HK-36
The Iron Lord Protector (Neutral Good)
Image: Taken from a blog called Astronotes by Colin Johnston, Science Communicator, a picture of the real-life design of such a weapon called Project Thor by Jerry Pournelle (link here)
Intent: To create a high-orbit kinetic bombardment weapon to be used as a tunk-buster and anti-artillery orbital bombardment weaponry.
Development Thread: If necessary, the weapon was developed based on the issue Mandalorians had combating Sith artillery during Invasion of Dromund Kaas, and while researching my Mass Driver and watching video analyzing use of such weapons in Call of Duty: Ghosts (Never played it, actually)
Manufacturer: Abregado-Rae Guild of Hammers
Model: High Velocity Kinetic Firearm- High Orbital Kinetic Bombardment-1
Affiliation: Barony of Abregado-Rae, Partially Omega Protectorate (See Production)
Modularity: Can be mounted as pods to different vessels, however, it is recommended for it to be used in heavy dropships and gunships. Comes in single-tube variant as well as a six-tube revolving barrel variant.
Production: Minor (Enough to supply the Iron Company and Militia of Abregado-Rae, any additional production would require a development thread with backing from another manufacturing company, i.e. Omega Corps buying off the design to manufacture the weapon for Protectorate forces)
Material: Durasteel, Tungsten, Echani Graphite
Description: During the debriefing of the Invasion of Dromund Kaas, one thing became apparent to HK, the use of artillery groups by the Sith forces and the difficulty Mandalorians had when facing them. The problem was that the artillery groups utilized anti-aircraft emplacements, making bombing runs against them risky, as ships could be lost in such runs. What worked was a strategy used by Mandalorians, sending an infantry team to deal with it, although that was risky as well, and the strategy HK would prefer to use, bombard the artillery positions from altitude higher than that the anti-aircraft guns could reach, i.e. orbital bombardment.
Problem with that was, the presence of the Sith fleet and the size of the ships that were capable of such bombardments, and their lack of speed, made such strategy inefficient as their ship movement would be noticed and the artillery could be adjusted, or the ships intercepted by enemy counter-maneuver.
What HK needed for Gados to develop was a gun small enough to be used on smaller ships like gunships or dropships, which could get in position quickly and before enemy could notice, and with enough kick to take care of an artillery or emplacement position from high orbit.
It was rather a lot to ask, but fortunately, the Gados had an idea for just the thing. Kinetic Orbital Bombardment System utilizing their advanced rail-gun technology they were able to rip off of the Verpine. Thanks, Verpine!
The idea is pretty simple on paper, a magnetic launching tube would be mounted on a pod attached to a gunship or dropship, something larger with enough engine power to carry a system like that and withstand its recoil while being smaller than a corvette. The tube would be loaded with an arrow-like rod projectile, made from durasteel to react to the magnetic systems, with outer shell of Echani Graphite on the shaft to withstand friction and temperature of atmosphere entry, and a core made of tungsten for additional weight, for that extra kick. The tube launches the rod at a high initial velocity expected from a rail gun system that size, ensuring that even when bombarding planetoids with little to no gravitational pull there would be a threshold of minimal kinetic energy released upon impact with the planet's surface, anything else gained through additional acceleration due to gravitational pull is just extra kick.
As such, this weapon is ideal for quick tactical strikes, the projectiles are considerably small, only 2 meters in length, but fired at incredibly high speeds, making shooting them down or intercepting in other ways incredibly difficult, at least without use of a planetary shield. Upon impact the rods unleash their kinetic energy, striking a considerably small area but creating a deep crater of effect, while this is not to destroy a whole city or army in one shot, it is enough to decimate a fortified position or underground position, like underground laboratories, bunker systems, or artillery positions.
