Tanks of Tiperyn

Tiperyn tank development shortly before its entry into the Grand Campaigns in an effort to counter the heavy usage of artillery and machine guns on the Northwestern Front. This effort was accelerated following the escalation of the Grand Campaigns into a global conflict in 1919, with Tiperyn taking ques from other powers in their early light tank designs. After the war into the mid 20th century, Tiperyn heavily invested into its nascent tank corps, fielding new light tanks for armored reconnaissance and medium tanks as its main armored fighting vehicle. Tiperyn was an early proponent of the or universal tank concept, adopting its first main battle tank during the Great Kesh War. This was largely an outgrowth of its medium tank doctrine which had grown to use medium tanks for all tank roles due to the armor and armament deficiencies of light tanks, Tiperyn's bias against the use of heavy tanks for expeditionary warfare, and the new advancements in tank technology.

Pre-Grand Campaigns motorization, 1900-1919

 * Tiperyn was an early proponent of motorization, experimenting with truckborne and bicycle units as early as 1903 and widely implementing trucks as replacements for the horse for low-level logistical functions as early as 1911.
 * Tiperyn saw relatively rapid benefits from motorization of logistics, with trucks able to carry much more weight over greater distances quicker than the mules that had been used. They were intended to replace the horse as the supply link between rail and the frontlines initially, with it being clear that distances between the two could vary heavily without guarantee of robust rail infrastructure abroad.
 * Motorization was partially political. Tiperyn was undergoing a industrial/technological renaissance from the 1890s to the 1930s, being among the first nations to pioneer aircraft and the mass production of wheeled internal combustion vehicles. The Cardinal of Values at the time was interested in motorization as a propaganda tool, depicting the Tiperyn armed forces as one of the most modern in the world. Empress Fedde, who assumed the throne in 1901, was particularly interested in technological novelty and the new wave of internal combustion, being heavily influential in amplifying the voices of low-level officers who proposed the idea. Although the Realm Guard offered stiff institutional inertia, the motorization of some elite elements of the Holy Guard—which the Empress controlled directly—and its elevation in national propaganda motivated some duchy's officer staffs to cave to pressure.
 * Tiperyn military attaches observing both Ovancian and Goetic forces during the first years of the Grand Campaigns left an impression. On the Ovancian side in particular, observers noted how in two instances Ovancian commanders quickly mobilized under-prepared forces through the commandeering of civilian cars and trucks to take advantage of a vulnerable, over-extended Goetic advance.
 * Simultaneously with motorization, the Realm Guard was undergoing a streamlining of its corps system to increase cooperation between the different branches (artillery, infantry, cavalry, etc.). This lead to a bleeding over of motorized doctrine from the infantry branch into the artillery and cavalry. Armored cars units became common as both means of rapidly transporting howitzers in support of infantry in artillery units attached to the infantry—supplementing larger truck or horse towed artillery pieces—and mobile machine gun bunkers in the cavalry intended to exploit breakthroughs and in the infantry to escort motorized troop movements.

Car warfare in Artemia, 1919-1926
When Tiperyn entered the Grand Campaigns in 1919, it did so primarily with footmobile infantry and horse cavalry. Only after significant build up, preparation, and shipping did the the Realm Guard's lorried infantry, truck-drawn artillery, and nascent armored car formations land in Ovancia in 1920 to kick off Tiperyn's summer offensives. These armored cars were largely unarmed to be used for scouting and rescuing downed airmen. However, by 1921, cavalry commanders who had been issued armored cars had begun arming them with watercooled belt-fed machine guns, turning them into a weapon that could exploit breakthroughs during offensive operations. Other esoteric variants based off of civilian chassis were produced in small numbers and issued expediently to certain cavalry formations on the northwestern front. These included a variant with a 45mm howitzer, to be used by one artillery battery as a mobile replacement for lorry-drawn artillery pieces. After a couple years of fighting, armored car battle groups formed from multiple Mechanicalized Regimental Groups. Such groups were principally composed of Mounted Rifleer Regiments (those subordinate to the Cavalry Branch) augmented with armored cars as well as lorried artillery. These were used primarily to exploit breakthroughs created by footmobile and lorried infantry and artillery with intent on disrupting lines of communication, attacking retreating enemy forces, destroying enemy rail infrastructure, capturing supply lines for friendly forces, and other key terrain. Horse cavalry also fulfilled this role (and were about 6 times more common than the armored car in terms of Mounted Rifleer Regiments fielded). Likewise horse cavalry were more common in the fulfillment of light cavalry roles such as reconnaissance and skirmishing, while armored car formations were reserved for exploitation, and on the Kesh Front where no Tiperyn armored car formation served. The prevalence of the armored car accelerated the motorization of Realm Guard infantry as follow-on infantry were necessary hold the ground the armored car battle groups had taken, but the armored cars were typically mobile to the point that infantry could not keep up. The tactical use of motorized infantry on the battlefield was theorized at this time, but not applied due to terrain difficulties and lack of protection. Infantry were almost exclusively transported from railheads to the frontline in trucks and from then on were footmobile, by 1924.

