Skyhawk Modular Weapon System Series

The Skyhawk 4/80 and 4.2/80 is the primary assault rifle used by the GDA forces as of the 8th dynasty.

Overview
The Skyhawk Modular Weapon System is a series of singled barrelled and double barrelled assault rifles chambered for 80 fallons (approximation of .50 caliber or half and inch). The Skyhawk have served as the GDA's main assault rifle since the 6th dynasty.

Origin
Following the rise of the fully automatic capable Enfielder rifle in the fourth dynasty, more Morge based engagements showed the limits of its original conversion as it's automatic firing system was complex to operate and maintain and the design of the original rifle had hit the wall.

A council of military contractors were tasked to marry the plasma propulsion cylindrical chamber with the fusion chamber on the rifle. Due to the technicality of the original process, the plasma chamber would wear and need to be replaced as though it were a magazine. An expensive breakthrough was discovered which consisted of controlling the reaction by using a system of control rods exciting the anti-electrons and converting the fusion process to a plasma state without an expendable catalyst. The original plasma chamber was needed to boost this process to be instantenous, but the discovery of new compounds kept this process without being overly intrusive or used up. However, the technology was very expensive and it could not be harnessed in a tactical rifle at that time.

By the fifth dynasty, the Enfielder rifles scored many successes for the GDA against many foes but troops continued to express dismay at having to replace two components on the rifle, the magazine and the plasma chamber, to render it operational once depleted. Furthermore, attempts to include new technologies to the rifle were futile and costly due to the fact that it was originally a limited semi-automatic design. A competition was launched to find a replacement for the Enfielders. A stopgap solution was found along the way in the Chimera assault rifle (left). However, the Chimera showed the limitations of a weak chambering and it's rather unflexible layout. Thus, many designers revised their designs to include a second barrel which could be replaced by new weapon systems as mandated by a new military contract.

The resulting Skyhawk 4.2/80 (right) was a befitting weapon instantly recognized by it's two programmeable triggers, and flamboyant barrel sprouts. Despite being an underdog, the Skyhawk won the contract and was placed into immediate production shortly before the end of the fifth dynasty. By the sixth dynasty, it had completely replaced the Enfielder rifles and was starting to show its superiority in combat, especially compared to the antiquated Kan, Morge and Ketrinycal assualt weapons. It prompted a major rethink for the opposing forces.

Initial Deployment
Tests were conducted on the weapon by experienced military personnel after adoption following soldiers expressing fear over it’s futuristic carbon construction. The tests would involve 50 days of mock field duty in which the weapon had to be discharged 1000 times a day for every day of the test, and a cache of 20 rifles being buried in the ocean soil and recovered after 30 days and using only simple kit tools available to soldiers and no spare parts being made to fire the weapons again. Other test were similarly extreme and the soldiers dreamt up many numbers of challenges based on their experience to make the weapon cease to function. The Skyhawk was highly successful in all test areas and won the confidence of the soldiers using it.

Attachments
The main body of the Skyhawk, consisting of the charger, the cores and the recoil mechanism is relatively basic in outward design and construction which enables it to accept many attachments and modifications. The most common of these is the addition of a second barrel, a charger modification and a second trigger which, along with the first trigger, can be mechanically programmed to fire all barrels or one depending on scenarios or conditions.

However, the addition of programmeable triggers is crucialy important to effective operation of the rifle with the swap of the second barrel with an under barrel attachment such as a semi-automatic grenade launcher, a semi-automatic rail launcher or a powered chainsaw bayonet as it meant that one trigger or the other can be used to fire the attached weapon system while still maintaining a degree of accuracy. This means that In the event of an addition to the modular system, the charger that fires the second barrel and difuses the action from the first barrel is used to handle the weapon attachment.

Digital Battlefield Capabilities
The Skyhawk was born from a purely mechanical desire stemming from the GDA having learned the difficulties of fielding an army relying too much on sensitive electronic equipment the hard way with sour EMP engagements with the Kublei-Kan. Thus all crucial systems on the fire operate mechanically.

However, despite the dark age throwback of this apparently futuristic design, the Skyhawk has some digital battlefield capabilities in the form of wirelessly connecting to the combat systems on Legionaire armor and allowing the user the ability to aim the rifle using sight from the rifle's scope displayed through his visor, thus eliminating the danger of exposing the user's head in the crossfire.