P-48 "Cougar"

The P-48 "Cougar" (Panzerkampfwagen-48 Cougar) is a Raumian main battle tank developed and produced in the early 1990s. The development of the third-generation main battle tanks such as the M1 Abrams, Challenger 2, and the T-90, and its effectiveness shown during the First Gulf War, caused the Raum to restructure the R.M.F. with new, modern tanks to improve its strength.

The tank was designed in the aftermath of the Gulf War in 1991. The focus of the design is speed, mobility, protection, lightness, and affordability. The adaption of the Pak 85 anti-tank gun onto the turret gave the Cougar and astounding advantage over other main battle tanks in fire effectiveness.

Basis
Since the initial development of the Raumian Military Forces, heavy weaponry were usually towed,placed, or self-propelled guns. Due to urban nature of Raum in an underwater environment, tanks were seen as excessive and unnecessary due to collateral damage and innovations in anti-tank warfare that led to less effective tank armor. Between its establishment to 1990, tanks were not a priority in the R.M.F. The First Gulf War, showing the effectiveness of new, third-generation main battle tanks of different nations and their imperviousness to current anti-tank weapons made the R.M.F. to rethink the tank concept, concluding that they need to be better armored to be able to compete with the world if they ever collide.

Development
Engineers were invited, mostly those who are experienced in developing heavy guns, equipments, and logistics, to create a tank design concept to present to the R.M.F. board for evaluation for the "Cougar" program, following Germany's concept of labeling tanks from the big cat family. The requirements for the tank, due to the constrained nature of Raum, was for it to be able to effectively move through the streets, high mobility and speed, effectively armored, and simple yet affordable. Five designs were submitted for the evaluation, two were annihilated for failing to meet certain requirements or are simply too complicated for Raum's industrial capacity. The three designs made it to testing stages, prototypes of the designs were made to test the suspension, transmission, and engine to see the design's capacity.

Reveal
The P-48 unveiled itself to the public of Raum in 1995 in the Five-Year Parade. It made an intimidating impact as no other vehicle like it was seen in the Raumian Military Forces.

Combat Service
The P-48 never saw combat service against a belligerent nation until the Raumian-Japanese Conflicts in Tokyo, where they were deployed to spearhead the 1st and 2nd Ravens Division into the ghost city. The 1st division were equipped with Type 90 tanks with the 120mm cannons, but fire engagement were minimum due to a truce made between the two sides military forces. When the Virtue Program finished its first batch and send them into the ghost city with older Type 74 tanks as support, the P-48 utterly destroyed these tanks, many times incurring no losses of its own in these confrontations.

Design
The design of the P-48 drew inspiration from many World War II German designs such as the Tiger and Panther tanks, as they were some of the only sources of tank warfare available to the Raumians at the time. The P-48 tank resembles most to the Panther tank in terms of sloping armor. The tank keeps a traditional design, such as including the then obsolete hull machine-gun for anti-infantry purposes.

Armor
The armor uses standard metal alloy plates as its hull armor. The armor was stronger than traditional metal plating due to the use of rasputium alloy in steel, causing the steel to become much tougher than its advertised thickness. The designers claim that it will be able to withstand 105mm rounds from the L7 cannon, but makes no promises on the 120mm Rheinmetall cannon.

Primary
The P-48 was to be armed with the current anti-tank gun Pak 85 then in service with the different branches of the R.M.F. This gave the P-48 unprecedented firepower with its use of a rail gun as the main cannon than a traditional gunpowder propelled projectile. It is capable of firing armor-piercing, high-explosive anti-tank, and high-explosive rounds.

Secondary
The P-48 comes with two installed FN MAG machine guns in coaxial configuration. One is alongside the cannon in a coaxial mount that could also be free-aimed by the loader when detached from its locking mechanism, and the other is on the hull-mounted port. On the commander cupola, a pintle mount exist for the attachment of a MG3 or FN MAG machine gun for the commander's personal use. Lastly, a M2 Browning machine gun could be attached to the turret for an infantrymen outside the tank to use as a supporting weapon or anti-aircraft.

Mobility
The P-48 uses a torsion bar suspension system to move the vehicle. Its engine gives it the capability of moving at a speed of up to 50 mph (80km per hour). This mobility is stressed to give the P-48 a highly flexible role in offensive and defensive operations.

Variants

 * T-48 "Morder"
 * A-48 APC

Notable Users

 * Michelle Wieman