Warfare (Populist America)

The technology used in populist America during war.

War on Terrorism

Unmanned Armoured Vehicles

• TALON

Firearms

• FN MK-17 "SCAR-H": The Special Forces Combat Assault Rifle was initially designed specifically for US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and entered service in 2009. While it was originally used exclusively by US Special forces, it eventually made its way into the other service branches of the United States and has since been adopted by the Europeans, Canadians, as well as other AIS countries.

• HK417: The HK417 is a battle rifle first designed and manufactured in Germany by Heckler & Koch. It is a gas-operated rifle chambered for the 7.62x51mm NATO (.308 Winchester) round, and was used as a designated marksman rifle until its retirement by the Federation of Europe in 2047. It was adopted for limited service by a number of armed forces, special forces and police organizations, and was the main battle rifle of the Federation of Europe for close to four decades.

Unmanned Aircraft

• RQ-2 Pioneer
• MQ-8 Fire Scout

MQ-8 Firescout was designed to provide reconnaissance, situational awareness, and precision targeting support.

• MQ-1 Predator
  • MQ-9 Reaper
  • MQ-1C Warrior

The MQ-9 Reaper was one of the first widely produced UCAVs.

• RQ-4 Global Hawk

The Global Hawk was the staple long range reconnaissance aircraft for US and a number of European nations for 30 years

Naval Ships

• Littoral Combat Ship
• Ohio Class Attack Submarine
• Type 096 Attack Submarine
• Typhoon Class Attack Submarine
• Borei Class Submarine

Interwar Period

Unmanned Armored Vehicles

• MULE: Multifunctional Utility/Logistics and Equipment
• Ripsaw MS3

Powered Exoskeletons

• Mk.1 PAX:

Firearms

F8 volcan assault rifle

Manned Aircraft

• F-35D Lightning II: One of the last of the 5th Generation Aircraft to remain in service, the F-35D was a variant of the one of the original F-35 variants from the early 2010s. The F-35D was the first Fighter to be modified as a Handler Aircraft for UAVs. The plane was given next generation avionics and advanced F199-BO-100 PDEs, the aircraft was first to the Navy as part of the second wave of counter strikes against the Chinese, and was retired in 2037.

Unmanned Aircraft

• MQ-11 Avenger

  

  The General Atomics Avenger was the first UCAV to exceed production of any single manned aircraft

• MQ-21 Invader II
• BQ-47 Pegasus
• JX-41 People's Dragon
• AQ-33 Crusader II

Airships

• D-1 HACA: The D-1 High Altitude Communications Airship, the first Stratolite, was first built in 2016 for civilian use after the Kessler Syndrome destroyed most of the world's artificial satellites. In 2018 a military version was created for greater information security and high altitude reconnaissance capability.

• D-8 HARD: The D-8 High Altitude Reconnaissance Dirigible was first unveiled in 2018 with the new military versions of the D-1 Stratolite as the hub for stratolite clusters over areas of interest. These small 20 person airships were quite common prior to the Flood War, but they were eventually phased out in favor of the D-29E which proved to be far more effective as a airborne intelligence center.

• D-16 Airborne Laser: Completed in 2020 the D-16 was to be the ultimate nuclear countermeasure for the US. Slightly larger than the D-8 HARD, the D-16 was outfitted with a single High Energy Area Defense Laser designed primarily for destroying enemy ICBMs, but was capable of assaulting vehicles as well.

Naval Ships

• Zumwalt Class Destroyer
• Gerald Ford Class Carrier

Flood War

Unmanned Armored Vehicles

• M5-A2 Schwarzkopf Unmanned Battle Tank: Introduced in 2032 shortly after the Coalition began its incursions against the Chinese in the South Pacific. The Schwarzkopf was designed as the ultimate solution to the problem of armor in modern warfare that was made abundantly clear during the Jihadist wars of the 2000s and 2010s. War planners in the West had been desperately searching for a way to provide armored support on the battlefield that would also be effective within an urban environment. The M1 Abrams Tank was notoriously remembered for this dilemma; as it would dominate enemy armor on a traditional battlefield, but would be either useless or helpless inside cities. The risk for civilian casualties was also quite high when fighting in cities. The M5 was the solution to these problems. It was the first Main Battle Tank to be unmanned, and as such it was able to be made much smaller than a traditional armored vehicle.

