Fig. 2. Icarus Industries M2A1 AFV, "Herman's Whore". Combat laden and with field modifications (John Treadaway)
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Fig. 2. Icarus Industries M2A1 AFV, "Herman's Whore".
Manufacturer: Icarus Industries, Terra
Mass: 170 tonnes
Hull Dimensions: Length 11.2.m; width 6.95m; height (to top of turret) 2.8m
Armour: Cast Iridium
Power Source: Fusion bottle
Propulsion: 8 fans feeding into steel plenum chamber
Top Speed: 120kph
Max Lift: 0.1 metre
Amphibious: No
Crew: 2
Offensive Systems: Main gun 20cm powergun, secondary weapons 2cm tri-barrel powergun & ground penetrator rockets
Defensive Systems: Anti buzz bomb strip mines (ADS), mine-clearing net launcher
Artificial Intelligence: Extremely high
In Use With: Hammer's Slammers
Icarus Industries, of Hamburg, Terra, make one of the most powerful tanks employed by state armies or mercenary companies. In terms of overall performance, they have the best combination of speed, armour and firepower available anywhere and are much sought after by those organisations that can afford to use them.
The M2 series of heavy tanks has been in continuous production with Icarus for over twenty years. It has 'reached the end of it's production run' several times in the last decade but - without a definite replacement finalised – the M2 will be in use for many years to come and may still be in production for the next decade. Certainly it will continue to be upgraded both by the original manufacturer and independent suppliers.
The M2 "Ursa" was designed as a replacement for the earlier M1 of the same name. Since the introduction of the M2, the M1 is sometimes referred to as the Ursa Minor and the M2 as the Ursa Major. In the line they are both simply referred to as "Blowers".
Fig. 5. Icarus Industries M1A6 AFV, "Snow White".
Firing the 20cm main weapon.
Model by Ground Zero Games, Painted by Kevin Dallimore,
photography John Treadaway,
copyright South London Warlords)
This vehicle was a heavy tank of a previous generation. Slab sided and efficient looking, the M1 was armoured with a steel-faced sapphire and composite sandwich. Over 1 metre thick on the turret and frontal armour this offered protection against most current weapon systems up to an including 10cm power guns. Being one of the first AFV's fitted with a 15cm powergun, the M1 was a 'heavy hitter' compared to competitive vehicles of the time. Massing at over 130 tonnes and with eight 1.3 metre fans providing thrust into a steel, inward slanting plenum chamber, the M1 could travel at 120kph. Defensive measures included a flechette machine gun fitted to a small commander's turret, later replaced by a 1cm auto powergun. ADS strips covered the frontal and side arcs with static, ceramic 'stand off' plates on the rear of the vehicle.
Variants included a turret-less tank destroyer version (the M11) mounting the same main weapon but in a lower chassis with extra frontal armour and the M46 20cm Rocket Assisted Howitzer, which uses a much lighter variant of the hull M1 hull. The M46 is in use with various standing armies and mercenary units. Because of its modular construction, the M1 chassis is still very popular with maintenance crews and the design flexibility enables it to be utilised in a number of different configurations. The M46 has only four fans and lift is reduced commensurately but – with a lighter turret – the overall combat weight, depending on model, is between 40 and 60 tonnes so performance is only slightly degraded.
The final M1 variant – the M1A6 – has a mass of 145 tonnes with extra armour packs, an anti mine net pod fitted into a new frontal armour panel, a 2cm tribarrel in a new commander's cupola (having dispensed with the mini turret) and all round ADS. Top speed has been reduced to 100kph and many consider the vehicle overloaded, however, until the arrival of the M2 series, the M1A6 was one of the most potent tanks in service and will continue to feature on TOE's for a considerable period of time.
Starting afresh, Icarus planned the M2 as an entirely new departure with a hull manufactured from a one piece casting of solid iridium with the turret formed in a similar process. This threatened to increase the all up combat weight to over 170 tonnes and – even with new and very powerful 1.5 metre turbine fans fitted – a speed of 120kph was only attained by making the plenum chamber from plain armoured steel rather than the planned steel faced, beryllium and iridium lattice re-enforced material that had been specified at the design stage.
Combat trials were made of the M2 with a 15cm Power gun, as fitted to the previous M1 series. This proved the concept and a small batch were manufactured in this configuration. The first major variant was the M2A1, which was up-gunned with the 20cm powergun as its main weapon.
Again to save weight, the M2 dispensed with the commanders 'mini turret' fitted to the M1 design and all marks have a simple cupola with a 2cm tribarrel fitted as standard.
The heavy, domed turret which accounts for 38 tonnes of the vehicles weight, spins on frictionless magnetic bearings. One person can spin the turret by hand, given sufficient time, and there are crank handles deployed internally to achieve this, although in practice this is only ever performed in the workshop: the gearing is such that over 600 turns of the handle are required to turn the turret through 360 degrees!
The main weapon, whose barrel is 3m long, has a short breech assembly which is fed by 20cm plastic ammunition discs from a 20 round 'ready magazine' however the vehicle itself carries over 800 rounds in total. Although it would induce excessive barrel wear, the ready magazine can be emptied in well under a minute. To reduce this deterioration in the integrity of the barrel tube, rapid fire is usually reduced to a 'double tap' often used to push through friable or non-compacted defences.