As the front was highly mobile in Ovancia, there was very little emphasis on the use of armored cars to create breakthroughs. There was little application for the platform outside of roads that could be used after infantry and artillery created breakthroughs over often rough terrain inaccessible to the armored cars. This caused little issue in the grand scheme, however, as Tiperyn ground forces were largely successful in creating breakthroughs and the armored car was well suited to the role it was pressed into. The situation was different on the Agrana Front or Southwestern Artemian Front, as rough mountainous terrain and heavy fortifications caused the conflict to grind to a stalemate along most of the frontline. This was the only front Tiperyn fought on where it was forced to develop a solution to breakthrough immobile enemy defenses as horse cavalry proved to be completely ineffective and infantry were too unprotected to make any progress without heavy casualties.

In 1923, Tiperyn introduced the Crocodile gun tractor—essentially a medium tank by modern standards—which was armored, armed with two water-cooled machine guns, and propelled by caterpillar tracks. Enough Crocodiles were fielded to furnish the 3 Armored Tractor Regiments for a large offensive in Agrana y Griegro that saw the frontline move north for the first time in years and the liberation of a southwestern Boagan territory that had been conquered by the Goetics pre-war. The armored tractor concept saw some limited success on the Agranan Front, able to traverse rough terrain that was impassable to the armored car, but was not used in any other theatre.

Mechanization of the Cavalry Branch, 1926-1940
Tiperyn's experience fighting in western Artemia during the Grand Campaigns reinforced the advantages of widespread motorization and the utility of its armored car-equipped cavalry formations. By 1932, the structures that had been established in the Artemian theatres were applied across the entirety of the Realm Guard. The Cavalry Branch was mechanized entirely and split into two commands: the Light Cavalry Command and Heavy Cavalry Command. This was a part of the Realm Guard's effort to integrate its different combat branches into combined arms formations part and parcel with the abolition of the old branch system. The light cavalry would assume the traditional reconnaissance, skirmishing, patrolling, and messenger role for Regimental Groups and Corps, equipped with smaller, but highly mobile armored cars armed principally with medium and heavy machine guns. Meanwhile, the heavy cavalry would be used to conduct shock operations, exploit breakthroughs, destroy critical infrastructure behind enemy lines, and act as a mobile reserve at the Corps-level to quickly react to enemy offensives along a broad front. By contrast, the heavy cavalry's armored cars would be continuously uparmored and upgunned over the years, with various marks of mortars, autocannons, and howitzers being mounted on heavy cavalry armored cars before standardization in 1939. Heavy cavalry armored cars essentially tracked the gun developments made by rival western Artemian powers to create platforms that could counter modern tanks. Although the Realm Guard's sole Tractor Regiment equipped with medium tanks saw limited success on the Agranan front, some in the heavy cavalry recognized their potential for operations across adverse terrain that would be ill-suited for wheeled armored cars. Thus, a downsized Tractor Regiment consisting of two battalions was retained under the restructed Heavy Cavalry Command, used primarily for doctrine development and testing of new platforms before serious credence was given to the use of tanks in place of heavy armored cars for planned operations in the deserts of North Kesh.

