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Originally Posted by Raellus
To get us back on topic (I don't mind parallel discussions here, BTW), what kinds of weapons do you think could or could not be produced after the TDM?
Also, are unguided rockets easier or more difficult (or equally) to produce than ammunition and propellant charges for conventional tube artillery? I'm guessing easier since the VC and various other insurgent groups seem to be able to make their own rockets in garage workshops and such.
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I've been working on a list of primary weapons in use in SAMAD by early 2001. Included among them is a locally-produced variant of the RPG-7. Ammunition types include HEAT, HE-F, and HESH. I've read that the Russians either have or have been working on a beehive-type round for the RPG, but this might be a bit much for small-scale operations to manufacture in a cost-effective fashion.
The locally-produced RPG comes into use in SAMAD because it is a simple weapon with high portability that gives light infantry a fairly effective platoon-level fire support capability. Specs are obtained with the hordes of other materials before the TDM.
The SAMAD version is manufactured with mesquite for the grips and other wooden parts. There aren't a lot of HEAT rounds carried because there aren't a lot of armored vehicles being used. Platoons operating on anti-marauder sweeps north of the Gila River carry HE-F and HESH rounds for tackling the bad guys in their (typically) fortified base camps. The HESH round can double as an anti-armor round against any armored vehicle that doesn't have a spall liner, which covers pretty much any improvised AFV and a fair number of light AFV.
Rockets are fairly easy to manufacture, although the real cost savings comes in the form of the launcher. Tube artillery is expensive to manufacture and requires specialized facilities. One reason the Soviets made such wide use of the Katyusha systems in 1942 was that tremendous quantities of their tube artillery had fallen into German hands. They could not replace the guns overnight. Rocket launchers on trucks or trailers were much simpler to fabricate.
For this reason, SAMAD also manufactures a respectable quantity of primitive MRL. Accuracy is low, so saturation fires figure prominently in doctrine. Fort Huachuca creates a number of fire bases in the Huachuca Mountains and improves the roads along the spurs and saddles to facilitate rapid movement (and to forestall the enemy from planning and executing VC sapper-style attacks on the fire bases). From their vantage points atop the Huachucas, the massed rocket launchers can bring high volumes of HE down on the enemy without fear of counterbattery fire. It's too bad for the enemy that he has no fighter-bombers operating in 2000...
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