LIGHTNOVELONLINE Vol 2: National Development – Chapter 3: Wunderwaffe Leopard
It has been one hectic week ever since we first establish ONI. Believe it or not, the hardest part was not getting enough talented and loyal personnel, they are aplenty in the Reich. No, the hardest part is setting up information networks in our supposedly friendly nations. The toughest nut to infiltrate is the Imperial Japanese for they have the backing of the Shinto Gods. Thankfully, Section Heads Quellec and Eden have banded together and managed to gain a shadowy foothold in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Rusviet Union is a bit of a special case though. The country is heavily guarded against foreign influence, more so than the Japanese, hence Eden can't help much in this regard. The country bans foreign artists from being more popular than their domestic ones after all. Fortunately, they're inept at the magical aspect of an intelligence war. Section Head Quellec personally led a squad of agents into Rusviet land unnoticed. With him there it will only be a matter of time before we have sway over the high-ranking people of Rusviet.
Well, with the influx of Demons roaming the Earth right now, not many would be paying attention to a few agents anyway. Thanks to the worldwide warning made by Belka a couple of years ago, not many nations were caught unprepared like the last time around, at least for the first few weeks. Smaller countries like Netherlands and Belgium aren't fairing well right now, having lost access to their industries outside of bigger towns and cities. To feed their people, they are forced to import a lot from other nations, paying not a small sum for security and tariff, and thus the price of goods skyrocketed. This is further exacerbated by the establishment of refugee camps outside of major cities. These camps take in people that are forced to relocate from areas where a nation's military and adventures are unable to display a presence, or frankly, they're not worth protecting. And as you would have guessed, life as a refugee that lost their home isn't fun, even with the government care package.
Fortunately, major countries like Belka, Erusea, and Sardegna,... Have more than enough leeway to send international aid, buying a lot of goodwill from lacking countries. Especially Belka being the biggest winner in this situation, covertly of course. By directing Eden to perform high-security and high-profile charity events, Belka has net itself a not-so-small number of lucrative contracts. Eden also managed to snag a talent in the rough, according to her words. One catwoman hailing from Persean ancestry, Pardofelis. Taking a look at her profile, I can see that she has a knack for doing business. If so, putting her under a sub-division of Section Three would be a good idea. By controlling where the money flow, you can also control how the people run their mouth. Eden will supervise her for now.
Speaking of the ONI Sections, right now, the Head and Vice Heads of Section Four have been turning positive results. Scaling down and making stronger computers prove to be very easy (mostly because it was one of the easiest technology to get a hold of from the Previous Era), the introduction of colored TV all across the Reich by a tertiary company also helps. As for the official name Void Reactor and mana engines, both should be ready for a trial run in a month at the latest. They are prefabricated secretly by Dreamer before the establishment of ONI, hence the short wait time for us to get them up and running. With the added scientists and researchers in the mix, a few great ideas on how to miniaturize and improve the new techs have been thrown out. Such ideas primarily came from Dr. Einstein, the woman who sure has a passion for intricate machinery like this one. Knowing her dream, I can respect her for that.
Another thing to note is the task I sent to Dr. Mobius. Her expertise in the field of biotechnology would be wasted if I put her in the same room as Einstein. So, I've given her free reign on developing a method to enhance a person's strength, regardless of their race. The only requirement is to not experiment on unwilling subjects and the ban from using mana and void ether. Everything else is fair game... Well, you can say that her sub-division, Ouroboros, doesn't get much positive rep in the first week of its conception. The woman in question just shrugs if you confront her about it though. To help her avoid a fatal mistake, I've pointed her toward some ancient medications and Eastern body practitioners. You would be surprised to see how a human can push their body well past its limit from meditation and martial art alone. Dr. Mobius says that the avenue is worth the research effort but it will take some time to bear fruit. For that, I can wait, best I can do to hasten the process is to send Demon carcass as material to help the woman unravel their mystery. Who knows what will come out of it?
