American Gate

Chapter 8: Fort Roanoke

Worldbuilding: US Equipment

ARX-35 Assault Rifle

The standard issue weapon of choice for the United States armed forces, the ARX-35 assault rifle is a sturdy and dependable weapon. It fires 6.8x51mm bullets from a 25 round magazine. It has two firing mods, semi-auto and full-auto. The rifle has an effective range of 800 meters, with the assistance of a tac visor; Its foldable scope can interface with the soldier's tac visor to provide augmented reality aim assistance.

MRX-39B Marksman rifle

The MRX-39B is the United States' standard long range sniper rifle. Thanks to its advanced aim assist software and tac visor interface, the MRX-39B has an effective range of up to 2,500 meters in the hands of a human soldier. If handled by a droid however, the effective range goes up to 3,500 meters. The sniper has variable electronic magnification that can interface directly with a soldier's tac visor. The rifle's AI provides the soldier with important tactical information such as wind speed, target distance, lead, elevation, etc.

Hwacha Light Missile Support Truck

The Hwacha Light Missile Support Truck can carry up to 20 light missiles. The missile rack has four rows of five launchers each. The truck is modular, however, allowing it to be refitted to carry fewer but more powerful missiles if needed. The type of missiles carried by the truck vary based on the specific mission the truck is deployed on. Standard light missile types include artillery, anti-air and anti-tank missiles. The Hwacha has four front wheels and six in the rear, for a total of ten wheels to support the heavy weight of so many missiles.

M850 Self Propelled Howitzer

The M850 self propelled howitzer is the United State's most modern mobile artillery platform. It shares several design characteristics with the Rhino, such as an 8x8 chassis and a boxy angular design, giving them a similar look. Just like the Rhino, it has a crew of four: a driver, a gunner, an equipment operator, and a commander. As with most modern vehicles, it is equipped with an AI capable of carrying out most vehicle functions without human input.

Its 160mm cannon can fire four rounds per minute, thanks to automated reloading systems. Although, when the reloading mechanism runs out of ammunition, humans or droids will have to manually restock it with more shells. The M850 can carry a total of 50 shells of varying types, depending on its mission requirements. The standard unguided munitions have an effective range of up to 50 km. To identify the exact location of distant targets, it has four top stowed recon drones. For defense, it has one AI controlled M4 .50 caliber machine gun above the cabin, sitting just below the main cannon in its resting position.

Recon Drone (RD-28)

The recon drone is an unarmed quadcopter designed solely for reconnaissance. When its arms are unfolded, the recon drone is .5 meters across, from the tips of its propellers. It is equipped with optical cameras, thermal sensors, lidar sensors, and radar. Recon drones can be carried by individual soldiers in the field or deployed from a larger vehicle or military base. The drone's AI is capable of operating and returning to its launch point with acquired information completely autonomously. It is even capable of successfully searching for its mother vehicle if said vehicle is out of contact and has moved position.

Light Combat Drone (LCD-34) (This is the military drone seen in chapter 1)

The light combat drone is a large quadcopter drone the size of a small car. Its main weapons are a chin mounted 7.62mm machine gun turret and eight Spike-B missiles mounted within the front of its chassis. It carries two droids underneath its belly for rapid field deployment. The droids can be lowered into their vertical deployment position and dropped safely from a height of up to 10 meters. Law enforcement agencies use a similar drone design, but with most of the weapons removed.