Arca I Cougar

Artist'sRendition
Arca. I Cougar Main Battle Tanks
General characteristics
Crew	4
Length	9.2 m
Width	3.9 m
Height	2.7 m
Weight	87 t
Armour and armament
Armour	2250mm vs. KE and 2900mm vs. CE
Main armament	140mm ETC with coiling
Secondary armament	3x 7.92mm MG, 1x 50mm mortar, 1x 5.56mm mini-CIWS
Mobility
Power plant	Quarbine.271.A56 2000bhp
Suspension	Tortion Bar
Road speed	44 km/h
Power/weight	22.9 hp/h
Range	490 km

The Arca I Cougar project was born after a long interactive inquiry on the cost effectiveness of the Panzerkampfwaggen IX BredtSvert, and an analyzing of modern combat virtues and the necessity of many of the extraneous sensor equipment not only on the BredtSvert, but on most other tanks exported, or used, around the world. Indeed, most widely used tanks, reknown for their 'strengths' have so many redundencies that eliminate their effectivity when it comes to the amount of money put into them, and that's exactly what the Arca project wanted to avoid. Therefore, the BredtSvert was chopped, upgraded, and turned into the Arca I 'Cougar', and just like how the BredtSvert was designed to cut the fat from the Mutawallis, the Cougar is designed to the slim the BredtSvert, and still forge into a main battle tank that is considerably more powerful, but less expensive, than its predecessor.

Nonetheless, the project itself was more expensive to undertake since it included the testing of several new structural products, including new building materials to make certain parts more effective. The largest, and most contreversial, change was the upgrade of the 120mm electro-thermal chemical [ETC] main gun to a full fledge 140mm ETC with electro-magnetic [EM] rifling, which brought certain problems but where all overtaken given time. The Cougar also offers advances in armor design without increasing relative true width and weight, although the tank is heavier than any of its predecessor, and without actually increasing cost by a significant amount. The greatest advantange given to the tank is the addition of a total of six square centimeters distributed in respect to the crew cabins, giving the crew greater comfort without increasing weight, profile [height], or length/width by a substantial amount.

The tank has been held to be a much better option that most other main battle tanks to date, simply because of its simplicity relative to other main battle tanks, namely the 'eigth generation' [which is more eigth generation in the amout of superflous charactiristics it doesn't need to employ] Sver battle tank, produced and exported by Soviet Bloc, and the M-125A1 produced by The Silver Sky, amongst various others. Still, the clear cut quality of the tanks named are not to be underestimated. The only real difference is the effeciency, the cost, and the fact that the Cougar gives the same, or more, with less. Indeed, the only tank which has been equated to this tank in terms of general quality, in the same financial scale, is the Iron Cheeta II PADSHA main battle tank, produced and exported by Clan Smoke Jaguar, which also has a cheaper price tag than the Cougar, but has lesser rolled homogenous armored values.

In terms of the ideology behind the design the Cougar follows the new mindset of the high command, specialization. Take for example the shortstop system. Why add it to each and every tank when you can equip it on either a single tank, such as a command version, or to a cheap light skinned vehicle, and create an umbrella from a single vehicle, just like it was originally designed to do so, instead of having overlapping shortstop defensive umbrellas. It illustrates the extraneous costs several ultramodern main battle tanks have, and what the Cougar is attempting to 'drive' away from, excuse the pun. But at the same time, the Cougar is designed to be superior to its competition. But, it took a different approach to the goal, and instead of adding more worthless systems it focused on what was immediate necessary and what was essential for the survivability of the tank, and the product shadowed this theory, and to many the Cougar is the epitome of effectiveness without the 'love handles', if you will.

The Ejermacht has ordered the full replacement of their BredtSverts within four years, providing for about eighteen thousand, give or take a few, Ausfva. As [Ausva standing for variant in Dienstadi]. Kriegzimmer has also prepared itself for exportation abroad, which is expected to go by the thousands of units, asking a lot from Kriegzimmer. Consequently, the conglomerate has decided to supply the Empire slower than their other clients, simply because the Ejermacht General Staff has expressed that their needs aren't immediate, especially since the BredtSvert is still a competent design, and still a competitor, to the tanks that the Cougar is trying to exceed. There are spreading rumors, however, that the Ejermacht is looking for fewer units, but with greater tactical and topographical operations in future wars, meaning that more tanks aren't completely necessary, and will save untold amounts of money in the process, however, these rumors have not been confirmed, and as of now they don't have substantial evidence to take as gospel. Nevertheless, the theory is truly interesting and entirely possible, and might not be something that the General Staff is throwing away.

