RS-4 Spiker Rifle
Design
The RS-4 Spiker Rifle, a classic Rail Gun, was built by Armatech Industries for the Kaukolastani military under the Universal Advanced Combat Project. The weapon is shaped like a modified break-action shotgun, although the bore is smaller, the barrel thicker and ringed in cooling coils, held out by arcs of nano-tubule filled glass. at the end of the barrel, there is a small parabolic mirror to deflect heat. In front of the break action, there is a rubber grip, and a release to drop the barrel. The trigger is set on a downcurve of the stock, and there is a receiver behind the trigger, midway through the stock. On the top of the weapon, there is a blocky FLOSA scope, which projects onto an LCD screen facing the user, or can link into the BatteNet and display as a HUD inside the soldier's Tactical Visor or ISA Tactical Glasses. The entire assembly is longer than a conventional rifle, at four feet long, and barrel is isolated from harmonic interference by the spacing between the plastics and the metal, as well as by shock absorbers at the base and the Active Sound Cancellation device attatched to the end of the barrel itself.
How it Works
The "clip" that is loaded into the rear receiver is actually a room temperature superconductor capacitor coil, looping enough charge to fire the Spiker thirty times before replacement. Upon turning off the safety (which is a trigger safety set by a half pull) on the RS-4, the capacitor loop breaks, and the power flows into the dual rail assembly of the gun. The loaded ammunition, a 5mm tungsten carbide rod encased in a magnetic sabot, is held in the rear of the rail assembly, isolated from the fields by an interrupt switch. When the trigger is pulled, the interrupt is removed, and the power levels in the weapon surge from the capacitor through the entire length of the rails, up the bottom rail and back down the top rail to meet in the ammunition chamber. The blast of fields pulses the magnetic sabot into the barrel, where it is accelerated to speeds in excess of five thousand feet per second by the dual rail. During this acceleration, the shot begins to covert to plasma, and upon contact with the cooler air outside the end of the barrel, the air mass around the barrel cooks off, instantly heated to thousands of degrees. The heat is focused away from the user by the parabolic mirror, but the concussive "slap" of the round being fired can be felt for up to ten meters, and the flash is nearly blinding. During this heat-blast, the sabot is incinerated, and the plasma/TC rail projectile flings towards the target.
The impact of the TC rail and its plasma corona is devastating. The projectile will easily punch through up to a decimeter of reinforced carbon-steel. Upon contact with a hydrodynamic mass, such as a human body, the shockwave in the water generated from the rail's impact will exceed the capacity of the water to retain or transfer it, and the entire mass (ie: person) will be vaporized by a massive pneumatic impulse. The excessive heat of the round, especially in the plasma corona, causes a secondary blast upon first impact, resulting in an explosion akin to a stick of dynamite, while the residual heat can melt any steel the round touches for an additional thirty seconds.
After being fired, the Spiker is broken open at the hinge, and a new rail is loaded into the barrel. This simple and lengthy mechanism serves as a mechanical failsafe to slow the firing rate down to a sustainable level, and the pumping action manually works the coolant flush. Do to the extreme conditions of the Spiker Rifle during, and immeadiately following, firing, as little mechanical fine mechanical parts or electronics are used in the gun as possible, resulting in an amazingly "simple" rail gun.
The main piece of digital hardware on the weapon is the top-mounted FLOSA scope, or Forward Looking, Objective Sensor Array. It combines thermal imaging, NVG, sonar, radar, lidar, and even a limited X-band scanner to identify and correlate targets, no matter what cover they may seek. It is also tied into the BattleNet, and will display the position of any allied personelle, to prevent blue on blue from over-penetration. Capable of registering targets through ten meters of steel, the FLOSA scope allows the Spiker's user to harness the penetration abilities of the rifle with accuracy and without fear of friendly fire.
Purpose
The Spiker Rifle is designed to be used in a support role, as a Squad Marksman's weapon. Do to the power and slow refire rate of the RS-4, most soldiers are still issued the UCR, SAG ACR, or SAG-2. However, the benefit of one or two RS-4s in a unit is more than enough to outweigh the low fire rates. Capable of picking the crew out of armored units, of penetrating almost any armor, and of striking a target behind any cover or defilade, the Spiker allows an infantryman to hit back with the power of an armored unit. Combined with the fact that even a near-miss with the Spiker will kill, due to the Hydrodynamic Shock and heat blast, this is a weapon found at nearly every level of the Kaukolastani military.
