Overview – NCRA
The New Chinese Republic Army is not as technologically advanced as the JSF, EF, or even SGB in terms of 'independent technology', but is superior in manpower, resource reserves, and understanding of Element Zero powered technology. Much of its technology is based upon reverse engineered eezo equipment. With its massive population, the NCR can produce the necessary troops, equipment, and resources for the Alliance ground troops, while still having more than enough left over to supply its own sovereign force.
The NCRA's military is composed of several Divisions, including special infantry, airborne, armored and mechanized units. In addition, many of their major cities are protected and patrolled by heavily armed police officers. One of their Special Forces units consists of the NCRA Dragons, a select group that is pledged to protect the people of New China. The NCRA is said to have numerous military reserves throughout their colonies, and they use these soldiers to strike at insurgents outside their area of operations. The Alliance has tried to keep the NCRA in line, but they are just too many to keep a constant track of.
Infantry:
NCRA Dragons - The Dragons are recruited from the best of the Chinese military while the rest are folded into the regular army. This training is not restricted to the male gender as women can become Dragons as well, and it's not uncommon for them to do so with success. Their training and conditioning are said to be as nearly as intense as that of the Spetznaz Guard Brigade, albeit only more forgiving. Those that finish and are awarded the badge have proven that they are "quieter than a shadow and more ferocious than a Tiger." Their harsh training, superior numbers and an assortment of technology allow them to tip battles in NCRA's favor even when a situation may see them outgunned and outmatched.
Standard Issued Equipment:
Primary Weapon: M-7 Lancer assault rifle with oversized concussion launcher
Secondary Weapon: M-3 Predator pistol
Special: M-92 Mantis sniper-rifle or M-23 Katana Shotgun
NCRA Serpents- Serpents are the NCRA's elite shock troopers and are the most numerous engineers within the Systems Alliance. Often deployed in a support role, they are more than well-equipped to defend a strategic area or asset. Despite their initial role, they are incredibly lethal as their LMGs allow them to suppress enemy infantry and their FGM-90 missile launchers allow them to handle anti-aircraft/armor roles. Following NCRA doctrine, the Serpents were created with quantity over quality as shown by their heavy reliance on mass accelerated arms. They are encountered frequently on NCRA bases and places of interest. Serpents can even be deployed as anti-riot troopers.
Standard Issued Equipment:
Primary: N7 Typhon LMG
Secondary: M-3 Predator pistol
Special: FGM-90 missile launchers
Other: Shoulder mounted rockets
Vehicles:
Barracuda MBT 3000 - The MBT 3000, commonly known as the Barracuda, is the latest NCRA main battle tank. Being the most common armored fighting vehicle employed by the NCRA during war, it is used in operations requiring heavy firepower or an anti-vehicular platform. The Barracuda sports a 125mm mass acceleration cannon as an answer to the Ogre's monstrous cannon and the Schwarzkopf's incredible range. Doing less damage against armored targets than other tanks, the Barracuda compensates by being easy to repair and maintain in the field. Combining firepower, resilience, and mobility, the Barracuda has proven itself formidable and earned the respect of friend and foe alike.
Length: 32'9.7" (10.1 meters)
Width: 11'5.8" (3.4 meters)
Height: 7'10.5" (2.3 meters)
Weight: 52 tons
Armament: 125mm Mass Accelerator Cannon
12.7mm HMG
7.62mm coaxial LMG
Defensive Capabilities: Reactive Armor
Ablative Armor
Smoke dispenser
Sensor Jammers
Kinetic Barriers
M-35 Mako - A versatile Infantry Fighting Vehicle, the M35 Mako was designed for the Systems Alliance's Marines Corps. Since its inception, the M-35 Mako has gathered positive reviews. Designed to fulfill the role of rapid deployment of its counterparts, it is able to change the tide of battle by re-massing NCRA troops at any location on the frontlines. Cheap and highly effective, the M35 is small enough to be carried in the cargo bay of an Alliance warship and is easily deployed on virtually any world. Used extensively by the NCRA for rapid and amphibious assaults, in rare occasions during high-speed invasions of insurgent occupied territories, the M-35 Mako is battle proven and has been able to get the job done effectively.
Length: 22'6" (7.5 meters)
Width: 8'7.2" (2.6 meters)
Height: 6'6" (2 meters)
Weight: 20 tons
Armament: 40mm mass accelerator cannon
12.7mm coaxial machine gun
40 – Ground to Air (GTA) missiles
Defensive Capabilities: Ablative plating
Reactive Armor
Micro-Thrusters
Active Defense
Laser Detection Arrays
Kinetic barriers
Complement: 14 NCRA Dragons or Serpents
GZ-550 Monarch -The GZ-550 Monarch is a light armored vehicle used by the NCRA to rapidly deploy a squad of Dragons or Serpents into the battlefield. The latest in a long lineage of similar light ground vehicles, the NCRA have manufactured tens of thousands of these basic, lightweight, and efficient machines, entrusting them to missions in everything from logistics to Mede-vac, to recon and raiding. When armed, a GZ will mount a heavy machine gun in a 360-degree cupola on its roof and is built to mount grenade launcher ordnance as well.
