Tuesday, 19 January 2016

Weapons: 40x225mm Super Forty

The CTAI CT2000, 40x225mmCTA Super Forty is a rival to the 50mm Supershot and appears currently to be the preference of the USMC and British Army. The Pyramid article suggests that it will arm IFVs and other vehicles till 2050. Given the British tradition of “making do” and defence cuts it is likely vehicles with these weapons are still be “soldiering on” in 2100. US-made vehicles with these weapons may have been given to allied nations as military aid.
The Super Forty fires 40 x 225mmCTA rounds with a plastic case. A version of the Bushmaster is offered that fires this round or 30 x 176mm or 30 x 170mm cannon rounds. This system is often referred to as a 30/40mm and this term may be used for other weapons of this chambering. The CT2000 had a linkless triple-feed system. The Bushmaster Mk44 is 343lb; Rof: 3 or 7; Dual belt feed.
            Apart from standard ammunition, CTAI also designed a guided APEDS-CLGP round, which fired a saboted, armor-piercing tungsten projectile with a HE charge. This laser-guided 25mm dart was modified from the submunitions of the British Starstreak surface-to-air missile. By the TS-era homing ammunition will doubtless have been developed for this cannon.
Name  Ammo  Damage  Acc  Range  RoF  Ewt  WPS  VPS  CPS  Pow  Notes
CTAI CT2000  APFSDS
6d x 11(2) 8
4,500/18,000
  6
  725
4.0
 0.015
 $110
 9kW
 

 
 AHEAD
6d x 6(0.5) plus 3d[4d(2)]
7

3,500/9,000

 

 

4.8

 

$110

 

[1]

 
APEDS-CLGP
6d x 6(2) plus 1d[2d] cr ex
7

4,000/12,000

 

 

4.2

 

$833

 

 
    HEPF6d[4d] cr ex   7 4,000/10,000   4.8   
    [2]

 
[1] AHEAD ammunition is effectively a shrapnel shell (HT 4e p.173) that can be programmed to explode at a range set at the moment of firing. It is primarily intended to engage airborne targets. The 3e Damage stat above is rather unrealistic for a round of this type. Explosive content would actually be a modest ejection charge. I have no specific data for the 30/40 AHEAD round. Online sources claim a 30mm version of the AHEAD contains 150 pellets but this may be confusion with the original 35mm round containing 152 tungsten pellets. 6d x 6(0.5) pi++ should be considered the KE damage from an intact shell. Using the rules in HT 4e p.166 & 172 based on 6d x 6 damage the pellets of an AHEAD are 3d(2) pi; RoF x 150; Rcl 1 The pellets get an armour-piercing modifier for being tungsten and high-velocity.
[2] The original table did not include any explosive round for the Super Forty. The HEPF is a programmable-fused airburst round based on the stats for a 40mm shell, reflecting improved explosive compositions in the TS-era.