I noticed there was a conversation last night about Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) and Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs). I do not have the time to sit on Discord and chat for long periods of time, but I try to catch up when I can. The best way to get ahold of me, is via a PM here on the forums.
I was thinking about this yesterday afternoon and like yourselves, had a few ideas. In order to think about using tracked or wheeled vehicles,
@HeySeuss must answer the question, Are there open tracts of land on Saina? Do roads exist, if not why would Centurion build roads where none exist? especially, on a planet where the inhabitants live beneath ground.
I have several options I have considered for our use in Foreign Legion. First is using trucks/lorries to move our squads and platoons around. I admit I have been working on a detailed organizational structure for the Centurion PMC. It is an oversized Brigade element or a small division. I have included trucks and a helicopter type vehicle to move troops around. With the helo, there must be open tracts of land, these vehicles cannot land in the jungle.
Option 1: 5-ton Truck/Lorry
You can comfortably sit 13 or more people in the back with or without the canvas and bows in the rear. You can fill sand bags and cover the floor of hte truck bed with them. You can take the roof off the cab and install a ring mount to place a machine gun or auto grenade launcher on top with a gunner in the passenger seat. Several armies around the world use "Motorized Infantry". The term motorized simply means the unit moves in wheeled vehicles.
Option 2: USMC AAVP7
The Amphibious Assault Vehicle, Personnel was designed for the USMC with their 13-man squads. It mounts an auto grenade launcher and a .50 cal MG. It carries a crew of 3 and can seat up to 21 combat marines. The Marines have Amphibious Assault battalions in their divisions who's sole purpose is to carry line marines into battle. They are amphibious and can be used to swim to shore via some landing ship. In the organization I am working on, I created two battalions of these AAVPs simply to transport the line units
Option 3: Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV)
The EFV is the replacement to the AAVP. It can travel a lot faster over water. It carries a crew of three and 17 fully loaded marines. It mounts a 30mm auto cannon similar to the one mounted on the M2/M3 Bradley IFV and a coaxial M240 MG. This vehicle would be perfect for our needs if there are large oceans and seas on Saina.
Option 4: Israeli Namer
The Namer is nice simply because it has Remote Control Weapon Stations (RCWS). But that system can be installed on every vehicle we talk about here. It is not unique to the Namer. The Namer is armed with an auto grenade launcher and .50 cal MG. the advantage the Bradley has, is the 25mm bushmaster cannon. The Namer seats a crew of three and 9 soldiers. The Bradley seats a crew of 3 and 7 soldiers. In either case, we would need two of these IFVs for each squad in our organization. I would honestly urge you to not select this vehicle primarily because we would need 8 vehicles per platoon.
Option 5: Aerospatiale SA-2 Samson
This is a fictionalized dual inducted rotary fan helicopter as seen in James Cameron's
Pandora. Either Aerospatiale or the Grathik may have developed this for our use. What I love about this vehicle is its looks. It is very bad ass in appearance. The Samson mounts a pair of .50 caliber tri-barreled
Hydra Machine guns which can fire a uranium tiped needle round. It can mount a pair of M240 MGs instead of the sci fi Hydras if needed as well as two 3.75" rocket pods. The Samson can carry up to 16 people with a crew of four. It would be perfect, but it is fiction. Personally, I am OK with that.
Option 6: V-22 Osprey
The V22 is a vertical take off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft that can fly like a helicopter or like a fixed wing aircraft. This gives it the advantage to land anywhere and fly faster than any helicopter on the planet. The V22 can mount three machine guns, one on each side and one on the rear ramp. The Osprey can seat 24 loaded soldiers. It can be used for airborne operations as well.
Option 7: Fictional Infantry Fighting Vehicle.
Image not available.
If someone would like to create a tracked or wheeled vehicle armed with 25mm cannon, .50 cal MG, 7.62mm MG and/or AT systems employing RWCS and can move 17 combat loaded soldiers, go for it. Even if we give it a fictional name with these characteristics, that might work too.
@CaptainBritton@Hellis@Vietmyke@Lord Shaxx