Sci-fi Military Tactics and Strategy

Actually the estimated draw of the rail gun they want firing 12 rounds in a minute has an estimated draw of 30 MW We have looked it up before and depending what else they do it could push the power requirement up to around 40 MW. Which is why they considered mounting on the Zumwalt Class destroyers in the first place with their beefy gas turbine generators at 78 MW.

Even then a 48 MW compact nuclear generator could still easily handle that plus some extra draw. Even then that isn't the most powerful compact reactor. The Indian Arihant Class nuclear sub for example only masses about 6,000 tons which is a big frigate or a small destroyer and has a 83 MW power plant. Yes one is completed and last I checked was awaiting commission. In terms of beam and length, the long and short hulled variants of the Oliver Hazard Guided Missile Frigates have more physical room to install them then the submarine does. You could even possibly install them on the LCS ships they have the room as well.

The point still stands you can quite feasibly put one of the compact generators into even smaller modern US ships. They could likely design one that is a better fit and has a good power output. There is actually nothing about the ship class that prevents them from being made into nuclear vessels aside from cost. If you are talking about starting to outfit a Navy with high power consumption weapons like rail guns and lasers they might just start outfitting smaller ships with various high power out put options.

A question for an ongoing story. In the most recent chapter, three mecha pilots sit down for an informal tac meeting. One of them has some military background, joined the team recently and was the one who gathered the other two together to discuss stuff. Problem is, I don't know what topics they should cover.

Topics that will already be covered:

• Everyone's skillset, strengths and weaknesses^result of the two seniors, one has no prior combat experience beyond streetfighting, making him little more than cannon fodder - while the other is a Master of All Super-Soldier whose only weakness is that she's riding a Flawed Prototype; the newbie is a Badass Normal with Mini-Mecha experience
• Who has senior command authority if Mission Control is out of contact^result by informal agreement, the Super-Soldier takes command due to seniority, having been a pilot for years longer than the others
• Tactical formation, ie. who does what when the trouble starts^result the cannon fodder takes point to get the enemy's attention and tie them up in CQC, the Badass Normal launches high-speed flanking attacks while the enemy is distracted, the Super-Soldier snipes with the big guns

Anyone has ideas for other topics of interest?

How to deal with the traditional enemies of mechs (and other ground-based vehicles), air attackers.

Updates on training and logistics requirements come to mind. This might normally be more for formal meetings, but this sort of information does get passed on during informal meetings as well.

How much military equipment could you fit on a standard 53' Semi?

Small arms, crewed weapons, communication hardware, engineering, logistics?

Honestly a better question is following road laws or not, trucks can easily carry more then there normaly loaded with, but there is a weight limit on the highways that even the military has to follow.

Only in times of peace. The military can do whatever the hell it wants to them in times of war or otherwise crisis where they are deployed.

Actually those weight limits are largely still followed even in war and for a good reason. Exceeding weight limits degrades roads and can result in them becoming rapidly unusable. That is why the engineers spend so much time assessing pathways, bridges, roads, and traversal points. You either need to reinforce the road ways for heavier traffic or you need to find a more fitting alternate route. Remember bridges are almost always a huge deal for that very reason.

edited 4th Oct '16 4:02:03 PM by TuefelHundenIV

True, but when push comes to shove a paved road no matter the weight limit will be used. If that means sacrificing an asphalt highway to be ground up by treads for the Altar of Armored Fighting Vehicles in order to defeat an enemy, they will do so.

The bridges however have a tendency to be a hard limit yes, mostly because if the bridge falls apart with your tanks on it, that will very quickly ruin your day if that bridge is over say a nice deep gorge.

Actually the asphalt roads will likely be spared as much as possible case and point would be they bother to put the rubber shoes on tank treads to reduce wear and tear on the roads in the first place. Tanks may not be bothered by the rough terrain but there are a lot of wheeled vehicles which move a lot faster and more effectively on intact roads then roads that have been torn up by excessive weight. Outside of an oh shit it is do or die they are quiet likely to try and preserve the roads best they can.