• PD-9 Pitt Bull: An evolution of the Big Dog program from Boston Dynamics, the PD-9 entered service in 2031 as the official replacement for the MULE logistics drone. Unlike the MULE, the Pitt Bull was complete autonomous, and could operate with multiple handlers through simple vocal commands. Designed initially as a pack drone, the Pitt became most effective as a support fire platform, often outfitted with light mortars or more commonly Heavy Machine Guns.

Powered Exoskeletons

• Mk.2 PAX: The Mk.2 Powered Armored Exoskeletons was developed by Raytheon Sarcos in conjunction with DARPA. An upgrade from the Mk.1 PAX, which entered service in 2023, the suits gave a soldier full armor, a top speed of 45 mph, and the ability to jump and land safely as high as 38 ft into the air. The suits had a small jet engine on board that served as an electrical generator, and had a max battery life of 6 hours with an additional 9 with the extension from the engine. It was initially given to soldiers who were to act as either battlefield engineers or support units that would typically carry mortars, heavy caliber machine guns, or grenade launchers.

• Hauberk SPX: Introduced in 2032, the Hauberk Semi-Powered Exoskeleton was designed for US Special Forces and was eventually given to the majority of US servicemen following the reconstitution of the US military in preparation for the invasion of China during the Flood War. The suit was designed to be much lighter and cheaper to produce than the Mk.2 PAX or the Cuirassiers PAX. It acted as a force multiplier for the much smaller US Marine Corps, and allowed for faster movement and greater lethality. What made the suit possible was the invention of room temperature superconductors, which gave the suit a 36 hour battery life of continuous use, though this was never necessary as the suits were designed to only augment the user's strength and speed for short bursts.

• Cuirassier PAX: Introduced in 2030 the Cuirassier Power Armor Exoskeleton, named for the heavily armored French cavalrymen, was given to American Special Operations units in anticipation for the war with China. The suit covered every inch of the user in robotic muscle which dramatically augmented the user's strength, speed and endurance. It was also the first, "Full Coverage" armor, meaning that additional graphene hard armor in conjunction with the already impact resistant robotic muscles covered the whole user. It was the most expensive armor ever produced, costing nearly as much as a M5-A2 Schwarzkopf Unmanned Battle Tank. The suits were first employed as part of the Minuteman Program, which took volunteers from various service branches and genetically augmented them for greater lethality on the battlefield; it was later given to all American Commando units. The suit was initially powered much like the Mk.2 PAX, with a large portable generator; but in 2031 it became the first suit to employ room temperature superconductors (RTSCs) for power and while it still sported a backpack sized battery pack, it now had a 48 hour battery life without the use of its solar acrylic charging plates. The suit was tested to withstand everything from small arms fire to the explosive force of tactical vacuum bombs.

Firearms

• M-9 SIR: Standard Infantry Rifle was the first electronically fired weapon to be mass produced for a nation's infantry. The weapon was commissioned in 2029 by President Edwards to replace the aging M-16 and M-4 as the sole assault rifle of the US Military. It chambered a next generation 8.00x60mm Electronic Ignition Projectile (EIP) that was adopted by POTA as a standard rifle round in 2039, and was capable of penetrating Level V body armor that was common among Chinese Infantry during the Flood War. It could fire either semi-automatically, or switched to an automatic rate of fire of up to 1 million Round Per Minute; though this was typically used as a last resort against armored vehicles as it would immediately empty the user's clip. The weapon was notoriously reliable often stated to never jam by soldiers in the field. It stayed in service until 2064 when it was finally retired, and was the first weapon to be issued as the standard infantry rifle of the Pacific Ocean Treaty Alliance.
• QBZ-101: First produced in 2020 the QBZ-101 was eventually upgraded and entered service under the Chinese State and the Caliphate of Turkey in 2026 just prior to the start of the war. The weapon was the first successful flechette rifle, and became very popular with China's PMCs upon entering service. With a modular design the rifle was very effective as a multi-role weapon, and was adopted by the ROC upon the end of the Flood War.

Manned Aircraft

• AMV-24 Kingfisher: Descended from the Advanced Mobility Concept Aircraft (AMC-X) project, the AMV-24 was the first fixed wing aircraft to provide Shot Take-off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) transport capability for the US Military. The aircraft was mothballed in 2026 under the Narain budget cuts, and re-entered service in 2030 having been upgraded under the Edwards administration.