Future exportation nonwithstanding, the Cougar is truly a competitor for the foreign market, and is likely to see wide use throughout international militaries, including the militaries of partners Truitt and Hailandkill who put minor work into the design. The former has decided to incororate a smaller, less powerful version, dubbed the Ausfva. B, while the latter pushed for changes regarding the mortar system, which were taken to heart. The result is amazing.

Armour and Value

The armor is composed of four principle layers, all analyzed and put in order in which it would best serve the tank and the final rolled homogenous value. It was originally claimed that the armor of the Cougar was extremely different from that of the BredtSvert, and that it was also cheaper. Although this statement will be further explained in detail below, it should be said that the most important changes were made for the general effectivity of the armor design, the BredtSvert's armor actually overrated for its description. That's not to claim that the BredtSvert's armor should be considered much less than it was rated at, it just shouldn't be considered prime quality armor, as it was originally advertised as.

On the Cougar, the first layer of armor, just like on the BredtSvert, is a series of Kontackt-5 explosive reactive armour [ERA], providing a theoritical three hundred millimeter rolled homogenous value against kinetic energy [KE] penetrators, and five hundred millimeters versus high explosive anti-tank [HEAT;CE] warheads. However, these values should be taken like a grain of salt, as the concept of ERA actually allows for greater values depending on the angle the penetration is coming from, and simply because of the nature of ERA. Indeed, the penetrator is supposed to be deviated from its trajectory, slowing acceleration, knocking off some parts of its mass, and consequently, using one of the simplest physics formulas of force is equivalent to mass multiplied by acceleration, the ultimate conclusion is a penetrator hitting with substantially lesser force that it was originally designed to do so.

Nonetheless, modern armour piercing fin stabalized discaring sabots [APFSDS] rounds have been sold to be able to penetrate these latest levels of ERA, and so consequently, the secondary layer is made up of a series of blocks of non-explosive reactive armor, or NxRA, providing for a further one hundred and fifty millimeters versus KE and some six hundred millimeters versus CE. This should provide not only greater values, but the added mass, without the explosives, should also put the mass of the ERA, making the total armor values of both ERA and NxRA layers together at around five hundred millimeters versus KE and one thousand two hundred [1200] millimeters versus CE. To avoid disastrous consequences with the movement of NxRA and the dislodging of ERA blocks in between the two layers there is a very slight sliver of Nitronic allowing the bottom layer to wiggle around with effecting the top layer.

This nonwithstanding, a third layer was added, using brand new technology referred to as Collapsible Armored Plating [COCEP]. The idea was designed to supplement the ERA and NxRA and it would most likely not have the same values if it was to be used with a different combination or even alone. The theory is that the now slowed down penetrator would be faced by plates of high density ceramic platings, that were constructed with relatively high mass, and this would not only further slow down the penetrator, but it would most likely stop it. In addition, the collapsing plating would also serve as an entrapment for the shell, hitting it along the sides as it collapsed and thus forcing it to expend more energy, and thus heightening the chances to stop the penetrator altogether. COCEP has not been battle tested in this particular case, but similar ideas have throughout other countries and other main battle tank designs.

The fourth and final layer is a standard layer of chobham composite armor, including depleted uranium strands weaved around a matrix to add armored strength, and the enlargement of the plating, has given this layer higher ratings that the chobham used by both the Challenger II and the Abrams M1A2 main battle tanks, without radical changes in the design of the armor itself; only changes that are obviously enhancing to serve the means of the armor, which would be to increase mass and density, and thus resistivity in terms of the electromagnetic force offered to counteract the force of the penetrator, without increasing the size of the plate.

The total and final values of the four layers of armor for the Cougar sit at two thousand two hundred and fifty millimeters [2250mm] of rolled homogenous value at the strongest point against KE penetration and two thousand nine hundred millimeters [2900mm] against CE penetration at , of course, sixty degrees, offering the Cougar 'not to be messed with' values, but aren't exactly as expensive as armored complexes offered on main battle tanks such as the Phalanx or the Svez. However, unfortunately, maintenance costs have been rated to be similar to other main battle tank designs.

