Budget: 665B Or
Government Support: 52
Generally, phases go from wanting something to a prototype, to low-rate production(LRP), to full-scale production. Once you have a prototype or something in LRP, you can request changes to it to bring it into line with requirements either military or political.
Anti-Orbital SSBN: Bun has accepted the contract with two new submarines ordered to demonstrate the technology along with the scalability of construction. The primary effort has been the development of the pressure hull itself as the improved techniques offered by printing promise to make boats that are capable of diving deeper without excessive issues. At least, the rep was determined that that was the case and insisted that the project was going to specification. After a personal tour of the facility and viewing the x-ray analysis of hull forms, several things came to light as the materials involved were inadequate, leading to a comprehensive internal investigation. As far as could be immediately determined the problem was centered around limitations in printing more than specific sabotage, leaving many of the hullforms with voids as HEA has struggled to be printed in thick monolithic layers. Two hundred personnel were still fired due to lax standards of x-ray hull testing but the project has resumed course with BNG promising a more intensive technical development program along with a backup conventional hull design. (30)
Light Vehicles: The move towards increasing production of the HEA chassis has immediately run into severe technical issues. The technical capacity to print much of the frame is available but providing the necessary degree of protection as a monolithic part is impossible in the bounds of the contract. The representatives have proposed several ways to fix the issue, degrading the capability of the offered project even if it still meets end requirements. RWS systems have been delivered without issue by Lunos, providing a flexible turret mounting that is expected to be placed on several platforms outside the current project. Further, storage of the vehicle is expected to be more questionable as while the suspension can hold up to double stacking the current models of the chassis cannot do so under the conditions of air transportation. (40B Or Cost) (37) (LRP)
[]Accept into Service: While incapable of air transportation in vertical stacking, the vehicle is capable of transportation in a semi-supported frame that adds a limited quantity of weight. Pushing for a lower price for the reduced design along with cutting some development funding is expected given the failure to meet requirements. The vehicle is functional as a composite of parts, allowing it to meet most operational requirements. IED protection will suffer outside of immediate defense against shrapnel but that in itself was not even a requirement of the program. Sygner will still accept the deal, hoping to recoup its investment in the volume of orders rather than immediate contract terms. (50B Or) (Completes Program)
[]Composite Frame Design: Composite and mixed element frames have been done in several other civilian systems and they can be done for a military vehicle. Limiting the parts that need to be made in a single print will increase success rates and likely lower costs. The stacking capability will have no way to be recovered if frame elements are not monolithic, but that in itself can be compensated for with specialized mountings. Most importantly the protection requirements are likely to be met outside of specific joining areas, allowing the vehicle to meet the original requirements without too many issues. The Sygner rep is further pushing the approach as he believes the company can deliver the updated version by next year. (80B Or) (Completes Program next year if Adequate)
[]Fund a Monolithic Frame: The development of technologies for the printing of a monolithic vehicle frame has a massive number of applications in the civilian industry much less the military one. By combining funding towards the development of new techniques and lowering errors in printing there is something of an opportunity to ensure that whatever techniques are developed are not proprietary. Taking a licensing fee for the patent that is generated and ensuring that military contractors have access will allow a continuous improvement in production methods. Of course, this would be investing billions into a massive public-private project but it could also pay off and even recoup its costs. (150B Or) (Low Chance of Tech Roll)
Surveillance Drones: Continued developments of the drone force have necessitated a comprehensive overhaul of guidance and targeting hardware. The abject reality is that against any alien threat, there will be no provisions for continuity of signal or the ability to direct drones as communications and data transfers are expected to be destroyed. This raises a question of the degree of autonomy necessary in finding targets as independence from the operator is expected to be essential for any advanced threat. Conversely, for policing and internal use, a tight degree of weapons control is strongly preferred as it limits civilian casualties and prevents domestic incidents. Current plans call for the parallel development of both capabilities, with the latter judged as far easier than the former, as autonomous systems are only partially mature. (59) (40B Or Cost)