The new cavalry commands and a dominance of the armored car as the Realm Guard's premiere armored fighting vehicle lead to doctrine that prioritized highly mobile wheeled formations that supported and exploited breakthroughs created by the infantry and artillery. Lorried infantry, artillery, and light cavalry in turn would then support the heavy cavalry following a breakthrough. However, this style of fighting was heavily focused on potential war in Western Artemia where terrain was mild and road infrastructure was relatively well developed. Armored car formations were not meant to or able to create breakthroughs in rough terrain cross country as this was not the theatre of combat Tiperyn was expecting to fight a peer conflict. As combat on the Northwest Artemian Front had remained highly mobile throughout the Grand Campaigns, heavy breakthrough machinery was considered unproven and unnecessary. In fact, tracked infantry carriers saw greater theoretical development than tanks after the Grand Campaigns as a means of protecting infantry during breakthrough operations and giving them greater mobility to support exploitation operations over rough terrain where armored cars wouldn't be able to traverse. The disjointed effort regarding tracked armored vehicles was largely due to legacy institutional divisions between the new commands. The Infantry Command still being responsible for developments in infantry regiments while the cavalry commands were only responsible for cavalry doctrine and procurement unless forced to work with other commands at the behest of the Secretariat on War and Crisis. The first Mechanicalized Rifleer Regiment, mounted a small tracked infantry carrier, was stood up in 1932. This was a major prelude to the use of tanks in the heavy cavalry, as some cavalry officers noted that this new infantry formation was actually more mobile than the armored cars their regiments were equipped with.

Preludes to the Tank Command, 1940-1949
During the interwar period as the Tiperyn government began planning its expansion into southern Nasiria—what would kick off the Great Kesh War—the Secretariat on War and Crisis issued a mandate to the Realm Guard to created a mechanized corps that would be well adapted to move and fight over the soft sand desert of North Kesh. This posed a problem to all branches, as the Realm Guard's mounted units primarily made use of wheeled lorries and armored cars which had proven to be inadequate for this environment. In 1941, III Heavy Cavalry Corps (Nasiria), II Light Cavalry Corps (Nasiria), and V Rifleer Corps (Nasiria) were created with the intent of creating new doctrine for desert combat. The Heavy Cavalry Command had transferred the 1st Tractor Regiment, which by this point was still equipped with Grand Campaigns-era medium tanks, to the III Heavy Cavalry Corps garrisoned at Nasir where it would lay the groundwork for the development of tank doctrine and set guidelines that the Realm Guard would send to industry for procurement. Additionally, the Heavy Cavalry Command had sent representatives to Modrovia as part of Tiperyn's military attaché delegation where they observed the Govic Revolutionary War and early tank and combined arms tactics used by the Modrovians.

The preeminence of armored cars in Tiperyn Realm Guard doctrine heavily influenced the schools of thought subscribed to during its early tank development. The heavy cavalry never considered the use of due to the thought that infantry and artillery would breakthrough enemy lines while the heavy cavalry would exploit the breakthrough. Rather, the branch opted for that retained much of the high tactical mobility of the armored car on roads, but with the addition of cross country mobility. At the same time, the Infantry Command was continuing its development of infantry carriers to support prospective tanks in combat while the Artillery Command developed artillery and anti-tank guns on tracked platforms, essentially coming to the conclusion that it wished to adopt self-propelled artillery and tank destroyers to work in concert with mechanicalized regimental groups. As this effort was coordinated and requirements set by the Secretariat on War and Crisis, the adoption of tracked platforms of Nasiri operations was far more coordinated than the motorization and mechanization of the 1920s and 1930s.

Thus, by 1944, the Realm Guard's Nasiri Theatre had adopted several new designs. The Heavy Cavalry Command had adopted the Cobra medium tank—a fast tank armed with a 3-inch (76mm) high velocity gun—which would be used for shock and exploitation operations—but would also come to be used for breakthrough and general infantry support during the Great Kesh War. The Light Cavalry Command adopted the Rattlesnake light tank—a smaller, lightly armored, but even faster tank armed with a 1.5 inch (38mm) cannon or 20mm autocannon—to be used for reconnaissance. The Infantry Command adopted the Iguana infantry carrier based on the chassis of Rattlesnake, able to carry a full section of troops into combat. Lastly, the Artillery Command adopted a common chassis weapons carrier for the mounting of large-bore, low pressure howitzers for infantry support; artillery pieces; and anti-tank guns.