Main Armament

The Cougar is upgunned from the BredtSvert, displaying a full fledge 140mm ETC gun with EM rifling, giving it enough power to slap a APFSDS round into the toughest armor available. The entire gun is powered by an independent battery unit, powered by the Q.271.A56, offering 900 volts using a regenerative coil for recharging. With original testing putting power output of the battery powering a 120mm ETC at 600 volts it was felt that the 900 volt battery was more than enough to power the upgunned Cougar, and the engineers turned out to be correct with their stipulations. The EM rifling of the gun caused the problem that the multiple turns of the shell within the muzzle actually prejudiced the shell and the resulting velocity and acceleration, causing it to have a smaller force at the point of impact, and so the coils of the gun were widened to allow the lengthened shell to have more space to turn, and less turns, solving the problem. The 140mm has a length of forty calibres, giving it the full designation of a 140mm L/40 main gun, giving it a length of four and eight tenths of a meter, giving it quite the powerful punch. To make sure that the gun doesn't buckle after repeated use the tank does employ a small, almost unseen support structure at the very beginning of the gun, jutting out of the turret of the tank. The gun is enshrouded with a thermal coat, although heat expenditure is actually less than what many expect due to reasons described below.

The standard ammuntion type is a 7.3 kilogram armor piercing fin stabalized discarding sabot, crafted out of depleted uranium to offer a much more dense material as opposed to lead and tungsten. The lighter ammunition was chosen over the heavier ammunition over principals of the taxing of the autoloader, or human loader, depending on variants of the tank, and the fact that a heavier round offers less acceleration. The standard acceleration value for the main gun of the Cougar is Mach 6, translating to 2041 meters per second; it is to say, the round would hit with a force of 14,899 Newtons. A heavier round would exit the chamber at an acceleration of around Mach 4.5, and let's use a mass value of 9 kilograms. The total force in this case would be 13,779 Newtons. The difference is substantial. So, the lighter round has a better penetration value than the heavier round, despite the fact that it has less mass. The optimal range of the round is under one thousand meters, although the gun and round has a maximum range exceeding a theoritical six thousand meters, although an accurate hit at that range is highly unlikely.

The gun can also fire a host of other rounds, including specially designed HEAT and HE rounds, both made to fit the larger barrel of the gun. The gun can also expel anti-tank guided munitions, although the readily built in autoloader is not designed to be able to load said munitions, although again, it would be technically possible.

To optimize the potential of the gun, making sure there is the least energy loss due to friction and subsequent heat production, all electrical currents, including the EM rifling and electrical jolt to form the plasma that charges the chemical propellant of the ETC gun, are run through a titanium superconducter. The technology was recently designed for naval applications and expected to make its debut on the American DDX.

The autoloader also adresses several issues that pertain to older autoloader designs, and is built isolated from the fighting compartment to make it less suceptible to damage, and vice versa if you will. The single ramming movement of the loader also averts high maintenance and complex trajectory operations, while the autoloader itself moves away from the carousel idea and into the rifle clip idea introduced by the Russian Black Eagle. It is to say, the autoloader is expendable after the set amount of roudns of the tank are expended the autoloader is taken out through relatively fast and simple maintenance efforts and a new one is put in. The old autoloader is returned and recycles for future efforts. The entire change would take less than an hour, and actually decreases reloading time for tanks, much like it did on rifles. It's also not necessarilly more expensive, as opposed to the carousel which would actually exceed costs due to need for high maintenance efforts.This autoloader, with the larger tank, has a capacity of thirty 140mm rounds, with a cycle time of four seconds.

The weight of the gun on the turret and subsequent velocities of gyration for the turret are supplemented by electromagnetic ball bearings allowing the turret to metaphorically 'sit on air', giving it a faster velocity of gyration within the context of the weight of the gun itself, compensating for what would have otherwise been a slower reaction time, offsetting the increase in calibre and diametter of the muzzle. The design problem was not actually solved by Macabee engineers, and rather by a subsequent inquiry by Scandinavian States.

Secondary Armament

In terms of secondary armament the Cougar MBT includes three 7.92mm machineguns. The three machineguns are offered for the tank commander, driver and electronics manager, and as opposed to newer main battle tank models actually revert to the older system employed by German panzers. It is to say, the gun, although having limited field of fire, is controlled through a lever system which seeps into the crew compartment for easy handling by the respective user of the guns. Nonetheless, with the inclusion of three guns field of fire can't be used in the same context as most angles are covered by the three guns, although admittently there are a few blindspots, although this shouldn't be a major issue regardless due to the nature of modern armored combat.

