Nod Tick Tank

From Reborn

In the First Tiberium War, Nod achieved the initial upper hand in surprise, intelligence, and the fielding of armored vehicles well before the United Nations came to terms with the Brotherhood as a "credible threat to the safety and security of the organized global community." Even in the wake of the United States defense contractors' scandal prior to the outbreak of the First Tiberium War, Nod's opening moves in Tunisia, assassination of General Nikoomba in Tmassah, Libya, and subsequent conquest of Egypt were dismissed as simply the destabilization of Organization of African Unity member nations' governments, with the U.N. withholding troop deployment unless the situation worsened. Even when GDI first reported contact with Nod-operated Warsaw Pact tanks in Estonia and during the initial hours of the invasion into Latvia, the United Nations Security Council refused to allow GDI forces to field any main battle tanks greater than the M60A3 Pattons to which they had already been assigned (M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks, being very few in number, were reserved for commando units only). Only when evidence was presented before the Security Council that Nod forces in Latvia were confirmed to be in possession of high-grade U.S. and foreign military arms (including Warsaw Pact armored personnel carriers, self-propelled SAM systems, and even tanks) in significant numbers did the United Nations reconsider its evaluation of the Brotherhood as less than a threat to the stability of the global community's world governments and military powers. All throughout Latvia and into the invasion of Lithuania, GDI M60A3 Patton Tanks were forced to wrestle muzzle-to-muzzle with hostile T-72s and BMP-class transports until American delegates made a commitment to provide to GDI the arms necessary for defeating such Cold War era threats. It was then that GDI's influx of American M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks began to arrive, but a lack of a sufficient number of massive airfields required for the landing of C-5 Galaxies and C-17 Globemaster IIIs hauling the critical tanks made integration of the Abrams into the GDI arsenal slow and difficult.

-GDI M60A3 Patton Tank

It was in Poland, however, that Nod flexed its true armored military muscle. GDI's entry into Poland and simultaneous invasion of Belarus from across the Lithuanian border brought GDI's few Abrams Tanks and fleets of mechanized transports into contact with platoons of Warsaw Pact armored vehicles provided to Nod by defectors from the Polish Army, as well as reinforcements from Belarus. It was here that Nod's M2A2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle provided to them by illicit personnel within American defense contractors and foreign suppliers such as Saudi Arabia was first spotted in action against GDI. Though it acted as a dedicated transport and anti-infantry platform, its twin-tube BGM-71 TOW II Missile Launcher proved effective against GDI's main battle tanks, even from outside their effective range. However, its weak armor and susceptibility to antitank weaponry made it a deathtrap for the crews carried within.

It should be noted that Nod engineers were successful in modifying existing M2A2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle systems by converting them into a dedicated battle tank platform dubbed the "M2F Bradley" (which analysts believe was based partly off of the Swedish Army Armored Combat Vehicle 9030). Using an in-house design derived from modern-day tank firing mechanisms, Nod engineers devised a 70mm gun barrel and increased the Bradley turret size to accommodate their newest gun mount, its firing mechanism, and anticipated recoil. The cannon system was breech-loaded much like modern-day manual load operation tanks and designed to fire armor-piercing discarding sabot rounds at ranges of up to 2,000 meters. Much like the Swedish Army Combat Vehicle 9030, the 70mm gun system was mounted upside-down so as to allow for easier reloading. Intelligence garnered on the design of the Nod 70mm gun system has never been clear as to the exact origins of the weapon, though similarities have been noted between the existing 70mm system and that of the L/60 Bofors 40mm Autocannon, Japanese Type 92 70mm Battalion Gun, and modern-day howitzers. Additional revolutions as part of Nod's M2F Bradley included increased armor protection through the installation of bulkheads inside where the crew compartment originally was positioned, as the Brotherhood had opted to nullify the M2F's potential troop carrying capacity in favor of allowing for increased ammunition and equipment storage and the inclusion of an additional engine drive system to account for the increased weight of the vehicle due to the larger and heavier turret. To further its capabilities, Nod designers made sure to retain the coax-mounted M240 7.62mm machine gun and BGM-71 TOW Launcher, as the Brotherhood had received an ample supply of ammunition for both systems from sympathetic nations and defense corporations around the world. The result was a modified Bradley chassis which could outrun the GDI M1A1 Abrams Tank and pose enough of a threat (when in significant numbers) to GDI armored weaponry.

