Kainan Wolfe
Shadow of War
- Intent: To create a Grenade Launcher for the Eternal Army
- Image Source: Aleksandr Bobrishev @Artstation
- Canon Link: N/A
- Restricted Missions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Karavin Concern
- Model: KC-T80 40mm Grenade Launcher
- Affiliation: Closed-Market | Confederacy of Independent Systems, Eternal Empire
- Modularity: Yes - Can use any type of ammunition as long as it conforms to a standardized projectile design, foregrip can be replaced with a swivel mount, allowing the weapon to be mounted on a vehicle
Production: Mass-Produced
- Material: Durasteel
- Classification: 40mm Grenade Launcher
- Size: Average
- Weight: Heavy
- Ammunition Type: 40mm Grenades
- Ammunition Capacity: Cylinder with a capacity of 9 grenades
Reload Speed: Slow
- Effective Range: Average
- Rate of Fire: High
- Stopping Power: High
- Recoil: Average
- Improved Ergonomics: The T80 features improved ergonomics thanks to its vertical foregrip and adjustable folding stock, allowing operators to adjust the weapon to their preferences
- Folding Stock: The T80 is fitted with a folding stock which allows it to be transported more easily and stored away in a smaller container
- Removable Foregrip: The vertical foregrip can be unscrewed and replaced with a socket which allows the weapon to be mounted on a fixture in a swivel configuration
- 40mm Grenades: The T80 can utilize any type of ammunition so long as it conforms to its standardized 40mm grenade form factor
- Simple and Reliable: The KC-T80 is, at its core, a very simple weapon, featuring no electronics and using only mechanical components, giving it increased reliability and immunity against EMP/Ion blasts, although this does not necessarily also apply to the ammunition, depending on the type being used
- Weight: While utilizing only mechanical components gives the T80 increased reliability, it also increases its weight, making it considerably heavier than comparable weapons
- Ammunition Capacity: The T80's cylindrical magazine can only hold a maximum of nine shots and due to the weapon's design, a higher capacity cylinder can not be installed
By studying battlefield reports made available to it by the Eternal Army, the lead engineers of Karavin Concern's small arms division noticed a need for a weapon platform capable of delivering explosive firepower at short-to-medium ranges, as missile launchers were found to be impractical at CQB ranges.
Unlike many of the weapons designed by Karavin Concern, what would eventually become the T80 did not begin as a state-funded project, but rather as a private venture by the company, which gambled that the military would, upon being presented with such a weapon, decide to adopt it into service, a gamble which turned out to be correct.
The design specifications were quickly drafted and what they described was a simple, rugged and reliable weapon with excellent ergonomics and a folding stock, enabling it to be stored and transported much more easily than comparable weapons available on the market. The T80 uses no electronic components whatsoever, making it a highly reliable, albeit considerably heavier, weapon which is also immune to the effects of electronics-disabling weapons such as Ion grenades or EMP blasts, although this immunity does not necessarily extend to its ammunition, which can include vulnerable electronic components, depending on the type of grenades being used.
On the ergonomics side, the weapon features a vertical foregrip and pistol grip which have been specifically designed to increase ease of use by distributing the weapon's considerable weight in a balanced fashion, as well as transferring the recoil from the weapon and into the operator's shoulder in a manner which makes it easier to control, having less muzzle deviation after each shot.
The T80's rugged mechanical design comes with several drawbacks, however. Originally, the weapon was intended to use a 12-shot cylinder as its magazine, but because of the already increased weight, the decision was made to lower the ammunition capacity to only nine shots, which is lower than most other semi-automatic grenade launchers on the market.
Despite its drawbacks, testing has revealed the weapon to perform excellently in its intended role and the Eternal Army's Requisitions Committee was sufficiently impressed with the design to order a large initial batch of T80 grenade launchers, intending to distribute it to the Ultranaut Corps, as well as the Settlement Defense Force. Outside of Nelvaan, the KC-T80 is also being offered up for sale to various Confederate planetary defense forces, as well as the Confederate Defense Force itself.
