Electronically Excited Explosive
「It looks like they have proved that Silhouettes are better than Ates.」
Castor had regained his composure. It wasn’t the time to be flustered after all. He proceeded to analyze things calmly.
The damage their side had taken was tremendous. However, the two Development Engineers accompanying him have made some estimates and presented them to him.
He submitted a preliminary report to the council based on the two’s thoughts. That was fortunate.
「That is definitely the real Astraea. It should be very clear of the Ate’s weaknesses. It should have provided the enemy force countermeasures. This was an unexpected development. Hence, the both of you hold no responsibility for what transpired.」
「I am grateful that you think so.」
Vasa expressed his gratitude. It wouldn’t be strange for a Stone’s subordinates to be executed immediately after such a failure after all.
「The worth of Silhouettes has increased further. If you perform well on that front, my standing will also increase.」
「But aren’t demigods equal?」
Alberto couldn’t help but ask. Since they pursued absolute equality, it was indeed strange for the Stones to employ a concept of hierarchy.
「That kind of thing is merely a pretext. As long as we inhabit human bodies, there will always be individual differences. Even if we spout that everything should be equal, as long as we are running an organization, there is no way to avoid individual superiority or inferiority. It is truly a glaring contradiction.」
「You wouldn’t want to follow a clearly flawed plan after all.」
Vasa smiled wryly. He might have been reminded of his time on Earth.
「If the bodies provided were at least of uniform quality, then things could be different. In any case, there is a need to keep up the pretense of absolute equality, at least in public. If so, then the criteria that can be used can only be merits.」
「It’s all about results huh.」
Alberto was convinced. If everyone had equal opportunities but there was a need to select ones who would lead the rest, meritocracy would be the most obvious fallback.
「Exactly. If you do not like the body you were inhabiting, you can just reapply for a replacement and discard it. Opportunities like this can only be granted if individuals aren’t equal. And in order to increase your influence and get more preferential treatment, you have to rely on raising merit. It’s different from consequentialism. I suppose you can say the evaluation is based on the cost-effectiveness of one’s performance and the degree of one’s contributions to the organization as a whole.」
「I see.」
「It is impossible to equip all Fortress Areas and Defense Domes under our control uniformly. Their managers are not limited to those who are of excellent quality after all. Hence, we need to show an excellent track record and be as efficient as we can.」
It was a peculiar realtionship dynamic between the Hemitheos. In Alberto’s opinion, pursuing equality to such a fanatical degree ended up being poison to them in the long run.
However, thanks to that, people like him were evaluated highly and even managed to enter the Argonauts.
「Even if we end up losing this battle, I will still receive a certain amount of favorable evaluation. After all, if not for our findings, the Stones might have continued to focus on producing outdated Murders. In other words, I will still end up winning out in the end.」
「If so, then the only thing left is to obtain complete and total victory against our foe.」
「You sure are a greedy one, Vasa. However, it certainly isn’t interesting to keep on getting beaten like this. I expect great results from you henceforth.」
「Thank you very much.」
Almost all the Ates that could be said to be Interplanetary War era superweapons have been destroyed.
However, they still had vast reserves of Murders and one final Ate.
Vasa wanted to see what the enemy would do next. Murders were a cheap price to pay in order to uncover the hidden hands of Metal Iris.
Their sacrifice will serve as sustenance for the weapons he would later develop and create.
「The best gunsmith and wildcat huh? You’re praising us too much, Blue.」
Nyanta displayed a wry grin but didn’t seem to be as bothered by it as she let on.
「Rather than that, please explain what exactly happened!」
Aki answered her colleague’s question as the Ate continued to spew a flame column at the sky behind her.
They were still in the middle of an active battlefield, but everything surrounding the Ate had been completely obliterated.
Hence, they didn’t really need to spend a long time mopping up the stragglers.
「That’s what’ll happen if you combust that particular spot. The metallic hydrogen within the Ate will explode. Unlike an MCS, its metallic hydrogen reactor doesn’t have a safety device, so the result is like that.」
「It wasn’t due to the power of the anti-fortress rifle?」
「No matter how powerful the rifle is, it wouldn’t be enough to cause such an explosion by itself.」
「But it was powerful enough for the shell to pierce right through the Ate’s armor, right?」
「That was only possible because Kurt-san damaged the armor in advance.」
Her colleague’s doubts were valid. That’s why Aki spent time explaining.
「The shell itself is an improved version of the 90mm Silhouette rifle shell. The penetrator has been changed. It makes use of an electronically excited explosive. That’s why its armor-piercing capability has increased.」
The explosive charge serves as the shell’s propellant and targets the combustion effect contained in the shell.
The electronically excited explosive is a new type of gunpowder that’s manufactured by combining substances that are in an electronically-excited state.
They were using the research on it to try and produce a metallic helium explosive back on Earth, but it was also possible to create an explosive using metallic hydrogen, which is a similar substance. This was one of the weapons that were finally attained through the use of the technology provided by Asia.
「But isn’t there no space for shaped charges in armor-piercing shells?」
「You’re right. Regular armor-piercing ammunition use dart penetrators. However, the anti-fortress rifle makes use of double penetrators, and the main one is made out of liquid metal mixed with electronically-excited explosive. That liquid metal pierces through armor like a needle. And once it reaches a certain surface temperature level, it explodes.」
When the penetrator of an APFSDS collides with the armor of a target, it turns into a pseudo-fluid state and penetrates through the armor. Due to this characteristic, the penetration power is mainly determined by the length of the penetrator. The reason why tantalum alloy was more suitable as a penetrator compared to tungsten alloy was because it was heavier and deformed more easily.