Militarized Orbital Frigate: Committing to a larger design with an integral FTL ring has effectively consolidated several elements of the program and allowed the significant transfer of CASP experience. Drive integration in the rear segment is effectively the defining figure for the localization of the shadow shield around the drive core, limiting what can be done on the system. Consolidating the power system in the back is going to be conventional with high G maneuvers necessitating vectoring of the magnetic nozzle, which remains a major technical challenge. Thermal management systems for the new craft are going to be built around massive droplet radiators, allowing reactor core heat to be ejected using a reliable technology with a limited capacity for maneuvering under thrust. The first and most important decision though remains the drive and subsequent reactor section as that will define the capability of the frigate. (52)
[]Electrical Drives-Gas Core: Going with the lowest power configuration in terms of thrust and thrust efficiency does offer some attractive benefits. The massive MHD and power conversion systems needed to supply the drives can be repurposed for use in high-temperature laser weaponry when not under thrust. This will make the Frigate orbitally maneuver in effective rings like other ion craft and cripple any ability for it to dodge enemy munitions. Conversely, being able to supply literal GWe of power to a laser system will provide for more power than any system could conceivably use greatly improving defensive capability. The only issue with such a design is that it would struggle to keep up with more mature drives of any type. (Cheapest) (Most Reliable) (Direct Derivative of CASP)
[]Open Cycle Gas Core: Using wartime drives with some additional enrichment as both the reactor system and the propulsion system has been proposed as a compromise between exhaust velocity and thrust. New generation designs for gas cores with a limited degree of fuel ejection are expected to reach up to five thousand seconds of impulse while further giving any ship massive immediate thrust. These will necessitate the development of new high-temperature CNT radiators capable of dealing with the chamber envelope thermal conditions but the drive itself will otherwise be mostly open cycle. A craft TWR of more than 1 is even believed to be possible, allowing a warship to match any of the alien enemies, if for a short time. (Benefits strongly from CNT)
[]Direct Injection Dusty Plasma: Keeping with a magnetically contained fission reactor rather than a more conventional high-power gas core can allow a mixed propulsion system. Harsher thermal limitations will be placed on the drive due to the need to maintain magnetic containment of the plasma but having a bimodal system offers several advantages. Combat thrust can be amplified if at a lower thermal efficiency than a gas core designed for the task. Enough transfer thrust can be made available at high temperatures to steadily move the ship between planets at high efficiency, offering something of a compromise between a strategic and tactically useful drive. This will require considerable experience with magnetic containment but nothing in the system is scientifically impossible. (Technically Challenging) (0.1 craft TWR at 2000 seconds, arbitrary scalability of thrust-exhaust velocity to 0.003c)
[]Gen 1.5 DT-Magnetic Fusion: With the long burn program resumed and accelerated at pace, work on the ship drives for combat ships can be delayed until comprehensive evaluation through the long burn ships. Fusion techniques are still improving and the first hulls are not expected to enter construction until 45 AE. If problems in the drives abound a crash secondary program will have to be pushed forward but despite the limitations of magnetic fusion, it offers the only path toward a viable drive. High-efficiency thrust at high power can be achieved using effectively deuterium and lithium, saving on fuel costs and providing performance well over anything but the gas core drive in tactical acceleration. Minimum drive sizes are not expected to pose any problems for the frigate design, allowing a possible further upscaling of the torus and an accompanying increase in containment strength. (Technically Challenging)
Multirole VTOL: Development work on the VTOL platform has been defined by the severe constraints the program has been placed over. Avalon has so far been the designer strongly in the lead with the majority of designers from the Type 42 program bought onto their staff. This has seen the rapid re-development of production for several new coatings along with a primarily printed HEA airframe, allowing a massive improvement in capability. Current specifications for the program call for a semi-automated regime for landing to reduce casualties in operation, capacity for rough field transport and operation with frontal forces, and a two thousand kilometer range in a low altitude regime. Armaments for the program are expected to be developed in parallel with several wartime systems adapted for direct nuclear use against high agility targets in re-entry profiles. The program itself is being accelerated under all means with low-rate production expected to be initiated as soon as a prototype is available. (108) (Artificial Crit)
