US military vehicle:

A-10 Thunderbolt


Weapons-wise, the stats for the 30mm autocannon from Pyramid #3/53: Action ("Dogfight Action!") should work for the main gun. .

I don't have that issue so I can't tell you if this is right but unless the 30mm there is pretty explicitly the GAU-7 it's not. The GAU-7 is a unique weapon with barrels twice as long as common 30mms and it uses those long barrels to fire also unique full caliber DU rounds that weigh twice as much as normal 30mm rounds.

I believe there may have been a 3e write up but without much looking I can't tell you where. I may also just have seen Hans give stats for it once.

But if your stats are for the 30mm from the AH-64 Apache of just for a "generic" 30mm the GAU-7 is a much more formidable weapon.

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

I don't have that issue so I can't tell you if this is right but unless the 30mm there is pretty explicitly the GAU-7 it's not. The GAU-7 is a unique weapon with barrels twice as long as common 30mms and it uses those long barrels to fire also unique full caliber DU rounds that weigh twice as much as normal 30mm rounds.

I believe there may have been a 3e write up but without much looking I can't tell you where. I may also just have seen Hans give stats for it once.

But if your stats are for the 30mm from the AH-64 Apache of just for a "generic" 30mm the GAU-7 is a much more formidable weapon.

Thanks for the heads-up. LMK if you find the thing you're thinking of—it doesn't appear to be High-Tech, Special Ops, Modern Firepower, Vehicles, or either vehicles expansions.

[Michael Thayne]

And now for the moment we've all been waiting for...

M1 Abrams

Cribbing from an old thread:

TL: 8
Vehicle: M1 Abrams
ST/HP: 200
Hnd/SR: -3/5
HT: 10
Move: 1/20
LWt: 65 tons
Load: 2 tons
SM: +4
Occ: 4
DR: 1680
Range: 275 miles
Cost: $4,300,000
Locations: 2CTX

Listed DR is going to be for the front hull. Vehicles 3e gives breaks down the armor as follows:

Front hull: DR 1,680.
Rear/side hull: DR 140.
Top/underbody: DR 90
Front turret: DR 1,500.
Rear/side turret: DR 200.
Top turret: DR 120
Tracks Armor: DR 30; armor skirts provide an extra DR 70.

Armor on the front, rear, and sides, is laminate; double DR vs. shaped charges.

This has been debate elsewhere, but my take is that in game terms the M1's gun appears to be very close to the T-72's. In addition, the M1 mounts an M2HB machine gun and two M240 machine guns.

[HANS]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

my take is that in game terms the M1's gun appears to be very close to the T-72's.

There is a write-up of the Rheinmetall Rh120, the German original of the M256 cannon, in our old Pyramid article “Heavy Metal: Four 20th Century Tanks for GURPS” (22-DEC-2000).

Cheers

HANS

[Purple Snit]

Just an aside - the A-10 has a titanium "bathtub" around the cockpit, which was designed and tested to stand up to 23mm autocannon rounds. That's about DR75 for the pilot/cockpit from the sides or below.