• FB-22 Black Raptor: In 2019 the F-22 Raptor, having become completely useless with the greater incorporation of unmanned aircraft, was mothballed under the Clinton defense budget cuts. In 2023 a prototype YF-22B was developed under the Palin Administration, but was quickly cut in 2026 under the Narain administration. In 2030 President Edwards reactivated the program, and after some major upgrades to the old platform the FB-22 Black Raptor was born. Named for the color of the Thermal-Reflective Material (TRM) that the entire aircraft was coated in to limit its heat signature; the FB-22 was a radical improvement over what has historically been considered a useless aircraft, the airframe was converted to increase range, all electronic systems were improved, and the two F119-PW-100 engines with next generation F277-BO-200 Pulse Detonation Jet engines. The Aircraft was the first purpose built Handler Aircraft for UCAVs, and was retired in 2049.

• Chengdu H-11: Put into limited service in 2026, the H-11 was China's most advanced bomber aircraft. A stealth aircraft with a wingspan greater than an American B-52, the H-11 was designed to be Chairman Xing called, "A Nation Killer." The craft was used only sparingly during the Flood War until the Thanksgiving Day Attacks, where close to a thousand were committed to crippling the American military. Traveling upwards of Mach 11, at 110,000 feet, the H-11 was the fastest manned bomber ever made and had a higher ceiling than a SR-71 Blackbird Spy Plane. Some pilots reported during the Thanksgiving Day attacks, the sound of hail on the craft during the high altitude portions of the flight. Upon landing in China, mechanics discovered pitting on the top of the aircraft that was later confirmed to be residual debris from the Kessler Belt. Arguably its most famous act was the destruction of the White House during the attacks.

• Shenyang J-23: China's primary fighter aircraft for much of the Flood War, the J-23 entered service in 2028 and gained recognition across China as, "The Plane that Shot Down the US Air Force." Capable of VTOL and hypersonic flight, the J-23 was in many ways the last manned fighter ever made.

Unmanned Aircraft

• UF-9 Sparrowhawk: First built by Lockheed Martin in conjunction with Blue Origin as a technology demonstrator in 2025 as part of the Unmanned Tactical Fighter (UTF) program, the program was scrapped with several other projects in 2026 under the Narain military spending cuts. In 2030 the project was revived by President Edwards, and with several modifications to the existing UTF design, what emerged was the FQ-9 Sparrowhawk, the first unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) to be given the "F" for Fighter designation.

• UA-33B Crusader II: An improvement on the existing UA-33 that had been in limited service during the last few months of the US-Nigerian War, the UA-33B had a lighter and stronger airframe, and was given more advanced guidance systems for the larger role it was to carry out. The Crusader II proved to be a very effective attack aircraft during the Coalition invasion of China, acting mainly as a tank buster and general anti-armor weapon system.

• UB-53 Devastator: The UB-53 "Devestator" was the second UCAV to be given the Bomber designation. It was much larger than the UB-47 that it ultimately replaced, and was designed to deliver much heavier loads than the retiring B-2 Spirit. Roughly the size of a B-1 Lancer, the Devastator was the first UCAV that was capable of delivering Vacuum Bombs or Nuclear Ordinance to the battlefield, though it was largely used for destroying large infrastructure points and enemy military bases.

• UV-23 Vulture

Airships

• D-29 CCD: The D-29 Command and Control Dirigible was first introduced in 2021 to act as a the ultimate battlefield command center. The ship was roughly 400 meters long and was outfitted with four defensive GAU-21 Metalstorm guns to defend its 30 person crew from enemy aircraft and missile fire. Typically the airship was used by battlefield commanders as an airborne command center for all other air and ground units, allowing for total control over the battlefield. After the end of the Flood War, the D-29 was retrofitted with Advanced Tactical lasters and a nanonet gas bag.
• Shaanxi S-13: Commissioned in 2024 the S-13 became the primary aerial command center for the Chinese State's various PMCs. Designed intentionally to compete with the American D-29, the S-13 was over half a mile in diameter and had a distinct upside down saucer shape. To this day it holds the record as the largest aircraft ever constructed, and even had a small landing pad for resupply VTOLs. The massive size of the S-13, allowed the Chinese to station their entire cyber intelligence network at very high altitudes, making it impossible for any aircraft to take them out for the first half of the war. Eventually all but three of the fleet of twenty airships were destroyed, two were recommissioned by the ROC during the reconstruction period, and one was abandoned and continued to orbit the Earth for close to twenty years.
  • The Blue Dragon: The only one of the S-13 fleet to remain active after the reconstruction period was the CSIS Blue Dragon, which having been abandoned by its crew, continued to orbit the Earth for over twenty years. Becoming something of modern folklore after the war, as no existing surveillance stratolites could achieve the altitudes to find it, and only unmanned Aircraft could fly high enough to dock with the vessel, the Blue Dragon could never be reliably tracked as its flight bath shifted with air currents, and the slightest collisions with deorbitting space debris. In 2058 the Blue Dragon's aging graphene gas bag was punctured by space debris and crashed into the Indian Ocean, where it was eventually recovered by the Indonesians.