The Arca I also has a 50mm mortar carrying a small amount of rounds destined as smoke generators, although few countries have expressed their plans to use it as further fire suppressants, regardless of arguments put up by the Ejermacht. Nonetheless, the principal motivation for the mortar is to create smoke screens to give tactical advantage in certain enviroments, and similar systems have been used quite successfully on the Merkava IV main battle tank, currently used by Israel.

Finally, the Arca I Cougar utilizes a 7.92mm mini-CIWS top gun, using an extremely short range multi-pulse lidar apperatus as a range finder, and the tank's general multiband millimeter radar, to track incoming projectiles, and in specific, incoming losats and HEAT warheads. The accuracy cannot be compared to the much larger CIWS on a ship, but the effect is easily observable with less tank losses over time on an infantry prominent battlefield. Indeed, out of all the systems dropped this was received special attention, and in the end it was decided to keep it. The gun fires specifically armor piercing kinetic penetrators to have the strength to either destroy or skew the trajectory of an incoming rocket.

Fire and Control System

The Arca I uses an updated version of Brass, the FCS system introduced with the BredtSvert years ago. Although the entire process takes only milliseconds worth of time, it can be broken up into several distinct levels of operation. First, the FCS systems gathers all low resolution imagery, infra-red imagery, high resolution imagery and infra-red imagery, radar information and sensor information. Using all of this the FCS system can detect vehicle position, orientation and range, as well as provide accurate ballistic solutions, and preform threat solutions with fast countermeasure expenditure. This information is displayed to the crew, communicated with tanks in the same information network, and translated into the tank armament, providing the Cougar with one of the best fire and control systems currently do date. In fact, there is information to back up the claim, and proof that the upgraded Brass is one of a kind.

For high and low resolution imagery the tank is equipped with two seperate digital cameras, feeding raw data to avoid pixel compression. Although there is room for mistakes from the feed and subsequent algorithms, the feature is on other designs and well liked, regardless of the criticism given.

The entire system has been dubbed 'Cornerstone', and as advertised, Cornerstone has the ability to track up to fifteen targets and deliver accurate information on said targets to the crew. Furthermore, with Conernstone the gun would be able to fire on the move, adding a distinct advantage, as it keeps the tank almost constantly moving during combat operations.

Sensor Equipment

The Cougar has an infra-red range finder, as do most tanks, as well as two individual multi-frequency lidar transmitters, one for the CIWS and one for the FCS itself, each placed in respective areas of the tank in accordance to their job. The multiband lidar avoids jamming, which is probable on the range finder, and offers an alternate to the prior sensor system. There's also a single ladar which offers a high concentration alternative to the lidar, although is also jammable, although current main battle tank designs don't offer jamming equipment for the ladar transmitter. All three individual arrays use the second generation gaussian transmitter with the electrophonotic rays, which has always been the distinct advantage of Macabee lidar and ladar transmitters on all of their equipment designs.

Radar sensors include a multiband millimeter radar array, offering short range radio wave coverage of the battlefield and an additional defensive and offensive system for the Cougar, although the Cougar is not outfitted with the sheer range of radars that other tanks are, simply becasue it wasn't felt that these tanks were necessary, and indeed, after analyzation it's found that most of these systems were added on other tanks as 'icing on the cake' if you will, to sell more units, which is not the primary goal of the Arca I project.

The tanks also has an excellent nuclear, biological and chemical defensive suit, enclosing all parts of the crew compartment. As a supplement it also has rudimentary protection against electromagnetic pulse [EMP] weapons, as EMP weapons have risen to their zenith for usage in conventional combat applications.

Power Plant

The engine of the tank is a two thousand brake horsepower [bhp] quasiturbine design. Bhp indicates the horsepower left after the engine is revved, since the engine looses horsepower in the process. There were a host of problems concerning the quasiturbine, including the fact that the engine was due to expand and contract, although the principal material of construction for prior quasiturbines were iron alloys which are prone to expansion and contraction due to creep and heat. In order to alleviate the problem the Cougar's engine, or the Quarbine.271.A56, is built out of a nickel-based superalloy, with somewhat high Chromium concentrations. The exact superalloy is referred to as CMSX-6, offering a lighter alternative to the older CMSX-4, and according to thermomechanical fatigue [TMF] testing, including the research on fatigue charactiristics in anisothermal and isothermal enviroments, the CMSX-6 is superior to most other monocrystalline nickel based superalloys in the market.