Common vernacular labeled the GDI Abrams Tank as the "Medium" Tank and the Nod Bradley in both of its formats as the "Light Tank" until a dedicated Light Tank was developed. The dedicated Nod Light Tank featured a dome-shaped turret equipped with a 70mm auto-loader on top of a low, discreet, and forward-sloped hull sporting four independent track systems, and was later upgraded to incorporate a 75mm, 90mm, and even a 125mm gun barrel loaded with armor-piercing discarding sabot rounds. While effective in groups and faster than most other tanks deployed during the war, the Nod Light Tank was outclassed in range, armor protection, and firepower in the face of GDI Abrams Tanks: the main gun was the only weapon sported by the Light Tank, the 125mm gun barrel constantly caused mechanical problems for the small vehicle, and the arrangement of ammunition in a circle around the turret left the tank vulnerable to a massive chain reaction during armor penetration from any direction, which would blow the turret right off the hull.

-Nod M2A2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle

-unidentified Warsaw Pact T-72 Tank

To compensate for their drawbacks in terms of superior armored vehicles, Nod forces launched a series of raids on the United States Army 1st Armored Division's headquarters at Wiesbaden, Germany, in hopes of acquiring American Abrams Tanks and German 2A4 Leopard Tanks of their own. Their vicious attacks left several American and German servicemen dead and eventually forced the joint-American and German military forces to withdraw in hopes of better protecting NATO Headquarters at Ramstein from the inevitable Nod attack. However, with the loss of Wiesbaden, Nod was able to successfully acquire modern NATO main battle tanks and field them against defense elements at Ramstein, surrounding and destroying them to the point that the American 1st Armored Division was all but annihilated. However, Nod placed such a high value in the newly captured German and American armor that they were relegated to the most critical of combat areas and only occasionally the front lines until later in the war, when GDI's continued advances blasted apart Nod's armored walls. In a pattern of continued wartime escalation, Nod Light Tanks and M2A2 Bradleys overpowered GDI mechanized transports, until Nod's light armor was repeatedly outclassed by GDI M1A1 and eventually M1A2 Abrams Tanks. When Abrams Tanks were pitted against Nod-acquired 2A4 Leopard Tanks and Nod Abrams Tanks of their own, GDI air power dominated the airspace, and the ground below. This combination of combined arms maneuver is what attributed to the loss of several Nod tanker crews and armored assets, to the point that by the battle for Sarajevo, a Nod Abrams or Leopard Tank (and a skilled crew to operate them) was all but a rarity.

-GDI M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank

-Nod Leopard 2A4 Tank

With the end of the First Tiberium War, Nod began a reevaluation of its military armament, with a focus on self-reliance and in-house manufacturing. The concept of receiving heavy arms from third-party suppliers all but bankrupted Nod towards the latter months of the war. The revolutionizing of Nod wartime technology resulted in the creation of a dedicated arms manufacturing facility which would serve the equivalent of GDI's War Factory: the assembly of the materials Nod deemed necessary to make war upon its enemies. With this facility came a more efficient means of researching and assembling prototype weaponry designed to survive and do battle in hostile Tiberium environments. One of the first designs created by Nod's personal War Factory was a hybrid tracked armored vehicle designed to burrow into the earth and use the terrain to its tactical advantage. For its ability to perform such a feat, the weapons system was dubbed the Tick Tank.

Specifications

The Tick Tank is considered the primary battle tank of the Brotherhood of Nod, being designed to not only field to Nod an effective armored vehicle, but also to correct the problems and shortcomings posed by armored weapons previously in service to Nod. Twin-treads have been incorporated into the track shoes running along the entire length of the vehicle and are completely protected by armored side skirts, and the armor plating along the rooftop and turret has been reinforced to withstand greater punishment. The turret features an advanced ballistics computer to correct for destabilization during movement, as well as infrared optics. The main body of the hull is sloped forward to provide greater protection from threats in front of the tank, and the forward area of the tank features headlamps to allow for night navigation. The vehicle is crewed by two: a gunner in the turret and a driver assuming a reclined position in the rear sections of the hull between the engine and the backside crew access door. Despite its size, the Tick Tank is capable of speeds matching that of loaded cargo trucks, which allows the Tick Tank to act as an effective convoy escort.

