Bombshell Genius
A fully-extended Weasel on a test rig
Image Source: Wikipedia
Intent: To provide a rotating flail for minesweeping
Development Thread: If necessary
Manufacturer: Ringovinda Systems
Model: Weasel retractable rotating flail
Affiliation: Open Market
Modularity: No
Size: Vehicle-mounted
Weight: 6 tons
Production: Mass-Produced.
Material: Alusteel, electronic components
Strengths:
- Can set off almost any land mine
Weaknesses:
- Can only detect mines directly forward and underneath the vehicle
- When the flail is extended, the mount vehicle slows down to a crawl (~1 km/h) so that enemy infantry can overtake it
- Necessitates mine detector overhaul every ~200 standard days or so due to the IMS components of the mine detector
Description: The Weasel made its operational debut on Malastare when equipped by a squadron of minesweeping tanks called the Rings of the Lord which were, at the time, the only minesweeper unit in the Galactic Alliance armies, and equipped on the Zamboni minesweeping main battle tank used by the Rings of the Lord, which later formed the core of the Army of Malastare. The rotating flail rotor contains a mine detector, which, when it detects mines, extends an alusteel drum containing hundreds of alusteel chains tipped by alusteel balls and generating pressures similar to the passage of infantry soldiers or of non-repulsorlift vehicles, setting them off upon contact; for this reason it is best mounted on a repulsorlift vehicle. But, to safely clear mines in an area, the detector is programmed to slow down mount vehicles to about a slow crawl so that it can ensure a thorough clearing of minefields.
The mine detector uses a ground-penetrating radar and an explosives trace detector to detect mines based on ion mobility spectometry.
