[RESEARCH] Ashinaran domestic armored vehichle program

[aimway921]

As the Studebaker factories were still in construction, the R&D department of the Royal Army, using the expertise of the Studebaker engineers who came to help set up the factories, was tasked with designing domestic models of tankettes. Using the Vole and Rascal tankettes, as well as the Landships, all purchased during the Tafatu War from UKUG, as a guiding example, the R&D department was tasked with creating two prototypes with the following requirements:

1. Codename Project MX1
    -Mass of no more than 3 tons
    -Crew of 2 or 3
    -Fully traversable turret
    -Rifle caliber MG main armament 
    -Armor enough to protect from modern rifle caliber weapons
    -Top speed of 30 mph

2. Codename Project MX2
    -Mass of no more than 3 tons
    -Crew of 2 or 3
    -Capability of mounting armament above rifle caliber
    -Armor enough to protect from modern rifle caliber weapons
    -Top speed of 30 mph

[aimway921]

While the tanekette research has, for now, met a dead end, with most proposed designs being too expensive for Ashinara to produce in sufficient numbers, several engineers proposed to take the development program in a different route.

Taking the Studebaker Tochea, a basic armored car the design of which has been shared with Ashinara as one of the Studebaker models to be built at the Ashinaran branch factory, it would be modified to be fully enclosed in armor, and have a turret armed with a machine gun. It would have a minimum crew of 2, but able to fit up to 4 people, and the armor would be thick enough only to protect from rifle caliber ammunition and shrapnel/explosion fragmentation. To save on both cost and weight, the vehichle would be made as small as possible - this would bar Ashinarans who are taller than average from being able to comfortably crew the vehicle - and the average human probably not being able to fit in at all. The armor construction would be riveted - not only welding still being a relatively rare skill in Ashinara, the additional expense was deemed unnecessary. A wooden mockup would be created first, built on a proper Tochea chassis before a fully properly armored prototype built and tested. 

Should the design succeed, it would be accepted into the service under the designation BS-34 (BS standing for Bronjovany Smohod, Ashinaran for Armored Car) - much to the annoyance of General Mahno, who has been outvoted with his proposal of naming the vehicle MT - Motorized Tachanka. 

[EpicToaster1]

RESEARCH STATUS

MX1 - Completed
> Crew of 2
> Fully Transversable Turret 0.75 caliber
> Weight: 3.8 Tons
> Forward Armor: 0.9 Inches
> Side Armor: 0.9 Inches
> Rear Armor: 0.5 Inches
> Top Speed: 28 MPH

MX2 - Completed
> Crew of 3
> Fixed Armament 0.855 in caliber
> Weight: 2.8 Tons
> Forward Armor: 1.2 in
> Side Armor: 0.8 in
> Rear Armor: 0.4 in
> Top Speed: 33 mph

BS-34 - Completed
> Crew: Operational 2, Max 4
> Turret 0.30-06 Caliber Machine
> Weight: 2.2 Tons
> Forward Armor: 0.4 in
> All other armor: 0.2 in
> Top Speed: 50 mph