IL-24 "Broadsword" Infantry Heavy Laser

The IL-24 Infantry Heavy Laser, also designated the "Broadsword," is a heavy pulse laser fielded by Cobalt Knights infantry and espatier units. It can be used as a crew-served weapon, carried over the shoulder (in the manner of a MANPAD) by a single operator for a limited duration, or wielded as a primary weapon by an operator in powered armor.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

The Broadsword is a long tube of lightweight metals and composites with a slightly cross-shaped cross-section. The weapon fires nine computer-guided, variably focused beams of visible green light from a phased array of dye lasers at around the midsection of the tube. Frequency-doubling filters forward of the array can be deployed to convert the beams into ultraviolet light as required. The visible green light option has a longer range in in damp environments and is particularly effective against enemy vision (both organic and artificial), but the ultraviolet option has better penetrating power and is less likely to cause collateral damage in the form of blindness. A slab of noble glass inlaid with computer hardware serves as the sight and provides enhanced vision via the coaxial sensors within the barrel; this is hinged to fold flat against the body of the weapon and mounted to a swivel ring so that it can be used ambidextrously.
The Broadsword is most effective against infantry, light armor, and drones, though it can pound through heavy armor with concentrated fire. Computerized tracking and the lack of substantive recoil makes the Broadsword a highly accurate weapon The sensor package included with the Broadsword allows the operator to see certain emissions by enemy sensory equipment, making the weapon surprisingly effective at counter-battery fire despite its flat firing trajectory. The targeting computer can use telemetry from HK-8 "Bodkin" Kinetic Hunter-Killer Drones and other common autonomous systems to detect and engage targets the user cannot himself directly see (i.e. due to smoke). The Broadsword can independently track up to nine targets within its firing arc, allowing it to down whole swarms of lightly-armored drones or other small targets in short order. Against harder targets, several beams are concentrated onto a single spot designated by the operator, blasting away at the surface by a rapid series of thermal expansion events in a manner akin to that employed by a Modular Pulse Pistol (albeit much more powerful).

Significance

The Broadsword is strongly associated with the Cobalt Protectorate's military throughout its periphery. Because Broadswords require less in the way of materiel mass over the course of their operational life than weapons like the CD-9 "Chisel" Personal Gauss Gun, both in terms of its insubstantial ammunition and the ability to generate power for more shots in the field, they are more likely to be brought over from Evermorn or off-planet manufacturing hubs aboard Protectorate spacecraft. The presence of Broadswords serves to distinguish between human Cobalt Knight units on Lepidos and Lepidosian Cobalt Knights or members of the League of Lepidosian City-States armed forces, the latter being more likely to employ the similar IM-L1 "Hygroscope" Infantry Heavy Maser.

Item type

Weapon, Ranged

Raw materials & Components

The Broadsword comes with a power supply backpack, an adaptor for plugging this pack into a local power source, and an array of solar cells mounted to a rollable fabric mat. In the field, the solar cells can be unrolled to provide the weapon with additional charge and surface area for embedded heat sinks, greatly enhancing the operational endurance of Broadsword crews.