Mine clearance is achieved with a similar unit to that fitted to the other vehicles from the same manufacturer although the system designed for the M2 is the largest fitted to any non-specialist mine clearing vehicle. A large, 12cm tri-rocket mortar drags an explosive mesh 'net' to a distance of around 500 metres and, with a width of between 5 and 20 metres, clears a path around 400 metres deep (starting 100 metres or so from the vehicle bow). This 'net' is then detonated clearing a mine-free path in front of the vehicle. Combat use has shown this system to be almost completely effective.
Because of the increase in efficiency of the 'Booster' – the artificial intelligence suite - the M2 has a crew of just two (reduced from 3 on the M1). The driver's position is almost central at the front of the hull, just forward and left of the turret front with an access hatch and vision aids. The turret has a cupola with similar vision aids on the roof for the commander/gunner. The single crew person turret is fitted with a large stowage basket at the rear, as – despite their size – the M2 series is not spacious internally.
As with most applications of the 2cm tribarrel, it is fitted on a curved pintel mount, with the magazine feed tube coming up through its swivel. There is a conical shaped sensor array on the roof of the turret usually with at least one radio aerial – this is usually painted red on Hammer's tanks as a close identification aid.
The M2 series are powered by a Westal AE5 fusion power plant at the hull rear which lifts its 170 tonnes mass on eight armoured fans (hence the name 'Blowers') with shielded oval intakes in 'shoulders' on the upper hull. Speeds of up to 120 kph can be achieved on paved surfaces.
The M2 has insufficient power to lift more than 15cm on the power of its fans alone and generally skims above the terrain using 'ground effect'. In addition, the vehicles mass – like the M1 before it – precludes the crossing of deep water.
The M2 has spawned a number of variants. As already detailed, after the initial M2, the M2A1 was the first to be fitted with the 20cm main powergun.
The M2A2 was an experimental vehicle and carried a rather less massive turret than the A1. The shape was unusual having a 'scooped out' area to either side of the main weapon – a high intensity 5cm powergun. These scooped out sections carried armoured binnacles, each housing 8 guided anti-armour missiles. The rationale was that although the 5cm weapon had insufficient penetration to destroy another tank in the same class – except at virtually point blank range – it was quite capable of knocking out APC's and combat cars over a considerable distance.
The fitted missile load employed the 'Kestrel' ATGW, which used missiles with internal AI system. The field usage of the M2A2 was problematic, however, with the AI often being fooled by non vehicle based targets and counter measures. In addition, although the 5cm weapon has a proven track record, its use against heavy targets was unsatisfactory. The Kestrel is still employed on lighter AFV's but the M2A2 is rarely seen in combat.
The M2A3 has a smaller turret than any of the previous models and is fitted with a 17cm, ruby wave-guide laser. With those adherents of lasers as main tank weapons, the A3 was very popular.
The latest model of the M2 is the M2A4. This is fitted with the latest AI suite and the steel plenum chamber strengthened with the beryllium and iridium lattice re-enforced material that had been originally planned. The fan units are more efficient with a second layer of blades so performance is retained at a similar level to previous models. The power system is upgraded with a second smaller Westal AE7 fusion bottle to supplement the primary unit. A new technology has been developed by Icarus for polishing the interior of the barrel on the L14 20cm powergun increasing its life-span by 50% and extending its tolerance to rapid fire. Main weapon ammunition stowage has been reconfigured to make it safer in the event of a hull breech although this – and the extra fusion bottle - has reduced capacity to 600 rounds.
Last in this list of improvements on the M2A4 are a pair of 12cm Ground-penetrator rockets mounted in the rear hull and fired through the plenum chamber. Guided by the vehicles sensors and AI the vehicle can be positioned by the 'Booster' over tunnel systems or underground chambers and the penetrators fired directly downwards into the soil. The weapons will travel up to 3m in average soil densities, although this is reduced to 1.5m in rocky ground. When arriving at the AI/Sensor guided anticipated target depth – perhaps an open space or a concrete slab – the warhead will detonate.
An up armoured version of the M2A4 has recently entered service. It's likely classification is the M2A4UA (for 'Up Armoured'). This has an additional belt of armour around the turret affording it a rather more squat and angular appearance. The armour is comprised of a spaced layer of iridium and ceramic cells designed to disrupt the warheads of incoming missiles and buzzbombs.
Two variants of specialist Command Tanks are made: the M2A2F and M2A4F. In both cases, a larger turret is fitted, less domed and more slab-sided. This has space for two extra crew – a commander and a comms operator. Overall weight is almost identical to the regular model at around 170 tonnes. This is achieved by thinning the iridium turret walls to around three quarters that of a gun tank. Weapon fitment of the F models is the same as the A2 and A4 respectively although main round storage is 500 on the A2F and 400 on the A4F. Two cupolas are fitted to the turret, with a side hatch for the comms officer, but only one tribarrel is fitted. The M2A4F carries no rocket penetrator rounds.
Icarus are rumoured to be working on a 25cm powergun equipped, non turreted, tank destroyer based on this chassis but are hampered by the lack of a suitable weapon. The only available gun has a very low rate of fire and an extensive upgrade to the standard liquid nitrogen cooling system will need to be implemented if the weapon is to meet the manufacturer's specifications.