Operation Useless Wish: The army is no more immune to infiltration and anti-democratic attitudes than any other massive political body. Embedding a series of agents to monitor communications, intercept messages, and monitor the worst of the malcontents will be essential for force discipline. Several officers may not enjoy the experience of being consistently monitored but they do not need to know the extent of the monitoring network. Some will inevitably notice that they are being monitored but those are unlikely to cause a major problem. (Slight Reduction in Military Unity) (19) (Political Support Loss)
On receiving the order to investigate the army, the previously believed to be reliable Capitan Saraid Doirinne decided it was against his moral principles. After taking a week to get back on the order and doing some minor reorganizations of the Directorate, his first action as director was to resign. This leaves a severe problem in that previously considered reliable personnel have refused to investigate, which is in their rights, but this has left the entire effort useless. Several officers have discussed the matter as problematic with political opinions escalating severely in the lower officer ranks especially as fresh volunteers are far more politicized than ever before. A new replacement head that can listen to orders is essential in the current environment especially with the effective autonomy of military districts to raise forces posing a direct threat to the state. This leaves the uncomfortable choice of having to select from improperly profiled candidates with a modern data-trail overview in concert with old panopticon data as a compromise for lacking a comprehensive behavioral evaluation.
[]Lucia Ryan: Currently a Colonel in the army and having been moved around the ranks through the course of the war, Ryan is in technicality a young officer who has nonetheless served with distinction. Most of her combat experience has come directly in the form of administrative third-echelon units producing glowing recommendations from her commanders as something of an effective blunt instrument. Panopticon profiles indicate a strong deferral towards authority along with a negligible influence by dissident adjacent or temptation for questioning adjacent political messaging even with mild incentivizing factors. More modern data trawls have broadly upheld the image even if they indicate a crisis of faith in the old regime at some point between ten and fifteen AE followed by a consistent political stance backed up by tracking information.
[]Neamh Cianain: Colonel Cianain is one of the older hands in the army, on his effectivly third officer tour this time as a navy officer after serving as an airforce intelligence officer through the war, and an army officer through some of the last colonization wars. He is capable and experienced in operations with a severe lack of digital systems that would support external work far better than internal work. Further, Cianain has a well-established Panopticon profile, indicating comparatively apolitical careerism and backing for the army in most circumstances along with a tendency towards disillusionment with the old regime. More modern data analysis has shown some sympathies and excessive lingering on left-wing political advertisements and sources along with some internet activity in their support, but the amount of information is marginal. His recruitment would be seen as a continuation of the old military despite sympathies.
[]Anraoi Maolduin: Captain Maolduin is a naval officer candidate who has shown remarkable promise with electronic systems and notably was educated in the immediate leadup to the war, leaving him as one of the youngest candidates. This ensures that a full birth to end of the war Panopticon profile is available, simplifying recruitment along with maintaining a consistent and comprehensive data trail. He is far more of a SIGINT officer than a broadly specialized one, serving on three diesel-electric boats through the war responsible for data interception. Psychological and social profiles indicate that he is something of an anxious hand in several matters but one that can more than control his worst impulses. Further, his political loyalties are known to be towards the GP, leaving him the most neutral possible candidate from a non-apolitical standpoint.
[]Duong Visoth: An opposition officer who was brought into line during the initial peace deal continuing out his army career after the re-organization. Only a Lieutenant Colonel rather than the expected rank for the post and an outsider to conventional politics leaves Visoth as a viable, if possibly questionable choice. Selecting a colonial officer to the intelligence service is going to automatically be viewed with distrust and suspicion but he is unlikely to be deeply involved in local politics. Modern data trawls have indicated a strong degree of idealism if several concerning trends on the paths of the parties, leaving him something of an explicitly politicized selection for the position. Several officers are likely to see this as getting a hatchetman, but distance from politics also offers something of a perception of impartiality.
