                               
                               TECHNICAL READOUT
                                       
  M41A PULSE RIFLE
   
   A Marine's best friend is his rifle.
   - Anonymous Marine
   
   The Colt M41A is a 10mm pulse-action automatic rifle, now adopted as
   the standard personal weapon of the US Colonial Marine Corps. The M41
   has an over-and-under configuration also comprising a 30mm pump-action
   grenade launcher. A spring loaded retractable stock allows it to be
   used either in a Carbine format (with stock retracted) or as a rifle,
   with the stock extended for greater stability when firing from the
   shoulder.
   
   The M41 employs the standard US M309 10mm x 24 round. This ammunition
   is caseless and High Explosive tipped with light armour piercing
   capability. It is designed to penetrate personal armour, exploding
   just after impact to inflict the maximum internal damage to a target.
   Due to the efficiency of the propellant charge the round is nearly all
   warhead, making it very compact overall. The standard M41 ammunition
   clip will hold up to 100 M309 rounds in an 'N' bend conveyor, which
   feeds the rounds mechanically into the breech. However, in practice
   the clips are only filled to 95% in order to reduce the autoloaders
   tendency to jam.
   
   The M41 uses electronic pulse action to fire, controlled directly from
   the trigger. The weapon can be set to selective, burst or full
   automatic fire by a select switch, the latter option allowing a high
   rate of fire up to the weapon's full cyclic rate of 1000rpm. An LED
   display situated just below the receiver indicates the ammo remaining
   in the clip.
   
   The underslung 30mm grenade launcher uses pump action to load the
   breech from the five round capacity internal feed. Once loaded, the
   launcher is primed to fire from the trigger. This means that the
   weapon's conventional fire facility is immobilised whilst the launcher
   is primed, although the operator can override this by pressing the
   select switch fully down. The Grenade launcher usually employs the M40
   fragmentation round as standard, but HEAP (High Explosive Armour
   Piercing), White Phosphorous Incendiary and Hexachlorine Smoke
   ammunition is available.
   
   The M41 is a robust weapon, fully sealed against corrosion and dirt,
   yet easy to disassemble and maintain. The optical electronics are
   hardened against EMP and radiation, and the weapon is perfectly usable
   in a vacuum (although it is not sufficiently stabilised or recoil
   dampened for free-fall combat operations).
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  M56 SMART GUN
   
   "You know the funniest thing about the M56? Yeah, it was too freakin'
   accurate, man! When you checked out the bodycount after a heavy
   firefight, you could tell which ones' bin hit by Smart Guns; cuz
   they'd all have a single hole burned straight through 'em. No
   grouping, nothing: just a single, neat hole. That freaked some of the
   guys out, and after that they kept the tracking switched off ... they
   wanted t'hose that thang, man!"
   
   The M56 'Smart Gun' is the US Colonial Marine Corps' standard Heavy
   Automatic squad support weapon. Designed to provide heavy infantry
   support up to 1500 metres, the Smart Gun has proven a rugged and
   reliable state- of-the-art weapon, now employed in a variety of combat
   theatres and environments.
   
   The M56 is essentially a 5 KiloWatt gas-dynamic Laser powered by an
   array of Liquid Metallic Suspension batteries. The beam itself is
   emitted by a fast-discharge monopolar generator which produces a high
   energy pulse of one- one hundredth second duration in the invisible
   light spectrum. When focused, this pulse instantaneously superheats
   the target area; creating an explosive effect capable of penetrating
   light armour. Beam performance is related to a number of factors,
   including the target's ablative properties, atmospheric quality and
   obscuration. Yet field testing has shown that countermeasures (such as
   smoke or suspended particle clouds) do not significantly degrade the
   fire from this powerful weapon.
   
   A Smart Gun operator has the option of setting the weapon to fire
   short or full bursts up to it's maximum cyclic rate of 1200 ppm.
   Because it is a beam weapon, the gun operator experiences no recoil or
   muzzle climb upon firing. However, early versions of the M56 produced
   a characteristic muzzle flash; caused as the beam superheated the air
   directly in front of the barrel. All current service models now
   incorporate a flash suppressor, although this only partially masks the
   effect.
   