Hmm...so if we're talking about a truck solely with MR Es, water, and other edibles, how many could it feed? three companies? A brigade?

It would depend on the size of truck and trailer. Semi trucks are not universal and there some rather interesting exotic vehicles such as the Road Train configurations. The largest is operated at a private mine in Australia that can haul 507 short tons of ore material. In the US the heaviest is in South Dakota on non-interstate roads is about 85 tons.

The differences is one operates exclusively on roads built and maintained by a private mining company the US one still has to use state roads only but would have to otherwise follow regs for travel on bridges and interstate roads.

Now there are oversized loads which haul massive amounts of material but those are uncommon and use specially built vehicles and trailers and have to follow certain rules on the road. They are also limited in where they can travel and typically require permits and permission to be used. So in short it really depends on what sort of rig and trailer you are willing to use.

Basically it boils down to common commercial, specialized commercial, or oversized load haulers.

Local water sources also factor in. If you've got to drag water along with you you've basically doubled your logistics load.

In fact, you want to get all the supplies you can locally but at the scale of modern armies that's just not practical.

Actual water consumption varies alot. I can't find a good number but at the very least it's a liter per day.

In terms of food, a typical MRE weighs between 510-740 grams and a soldier needs at least two per day. You might be able to reduce this with actual kitchen setups but that's an investment of weight and bulk.

The main benefit of MR Es is that you don't need a field kitchen. Whenever using a field kitchen is practical, the MR Es stay in the cases due to their being more expensive and having some nutritional compromises for the sake of trying to pack a large variety of calories into a mobile package. Field kitchens benefit from economy of scale, being able to produce large amounts of food quickly.

Yeah it really depends on configuration of the haulers and what exactly you are hauling.

Pretty much. The real question is when are there enough soldiers in one place to justify a field kitchen?

On one hand, a 2 kilo bag of rice could easily create hundreds of meals. On the other, stoves are heavy. Really, really heavy.

I know that in the Air Force, a BEAR 550 kit comes with a field kitchen to support 550 personnel, but the BEAR kits have been generally discontinued and broken down into their component elements to be requested and dispatched piecemeal.

Setting up BEAR during training when I was overseas was...quite the experience.

• cries in a corner*

All right! Thought experiment time. You've been given a blank check and roughly 3-5 years to make plans and turn Sol into a Fortress as you're expecting an attack half-a-decade in the future.

Where do you place your ships? Defense fortifications? Other miscellaneous defenses? Moon base defenses?

Wow. Start and the asteroid belt and work my way in. The moon is a big piece of real estate so no reason to not weaponize it. Include multiple layers of ships and defensive satellites as deep as I can get them around Earth. Mix of weapons to suit ranges and target types. Same for ships. All the way to low orbit. Planet will need something it can throw up to fight anything out to at least mid orbit.

Seed key lagrange points with low sensor profile weapons/mines.

Basically create as dense and diverse a layer of defense as I could manage from key points in the asteroid belt toward the inner planets. Barring that moving some of the asteroids to serve as stable orbit weapons platforms from just past the moon and inward.

It really depends on the tech level. The higher it is the crazier you can get.

You know, this brings up an interesting point. Since technically speaking we're all orbiting around the sun and we'll be in different positions, doesn't that also mean that depending on what time (relative to Earth) the attacker attacks, they may have to change their "directions" on how they come inside Sol itself?

Or maybe this is only a factor for the inner planets considering the outer planets year is far too long to be of any significance.

Could you possibly hollow out the moon without having effects on Earth?

edited 26th Oct '16 10:14:12 PM by TacticalFox88

The mass of the moon is very important. Some theorize that, aside from the tides, the moon may act as a dynamo keeping our magnetic field active.

Tactical; Mutineers Moon has that very thing happening actually. They build an artificial mass to replace the moon after the starship Dahak leaves Earth Orbit to keep things from going badly for the planet.