[WWII] American infantry battlesuits (USA)

[copeab]

American infantry battlesuits
Copyright 2011 by Brandon Cope

This family of American infantry battlesuits came about after general displeasure with a series of battlesuits for airborne forces. With weight much less of a factor, larger and more capable suits could be built. The main suit is the one for general infantry use, described below, with several other suits -- command, recon, assault, engineer and flak -- based on it.

A battlesuit platoon, the largest unit deployed that contains only battlesuits. is organized as follows: three squads, each with seven infantry suits and one assault suit. The HQ section contains two command suits (platoon commander and senior NCO), two flak suits, one recon suit and one combat engineer suit. Total platoon strength is 30 battlesuits. Dissatisfaction with the assault suit led to it being replaced with old flak suits in each squad, while the HQ section received the newer flak suits. A battlesuit company has several 6x6 cargo trucks (p.W107), for support personnel and various equipment and supplies, as well as a few Jeeps. It was originally intended to field one platoon of battlesuits per infantry battalion as "shock troops", but the actual ratio was closer to one per regiment.

All the suits, except for the recon and engineering, have a hardpoint for a weapon pod on the left shoulder. Most suits have their hardpoints unloaded; usually in a squad only one suit will mount an MG pod and one will mount triple rocket tubes. To avoid such soldiers from being specifically targeted, some infantry suits mount a fake pod (an empty pod with a pipe mimicking a barrel) or a use rocket launcher. Perhaps only one or two battlesuits in a platoon will use the 20mm cannon pod.

The small cargo space in the suit is normally used to hold food and water as well, as personal effects. Extra ammo is also common. Some commanders may have standing orders about what it may or may not be used for.

The infantry suit uses 0.06 gallons of gasoline per hour at routine usage. Range is about 400 miles at 4 mph or 100 miles at 7 mph. The battlesuit punches for 2d+1 and swings for 4d+2. Body ST is 27.

Subassemblies: Sealed Huge Marauder suit +1.
Powertrain: 1.5-kW diesel engine with 1.25-kW legged transmission and 5.6-gallon self-sealing fuel tank; 1.5-kW electric motor, 2,000-kWs batteries
Occupancy: 1 BS body (120-150 lb pilot) Cargo: 1.5 Body, 0.3 Head.

Armor
All: 4/30

Weaponry
2xGround LMGs/M-1919A4 Browning [RArm:F, LArm:F] (250 each).

Equipment
Body: Life support (6 hours), 200-lb hardpoint, Head: Small radio transmitter and receiver, smoke discharger, IFF. Arms: ST 24 waldo motors.

Statistics
Size: 3'x3'x8'
Payload : 0.29 tons
Lwt: 1.58 tons
Volume: 6
Maint.: 70 hours
Price: $8,200

HT: 8
HP: 54 Body, 24 each Arm, 24 each Leg, 19 Head.

gSpeed: 7
gAccel: 3
gDecel: 20
gMR: 2.5
gSR: 1
Very Low Ground Pressure. Full Off-Road Speed.

Design Notes
Some suits are fitted with a gun camera in the head; it add $20 and 10 lbs and is activated when either arm-mounted MG is fired

Hardpoint Loads
There are three primary hardpoint loads, the same as those developed for the airborne suits: a .50-cal M-2 HMG pod with 350 rounds, a 20mm M-4 cannon pod with 80 rounds, and a disposable three-tube 4.5" rocket launcher. The pods are DR 2 cloth and 8 HP each.

There is also a cargo container (mostly used by the engineer suits) with a metal skin (still DR 2) which can hold 130 lbs and 5 cf of gear.

Variants
The command suit adds a medium radio, recon camera, a second smoke discharger and reduces cargo to 1.1 VSP. $8,400 and 1.61 tons. Because of the second antenna, the enemy can tell a command or recon suit from an infantry suit on a Vision-2 roll.

The recon suit is the same as the command suit, but DR drops to 13, the hardpoint is removed, it has four dischargers and 0.7 VSP cargo. Speed is 8.6 mph. $8,000 and 1.1 tons. HT 10.

The assault suit has DR 40, adds a second smoke discharger, adds a M-1A1 flamethrower in the body and has 1 VSP of cargo. $8,700 and 1.84 tons. Speed is 6.6 mph and only 4/5 off-road.

The combat engineer suit adds the same flamethrower as the assault suit, a winch (one ton capacity), two more dischargers (three total), a small fire extinguisher (p.W89) for external use and has 0.25 VSP cargo space. The MG in the right arm is replaced with a cutting torch (p.W89, with a gas bottle good for 60 seconds is located in the body and has a hose running through the shoulder and arm) and large wire cutters (p.W:IC59). The hardpoint is moved from the shoulder to the back and is used to mount a container with assorted engineering gear, while a small spotlight (p.W89) is mounted exposed on the left shoulder. $8,300 and 1.65 tons.

There are two versions of the flak suit. The original adds four .30-cal Brownings to the body (with 500 rpg), a second smoke discharger, and has cargo 0.5 VSP. $8,800 and 1.64 tons. The later version added two .50-cal Browning M-2's (with 300 rpg) andstead of the four .30-cals. Cargo was only 0.15 VSP. $9,000, 1.71 tons, 6.8 mph. Both versions retain the weaponry in the arms of the infantry suit.