However, as underscored by the primary thesis of the argument for this engine, the problem wasn't truly the fatigue of the engine, it was thermal expansion, and for that the project engineers had to look into past developments of low thermal expansion resistance superalloys, and for that the team ripped a page from Space Union's book, finally applying an Inconel superalloy, released by Inco Alloys International, Incorporation. The final decision rested with a secondary, and inferior, layer of Inconel 783, covering the interior of the CMSX-6 frame of the Q.271.A56. Depending on the concentrations of Nickel the engine has been rated to be able to exceed heat resistance pas 649 degrees celcius, while there is small fatigue and crack effects when passing 700 degrees celcius. However, under optimum concentrations Inconel 783 has been tested to resist temperatures of up to 1121 degrees celcius.

All engine junctions and extraneous parts, with the quasiturbine lacks a lot of, are composed of ceramic, classified as a first rate alternative to the metalloid superalloy. The primary job description of the ceramic is to provide effective design solutions for a robust axial junction part to the engine, allowing for a greater lifespan of the engine, decreasing maintenance costs almost immediately, something that is always prime within the minds of the engineers who design main battle tanks. Because of the make-up which this engine incorporates the Q.271.A56 is one of the least advance, but most effecient, tank engine designs currently in use internationally, and the tank engine itself has been offered for sale, although exact price specifications have not been released to the general public.

In order to take full advantage of the brake horsepower, and theoritically even increase it, the engine is connected to the rest of the tank through an electromagnetic drive train, which although the information is relatively little, prior testing had rated it as one of the best drivetrain designs for modern main battle tanks. The drivetrain's transmission follows suit with most of the transmissions introduced by the Kriegzimmer conglomerate, amounting to a two stick transmission system, offering five groups and eight gears for each group, offering a total of forty gears, which is almost triple to the amount of gears offered on your standard John Deer tractor, which gives the Cougar a very good weight to gear ratio. The transmission is entirely conventional, allowing for relative simplicity in the design and for easier and faster maintenance on the run.

Lastly, the tank's suspension is entirely hydropneumatic, a system first exported by Citroen, a French automobile company. The suspension is more compact, further comfort for the crew, no changes in the handling with decreases or increases in pure mass, and most importantly, the system doesn't seem to suffer anymore on poor roads, as opposed to driving on good road conditions, although the latter is always preffered. Just as important, the suspension is easily changed in terms of the tension of the system, even during combat operations, making it more accessible for the crew, and less time consuming.

Crew Compartment: The crew compartment's major advantage is the added comfort. In theory the advantage of Western tanks over Soviet tanks was the fact that the crew had more space to operate in, raising crew comfort, increasing moral, thus giving better operational output, which took notice when tanks of both sides fought over the deserts of Israel and the Sinai Peninsula over the span of five wars. The major reason for the increased crew compartment and the largest change was the addition of six square centimeters in the crew compartment, and the fact that the copula of the tank expands outwards, without necessarilly increasing the profile of the tank. In fact, the Cougar has been rated as one of the most preferred tanks to drive by international crews.

Although the Golden Throne doesn't like to admit it, the crew cabins also include internal cooling systems for the crew, to avoid heat complexes that tank crew members may have at any given point. This does add to the complexity of the crew cabin but it's not significant in any respect, and is rather preferred. The crew has always been first for the military, and the machine second.

The commander has a full range of liquid matrix display screens that are fully polychromatic stored in slightly armored inlets within strategical areas of the tank that offer the commander a full three hundred degree view of the battlefield. There is also a polychromatic display screen array for the driver but these focus on strategic areas for driving, including blind spots of the tank. Nonetheless, the feed is the same from some of the cameras used by the commander. The camera system has been used before on Israeli tanks and the strength of the camera system seems to become clear in urban combat, or tight combat, situations, but against the system would have to be tested under actual combat and it may be that later versions of the Arca I Cougar will not have the same camera system, opting for something cheaper.

Ausva. [Variant] B

Variant B of the Cougar was designed for Truitt. It featured a downscaled gun, and with a lower weight, designed to be a mainstay main battle tank for his military. It was never implemented in huge amounts, and in the end it was never chosen as the main main battle tank for the Osean military.

Ausva. [Variant] C

Combat History