Fleet Mental Health Survey: Work on the previous orbital vessels, habitats, and general space development areas has demonstrated a massive degree of increased adverse mental health outcomes. Performing a fleet-wide survey and a large sample of the personnel serving will guide what can be done to minimize the attrition of crew and the sheer extent of adverse outcomes from those finishing out their service terms. Several studies can further be funded on treating the condition as several have not even recovered from wartime deployments much less current operations. (20B Or Cost) (64)
Surveying the crews serving on the orbital fleet has found several concerning if inconsistent trends in why morale is so low. Several have complained about the low pay, several about repetitive meals, and several more about general claustrophobia. The first and easiest to implement change is to localize the training of crews to orbital simulators with similar conditions, allowing those with the worst reactions to rotate out before acceleration burns begin. Further factors have seen the introduction of improved rations to most ships destined for long patrols, substituting in starch products as a secondary rather than primary meal source. A desire for green spaces is unlikely to be met in the current generation of designs but a basic aeroponics tray setup has been proposed for the next generation of warships and civilian ships with patrol lengths over one year.
Shellshock Treatment Grants: The stigma of shellshock and its accompanying treatments has been a persistent problem for the army as while it is an understood condition in a military context, it has a degree of civilian respect. Treatments for it are further limited as few viable methods can be done for the allocated amount of funding with it mostly not covered pre-war due to its view as a terminal condition. Funding several treatment centers and therapy methods now can save on reserve attrition and ensure that veterans of the last war can be given some treatment. Now that the army has some funding it is the least that can be done for the masses of veterans still left after the war. (100B Or Cost) (63) (Small Political Support Loss)
The establishment of seventeen dedicated clinics for the veterans of the final war along with several casualties reporting from the Northern Policing Area has now been funded. The return of moral casualties is currently going to be looked down upon by the general public for several reasons involving stereotypes about permanent injuries, especially invisible ones, but the soldiers need care more than the army needs a perfect image. Capacity is expected to be triaged for the highest priority patients that have so far failed to return to civilian life in any meaningful way with several even older veterans likely taking up slots. Further, separating some elements of military healthcare in a closed system and sequestering diagnostics from the civilian end has been proposed and approved to reduce the stigma of treatment and those seeking treatment. Further funding will almost certainly be necessary in a decade to keep the system modern but that will be left a future problem for budgetary allocation.
Study Wartime Issues(Multirole VTOL): Committing some time to do a full literature report on a critical wartime piece of equipment and how it exactly failed is going to be a massive crawl through the archives but someone needs to do it. Working for a few continuous days on pulling the papers will take some extra leisure time but it's expected if one is to understand anything of what they are doing. (+3 to VTOL) (39)
The largest question for wartime design of strike craft was the defeat of laser air-defense installations along with close cooperation with drone systems. Material sciences have advanced further towards reducing RCS across conventional bands but an alternative band followed by LIDAR defeat remains a major risk across all threat profiles. Due to the inherent risk in operating active radar systems, it is expected that an enemy force would hesitate to use them for fear of immediate nuclear attack. Assuming that an Alien force takes the same general developmental approaches the primary threat vector will be IRST tracking if low-end estimations for their capabilities are correct in that they will take moves to avoid a moderate to heavy combined hypersonic strike. High-end estimations will see them weather the majority of a nuclear attack at all but saturation shellweights, rendering many of the ideas of how to mount a counter-offensive irrelevant anyway. To defeat these methods, exhaust cooling systems are expected to be mandatory with air-mix incorporation and can significantly extend survivability, especially against a ground-scatter profile.
12-Hour Moratorium Vote by Plan (Rolls will be consolidated with the pre-results turn, in order of projects)
