Q3 2056
ULRS
During the lead up to the Third Tiberium War, GDI was producing over fifty different rocket systems, ranging from 58.4mm in diameter rockets for the Mammoth tanks to Sidewinders, Rattlesnakes, and various multirole missile platforms such as those found on the Pitbull and Missile teams. Some guided, some unguided, and none produced in enough numbers that GDI could ensure a steady and uninterrupted supply by the late years of the war.
The solution that Ground Forces came up with was a modular missile system. A series of sizes and components that could be fit together to fill nearly any role. Codenamed Thunderbolt, the missiles come in four sizes. T5, at 50mm in diameter, T10, T15, and T20 at 200mm in diameter. The other key feature is variable length, from a 50cm baseline, up to 3.5 metres with modular solid fuel sections. Each can mount standardized seeker heads, payloads, fuel and exhaust assemblies to produce a staggering array of potential rocket systems.
For example, as a signal rocket, a short T5 can be equipped with a flare, firework, or even an antenna system with wire, and fired up into the air without all that much difficulty. However, the same basic platform and launcher can be reconfigured to destroy light vehicles or deliver long range fragmentation charges into concentrations of NOD infantry. Or it can be loaded as a submunition round for the T20, with ten of them capable of being loaded into the rocket. Things become more interesting at the larger sizes. The T15 and T20 are planned to become the baseline of lightweight, high mobility rocket artillery systems, using a mix of guided or unguided weapons. A return of the MLRS of the first two Tiberium Wars has already been planned, relying heavily on the longest and heaviest of the weapons available.
The only holdout so far has been the Navy, which has cited its need for longer range and heavier missiles as a problem. And even so, the Navy has seen fit to propose Thunderbolt + as a future project, building in the capacity for larger systems. Fundamentally, by ensuring cross-compatibility, it will make it so that GDI should never have to worry about running entirely out of ammunition. In terms of deployment, GDI will begin by converting a long list of surviving munitions factories over to the new standard. However, with demand expected to spike in the coming years, a series of new factories have already been planned.
QAAM
The QAAM in testing is fundamentally a fairly simple set of modifications to a standard Rattlesnake air to air missile. There are three real primary differences. First is that the seeker head has a roughly doubled scan speed and half again as much angle of sweep. Combined, these make it a significantly more dangerous missile alone because it is more difficult to break locks with rapid maneuvers the way that the Barghest has shown significant ability to do. The second is the control surfaces. The total area of the control surfaces has increased by a third, using a compressed carriage or folding fin design. While not noticeably larger than standard missiles, with the fins folded closed, they are released with launch, and air resistance snaps them back to the maneuvering positions. Third and finally, a wide-angle two-axis vectored thrust system increases maneuverability even more, although it has required an additional kicker motor to retain the range of the Rattlesnake. When combined, the QAAM proved to be a significantly more dangerous missile, but one that could burn off its energy quite quickly. A specialist addition rather than a replacement to the existing design. It is also a much more expensive and complicated system, one justified by the maneuverability of NOD's increasingly common high end air superiority craft.
Late in the quarter however, it became folded into the Universal Rocket Launch System program as it neared completion. This required significant detail level reworks of many of the assets, as it fell in between the sizes of the Thunderbolts 10 and 15. However, the fundamentals remain the same, and while it is not quite ready to be fielded, it will provide a baseline for not just air to air missiles, or with heat seeking missiles, but rather all high maneuverability missiles in the Initiative arsenal once completely rolled out.
Q1 2057
Despite massive investment and surging resources, the conversion process has been slow, and more importantly significant problems have emerged in the quality control departments. While the warheads are an easy enough conversion, the modular missile bodies are far more difficult. Test rounds have demonstrated inconsistent burns, partial burns, and similar failures. When the missile does reach the target, the effects are just as destructive as ever, but at this time they are simply not getting to the target reliably. This has primarily been a mix of teething problems at the factories and training problems with field assembly of the devices. While the military works on better training the soldiers, the factories simply require more funding to work out the last few kinks in the production lines.
However, so far, this has not severely disrupted Initiative military operations. Primarily this has reduced the sortie rate and payload of the Initiative Air Force, which never had the stockpiles of the ground forces as they simply used fewer missiles. Ground Forces on the other hand have between three and nine months of operational missile reserve, depending on the tempo of offensive and defensive actions. While finishing the project sooner would be distinctly preferable, it is something where there is time to get the designs right, rather than immediately rushing them out.
Q2 2057
Missile production has worked out many of the kinks that had been plaguing them last quarter, and supply has restarted. While currently Ground Forces are generally happy with the missiles, the biggest beneficiary has actually been the Air Force. Operational tempos have doubled, and with the program, the Orcas are finally flying with full loads. While still distinctly vulnerable, and unable to program or guide the air to air configurations of the Thunderbolt, it is a significant increase in firepower, nearly doubling the striking power of every Orca in the Initiative roster.
Similarly, the new QAAM has already scored its first victories. A pair of Barghests were downed over Patagonia in early June, with another pair being shot down over the North Sea later that month. While the rate is still low, partially due to pilots still getting used to the missiles, it has been a significant counter to the ever growing threat of the Barghest. Of those Barghests, GDI has been able to recover one in relatively good condition. Upon initial analysis it has been discovered that the aircraft uses a liquid suspension cockpit containing a heavily cybernetically augmented soldier. Little more than a torso, the pilot is built into the hull, well protected and wrapped inside the other systems. While it is almost certainly removable, InOps has not found the connections that would have to be disconnected to do that. It is also clearly a gravitic drive craft, using a number of articulating plates to accelerate in any direction at any time, providing a good explanation for the absurd mobility that the aircraft has demonstrated time and time again.
Against ground targets, the force is significantly less revolutionary at the moment. Being little more than a standardization on a handful of performance metrics, it has ensured that there are more diverse munitions available to nearly any force. For example, many missile teams have requisitioned additional missile segments configured for rail launches, in order to give themselves a more standoff anti material capacity.
While the refits have been finalizing, construction has already begun on a series of new plants, both to provide redundancy, and prepare for what some in the Initiative believe to be a solution to the inaccuracy that has hampered fire missions for nearly half a decade at this point.