While these systems can be used against ships in a bombing run, they are not meant to. They are a dumbfire projectile, meaning they cannot seek their own target, they'll just go straight, and they are loaded in rather small ammunition counts, minimum 2 projectiles, maximum 12 in two barrels of 6. While a one projectile could decimate a ship system in a precise strike, i.e. impacting reactor or shield systems with it, it would work only against a bare hull, shield systems of a ship would most likely deflect the projectile although could take a large hit from the kinetic energy released upon them, overloading the shielding systems with multiple strikes. Therefore, it would be best used against Capital Ships who are not moving and have their shields weakened or deactivated, but then one could just bombard the ship like that with capital weapons to finish the job.
Now, let's talk about the drawbacks of this weapon, the one already mention is the low ammunition count, with the launching pods coming in either variants that hold just one arrow-rod or six, this means that when using this weapon, the strike will better count, for the launching tubes need to be reloaded in a hangar of a capital ship by a team of technicians.
Another drawback is the weight of the weapon, caused partially by the weight of the rods themselves, or to be precise, the dense tungsten cores within them. That is why these weapons cannot be mounted on smaller vehicles like fighters of bombers, a vessel like that may not be able to lift up such a weapon and use it properly. While single-tube variant would be manageable by smaller dropships and gunships, such as the 14.7 meters long Peregrine Gunship, the larger six-tubed revolving variants of the weapon need to be mounted on the more powerful heavy dropships and heavy gunships, such as the 38.9 meters long Inimica Heavy Gunship, as those ships would have strong enough engines to lift the systems up.
Third drawback is the recoil of the weapon and lack of sound dampeners in the systems. Due to the recoil it is recommended that a ship would go into hover-mode and stabilized before using this weapon, otherwise while moving, the rail guns could cause enough push-back to knock the ship off-course or even for the pilot to loose control over it. Now the lack of sound dampeners, it was a method used by Gados to cut back on the costs and weight of the weapon systems, however, this means that these weapon systems cannot be used in atmosphere.
If sound waves are able to form, they cannot be used. The projectiles go into hyper-velocity inside the tubes, propelled by the rail guns in speed faster than sound. While this has no effect on the guns in high-orbits, altitude high enough that it is outside of atmosphere and without presence of air, inside atmosphere the tubes would be damaged, if not exploded, by the rods breaking sound barrier and propelling the air. Usually sound dampeners would prevent that, but again, there is no sound dampeners in these systems, for they are meant to be used from space, and in space no one can hear you scream.
Last drawback is aiming with the things. First of all, the dropship needs to be in the right position in the orbit of the planet to have a straight line of shot at the target on the ground. The tubes can be swiveled about on their pods to get a better shot angle, creating a cone of range instead of just being fired at things that are directly below them. Then the specific location needs to be chosen, this can be done in three ways, via triangulation from the dropship in high-orbit, if it has proper sensors and modules to that, an overwatch from another dropship or capital ship which has proper sensors or modules, or by the strike being called from the ground, via calling in coordinates or using a laser indicator to spot for the dropships in high-orbit and transmit the coordinates for strike to them. Otherwise you can just fire and have no idea what actually the rods would hit, wasting a shot and revealing position for enemy crafts.
The projectiles can also take from few seconds up to few minutes of travelling to their target. This depends on the height from which they are fired as well as the strength of the planet's gravitational field, stronger fields will cause greater acceleration upon the projectiles, allowing them to reach their target sooner. This is obviously hindering when targeting moving objects, such as tank columns, but it should not make much of a difference against stationary targets, like fortifications, anti-ship emplacements, or artillery positions, as long as the gunners take a correction based on the speed of the planet's rotation.
Classification: High Orbit Shattergun
Size: Ship-mounted
Status: Military
Length: 3 meters long launcher, 2 meter long arrow-rods
Weight: 8 tons, 2 loaded launchers
Ammunition Type: Solid metal durasteel rods with depleted tungsten cores
Ammunition Capacity: 1 rod per launching tube
Effective Range: High Orbit, depends on the strength of gravitational pull of the planet, greater pull means greater altitude from which the rod can be dropped.
), like a non super, super weapon... But any way
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