Welcome to Gaia! ::

Weapon Name- MAC Gun (Magnetic Assisted Cannon)
Round Type- 120mm (4.7) Rheinmetall Ammunition
Over-all length- 8.4 meters meters (9.24 yd), 27.72 feet
Barrel length- 70 calibers (120mm x70, or 8.4 meters)
Weight- 10,885 (3322 Kg)
Rate of Fire- 12 RPM
Feed Mechanism- 1-round internal magazine (Although autoloaders can load each round like it's semiautomatic)
Round Capacity- 1
Effective Range- 8000 meters (5 miles), 16,000 meters (10 miles) with Magnetic Assistance
Range- Unverified
Accuracy- 2.05 MOA
Accessories- N/A
Quick switch firing mechanism- N/A
Scope/Sights- Internal Monitor
Muzzle Velocity- 1700 m/s m/s with Uranium Penetrator, 2400 m/s with Uranium Penetrator and Magnetic Assistance
Firing System- M256 120mm Gun
Miscellaneous/electronic information- Basically identical to the Rheinmetall 120 mm gun except for the Magnetic Assistance








The weapon is basically identical to the Rheinmetall 120 mm gun except for the Magnetic Assistance it provides on specialized Depleted Uranium/iron rounds. The round can fire ordinary 120mm rounds if desired, and even missile assisted rounds. The rounds are basically identical to the 10 kilogram M829A3 depleted uranium round, in shape, size, and application, including the mild amount of steel, with other trace elements, such as Zinc which form a staballoy). The iron acts as a super ferro-magnetic material, and increases the felt effect of the magnetic field in the paramagnetic permeability of the depleted uranium, allowing it to achieve a higher level of efficiency per round, although it also decreases it somewhat due to magnetic resistance.

The magnetic system operates relatively simply, being a very base type of coil gun. A large innovative factor of the weapon is that it uses magnetic disks rather than magnets on the side, which increase it's ability to transfer a magnetic charge to the round over something with a purely lateral magnetic propulsion system. Another factor is that the round almost touches the barrel, which gives it a railgun like quality in small amounts. The barrel is also made out of depleted uranium, being significantly heavier, at 6175 pounds instead of 2600, increasing the weight of the over-all system by 3575 pounds, decreasing recoil somewhat, but also more heat and erosion resistant, and more importantly paramagnetic, as it absorbs magnetism but does not maintain residual magnetism very well. This material is similar in composition to the depleted uranium round. The rounds composite and carbon fiber sabot also sports a molybdenum disulfide coating, which helps to decrease friction with the barrel, further increasing velocity and reducing wear. This puts the velocity of the round roughly at 1700 m/s without much increase in propellant. The barrel is also somewhat longer, at 70 calibers instead of 55, which can potentially increase velocity.

With improved guidance systems, and recognition systems, this easily extends the range of the weapon to past 8000 meters, or 5 miles. All in all, the round possess roughly 14.45 million joules with a roughly 10 kilogram round traveling at around 1700 m/s. With the magnetic assistance, the round is capable of roughly 29 million joules, or around double the energy.

The coilgun itself possesses around 10% efficiency, which is relatively efficient, but not too terribly optimized so, and it stores it's energy in lithium ion capacitors. These capacitors possess store roughly 1/10th of the total energy storage as high grade lithium ion, or roughly 1 megajoule per kilogram, or .1 megajoules per kilogram for the lithium ion capacitors. Due to the efficiency of the coilgun, roughly 100 kilograms of lithium ion capacitors are required per megajoule of material exerted. For an additional 14.45 megajoules, this would require approximately 1445 kilograms, or 1.445 metric tons, or 1.6 short tons of material per additional equivalent of a shot.

This, for the most part, this roughly doubles the range. Because the round is fired at an angle, even though the velocity only improves by the square root of 2 by doubling the energy, this gives the round roughly double the range. Also, importantly, at the same range it has roughly double the energy, allowing it to defeat tank armor that was otherwise resistant to such rounds (such as the abrams). This puts the velocity of the round at roughly 2400 m/s. The barrel life is slightly reduced at this velocity, to roughly 650 round per barrel, instead of 1000.

For an additional 3.2 tons of material, the strength of the round can be improved to roughly 60 million joules, or have roughly double the velocity. While issues with aerodynamics are present, due to the relatively high aerodynamics of the round, this gives the round potentially double the velocity, or quadruple the range, or a 20 mile range, where it retains much of it's velocity on impact. It also ensures destruction of almost any target material, including tanks with depleted uranium armor equivalent to M1 abrams or greater. This would bump the rounds velocity up to about 3400 m/s. This in large part, wears out the barrel and reduces it's life to roughly 100 rounds of these types of shots.

Adding 145 megajoules to the vehicle requires roughly 3 gallons of gasoline, which is what is required to drive the capacitor's energy levels up high enough to power the inefficient coil gun. A shot with 4 times the energy consumes at least 9 gallons of gasoline, or around 414 megajoules, due to the inefficiencies in the process. With an extra 150 gallons of fuel, this means roughly 50 of such shots, or 15 of the improved shots.