An Entente project

[Greywall]

Anton McCaig had several projects going on at the same time, Taoiseach O’Donnell was pushing the ministry hard to get better technology to compete with kumosenkan and galra. One of Anton’s projects he would head personally due to his connection to the people assigned, his mother was Lusatian and he knew their language and customs well.

He would write a correspondence to the Lusatian government and military to meet with him concerning the creation of something he felt would be important given how advanced the Galra Air Force had become, anti air defenses. After his letters left from his desk he would begin packing and leave the following week.

[alxeu]

The Lusatian government and military responded positively to McCaig's proposal, and he was referred to the Army Office of Technological Procurement, which hosted the brightest minds of the Lusatian R&D effort. Specifically, McCaig would be greeted by Colonel Mierski, the officer overseeing the AOTP.

Mierski would briefly salute before greeting McCaig, "Welcome to the AOTP, Mr. McCaig, my name is Colonel Petyr Mierski, and while our governments cooperate on technological R&D, I am your equal in these proceedings. I apologize that there are no civilians here with us today, but R&D is considered too sensitive for nearly all members of government excluding General Dziedzic and Prime Minister Pulaski."

Mierski grinned, "So I hear you had a proposal for us to cooperate on? An anti-aircraft weapon?"

[Greywall]

McCaig nodded and spoke in Lusatian for the remainder of the meeting, "Our R&D department have determined we need to increase air defenses, and with Galra so close to us and their air force far ahead of our own, we think we might have a bit of a solution." McCaig produced some blueprints and handed them to Mierski, "A 75mm gun, towed of course, but it can be fixed into the ground for stable firing. It might require a crew of 8 to 10 men, the issue we're running into is the recoil and the type of shell that can project itself well enough into the air. We felt the Lusatian arms industry would be best to lay this problem down with, we can very well work on the main frame and body but the gun itself and its ammunition is something else. If we have this AA gun we can get some kind of defense for our cities and ground forces." 

[alxeu]

Mierski analyzed the designs and nodded, "Aye, these look promising. I can call up some friends from Jzedian Armories, they have designed specialty shells for various other companies and their artillery, and so they be able to confirm what alterations are necessary for the cannon and shells throughout the process. As for the cannon itself, Nowak Industries is the company that designs our current howitzers, ever since they developed the Model 1903 and it shouldn't be difficult for them to design a cannon to propel the shells as high as we need them with minimum recoil."

Mierski continued, "What kind of height do you want the cannon to be able to reach? The higher the target, the lighter the shells will need to be, and therefore the less explosives we can fill them with. What kind of intelligence do we have regarding flight altitudes of Galran fighters and bombers?"

[Greywall]

McCaig let out a gruntled hum, "our patrols keep finding their planes trying to cross the channel, but what we can tell they're indefinitely more advanced than anything the Entente has. Our department assumes that the Galra have likely begun making high altitude bombers and the Ministry of Defense is pushing hard for Ulster-Gaelia to develop new fighters. Something i'm sure we'll come to Lusatia eventually when the initial design phase ends."

McCaig rubbed his forehead, the thought of engaging the Galran air force was in any regard a stressful thought. "It's a guess, maybe 15...16 thousand feet into the air."

[alxeu]

Miesrki nodded grimly, not happy to hear further about Galran technological advantages. "In that case, we'll plan for another couple thousand feet in height as a minimally-loaded shell, about 18,000 feet, with the optimal mix planned for heights of 16,000 feet," Mierski said, writing down what he and McCaig had discussed. He passed his notes on to an aide operating the telephones and telegraphs of the AOTP, who contacted the Lusatian armament companies being called in to help.

"It'll probably be a day or two before their experts arrive and start compiling an initial design proposal, which will give us more time to figure out any additional specifications we want for the design. What plans do you have for the body and frame?"

[Greywall]

"Our plans are to build a frame that can be towed and make it slightly mobile. The proper crew can get it moved at a relatively quick pace so it can get back to keeping the skies clean, our factories in Cathair Iarainn can pump out the frame materials and get us a prototype so we can place the main gun onto it. Otherwise, nothing extravagant, the simpler the better for our infantry."

[alxeu]

"Aye, that works for us, making it too complicated only adds to the manufacturing time, anyhow, and we'll need large numbers of these guns to defend our cities."


Assuming there was nothing left to add, Colonel Mierski would begin work on contacting the relevant arms industries in preparation to compile an official design team with the experts needed for the particular designs requested. When McCaig would next return, the Lusatian team had one final proposal for the Gaelians.

Mierski described the proposal, "The men from the companies have proposed a design for a semi-automatic mechanism for the guns. Specifically, the recoil from firing the gun will be used to open the breech of the gun and eject the empty shell cartridge. If approved, it ought to decrease reloading time for the gun. There are similar designs used on some artillery guns we use, so the company men don't think it will be particularly difficult to utilize here, but since it wasn't something we discussed in particular, we wanted to make sure Ulster-Gaelia approved of the design, as well."

[Greywall]

McCaig nodded, "No that's a good idea, a mechanism like that would greatly improve the gun's ability to shoot down enemy aircraft."

[alxeu]

"In that case, it sounds like the only thing there is to do is wait for the first prototype to be assembled, for testing."

[Greywall]

McCaig would finish up any business needed from here and give his thanks for the meeting, he would head back to Ulster-Gaelia and the Gaelic teams would begin their work on the platform.

The various different parts would be made from special molds and then assembled for ease of access when it came to conducting repairs. It would take several weeks for the prototype platform to be completed but once it was finished it would be shipped to Lusatia for the main gun to be attached.

[alxeu]

It took the Lusatian firms a couple of weeks beyond the Gaelians to finish the development of the gun, due to the complex mechanisms they were working on designing. Still, effort was made to make as much of the weapon as simple as possible, while also ensuring each part of the gun that might need replacing at some point or another was properly separable from the rest of the parts so that it may be more easily replaced.

The prototype was soon finished along with parts that were slightly differentiated to test a few configuration adjustments. Once this was done, the prototype was fixed to the base at an agreed-upon test site, waiting for the Gaelians to propose test parameters.

[Greywall]

With the prototype finished, the Gaelics would propose using hot air balloons as targets at varying heights. Per request they asked for the tests to be done within Lusatia while the Gaelics provided hot air balloons for the targets.

[Sophie]

BANG . . . . . BOOM. BANG . . . . . . . .BOOM.

The large flak gun fired over and over at the same target to sadly very little effect. Each time the flak round detonated at different times. Even when the gunnery crew kept the ranging settings the exact same. Not only that, but the rounds would fling off 50 meters left or right of where the gun was aimed. Being completely ineffective at a stationary target, this gun had no chance against a plane moving at hundreds of miles per hour. The designers and engineers would need to do a serious review of the gun and its ammunition to attempt to fix the problems.

[Greywall]

Gaelic engineer teams would begin looking over the gun itself trying to determine if the design was the root problem leaving the ammunition to be looked over the by Lusatian team.

"Everything looks intact, let's run the numbers again it might be a design flaw then" said one engineer. They pulled out blueprints and began going over it and would likely fine tune anything that stuck out as an issue.