Like the Tick Tank as a whole, the turret is a hybrid system in itself. Much like the pincer jaws on a tick insect, the Tick Tank's turret features two mounted weapons systems: a 120mm cannon featuring a specially designed muzzle flash suppressor on the left and a mounted 25mm 5-barreled GAU-12/U Equalizer Rotary Cannon (instead of a simple 7.62mm minigun) on the right. Each gun operates dependently with the turret and is slaved to each other in terms of aiming and vertical adjustment, acting as a sort-of coaxial-mounted weapon for each other and supplementing one another to engage the same target for greater lethality as well as multiple targets at once, including infantry, light vehicles, and heavier armaments. To avoid fielding multiple types of rounds for multiple types of tanks, the Tick Tank weapons system operates on a "one round, one tank" principle, which calls for equipping all Tick Tanks with universal rounds of a single type, with a dual purpose in mind. Under this parameter, the Tick Tank is equipped with 120mm rounds (instead of smaller 90mm shells as first design plans called for) loaded with armor-piercing warheads fitted to explosive shells, much like the M2 Browning's Raufoss Mark 211 .50 caliber Multipurpose Ammunition. A concept to include incendiary materials in the rounds was explored, but ultimately abandoned since the heavier round poorly affected the overall accuracy of the weapons system. Nevertheless, the special 120mm round operates by penetrating the armor of its target before triggering a time-delay explosion milliseconds later, which causes further damage to vulnerable internal circuitry and armor plating. This round works especially well against armored personnel carriers, when the round exploding in the crew cabin can inflict mass crew casualties. In the name of dual-purpose versatility, the GAU-12/U Equalizer has also been designed to fire special rounds which operate in the same fashion as the main gun, burrowing into the target through the employment of an armor penetrator before exploding inside. The computer systems inside the turret can also seize control of the drive systems in the event the driver is incapacitated in the course of battlefield operations. Likewise, the driver can also control the turret by remote from inside the hull in the event the gunner is incapacitated.

Alongside its weapons and armor features, the Tick Tank is most noted for the ability to which its name is derived. Unlike any other armored vehicle in existence, the Tick Tank has the capacity to burrow into the ground to reinforce its position and act as a temporary static offensive measure to supplement the advance of troops, or to reinforce base defenses. The Tick Tank burrows into the ground by forcing its twin-tread systems to move in an inverse-directional fashion (the exterior treads forward, the interior treads backward) while bringing its spinning roller drill to the ground in order to deform the terrain. This loosens the soil, pushing the excess dirt away from the front of the tank, and creates a sinkhole-like opening in the earth, allowing the hull to slide forward and land securely within the dirt. At the same time, the turret slides backwards across the top of the hull over the engine, driver, and then the rear crew doors until it reaches the rear (now the "top") of the vehicle and slides over the backside of the tank, creating a vertical turret-like structure which can rotate a full 360 degrees. The result is a weapons system which features reinforced protection due to the presence of the earth, as well as a stabilized weapons platform to the point that its effective range and accuracy are both increased. This allows for the Tick Tank to cover the advance of allied troops from a secure position while laying down covering fire. When friendly forces have advanced beyond the tank's effective range, the Tick Tank simply spins its roller drill and tracks in reverse to literally throw itself out of its defensive position, with its turret acting as a weight to draw the vehicle back onto the ground before sliding forward to the front of the vehicle seconds later. The entire process of shifting between dug-in and mobile postures can be completed in only a few seconds.