   When in combat, the M56 is actually 'worn' by it's operator. The
   operator wears a micromesh armoured combat harness to which the
   battery packs attach. The M56 is then connected to the harness by an
   articulated dolly; a sophisticated microhydraulic cantilever, which is
   fully gyrostabilised and self-steering. The dolly is flexible enough
   for the weapon to be fired from the hip whilst standing, kneeling and
   in crouch positions; or from the shoulder when prone.
   
   The M56 is not configured like a normal small-arm rifle, having a
   series of balanced hand-holds and grips instead of a conventional
   stock. Since the weapon is self-stabilised on the harness, these
   hand-holds are required merely to aim rather than lift the gun.
   
   The most notable feature of the Smart Gun is the motion tracker
   mounted parallel with the barrel, set to monitor a 30 degree cone in
   front of the weapon. When the weapon is set to 'Smart' mode it becomes
   slaved to the motion tracker and will 'lock on' to the highest
   priority moving target, as determined by the operator. The hydraulic
   dolly will then steer the gun barrel so as to boresight the target
   precisely. In effect, this allows the operator to fire accurately from
   the hip without having to sight the gun directly. However, the
   detector can be jammed or spoofed by decoys, multiple targets and
   'friendlies' moving into the detection cone. It therefore requires a
   well trained operator to discriminate targets correctly in order to
   employ the gun's 'Smart' abilities to the optimum. In reality, the gun
   is only as 'Smart' as it's operator.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  M240 FLAMETHROWER
   
   The M240 is a lightweight, carbine-format flamethrower designed for
   use in close combat at the squad and fireteam level. Using
   pressurised, ultra- thickened Napthal gel as a base and ignited by the
   nozzle burner, the M240 can shoot flame at targets up to 25 metres.
   Once a target has been hit the gel will stick and continue to burn for
   approximately one minute. With sufficient fuel in a standard fuel
   reservoir for 20 'bursts' the M240 is surely one of the most fearsome
   weapons in the Marine inventory, and has proven especially useful in
   close combat and xenomorph culling operations. However, it is
   unpopular with many of its operators because of the tendency of the
   fuel reservoir to rupture violently when hit by shrapnel or small arms
   fire.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  ARMOUR AND BATTLEDRESS
   
   Standard marine issue battledress is of lightweight, rigid Carbon
   Fibre/Venlar composite armour and helmet worn over a thermal
   dissipating disruptive pattern uniform. Based on the French Armed
   Forces' Cuirasse de Combat, the US M3 pattern personal armour can
   withstand the impact of most light small-arms fire and slow or deflect
   many military calibre weapons; as well as being semi-ablative against
   lasers.
   
   Areas covered by standard Marine combat armour include the shoulders
   and torso down to the groin, whilst rigid shin guards and knee armour
   protect the lower legs. The chest/torso assembly also incorporates
   pouches and slings in its' design for the wearer's ammo and field kit
   as well as straps and webbing for carrying standard field packs. A
   high-powered halogen lamp is mounted on the armour's left shoulder
   bracket for operations in low visibility where white-light is required
   and can be unclipped for use as a hand torch. The assembly also
   contains the Marine's personal data-link transmitter which constantly
   relays bio-readouts, video and radio data back to the battle
   management displays at his Command and Operations centre.
   
   The Marine M10 pattern ballistic helmet incorporates a number of
   devices, including the side mounted tactical camera which transmits
   video images via the data-link back to the Command centre. Audio
   pickups and receivers built in to the helmet link all team personnel
   with each other and their commanders, allowing for greater command and
   control. The helmet is also equipped with a passive Infra-Red sight
   which can be flipped down over the left eye for operations in low
   visibility.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   Typed and HTMLed by Damien Burke, taken from the Dark Horse comic,
   Aliens: volume 2, number 1 (July 1992 - ISSN 977 0961 409020).
   Original author: not stated in comic, but is probably Lee
   Brimmicombe-Wood.
