Continental Arsenal AGS-51

Great battles are won with artillery.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

The Continental Arsenal AGS-51 is a Vestan 146mm low-velocity coilgun designed and manufactured by Continental Arsenal. The AGS-51's main role was to serve as the main artillery gun of the Vestan Defense Forces, replacing the wide range of artillery systems previously in use with a single versatile platform. The AGS-51 performed well enough in its trials to replace the vast majority, but not all artillery weapon systems in use by the VDF. Its versatility in range and ammunition choice makes it an excellent general purpose artillery cannon, but more specialized weapons remain in service to complement it.

The AGS-51 was designed in 331 at the request of the VDF to provide a standardized artillery weapon system. This request came with the adoption of the Warden several years prior, and served as a continuation of the renewal of the VDF's arsenal. The AGS-51 was adopted in 335 to become the main artillery weapon system of the Ground Defense Force, although it also found its use in the Maritime Defense Force as deck guns for naval ships. The AGS-51 was well received for its simplicity of use, but its actual performances as a jack-of-all-trades left it lagging behind some more specialized weapon systems.

Design

The AGS-51 is a conventional coil gun built with an array of 32 superconducting coils in a similar fashion to the HVC-78. Each coil can be left unpowered to adjust the trajectory and ballistic properties of the projectiles, making the AGS-51 capable of firing barrages of artillery with fewer guns per batteries by firing different shells programmed to impact at the same time. By using advanced energy storage solutions and cooling systems, the AGS-51 can fire reliably at a rate of 15 rounds per minutes, nearly 50% faster than most weapons it replaced.

Placeholder by Negev1812

General Characteristics

Type

Low velocity coilgun

Place of origin

Vesta

In service

335-present

Used by

Vestan Defense Forces

Specifications

Mass

4 250 kg

Length

9.7 m

Caliber

146x310mm

Muzzle velocity

1 470 m/s

Effective range

51 km

History

The AGS-51 was designed in 331 to be mounted on the Warden family of vehicles to replace the vast majority of artillery systems used by the GDF. These also included a number of self-propelled mortars and man-portable systems, which would eventually be replaced by smart guided ammunition. While the AGS-51 did replace most of these artillery systems, it failed to replace the entirety of them due to its average range of 51km. Some exceptionnal weapons like the Scorpion super heavy artillery system remain in service despite their age.

Operators

Vestan Defense Forces

The AGS-51 is solely used by the VDF as its main artillery system. Its destructive power and range have made it too dangerous to be fielded by other users than the government, and unlike the HVC-78, even a downgraded export version would be too dangerous to field in regards to collateral damage.