Length: 11' (3.35 meters)
Width: 9'3" (2.83 meters)
Height: 8' (2.43meters)
Weight: 10 tons
Armament: 12.7mm machine gun
30mm grenade launcher
Defensive Capabilities: Ablative armor
Flares
Ballistic protection
Complement: 8 NCRA Dragons or Serpents
MA - 23 Longma - Is a vehicle designed for long-range bombardment, generally against fortified targets such as bunkers and shield generators but also against vehicles and infantry. Using prototype mass accelerator long range cannons, the Longma represents the first successful attempt by NCRA engineers to introduce a reverse-engineered artillery cannon into conventional warfare. Because of its mass reduction of rounds, the MA-23 Longma is able to carry more ordnance, with only a minimal reduction in power.
Length: 25' (7.62 meters)
Width: 6'8" (2.07 meters)
Height: 8'5.9" (2.59 meters)
Weight: 55 tons
Armament: 140mm Emperor cannon
M269 Launcher Loader Module
Defensive Capabilities: Ablative armor
Smoke dispenser
Sensor jammers
Kinetic barriers
M-40 Snakehead – The M-40 Snakehead is the New Chinese Republic's primary tactical air defense vehicle. The Snakehead is an evolution of Chinese technology, with element zero technology accounting for the bulk of several changes. The Snakehead supports four 50 mm mass accelerated autocannons mounted in a quad configuration, similar to the SGB's Flea, with an improved rate of fire. Multiple guided air defense missiles are included as well. These weapons are arrayed in a single, remotely-operated main turret. It is one of the few vehicles within the NCRA that utilizes tracks instead of wheels. The Alliance variant features a less advanced missile system, however.
Length: 28' (8.5 meters)
Width: 10' 3" (3.12 meters)
Height: 9' (2.7 meters)
Weight: 28.1 tons
Armament: 4 – 50 mm Mass Accelerator Autocannons
1 - 12.7 mm Mass Accelerator Turret
Ancestor Missile System
Defensive Capabilities: Reactive Armor
Ablative Plating
Active Defense
Laser Detection Arrays
Kinetic Barriers
A-61 Mantis - The Gunship is driven by vectored-thrust engines. First rolled off the assembly lines in 2140, the Mantis remains in service in the Alliance Military and NCRA. Its modular construction means that the versatile Mantis can be reconfigured as a low-altitude gunship, a fighter, a high-altitude bomber, or even a single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane that can engage enemy craft around a planet or a space station. The only role the Mantis cannot perform is that of a true deep-space fighter, as it has no FTL drive.
The Mantis houses an element zero core which lightens the engines with a mass effect field, allowing it to take off vertically and hover in place using minimum fuel. This also gives it far greater range and speed than the helicopters and jump-jet aircraft that once filled its niche.
Length: 43'4" (13.2 meters)
Width: 20' (6.1 meters)
Height: 17'8.6" (5.4 meters)
Weight: 11 tons
Armament: 2 - 35mm mass accelerator autocannons
35 - Inferno Rockets
35 - Hellfire missiles
Defensive Capabilities: Ceramic plating
Ablative armor
Electronic-countermeasures
Thermal Decay system
Kinetic barriers
MS-32 Lotus - The MS-32 Combat Support Vehicle, commonly known as the Lotus, is an unusual six-wheeled, experimental NCRA combat vehicle first appearing in 2121. It is used within divisions or battalions to provide a means to receive information, analyze and transmit data, and control forces carrying out combat missions. This enhanced situational awareness and understanding enables NCAR commanders to synchronize and employ widely dispersed and highly mobile forces at decisive points of the operation. It was meant to level the playing field as Russia, UNAS, and The European Federation all had command vehicles, giving them a tactical edge.
Length: 32'2" (9.8 meters)
Width: 15'9" (4.8 meters)
Height: 13'7" (4.2 meters)
Weight: 30 tons
Armament: 47mm mass accelerator cannon
12.7mm heavy machine gun
Defensive Capabilities: Ceramic armor
Reactive armor
Smoke Dispenser
VI sensor Jammers
Kinetic barriers
JH-14 Xian - In a stunning display of reversal, the NCRA's JH-14 Xian is considered an anomaly within the NCRA military. This is due to the fact that unlike its other vehicles, the JH-14 Xian had been created with quality being a central variable. With the overabundance of its Trident fighters, NCRA generals believed their numbers would provide an impenetrable wall that would allow bombers to reach their targets undamaged. Thus, the JH-14 Xian had to be multirole, capable of engaging both ground and air targets and quickly retreating if the situation became too dangerous. This resulted in the bomber having improved armor, interchangeable ordinance, and flexible in its role in contrast to other bombers. A frameless bubble canopy had been set low in the nose of a sleek fuselage to minimize drag and maximize speed.
