UAV/drone equipment

Or “What are those planes on the cover of 4th edition?’

This is the Skywalker X8: a cheap, easily-assembled and easily-modifoed drone.  It’s marketed for the “FPV”  (First Person View)  hobbyist and is powered by batteries – although some hobbyists have installed jet turbines.

– but the

This is a real-world device which can be purchased for about $200.  Cameras, motors, batteries and a remote control system can easily add another 3 or 4 hundred. Or a few thousand if Night Vision capabilities are desired

The X8 is not a Predator Drone – it is best used at distances of less that 10 kilometres.  Looking over the “next hill” is the best use for the vehicle.  However it does have an impressive payload bay and can stay airborne for about an hour.

The Atlantis Project planners like the X8 because it’s perfectly legal to own and operate

Powered Parachutes

The Powered Parachute is a very limited method of powered flight.  However, it is a simple, inexpensive and a fairly safe way to fly.  Therefore,  some relatively high-tech groups have been known to experiment with these “vehicles”.  The only complexity is finding enough material to make the parachute – and this is usually the result of a lucky find in an old airfield.

KFS River Patrol: Air Service

The various Armed Forces of the Kentucky Free State are notorious for their bureaucratic infighting and lack of mutual trust.   Because of these problems, the KFS River Patrol finds it necessary to operate its own Air Force: a tiny squadron of 6 ultralight amphibians, known as “Defiants”.  These are “Wing in Ground Effect” vehicles:  hybrid boat/planes designed to cruise at a height of 3 metres above the surface of the river (although they can make “hops” to an altitude of 30 metres).

The unimpressive specifications are due to the the political power of the “real” KFS Air Force – which will not allow any other Service to operate vehicles that can fly above 100 feet.  These aircraft are not (officially) permitted to carry bombs but – even so – they are CHEAP and perform several useful functions for the River Patrol: reconnaissance, survey, artillery direction and liaison/communications.

KFS Air Force: additional capabilities

The KFS Air Force operates ‘modern’ copies of the P47 Thunderbolt.  These aircraft are usually equipped with 8 wing-mounted Heavy Machine Guns and perhaps a couple of 500-lb bombs.

However, the KFS Air Force can field other weapons and capabilities

1. HVAR (High Velocity Aircraft Rocket)

More KFS strategy: Takeover via Air Control & Coercion

The KFS Air Force is a relatively cheap way for the KFS to enforce its will and to make swift reprisals for “Acts of Disrupting Commerce” (their equivalent of an Act of War). Note that the KFS don’t intend to just ‘kill people and break things’ (that removes valuable property and customers). Instead, the aim is to ensure the smmoth flow of commerce, trade and taxation .

So how does it work? Well let me set up a scenario for Air Control & Coercion campaigns.

Campaign idea: KFS Air Power & PSYOPS

CAMPAIGN/ADVENTURE SEED

This adventure idea revolves around the players coming up with plans to destroy the mystique of the KFS Air Force.  Shooting down a P-47 isn’t enough; they must publicise this victory and show that the KFS Air Force is not omnipotent.

BACKGROUND

A major component of the Kentucky Free State’s military strategy is the use of ‘punitive strikes’ performed by the Air Force’s P-47 aircraft – bombing anyone who threatens the KFS  or one of its Agrovilles

The KFS  Air Force needs detailed intelligenceif it is to be effective in punitive strikes.   This information is necessary for 2 purposes: early warning and the identification of schwerpunkts (focal points).   This intelligence also enables the KFS Air Force to avoid ‘collateral damage’ (strikes on uninvolved groups)  – not from any sense of justice – but from a simple desire for efficiency.

The KFS Air Force does not have trained intelligence officers and this means that it relies entirely upon the Secret Police.   These SP operatives  are tasked with monitoring every community within their area of responsibility (both overtly and covertly).  Naturally, these operatives sometimes become corrupt and use their power for personal enrichment.

PSYOP
The SP are also responsible for the KFS PSYOP campaign that the players will have to counter.  This campaign is designed to portray the KFS Air Force as impersonal, overwhelming and awe-inspiring  –  capable of rapidly applying firepower in any location and with extreme precision.

Combat Search & Rescue and Downed-Aircraft Retrieval
As a component of the PSYOP campaign, the Air Force and the SP are very aware of the need to recover any lost personnel or aircraft – or cover-up any losses.  Pilots can be rescued (or sometimes eliminated) by several different methods but aircraft are either destroyed in situ or  retrieved by the KFS Heavy-Lift helicopter .

MARS helicopter: Bell Penetrator

The Morrow Project planners needed a helicopter gunship – but these are difficult to obtain.   The planners also wanted a multi-purpose aircraft that could perform other functions – such as VIP transport

Morrow Project Aircraft: Cessna 337

This is based on the final military version of the Cessna 337 (called the O-2 in US service). It is a cross between 2 real-world examples: the FTB337G Milirole, a STOL conversion known as the ‘Lynx’ in the Rhodesian Air Force and the Summit Sentry

This is the MP ‘Super-Lynx’, an aircraft that is more heavily armed than the US O-2; it carries 2 MMG pods on its roof and is equipped with four standard NATO MALL-4A pylons mounted beneath the wings, each able to carry a max load of 159 kg (350 lb)

Potential missions include forward air control, helicopter escort, light air-to-ground attack, convoy protection, maritime patrol, six-seat personnel carrier, light cargo transport, medevac (up to 2 stretcher cases),  aerial recon & photography, psychological warfare and airborne discharge.  Morrow Project planners assumed that the most common missions would not involve combat – but wanted to include all options.

Campaign setup: North vs South (Dakota)

This is a “six months later” campaign rather than a “wake-up in the bolthole” campaign

This campaign is non-standard, even heretical

1. Players would be pilots in an AirRecon unit operating armed ultralights such as the The Sadler Piranha

2. Players would be members of NDART – the North Dakota Area Recovery Team . [This is an idea stolen from Kurt Feltenberger’s  “Task Force Vulcan”] . NDART was tasked with reopening the coal mines of North Dakota and refining various fuels and lubricants from the coal.

3. The entire NDART is awake (about 250 people) but they don’t have any details on the rest of the MP – they’re assisting North Dakota and the Ballooners as they declare intentions to rebuild the USA and secede from the New Confederacy

4. The NC has some WW1-equivalent biplanes and some military advisors from the KFS.

5. There are 2 manned MP bases. These are logistics bases and refineries (100 support staff for the 150 field personnel)

6. Because they’re pilots, the players don’t operate with bulky equipment or large personal weapons (cockpits are cramped)

7. This is not in any way a village-level campaign; the “locals” are fairly sophisticated townspeople with 1920’s technology.

Kite Balloon

Tech level E+ Aerial Recon

The use of observation balloons goes back to the Napoleonic era – and became widespread during WW1. It has not been forgotten in the world of the Morrow Project

The above picture is an Italian design from 1923 : the ”Avorio-Brassone. This balloon has a (hydrogen) gas capacity of aproximately 1100m³ and could be used in wind forces up to 25 m/s. It can rise to to a theoretical height of 2175 m – higher than any earlier design. Note: lack of oxygen can be a problem at this height.