Rusty
Purveyor of Fine Weaponry
Image Source
Intent: To create a portable, turkey towed auto mortar for the Mandalorian Clans at the behest of [member="Ra Vizsla"]
Development Thread: If Necessary
Manufacturer: Rusty's Custom Firearms and Cutlery
Model: MAM
Affiliation: Mandalorian Clans
Modularity: No
Production: Limited
Material: Durasteel, alusteel, rail gun components, repulsorlift components, microprocessor
Classification: Auto mortar
Size: Towed
Length: 1.5 meters
Weight: 45 kilograms
Ammunition Type: 100 mm mortars
Ammunition Capacity: 5 rounds stored in an internal magazine.
Effective Range: Battlefield
Rate of Fire: 1 round every 5 seconds
Special Features: Provides mobile indirect fire asset designed for a force on the move. Relatively high rate of fire for a mortar, and its ease of use makes it a real asset on the battlefield.
Strengths:
- Rapidly deployable firepower. The MAM is easy to position and has an excellent rate of fire for its class, and can rain down a variety of munitions.
- Use of an electromagnetic propulsion system rather than chemical propellant further increases the adaptability. Rather than futzing around with charges, the MAM simply needs to vary its power output to hit targets at varying range.
- The repulsorlift platform allows it to be easily towed behind the Dantooine Plains Turkey without burdening the bird.
- MAM must be grounded and anchored before firing it. Though the repulsorlifts are powerful enough to support its weight, firing without grounding it will cause it to rebound into the ground, damaging critical systems.
- The 100 mm shells are of medium power; not especially weak, but much less powerful than larger shells.
- The electromagnetic firing system uses a lot of power. The MAM uses the same replaceable power cores used by the MMS, but the cells must be changed out after 8 hours of continuous operation. The spent cores must be handled carefully, and are dangerous if breached.
Mortars are essentially baby artillery pieces. They're used to give foot soldiers and light mechanized infantry portable indirect fire assets in all sorts of terrain that larger vehicles and cannon might not be able to traverse easily. Though they have shorter range than traditional artillery pieces, the shells are actually more powerful, as they have thinner casings that allow them to pack more explosives.
The MAM fires three primary types of shells:
- HE- High Explosive shells that are the bread and butter of mortarmen. Nothing fancy, just a big wad of explosives in a fragmenting case.
- HEAT- High Explosive Anti-Tank shells that are essentially shaped charges packed with a little extra boom boom around the primary penetrator. The explosive charge is wrapped in notched wire that sent little shards of deadly shrapnel out on impact. Potentially capable of disabling armored vehicles by impacting the relatively light armor on top, while scouring the top clean of any clingers.
- BAM- Baradium Anti-Materiel shells that contain a baradium charge. Though baradium lacks the concussive force of traditional explosives, the burning balls of plasma it produces are capable of vaporizing more or less anything they contact.
To properly utilize the MAM, it must be grounded when it fires, in more ways than one. The repulsor most be deactivated and the MAM resting on relatively level ground, and a grounding stake must be driven into the ground as well. It comes with explosive fired anchor stakes that blast in the anchors with no effort on behalf of the users. Once all the stakes are in place, it can be fired safely.
The MAM is loaded from a 5 round internal magazine. Rounds are hand loaded into the magazine. Once all five rounds have been expended, more can be loaded in. Though it can technically be loaded with a partial magazine, for safety reasons, the weapon won't fire while the magazine well is open.
Aiming is simple. The MAM is equipped with a microprocessor that can link to a helmet's HUD. The user inputs the distance and direction, and the MAM aims itself and selects the appropriate charge. If the user has a map overlay, they can select the points they wish to target. When used with a drone or probe droid, the user can select targets live.
Like most mortars, the MAM's projectiles are relatively large and slow, and can easily be tracked by counterbattery radar. This makes it vulnerable to return fire, so the users are advised to shoot and scoot rather than stay in one place, unless they either have some sort of defensive measure set up or fire superiority.
Primary Source: N/A