However, for every advantage offered by the Tick Tank, there are glaring disadvantages, and perhaps even design flaws. The Tick Tank is especially large, both in height and width, almost exceeding the dimensions of even the GDI Mammoth Tank and surpassing all other Nod vehicles with the exception of the Devil's Tongue, Fist of Nod, and Mobile Stealth Generator. In this regard, while the Tick Tank travels low to the ground (for its size), its rectangular hull silhouette is easily discernible at great ranges. Another drawback is that most of the armor protection is along the top and rear of the vehicle, with lesser protection along the front and sides. While the armor along the main hull between the tracks is sloped forward, the sloped armor provides its greatest protection only when the tank assumes its mobile posture. When in a defensive state, the then-vertical armor slopes inward away from the enemy, not towards it as sloped armor is best suited to do. In effect, any portion of the tank exposed by a lack of soil covering it is left more vulnerable to enemy fire, though this is made up for by the sheer amount of armor provided over the rear of the tank and the tracks. In this regard, the armor covering the treads is flat both horizontally and vertically, not sloped, even in the defensive state, which can be easily penetrated by antitank rounds, increasingly the likelihood of immobilization. Secondly, the engine compartment is sometimes left partially exposed by the burrowing maneuver, which can lead to not only immobilization, but a complete breakdown in the burrowing mechanism if catastrophic damage is sustained. Thirdly in this regard, any damage inflicted upon the top and rear of the tank increases the likelihood of failure in the burrowing mechanism, as debris and destroyed materials can become lodged in the roof-mounted drive shift track designed to allow the turret to slide backwards across the hull. Any penetration of this rooftop armor also runs the risk of injuring or even killing the driver. Even if the rear and roof of the tank remain untouched, damage to the front of the tank can result in the disabling of the roller drill, severing the tank's capability to burrow itself into a defensive posture entirely and relegating the tank to a mobile offensive purpose until repairs can be administered.

Other drawbacks have been found in the design of the turret. While the turret boasts additional armor plating, it is completely exposed to enemy fire from all directions while acting in its static role. Any penetration of the turret can result in degraded performance of the ballistic computer, stabilization system, damage to the weapons and ammunition compartments, and crew casualties. With respect to the design of the turret, maximum ammunition capacity of the Tick Tank as a whole is limited to roughly forty main gun rounds and 1,000 minigun rounds. In especially prolonged firefights, these ammunition loads can become heavily strained. The 120mm main gun barrel is short compared to the tank barrels of yesteryear, limiting its range compared to other tanks, and lacks a bore evacuator, without which can increase the likelihood of the barrel overheating in prolonged firefights and disabling the gun outright. Additionally, while the 120mm round is exceptionally suited to penetrate armor plating, this breach-and-blast feature of the exploding round can be offset by additional armor plates on especially heavy fighting vehicles, as well as special armor systems designed to realign and repair damaged armor sections, such as those incorporated on the Mammoth Mark II. While a muzzle flash suppressor has been incorporated into the main gun, the smoke discharge cloud is especially large and can reveal the tank's location if properly tracked back to its source. Other flaws surround the very manner in which the Tick Tank was constructed. Mainly, the only way to mount up on a Tick Tank is to open its rear or turret crew entry hatches when it is in the mobile position. Thereby, a Tick Tank which is crippled or destroyed while in the burrowed position will almost certainly entomb the driver inside the hull between the engine and the gun turret, yet may allow the gunner to escape if the turret hatch can be successfully opened. Most notably, however, the armor installed on the rear crew doors is especially thin, and penetration of these armor plates can result in the loss of the driver and damage to the engine. To account for the numerous drawbacks, Nod weapons designers have debated incorporating a 125mm cannon to the Tick Tank, increasing its bore size at the cost of its maximum ammunition capacity. It is also rumored that incendiary materials are being installed into the already existing 120mm rounds, though these reports have never been confirmed, nor denied by Nod weapons engineers.

No matter the amount of benefits offset by drawbacks and vice versa, the Tick Tank has already proved its effectiveness in the field. The concept of providing covering fire from a platform which can stop and lay down fire before packing up and relocating to a new firing position has ensured protection for the advance of Nod troops across the planet. Secondly, reports indicate that GDI troops have shown signs of intimidation at the presentation of a weapon which dwarfs even their prized Mammoth Tank of the first war. One Tick Tank alone is a challenge, but entire platoons of Tick Tanks rolling upon a GDI position is enough to make the earth-and men-tremble. No matter how long or costly the Second Tiberium War becomes, one thing is certain: the Tick Tank has become a lethal (if not controversial) weapons system which will stand the test of time and battle.

Images

-Nod Tick Tank, as drawn by Eric Gooch (Seth, http://www.cybergooch.com)