Arming Up for Tomorrow [Lusatian Technological Development]
Jan 13, 2023 21:24:42 GMT -5
Artsy Astra likes this
Post by alxeu on Jan 13, 2023 21:24:42 GMT -5
With the Sovereign Union an ever-present threat and the Liberal government strong-arming the Sejm into approving military budget expenditure increases, a large amount of the new funds went into Military R&D. Primarily, two projects were to be pursued in the immediate term:
1) PROJECT ENGINES OF PROGRESS
"Engines of Progress" was a plan to innovate on existing aircraft engine technology. As it stood, the engines made in Lusatian factories were just slightly too weak to enable full conversion to metal monowing aircraft. Further complicating Lusatian designs was an insistence to use oil products, specifically, gasoline, to power its aircraft, unlike the staol-based designs in neighboring nations. Nevertheless, early prototypes of next-generation engines had been developed into 1930, and by 1932, it had been decided that in order to get the best performance out of the radial engines, a two-row design was utilized. While testing and refinement of the engine would take another year or two, the ultimate goal of the aircraft design was to achieve around 1,200 horsepower before it would start being installed in newly designed Lusatian aircraft.
Speaking of newly designed aircraft, top researchers at Sandspire Aviation Technologies reached out to their Ulster-Gaelian counterparts, requesting a prototype Star Wolf and research notes regarding the development of Ulster-Gaelia's next generation aircraft, offering appropriate payment and further sharing of notes once the next generation of Lusatian aircraft was completed. After all, designs were all ready being drafted for fighters and fighter-bombers utilizing new engines and equipped with newer armaments... once those were developed by the armament companies.
2) PROJECT STANDARD ARMS
"Standard Arms" was the reimagining of the standard armaments of the Lusatian infantryman, namely, the service rifle and the machine gun. While the JA-16 was sufficient 16 years ago, advances since then meant that the gun should at least be reexamined and newer technologies developed. This effort was forwarded by Jzegrad Armories, which was given the first chance to defend its government contract by offering its designs first. Its proposed design was a radical departure from its previous philosophy. Though it still used air-cooling, a belt feed was proposed, and larger caliber ammunition was also proposed. Furthermore, the design was to be useable by aircraft, necessitating further design alterations. The goal was a gun with a sustainably higher fire rate than the current JA-16, in addition to being able to feed much larger amounts of ammunition in the gun without requiring reloads.
The second and more arduous of the the two projects was the new service rifle. Hitting a wall with the fire rate and efficiency of existing bolt-action rifles, it was decided that Naroda Arms would get the nod following the company's history with its prototype submachine gun (which never saw production) and the actual light machine gun design it had pushed out about five years prior. Now, Naroda offered yet more innovation. Blowback semi-automatic guns had seen some civilian use and were the basis for the submachine gun prototype and the design of the Lusatian service pistol. Now, however, Naroda promised it could finally catch the enigmatic genie of gas-operated semi-automatic rifles. However, they also informed the government that the project would be best served by cooperating with international partners in order to ensure a hasty development cycle. Otherwise, deployment could take up to a decade. Naroda was authorized to seek out a foreign partner, it just remained to be seen who that partner would be.
1) PROJECT ENGINES OF PROGRESS
"Engines of Progress" was a plan to innovate on existing aircraft engine technology. As it stood, the engines made in Lusatian factories were just slightly too weak to enable full conversion to metal monowing aircraft. Further complicating Lusatian designs was an insistence to use oil products, specifically, gasoline, to power its aircraft, unlike the staol-based designs in neighboring nations. Nevertheless, early prototypes of next-generation engines had been developed into 1930, and by 1932, it had been decided that in order to get the best performance out of the radial engines, a two-row design was utilized. While testing and refinement of the engine would take another year or two, the ultimate goal of the aircraft design was to achieve around 1,200 horsepower before it would start being installed in newly designed Lusatian aircraft.
Speaking of newly designed aircraft, top researchers at Sandspire Aviation Technologies reached out to their Ulster-Gaelian counterparts, requesting a prototype Star Wolf and research notes regarding the development of Ulster-Gaelia's next generation aircraft, offering appropriate payment and further sharing of notes once the next generation of Lusatian aircraft was completed. After all, designs were all ready being drafted for fighters and fighter-bombers utilizing new engines and equipped with newer armaments... once those were developed by the armament companies.
2) PROJECT STANDARD ARMS
"Standard Arms" was the reimagining of the standard armaments of the Lusatian infantryman, namely, the service rifle and the machine gun. While the JA-16 was sufficient 16 years ago, advances since then meant that the gun should at least be reexamined and newer technologies developed. This effort was forwarded by Jzegrad Armories, which was given the first chance to defend its government contract by offering its designs first. Its proposed design was a radical departure from its previous philosophy. Though it still used air-cooling, a belt feed was proposed, and larger caliber ammunition was also proposed. Furthermore, the design was to be useable by aircraft, necessitating further design alterations. The goal was a gun with a sustainably higher fire rate than the current JA-16, in addition to being able to feed much larger amounts of ammunition in the gun without requiring reloads.
The second and more arduous of the the two projects was the new service rifle. Hitting a wall with the fire rate and efficiency of existing bolt-action rifles, it was decided that Naroda Arms would get the nod following the company's history with its prototype submachine gun (which never saw production) and the actual light machine gun design it had pushed out about five years prior. Now, Naroda offered yet more innovation. Blowback semi-automatic guns had seen some civilian use and were the basis for the submachine gun prototype and the design of the Lusatian service pistol. Now, however, Naroda promised it could finally catch the enigmatic genie of gas-operated semi-automatic rifles. However, they also informed the government that the project would be best served by cooperating with international partners in order to ensure a hasty development cycle. Otherwise, deployment could take up to a decade. Naroda was authorized to seek out a foreign partner, it just remained to be seen who that partner would be.