These designs began to arrive at units stationed in Nasiria beginning in 1945. However, as the invasion of southern Nasiria and Asharistan was pushed back, the designs continued to be updated and new designs were pressed into development in response to factors in Artemia. The III Heavy Cavalry Corps (Nasiria) in particularly was granted an unusual level of autonomy when compared to other corps, allowed a budget to procure its own armored fighting vehicles separate from the rest of the Heavy Cavalry Command. As tank technology progressed in Artemia and Northern Avalonia, III Corps continued to issue tenders to industry to produce upgunned variations of the Cobra medium tank up until 1949. This was largely in response to the introduction of the Goetic Wolfhound tank in 1948 and the Modrovian Cz.P Ws. 47 "Stalwart" main battle tank in 1947 which heavily outperformed the Cobra. The rise of the concept would influence III Corps to seek a replacement for the Cobra that would be able to serve the high-speed requirements the Cobra was adopted under in addition to being able to destroy enemy tanks and survive their armament.

Simultaneously with the Nasiri Theatre's foray into tracked armored vehicles, the remainder of the Realm Guard was largely still focused on wheeled armored vehicles and continued motorization. The primary reason for the the introduced of tracked vehicles in preparation for the Great Kesh War was because of terrain; a factor that the Realm Guard was largely unconcerned with for a hypothetical war against the League of Free Nations in Western Artemia. Thus, the heavy cavalry stationed in Tiperyn and elsewhere retained their heavy armored cars which by 1949 included different variants armed with 89mm howitzers, 76mm anti-tank guns, mortars, and 38mm autocannons. The regular light cavalry also retained their machine gun-armed armored cars for reconnaissance duties, although they had also begun pressing 38mm autocannon variants into service. Although the infantry had toyed with the idea of tracked infantry carriers far earlier than the cavalry had considered the tank, the issuing of new Iguanas was prioritized for Nasiria. Thus, infantry in the bulk of the Realm Guard prior to the Great Kesh War were still carried in lorries or footmobile.

PsF Rattlesnake

 * See more: Rattlesnake light tank



PsF King Cobra

 * See more: King Cobra main battle tank

The PsF King Cobra, officially the Pânserefjochtreau «Keningskobra», was adopted in 1954 as Tiperyn's first main battle tank. First fielded at the height of the Great Kesh War, the King Cobra was developed largely as a response to Goetic heavy and medium tanks fielded by Mihrani militants in southern Nasiria which often outgunned existing Tiperyn medium and light tanks. Tiperyn's doctrine built off of Modrovian tank doctrine, considered by some the origin of the universal tank concept, both due to the applicability of the concept to Tiperyn's strategic situation and as a reaction to the threat of great power conflict following a number of naval confrontations between Tiperyn and Modrovia in August 1950. The King Cobra was intended to replace all tanks in Tiperyn's inventory in main armored formations, which included multiple marks of light and medium tanks with soon to be cancelled heavy tanks in development. The King Cobra was a modified version of a medium tank which had been in development prior to the Realm Guard's tender for a universal tank in 1952 and that could be quickly procured. It was known as a flawed design, although innovative in some ways, and was largely considered a stopgap before a superior design could be fielded. It would be replaced within three years by the PsF Mamba, which had been designed from the ground up as a universal tank and applied much of the knowledge gained from the King Cobra's combat experience.

The King Cobra was armed with a new 3.5-inch (89mm) L/56 rifled cannon—replacing the older 3-inch (76mm) fielded on the inter war era PsF Cobra medium tank—and a coaxial 6.5mm medium machine gun. The King Cobra lacked the assistant driver and loader positions of the Cobra and was the first tank in Tiperyn service to feature an autoloader. The revolver magazine autoloader was a Koryese design, although the King Cobra was its first mass produced implementation. It featured two revolver magazines stored in the turret, holding a total of 12 rounds, with 20 additional rounds stored throughout the hull. The reduction in crew size, and thus interior space in the turret and hull, reduced the overall protected volume in the tank increasing its survivability when compared to the Cobra. Under perfect circumstances, the King Cobra was able to get is first 12 shots off in quick succession. While revolutionary for the time, making the King Cobra among the first tanks to feature an autoloader, the feature was not without its drawbacks. The rammer mechanism on the autoloader proved to be highly unreliable during the Kesh War, often reducing it to a semi-automatic loader requiring the commander to finish loading the gun after the autoloader brought up the round from the magazine. Additionally, if all 12 of the rounds in the magazines were expended, the autoloader could only be reloaded from the outside of the tank, meaning the King Cobra would either have to retreat or the commander or gunner would have to manually load spare rounds from the hull. Some of these issues would be addressed with the adoption of the PsF Mamba in 1957. Although decently mobile, with a top speed of 49 kph (30 mph), the King Cobra suffered from poor operational mobility due to a limited range of 97 km (60 mi) on paved roads. This was somewhat mitigated by the habitual use of fuel trailers, but was ultimately not entirely rectified prior to the adoption of the Mamba.