Last but not least is Agent and her Section One. Well, nothing to speak much here aside from them being hard at work in culling the spies and corruption in Belka. Right now she should be in an interrogation chamber somewhere. The Reich's undercurrent no doubt is in a messy state at the moment, with us will be the final profiters after everything is said and done.
As for me, I'm busy drafting up plans for the upcoming economic change. With the introduction of a single Void Reactor, the need to use fossil fuel will be shaved by more than half in the earlier days. It's expected that our need for such materials will be lowered to barely breaking past 20% of our current consumption when the Reactor is operating at full capacity. Of course, time must also be needed to introduce mana engines into our society. However, the focus of production for mana engines will be strictly for the military as of now. We don't want our enemy to have easy access to the engine for a multitude of reasons. It's not because we're afraid they could replicate it, more like we don't want them to notice even a single hint of its true capability.
Why? The first and major reason is that this first generation of engines is highly efficient. A standard Panzer III with its 12-cylinder Maybach has an operational range of 165km and a top speed of 40km/h, while a Panzer III with a similar-size experimental engine has an operational range of 550km and a top speed of 60km/h. Yeah, you can see the difference is night and day. The second important reason is the mana engines are scaleable, meaning the higher the horsepower the bigger the engine, yet, they remain pretty much the same design with parts that can be interchanged with each other. This lessens greatly the strain on logistics, making sure we can set up a production chain very quickly and repair an engine with unprecedented speed. The only limiting factor would be the wear and tear of the parts. Its track or transmission may break before the engine even ran out of mana. There's also the risk of not being able to resupply mana when deep into hostile territory...
Hence, it has come to my notice that just refitting out heavy armaments with mana engines won't be enough. No, we must phase out our old vehicles to successfully modernize the Belkan military as a whole. Starting from Army, first and foremost.
To begin designing a vehicle, we must know for what purpose and what battlefield will it serves. For example, you can't put 100 tons tank on the island terrain of Japan, that's just asking for it to sink under its weight.
Pulling a large blank sheet of paper from a nearby holder, I place it on my workstation alongside the necessary tools for drawing. I then fold my arms, deep in thought to notice the door being opened.
With the condition of roads and off-road in this day and age, too heavy of a design is out of the window. Hence, we must settle for something lightweight, pack a punch, and have enough protection against the current anti-tank threat until the 1950s at the very least. It also must be a modular design, one where its hull can be made to fill a variety of rolls. Parts interchangeability with other vehicles would be a good thing to note too.
After ten minutes of my brain working overtime, I've made up my mind on what will become the Main Battle Tank of the Belkan Army. So, I pick up a pencil and ruler, hand deftly draw on the pristine sheet of paper. Gradually, the tank and its specification are taking shape. On the paper is what I now dub Leopard Main Battle Tank, a modular design with room to be improved in the future, should the need arise.
Weighing 41 tons, the standard Leopard MBT has a length of 9.54/8.29 m (gun forward/rearward), a width of 3.37 m, and a height of 2.39/2.70 m (turret roof/absolute). It will have a crew of four (commander, driver, gunner, radio operator/loader) though this can lower down to three with the inclusion of a bustle autoloader. The autoloader increases the weight to 41.5 tons.
Instead of traditional RHA, the concept of composite armor is in play. This allows the tank to have armor on par with heavy tanks while still retaining its mobility. Equivalent protection is 300mm against kinetic energy projectile and 420mm against the chemical round. Is this too much? Maybe, possibly, could be. Is this worth it? Hell yes! Because if we have the industrial capability to do so, then we must pull out all the stops for our ambition! On a side note, modular armor can be added when they're developed, if need be.
