Maksim Projector

The Maksim Projector, named for its inventor, Hiram Maksim, an employee of the Honourable Company, was an improvised spigot mortar system rapidly developed and produced by ESB Sathrati during the Emergency of 1730. It served as a portable infantry support weapon to provide heavy fire against potential amphibious landings of troops and vehicles.

Design

Rather than a conventional towed artillery piece, the Maksim Projector utilised a simple smooth-bore firing tube or "spigot" launched from a portable baseplate. This allowed the system to be easily broken down and transported by small crews.

The projector fired a 120mm high-explosive fragmentation projectile propelled by a bagged propellant charge inserted down the spigot tube. The thin-walled munition was designed to detonate forward of the target using a timed fuse, spraying shrapnel over a wide area.

The launch baseplate consisted of a flat square panel with a central firing tube mount and traversing mechanism. It could be rapidly set up on almost any horizontal surface using removable ground spikes.

While lacking in precision, the stable trajectory and fairly large projectile gave the Maksim reasonable accuracy out to 1,500 metres - an effective range for engaging landing craft, lightweight armoured vehicles, and infantry concentrations attempting to get ashore.

Production

Authorised by the Council of Sathrati, the projectors were manufactured across the Sathrati islands in a network of small workshops and backyard factories organised by ESB Sathrati. This allowed for extremely rapid production of the simple system.

However, the decentralised low-tech manufacturing resulted in a lack of standardisation. Projectiles and components often varied between production batches depending on the workshop's capabilities.

Employment

Upon reports of an impending amphibious assault, Maksim Projector crews could rapidly deploy from out of shelter and establish firing positions covering potential landing zones. The spigot tubes could be relocated between concealed positions with reasonable ease.

Concentrated groupings of projectors could lay coordinated barrages in areas where suspected landing operations might be ongoing. If deployed effectively, the systems could be relatively effective in breaking up infantry coming ashore from landing craft or small boats.

Limitations

The main deficiency was the Maksim's inability to effectively damage anything heavier than a lightly-armoured vehicle or landing craft. Its fin-stabilised projectiles lacked the raw penetrative power of conventional artillery rounds.

The system also had a low rate of fire as each spigot needed to be repeatedly re-loaded and re-laid between shots by its small crew.

However, its ubiquity across the islands and ability to create impassable fields of heavy fire from concealed positions made it an asymmetric threat amphibious forces had to respect.