The King Cobra saw extensive use on both fronts of the Great Kesh War, serving concurrently with older tank designs in Tiperyn service and being provided as military aid to both Asharistan and Selengeria during and after the war. Although replaced by the Mamba in 1957 shortly before a surge on the eastern front of the conflict, the King Cobra continued to serve concurrently with the Mamba for a decade before being entirely phased out. The King Cobra was heavily exported to Tiperyn's less developed allies as surplus after the war.

PsF Mamba

 * See more: Mamba main battle tank

The PsF Mamba, officially Pânserefjochtreau «Mamba», was Tiperyn's second main battle tank introduced, but its first that was designed from the ground up as a main battle tank. The Mamba was pressed into service in 1957 shortly before Tiperyn forces redeployed from the western front of the Great Kesh War to Selengeria to combat encroaching Kodeshian forces. The 40-tonne tank featured numerous improvements when compared to the short-lived King Cobra it replaced, including improved mobility, armor, armament, and autoloader. Like the King Cobra, it featured a three-man crew (driver, commander, gunner) although reliability improvements made to the revolver magazine autoloader design made the lack of a human loader less of an issue.

The Mamba built on limited combat experience against Modrovian main battle tanks fielded by Kodeshia and Mihrani forces, with the King Cobra vulnerable to their 90mm guns and often unable to penetrate them. While not a catastrophic issue, as approximately only 5% of tank combat on the western front of the Great Kesh War involved fighting other tanks and an even smaller proportion involved combat against tanks that outmatched the King Cobra, it was predicted that combat on the eastern front would be a different story. Thus, the Mamba featured front armor that could withstand 90mm armor-piercing shells at range, although protection elsewhere was sacrificed due to a premium on mobility and keeping a relatively small profile. The armor was broadly composed of glass-reinforced plastic sandwiched between layers of steel, providing up to 400mm of RHA equivalent armor against kinetic rounds on the front turret and 290mm on the front hull. Additionally, a new 4-inch (102mm) L/54 smoothbore tank gun replaced the 3.5-inch (89mm) of the King Cobra.

The Mamba was updated in the form of the Mamba B in 1959, with added accommodation for spaced armor, an upgraded engine to handle the resulting 3 tonnes of weight, improved optics, and updated communications equipment. It was updated again in 1963, this time featuring upgraded turret armor, upgraded fire control system, gun stabilization system, laser ranger finder, and internalized infrared systems

The Mamba's first combat-use was in Selengeria during the Great Kesh War, having been issued to Tiperyn tank regiments that were bound for that theatre towards the end of the war. A small number of Mambas remain in Tiperyn service today, although most have been upgraded to the 1980s Black Mamba standard.

PsF Black Mamba

 * See more: Black Mamba main battle tank

The PsF Black Mamba, officially the Pânserefjochtreau «Swartemamba», was introduced in tandem with the PsF Python in 1982 as a modernization of the older Mamba main battle tank. A large number of improvements were made from the Mamba to the Black Mamba, including upgraded armament, armor, optics, communications equipment, autoloader, and a side-mounted 25mm autocannon for anti-aircraft and anti-material duties.

The Black Mamba is armed with the same 5-inch (127mm) rifled tank gun as the PsF Python. Additionally, it is outfitted with the same autoloader as the Python with ammunition stored in the turret basket within a protected compartment separate from the commander and gunner. This replaced the antiquated revolver magazine autoloader that was first used on the King Cobra in the 1950s.

As of 2020, the Black Mamba is the most numerous tank in Tiperyn service, supplementing the PsF Python in Realm Guard and Fleet Expeditionary tank regiments.

PsF Python

 * See more: Python main battle tank

The PsF Python, officially the Pânserefjochtreau «Pyton» is Tiperyn's second most advanced main battle tank, in service with the Realm Guard's premiere Tank Regiments and all Fleet Expeditionary Strike Brigades as of 2020 prior to replacement by the PsF Taipan.

PsF Taipan

 * See more: Taipan main battle tank

The PsF Taipan, officially the Pânserefjochtreau «Taipan» is Tiperyn's newest main battle tank, jointly developed by Tiperyn and Koryese firms and introduced in 2020.