Moving on, its main armament is no slouch either. Having taken some inspiration from our navy's 105mm cannon, I incorporate the Leopard to use smoothbore 105mm L/52 cannon as its main armament (15 rounds in the turret, 40 rounds in the hull). The autoloader variant can carry 25 rounds in the ammo bustle with 30 rounds in the hull. Once again, there's no such as overkill. It will be able to fire APFSDS rounds that are tipped with exotic minerals such as the extremely dense orichalcum. Tests will be needed for their actual penetration value. The main gun can also fire HEAT-FS or HE-FS in case it needs to clear our softer target. Though with the arrival of the computer, they can fire programmable HE that can act as an anti-tank, anti-infantry, or anti-helicopter round. The last part would be unneeded unless an aircraft is flying stupidly low. Another upsize for the programmable HE is it will simplify the ammo stowage on the Leopard, making the tank only need to carry two types of ammo. Last but not least is the inclusion of blowout panels in the turret and the hull. No one wants to be cooked alive by their own tank.
Secondary armament will be two placeholders MG-34s for now. Until I revise our infantry weapons, I won't be touching these.
The Leopard's powerplant is a mana engine that can provide 1300 horsepower at 2400 RPM while it also has a continuously variable transmission. These two combined provide the MBT with a top speed, both forward and backward, of 74km/h. The operational range is 1000km on road and 850km cross-country. To aid with its maneuverability, the tank uses hydro-pneumatic suspension, this can also help with improving the tank's gun elevation.
With the main blueprint ready, I proceed to work on other modified and derivative vehicles with the same chassis. Namely, engineering, bridging, and recovery vehicles, and lastly, anti-air and self-propelled guns. They're named Badger, Beaver, Buffalo, Gepard, and Hummel, respectively.
The Gepard is slated to be fitted with a radar capable of tracking and ranging, an optical lead-calculating sight, and a seven-barrel rotary 30mm hydraulically driven seven-barrel Gatling-style autocannon. The autocannon fired a 30x184mm cartridge, either in high-explosive incendiary or armor-piercing discarding-sabot. On paper, it rate of fire will be 70 rounds/second, meaning 4200 rounds/minute. Of course, the rate of fire can be lowered to 2400 rounds/minute for it to not use the 1200 rounds ammo stowage.
As for the Hummel, it's armed with a 150mm L/55 cannon. Equipped with an autoloader, this SPG will be able to fire ten rounds in 56 seconds. It uses 50 rounds of standard 150mm ammo with a range of up to 40km or a rocket-assisted projectile with a range of up to 65km. Of course, hitting a target that far will require precise calculations. For an SPG, the Hummel has considerable protection and good mobility, more than enough for it to survive a counter-attack and get out of harm's way. In theory, the Hummel itself can be fitted on a naval ship but who the hell would do that?
All of these variants, except the Hummel, have almost the same operational range as the Leopard, approximately 1000km give or take 50km. The Hummel is the odd one out with only 850km, being much heavier than the Leopard at 55 tons.
With all the designs done and ready, ammunition for them included, I separate them into different packages. Not sure what time is it now but Einstein should still be awake. Getting these to her and having her deal with the production of prototypes will cut me a lot of hassle. After all, I would still need to make the plans for small arms, aircraft, and naval vessels. Those and a bunch of auxiliary vehicles for logistics.
So much work to do, yet so little time... Wait for a second! Yggdrasil damn it! I have literal Time on my side!
I CAN JUST USE MY EYE TO SLOW DOWN TIME!
Well, not quite. I can, however, boost my brain processing power, allowing me to think for 1 minute but only 1 second has passed in real life. Basic time manipulation trick but useful nonetheless. I must do that in the future but for now, my work is done for today.
Picking up my stuff, I turn around only to be scared shitless by the sight of Bryn, standing right behind me with folding arms. Her expression is one of a dangerous smiling woman. Now I know that I've fucked up.
"Yuki~" She drawls on sweetly, yet, my back is feeling a rush of chill. "What did I say about overworking again?"
Looking at the not smiling pair of sapphire eyes, the only thing I can do now is... Tapping a fist on my head and says. "Tehe~?"