Their numbers are further bolstered in the atmosphere by Mantis gunships, which can be configured into high-altitude bombers. A unique feature of the Xians is that once one bomber locks onto a target, the onboard VI sends the data to other VIs in other Xian bombers, allowing faster targeting and deployment of ordnance. However, the bombers must be within range of each other to receive the data and deploy their munitions.
3 - Manned
Role: Rapid support bomer
Length: 73' 2" (22.32 meters)
Width: 41' 7" (12.8 meters)
Height: 20' 4" (6.22 meters)
Weight: 50 tons
Armament: 30mm mass accelerator cannon
85 - Disruptor Torpedoes
50 - 90mm laser-guided bombs
100 - Swarm rockets
Defensive Capabilities: Titanium armor
Ablative layered armor
Ceramic plating
Kinetic barriers
Linked VI computers
J-61 Trident - A mainstay in the NCRA arsenal the Trident was designed similar to a wasp: dangerous alone, deadly in swarms. Of interest is the Trident's ordinance, which are more in lined with destroying enemy ships rather than acting as escorts. While the Trident's arsenal reduces the overall range, it allows the J-61 to deploy its arsenal on a given spot faster than most fighters. Despite being manufactured and used by the NCRA, the Alliance has contracts to purchase large quantities of these fighters for their ships.
Often considered a 'budget' fighter, the Chinese strove for a fighter that would at least rival the other faction's fighters. Deployed from carriers or from air force bases, the J-61 Tridents are extremely versatile craft and the combined numbers are more than frightening . Following the NCRA's doctrine, alone it may not be the best fighter, however, in swarms Tridents are nearly unstoppable as they are easily repaired and rearmed.
1 - Manned
Role: Fighter/Interceptor
Length: 66' 7" (20.3 meters)
Width: 42' 3" (12.88 meters)
Height: 14'7" (4.45 meters)
Weight: 42.75 tons
Armament: 2 - 25mm mass accelerator autocannons
30 - Disruptor torpedoes
55 - VI guided Harpoon Mk.4 missiles
Defensive Capabilities: Ablative armor
Ceramic plating
Laser countermeasures
Kinetic barriers
UT – 47 Kodiak: Able to carry up to 14 people, including the pilots, with a total of 12 in a cramped cargo space, the Kodiak is the go-to choice by the Alliance Marines and NCRA troopers when deploying groundside. An onboard VI allows for safer insertion into combat hotspots. A true contragravitic vehicle, the Kodiak's substantial element zero core allows flight by entirely countering the vehicle's mass. Its small thrusters are for directional control only, so if the mass effect field fails, the vehicle becomes a proverbial "three-million-credit coffin". The unarmed shuttle forgoes weaponry-space for active masking, electronic countermeasures, and a robust kinetic barrier system.
Role: Troop transport
Length: 25' (7.62 meters)
Width: 13' (3.96 meters)
Height: 11' (3.35 meters)
Armament: 2 – Side 30mm mass accelerator heavy machine guns
Defensive Capabilities: Ablative armor
Radar countermeasures
Limited FTL capabilities
Kinetic barriers
Complement: 12 NCRA Dragons or Serpents
Conventional WMD:
Thermobaric Missiles - The NCRA doesn't have access to orbital-based kinetic energy weapons or advanced high energy orbital lasers, but it does have plenty of advanced thermobaric weapons (often incorrectly referred to as Vacuum Bombs). The Space-Land-Air-Missile Shield may have made ICBMs obsolete, but short-range, low-flying, high-speed missiles can still be used. It also appears that these missiles are mounted on ground-based mobile platforms, like some of the late-Soviet/Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles. The NCRA arsenal in the 2130s included tactical ballistic missiles with conventional warheads, regarded as a type of artillery.
The weapon itself works by spreading non-oxidized fuel (it can be coal dust, jet fuel or aluminum powder, but the most powerful mixes are classified) with a small explosion, then igniting the fuel-air mixture. The result is a lot of heat and a powerful shock wave, producing a very real mushroom cloud. Each missile has a force of 200 kilotons of power. In space, a special Thermobaric missile is used with an armor-penetrating warhead to punch a hole in an enemy ship before the mixtures inside react to create the explosion. This allows it to be mounted on Alliance ships to great effect.