Thales Rapidfire, the terminator of the technicals

[Arakneo 856]

 

 

hello today i would like to suggest the ultimate technicals for france: a Mercedes-Benz Unimog equipped with the rapidfire turrets made by thales

 

History

Spoiler

 this vehicule story begins at the beginning of the century, when France and Britain launch the production of the CTA 40 mm, a new generation of autocannon, making use of the cased telescoped ammunition to be as space effective as it can. The gun was soon incorporated into many project ranging from upguning existing ifvs up to becoming a naval weapon station, the flexibility that the 40mm offered seducing industrials from both side across the english channel.So in 2013 Thales unveiled the rapidfire, a turrets that was meant to equip the next generation of ships built by france but who could also be used both on land or at sea. To showcase those possibilities Thales has shown these turrets being mounted onto a Mercedes-Benz Unimog, already in use across the french army, most notably as the Caesar. 

It is to be noted than a prototype of a titus being equipped with such weapon systeme should be unveiled in the year 2022

 

performance
 

Spoiler

fire power

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The rapidfire turrets is equiped with the 40mm cta, which can fire all kind of ammunition, apfsds (which can defeat 140mm of RHA at 1500m), pellet round, multi purpose he and SAP wich can punch through 240mm of concrete with a fire rate up to 200rp

 

It has access to a ready rack of 140 rounds, and carries 80 more rounds in the vehicules.

it come equipped with an  with an infred sensors and a laser range fire

its whole Fire Control System is equiped with Gyro-stabilized gun Gyro-stabilized optronic sight: InfraRed + Daylight + Laser Range Finder. The optronic sight enables:  Visual identification prior to engagement up to 30 km  Target tracking for engagement up to 15km  Real time assessment  of interception

 

It has access to two firing mode:  a fast firing mode with 200 rpm and slow firing mode with 80 rpm

mobility

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Mercedes-Benz Unimog 6x6 U2450 cross-country truck chassis but the system could be integrated onto other wheeled chassis. The engine of the RapidFire vehicle is a Mercedes-Benz LA 6 cylinder turbocharged diesel developing 240 hp. at 2,600 rpm. The transmission is manual, with 8 forward and 1 reverse gear. The U2450 can run at a maximum road speed of 95 km/h with a maximum cruising range of 600 km

the weight of a fully loaded in battle order rapidfire should be around 15 to 16t
Making it reached a ratio of around 16hp/t

survivability

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It requires two crew to operate this system, both of them are situated in the armored crew compartiment in the front of the truck, which was designed to stop small caliber machine gun fire.
 

 

 

Why should it be put in game

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 while lacking a search radar by itself, the rapidfire is able, thanks to its modern fire control system to identify lock on and predict where it should fire to make its round hit the target. Such a system can be simulated in game as a lead indicator, following the same mechanism than the one used on radar guided spaa.It would also allow france to get a potent spaa with hevt and allow some variety in the 9.0+ french line up. oh yeah and it has a stab. 
 

picturse and video

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https://imgur.com/we2LVHw

 

 

SOURCE
 

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https://www.thalesgroup.com/sites/default/files/database/document/2020-10/RAPIDFire%20Naval%20Datasheet%202018-10%20%C2%A9Thales.pdf

https://www.yumpu.com/fr/document/read/49992104/rapidfire-thales-group

 

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2020/10/rapidfire-thales-and-nexter-to-equip-french-navy-ships-with-new-ciws-system/

 

https://youtu.be/9c_1Yn2LC1k

 

https://www.armyrecognition.com/armoured_vehicles_artillery_france_french_army_uk/rapidfire_40mm_self-propelled_anti-aircraft_gun_missile_air_defense_system_technical_data_sheet_uk.html

 

 

https://www.armyrecognition.com/weapons_defence_industry_military_technology_uk/thales_latest_developments_and_technological_innovations_for_defense_aerospace_and_aviation_10707154.html

 

https://www.forcesoperations.com/rapidfire-titus-nexter-sattaque-aux-nouvelles-menaces-aeriennes/

 

https://www.edrmagazine.eu/rapidfire-a-strong-defence-punch-against-aerial-targets-and-not-only

special thanks to @LeGrandSarrazin @Tantor57 @CaID and @totolescargo for helping me gathering information about this vehicule

Edited October 28, 2022 by Arakneo

[super_cacti 1,071]

Open for discussion 

 

But @Arakneoyour post currently has a lot of broken image links, so it's hard to see what the vehicle you're suggesting really looks like.

So please fix this soon.

[DMYEugen 688]

+1 Looks like a really fun vehicle with a flexible playstyle. 

[Milocat 4,857]

+1 from me, this looks like a very interesting and fun addition.

[Arakneo 856]

added the two firing mode according to this article: https://www.edrmagazine.eu/rapidfire-a-strong-defence-punch-against-aerial-targets-and-not-only

 

Edited October 28, 2022 by Arakneo

[T_rexflameche 110]

+1, looks fun, plus France has no HE-VT capable vehicles for the moment, would be a very potent AA, while having a descent dart round.