[Research] An Army Needs its Armor

[gelb]

As mass production of leased armor designs would begin in Roskana, various private and government backed groups rapidly began attempting to win over the Army's favor in order to secure the new bids for tank production contracts. After several weeks of discussions, redesigns, and bidding wars 2 designs were selected to have 4 pilot models each built and shipped to the Auran Proving Grounds for further testing and review. 

Said designs were as follows:

The T1E2 Scout tank:
Armed with a 37mm main gun and extremely lightweight armor, the T1E2 is a tank fully intended for use in a scouting or Forward Observer role, with a proposed variant fielding a long spool of attached telegraph wire and a 2'' flare mortar for long range communications. Its extremely lightweight armor and armament are made up for by high speeds, although its thin tracks could prove troublesome in field tests.



The T1E5 Heavy Tank:
Armed with a 90mm main gun pulled from an old torpedo boat's armament, the T1E5 prioritizes strength and durability over everything else. Its low engine power and overall low torque are predicted to cause multiple issues during testing, however its heavy armor and large caliber gun are not to be sneezed at.

[gelb]

As the T1E2 and T1E5 were put through various field tests and trials, a new billet arrived for a much heavier model of tank than the T1E5. This new tank greatly pleased the heads of the Army's research and development, but they were reluctant to completely abandon the T1E5 project as it showed great promise. So the T1E5 heavy tank was renamed and reclassified to the T1E6 medium tank and the army began work on their new heavy tank:



The T10 Heavy Tank:

Using the experimental 155mm main canon currently under development by the department of the army, the T10 is a massive beast of a tank, dwarfing even the T1E5 in both size and weight. Although its large profile made it an easy target to spot, its heavy gun and heavy armor made it more than worth it to the Army.

[gelb]

Witnessing the rapid increase of hostile mobilization to the front even in spite of the Roskanan military's best efforts, new army doctrines and tank designs were rapidly thought of to attempt to exploit the enemy's reliance on static defenses rather than buy into that doctrine themselves. As such, a new type of medium tank was needed in order to fulfil a role previously unseen in tanks. Utilizing the same 90mm main gun from the T1E6 Medium tank but significantly reducing its height, weight, and armor in order to improve on speed, this new tank also reduced crew size down to a measly three in order to minimize manpower needed to crew it in light of heavy losses. In order to bolster research and production of this tank, both the T1E2 Scout Tank and the T10 Heavy Tank were put on indefinite hold and their resources and manpower were immediately diverted to the development of the T12.



The T12 Medium Tank:



Utilizing the much liked 90mm cannon, this tank is intended to support infantry breakthroughs against both infantry and enemy armor. Its small crew size does pose a few problems with having the commander perform dual roles as the commander and loader, but the compact size of the tank means the ready rack is easy enough to get to without forcing the commander to push his head down for too long. The lightweight armor also makes the hull much easier to produce than earlier models, however, while its large engine may provide a significant speed advantage on the battlefield, it reduces turret depression over the rear of the tank and is much harder to produce than a smaller engine of its type. Although it is very lightly armored, armor sloping is used heavily in this design, making it so that the heaviest the armor has to be is 65mm.

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RESEARCH STATUS

T1E2 Scout Tank - Completed but not entering full production

T1E6 Medium Tank - Completed but not entering full production

T10 Heavy Tank - Completed but not entering full production

T12 Medium Tank - Completed and entering production