As everyone entered the garage, the new students stared in awe of the tanks that stood before them, while the veterans seemingly looked on with nostalgia, as if they were reuniting with old friends once more. Miho moved to the closest tank to them, this tank looked the closest to what someone would think a tank would look like.
"Now, can anyone tell me what the tank in front of us is?" Miho asks, trying to gauge how much the new students might already have. To her disappointment, it seems as if no one would try and answer the question.
"Ok then, this tank is called the predator tank; its armor is 65mm thick, it's equipped with a 76mm cannon, can reach a top speed of 60 kilometers per hour, and has a standard four person crew with a commander, driver, gunner, and loader."
After Miho explained some of the features about the predator tank, a student raised her hand, "Commander, I read somewhere that said our tanks use Composite armor, but I have no idea what it is or why it's more preferable than the standard steel armor?"
"I'll have to let the vice-commander answer that question, I'm not that well versed in that field." Miho responded before stepping aside.
"So first of all let me just confirm that yes, some of our tanks do indeed use composite armor." Annelien stated. "And to answer your question, composite armor is essentially using a mixture of various of materials like polyester and ceramics in between an outer and inner steel layer, kind of like an armor sandwich, the goal is to provide the same level of protection as a fully steel armor while adding less weight to the tank as a similarly thick steel armor would." She explained in great detail. "Does that answer your question?"
The student nodded her head confirming that her question was answered.
"Now can I have you turn your attention to the five predator tanks in the back," Miho said, stepping up again as Annelien stepped aside. "Do you all notice the gun barrels on them are different from the other five we are next to?"
As the students nodded their heads Miho continued, "those are called railguns, they are the guns that the video mentioned, the ones that can fire projectiles at the speed of or even faster than sound."
The new students stared awestruck the modified predators in the back of the line. "That sounds impossible, the only thing that can go faster than sound are jets and there's no way those guns of the shells they may fire are jets," a student said.
"Actually it is," another student countered, "a railgun is essentially a pair of electro-magnetic polls that propel a projectile forward, the magnet switch's it's polarization when the projectile passes by in order to not interfere with the effect of the magnets after it on the projectile." She later elaborated.
While everyone was still looking over the predators, especially the ones with the railgun modification; one student turned around to look at the row of tanks behind them, "are these also tanks, cuz they look more like rolling turtle shells?" She said wonderingly.
"Ahh that is the scorpion tank," Miho explained. "They have the most unique design of our tanks, their armor, unlike all other tanks, is detached from the rest hull and because of that, it can be configured to move independently. In the case of the scorpion tank, the 90mm gun was attached to the armor plate meaning that you wouldn't have to constantly turn the tank to have better protection when engaging an enemy."
"That kinda sounds confusing," the student from before replied.
"Well, think of it like this," Yukari suggested. "In a tank battle you'll always want your front facing the enemy to better defend against potential return fire, so if you were to be engaging multiple targets are a single moving target, you'll have to keep turning the tank using up fuel in the process. So with the scorpion's unique design, you'll not only wouldn't need to do that, but even be able to do so faster; not to mention you'll be saving fuel as well."
"Um Commander," Saori hesitantly called, "are the five scorpion tanks in the back of the line also equipped with railguns?" She asked, not immediately used to addressing Miho in a formal way.
"No, actually those scorpions are actually equipped with lasers," Miho answered. Compared to some of the more complex features of the predator and scorpion tanks, the rest of the tanks and their unique features were easier to explain. All the while, the rest of the teams, primarily consisting of the new students, had been handing in their assignment sheets to Miho and Annelien.
When the tour and introduction to the tanks concluded, everyone lined back into formation before Miho dismissed them from practice so they could go home.