Naval Ships

• Mullen Class Destroyer Sub: The USS Mike Mullen was designed chiefly to combat the Chinese Type-99 Assault Submarines that had been so effective against American surface ships during the start of the War. The Mullen Class Destroyer Subs were designed to be just that: submersible destroyers. The Ships were equiped much like traditional subs, with missile launch pods, torpedo tubes, etc. But the Mullen had one feature that had never been seen before in a submarine: Magnetic accelerator cannons. There were two of these guns installed on the Mullen class ships, each designed to hit a target from up to 500 km away when surfaced. The Mullen class ships were considered to the US Navy during the war, and they remained in service until the first ship, "Iron Mike" as it had come to be known, was finally retired in 2061.

• Roughead Class Carrier Sub: The USS Roughead was the world's first submersible supercarrier. Designed to replace the Nimitz class supercarriers that were destroyed during the Thanksgiving Day Attacks, the Rougheads were designed to act as the ultimate form of surprise attack. The ships carried largely unmanned fighters and bombers, as well as several manned handler striker fighters. The Rougheads ultimately became the precedent for the modern submersible Navy.

• Coronado Class Transport Sub: The USS Coronado was the second dedicated transport submarine produced, after the Indonesian Gangsar Wicaksono class. Far smaller than its Indonesian counter part, the Coronado was class was intended to be quick and cheap to produce, focussing more on numbers rather than size. The subs were used more for logistics and moving support units rather than the large scale landings that the Indonesians made with their 300 meter long submarines.

• Gangsar Wicaksono Class Transport Sub: The first of its kind the Indonesian Gangsar Wicaksono class was the first dedicated submarine built for transporting troops and logistics. It was the largest transport ship to serve during the Flood War, and its design has been incorporated into most post war transport subs. It has 10 torpedo tubes, 6 on the front and 4 on the rear.
• Model LC11 Carrier: The workhorse of the Chinese navy, the LC11 entered service in 2029 and carried out the mission of defending the Chinese mainland from the Coalition for much of the war. All but four were sunk during the Coalition offensive prior to Opperation Phantom Fury, however those that survived continued to raid enemy vesels until the end of the war. Not nearly the size of the American Roughead Class carriers, the LC11 was designed to be easy to produce and inexpensive, allowing for high volume rather than scale.

Post-War

Powered Exoskeletons

• M3-A1 Gungnir: Introduced in 2055, the M3-A1 was both the first Powered Exoskeleton to be given an official designation of M3-A1, though it is typically known as the Gungnir, named for the spear Norse God Odin. It was one of the only military upgrades to survive the budget cuts of the Tracy administration, primarily because of its general versatility as a combat multiplier. The Gungnir was the first PAX to be constructed through the use of Fabbers, and as such was significantly more advanced than its official predecessor the Cuirassier. The suit's hard armor shell was largely constructed with a deep layer of Carbon nanotubes, a major improvement over graphene, while the upper layer consisted of a metamaterial that allong with providing invisibility also allowed the suit to take limited exposer from tactical lasers while the nanotubes let it survive most forms of heavy ordinance save for strategic nuclear weapons. What actually kept the user alive was a next generation layer of robotic muscle that also acted as the impact layer. While RTSCs were used for reserve power, the suit consumed so much energy that one of the smallest He-3 Reactors ever produced was created to power its various combat and life support systems. While this generator did give the suit somewhat of a "hump" in its upper back, the results were undeniable. The suit also allowed for the attachment of an external flight system that gave Special Forces units a virtually unlimited range.