In theory, liquid metal was the most suitable. And the anti-fortress rifle used shells with metallic hydrogen, a kind of liquid metal, as penetrators.
「Isn’t the explosion a bit too powerful though? Is that okay?」
「I suppose it has a TNT equivalent of 10 tons.」
「A 90mm shell with a penetration power equivalent to 10 tons of force? What the heck?!」
「A ton of electronically-excited explosives is roughly equivalent to 500 tons of TNT explosives after all.」
「Metallic hydrogen is already equivalent to 50 tons of TNT, and it gets further increased by 10 tons……」
「Originally, the time a substance can maintain an electronically excited state is extremely short, but it can be prolonged by using Whis.」
The Therianthropes stared blankly at the rising smoke column.
「The shell makes use of the metallic hydrogen in the main body as the charge. With that, we were able to hit a figure close to the maximum limit of the combustion speed of hydrogen gas, and the initial velocity is 10 km/s. Mach 26. It can’t compare to a railgun round, but it’s still quite exceptional and comparable to light-gas gun rounds with a muzzle velocity of Mach 10.」
In theory, the maximum limit a light-gas gun round’s speed can reach was 11 km/s, and the initial velocity was Mach 34.
Kou was aware that it was already possible to launch a small projectile at a speed of 9 km/s in the 21st century. However, this was achieved as a result of large-scale academic experiments. It certainly wasn’t at a level already applicable to military weapons.
「The shell speed is faster than the explosion of the electronically-excited metallic hydrogen nyaa. So, the penetrator advances ahead of the explosion. It only fully detonates once it has penetrated the target.」
「Can you please stop revealing such outrageous stuff one after another?!」
「We really had a hard time with the explosive charge nyaa…… We did a lot of simulations to get the right balance between stability and combustion speed.」
Smokeless gunpowder, which was used as a propellant for shells, wasn’t really fully developed even in the 21st century. The common formulations were based on nitrocellulose, a combination of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin, or three types of nitro compounds.
They’ve been in use since the 1890s, and a new type of smokeless gunpowder still hasn’t appeared even in the 21st century.
In 2017, a base material called hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane was included in the formulation, but it didn’t manage to achieve widespread adoption. This formulation finally managed to double the TNT equivalent conversion value, demonstrating the highest efficiency achieved during that era.
It was not just a matter of packing a powerful charge into a round. The stability of the shell as well as the combustion speed and uniformity of the charge were also important.
In order to overcome these problems, the transferee companies on Planet Asia sought to solve them by developing railguns and light-gas guns that were already being researched in the 21st century with the support of AIs. The basic theories were already available. It was fortunate that nothing supertechnical was necessary.
「In the first place, why doesn’t it explode the moment it hits an electromagnetic barrier?! Metallic hydrogen that doesn’t immediately explode after getting in contact with plasma is too scary!」
「It has a triple structure as a countermeasure to explosion inducement via electromagnetic armor. Electron excitation is performed within the rifle via Whis. Depending on the amount of excited metallic hydrogen injected into the round, it can be made into either a regular armor-piercing round or a high-explosive armor-piercing round. You can freely choose between the two depending on the situation.」
「Please don’t make such strange cheat-like weapons. Do you have any plans for mass production?」
Everyone tuned in intently.
The rest of the Therianthropes also wanted to use such a weapon themselves.
「On top of only being useable by units equipped with metallic hydrogen generation type reactors, they also need to be equipped with armor muscles. Also, a single weapon’s price is already equivalent to that of a high-end Silhouette……」
「So, mass production is impossible huh?」
The Therianthropes seemed quite disappointed.
「It’s pretty effective when directly targeting the metallic hydrogen storage of ships and blowing holes through Fortress Area shelters. Kou is poor when it comes to long-range shooting, so he made this in order to make up for that shortcoming. It can’t be helped.」
「It’s Kou-san again! That’s scary!」
The surrounding Therianthropes got terrified by Aki’s casual words.
「Mission complete.」
The Canary hovered in the air in a relaxed manner.
All the Keres performing anti-aircraft fire targeting it were also blown away by the explosion.
「Sorry. I ended up getting the Thunderstorm destroyed.」
Blue sent a transmission to Kou. Kou smiled wryly and shook his head. He didn’t seem to care much.
The Thunderstorm’s most expensive component was the Canary itself. That’s why he wasn’t that concerned that the former got shot down.
He was strangely silent since a while ago. Was he embarrassed for screaming her name earlier, Blue inwardly mulled. She smiled at the thought.
「What’s up? Is there something wrong with the comms?」
At that moment, a transmission came from Astraea.
It was Aimer. Aimer was holding up a large piece of paper at the screen.
「Aimer…… Err, Admiral? Eh? The radio’s mike is on…… Eh? No way! Kyaaa! I’m sorry!」
Apparently, Blue ended up turning the radio mike on when the Thunderstorm exploded.
She turned it off in a fluster. It was her second time making such a blunder.
「Wait a minute! Don’t tell me–! You all heard me muttering to myself earlier……?」
It was the most terrifying situation for Blue.
「Uh, we did. Fairy Blue.」
Kou answered ruthlessly.
It was in the middle of combat too.
「Kou! Tell me something like that earlier!」
「You think I’ll let my voice get heard on live radio?!」
「So that’s why you were strangely silent! You better remember this!」
「Why are you taking it out on me?!」
Kurt and Hyoue watched the two quarrel with smiles on their faces as they destroyed the remaining Murders.
「Uu, someone please help me……」
From that day onward, the moniker Fairy Blue became a modern legend despite Blue’s weak protests.
After all, she was the legendary sniper who destroyed an Ate with a single hit during a live radio broadcast.
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