Hello again from the Pacific Northwest,

This is another and I hope a final update for the MT: COACC Rockets and Rocket pods.

A. The original goal was to determine a weight and cost for the HE and Flechette rockets since I did not find any of the aircraft/helicopters/airships carrying rockets to determine their weight and cost. After a number of twists and turns I believe I've gotten an unofficial weight and price for the rockets.

1. Starting over with the 120 mm launch rail shown on the Rocket Pods Table p. 69 provides the following information.

TL 6; Size: 120 mm; Rounds: 1 (launch rail); Weight 60 kg; Cost: Cr 100.

2. MT: COACC p. 33 Weapon Mounts Table lists a launch rail with the following:

TL 5; Launch Rail; Drag: (1); Weight 0.01 tonnes (10 kg); Capacity: 1 x 100 kg missile/rocket; Price: Cr 100.

3. With the complete launch rail data the TL 6 120 mm 60 kg launch rail mounts a 60 - 10 = 50 kg TL 6 rocket which appears to be the TL 6 HE 120 mm rocket on the Rockets Table.

4. Running the rockets through CT Striker, TNE FF&S, T4 FF&S, CT Special Supplement 3 Missiles Revised by Donald McKinney, and Blacksburg Tactical Research Center (BTRC) product Guns!, guns!, guns!, 3rd edition (3G^3) .

The closest match for the rocket table specifications appears to be CT: Striker Book 3 Design Sequnce 2: CPR Guns and Design Sequnce 9 TAC Missiles. Note that in Design Sequence that the CPR warhead weight is modified by 0.05 which does not meet with real world warheads. Changing the 0.05 to 0.5 gets the weight of the warhead closer to real world characteristics and helps in achieving the required range of 1,500 meters.

5. Using CT: Striker specifications of HE, size of 120 mm and a range of 1,500 m I was able to determine that the 120 mm rocket with either the HE or Flechette warhead has a weight of 50 kg (warhead = 20 kg and the rocket motor = 30 kg). The price/cost of a rocket with a Flechette is Cr 830. A HE rocket has a cost/price of Cr. 190

6. The 80 mm rocket with a range of 1,000 m has a weight of 14 kg. A rocket equipped with a HE warhead has a price/cost of Cr 63 and a Flechette warhead is Cr. 287.

7. My best estimate for the rocket weight and cost are:

TL 7 HE 80 mm Rocket - Weight = 14 kg; Price: Cr 63
TL 7 Flechette 80 mm Rocket - Weight = 14 kg; Price = Cr 287.
TL 6 HE 120 mm Rocket - Weight = 50 kg; Price: Cr 190
TL 7 Flechette 120 mm Rocket - Weight = 50 kg; Price = Cr 830.

Does the above information appear to be reasonable?

B. Checking the specifications for the rocket pods using CT Striker I can not even get close to the weight and price.

TNE FF&S does have processes to make the rocket pods that result in weights and prices closer to the ones in the MT: COACC Rocket Pods Table. Since MT: COACC provides the weight and cost I'm going to leave them as is.

Tom Rux