Ke-M4-W2901 Light Armor Service Rifle

The Ketsurui Fleet Yards Ke-M4-W2901 Mk.I Light Armor Service Rifle's purpose is rather simple: to give soldiers a weapon that does not have the overkill of the Ke-M2-W2901 Aether Beam Saber-Rifle, yet retains some armor-killing punch. While the weapon is extremely effective against infantry and light armored vehicles, it is considered fairly ineffective against targets bigger than power armor; energy shielding or external kinetic dampeners can dull its damage.

• Purpose: Anti-personnel, anti-armor.
• Damage: Tier 3 Heavy Anti-Personnel.
• Range: Up to 4,000 meters (max 13,000 m in atmosphere).
• Rate of Fire: Semi-auto, 3 round burst, or full auto at 900 rounds/min, with rounds firing at a maximum velocity of 6,000 m/s.
• Payload 100 round magazine (or 200 round large magazine). Rounds may be ball (common), hollow-point (less common), armor piercing (less common), tracers, or dummy rounds for training.

See also: Ke-M4-W2902 LASR-SLAG

Ke-M4-W2901 Mk.I and II Light Armor Service Rifle

Designer/Manufacturer: Ketsurui Zaibatsu

(Suggested) Price: 25,000 KS.

Individual Component Costs:

• Fabric sling: 25 KS
• Ke-M4-W2901 Mk.I 06x AIES-linking scope: 2,500 KS
• Ke-M4-W2901 Mk.II 30x Multi-spectrum AIES-linking scope: 4,000 KS
• WickedArms GP-1 4x manual scope: 50 KS
• WickedArms GP-5B/12A 10x manual scope: 100 KS
• Zen Armaments Precision Sniper Rifle 20x manual scope: 400 KS
• Emrys Industries Gauss Flechette Rifle 4x red-dot scope: 100 KS
• Buttpad: 100 KS
• Replacement foregrip (wraps around part of the barrel): 150 KS
• Extra forward grip: 200 KS
• Bipod alone: 150 KS
• Foregrip/bipod: 300 KS
• Extra M100 magazines: 50 KS
• Extra M200 magazines: 100 KS
• Attachable over-barrel grenade launcher (Mk.I): 6,000 KS

Type: Rail gun fired from the shoulder.

Model: Ke-M4-W2901 (Mk.I) comes without scope and 40 cm-long rails housed inside a barrel. Mk.I also can have a grenade launcher attached. Mk.II comes with an adjustable 20x electronically linked scope with 55 cm-long rails, also housed, and a folding bipod.

Role: The LASR's purpose is rather simple – give M4-suited soldiers a weapon that does not have the overkill of the M2-W2901 Aether Beam Rifle, yet retains some armor-killing punch. The sniper variant acts as an alternative to low-powered aether shots. Combined field systems or external kinetic dampeners can dull its damage. The M4-2901 is standard issue for the Sylph power armor and is often found with the Lamia and Mindy armors as well.

Length: Mk.I is about 70 cm long with stock collapsed; 100 cm extended. Mk.II is 115 cm long with extending stock. Mass: Mk.I weighs about 30 kg empty, 40 kg loaded; Mk.II about 45 kg empty, 50 kg loaded.

Projection/ammo type: Magnetically propelled rounds with several variants listed under Ammo Description.

Firing Mechanism: Round is pushed into chamber by the magazine spiral loading system from top-loading helical magazine by pulling a small cocking handle on the left side of the weapon's receiver. Magnetic pulse is charged behind the round by pulling the trigger, similar to a double-action trigger on a conventional rifle. That is for the first round only, however; a capacitor immediately draws off the battery after the first round to provide instant fire after the first shot (single-action pull). The magnetic pulse is then fired behind the round once the trigger breaks, sending the round between the differently charged rails inside the barrel of the weapon. The moment the pulse is fired, it pushes a door above the chamber open, loading the next round. Cycle repeats.

Note: Battery powering the weapon is found in front of the trigger, built into the gun. It is a fairly slim battery that folds into the weapon and under the foregrip, but can power the gun for up to 4,000 rounds (800 for Mk.II).

Caliber: 7×15/20 mm boat-tail tapered dart with colored tips.

Effective Range 4,000 m for Mk.I; 8,000 m for Mk.II.

Maximum Range: 12,000 m for Mk.I; 20,000 m for Mk.II.

Muzzle Velocity: 1,500 m/s at anti-personnel setting (about 5,000 ft/s, which is about 500 ft/s faster than a .220 Swift); up to 6,000 m/s at anti-armor setting.

Muzzle Blast: A small blip of bluish light.

Firing Mode(s): Mk.I is semi-auto, three-round burst and full auto at 900 rounds/min. Mk.II is semi-automatic only.

Recoil: Heavy. An unarmored non-Neko soldier attempting to fire this weapon on its lowest setting would receive a significant kick to their shoulder. An NH-17R or NH-27 could fire the weapon up to a certain point, but not at full power.

Name: Ke-M4-W2901 7×15/20mm LASR.

Visual Description: A plain light or dark-grey boat-tail tapered dart with a colored tip.

• Standard ball (natural grey): Tungsten round, steel jacket.

• Hollowpoint: Soft steel round with hollow tip, thin tungsten half-jacket.

• Armor Piercing (black): Fullerene dart within tungsten-nickel alloy round.

• Tracer (white): Hollow fullerene round, tungsten steel jacket. Packed with slow-burning magnesium. 0.01 second delay on fuse to ignite magnesium.

• Training rounds: A single dummy round is loaded into the chamber; the range master will activate a rifle's training mode for a trainee.

Stored in a simple cylindrical magazine, 4cm wide by 7cm tall by 15cm long (20cm long for Mk.II). A counter is fed directly into the armor, as the weapon is actively linked to AIES. However, a counter is found on the magazine itself.

Ammo: 100 rounds per magazine.

Damage Description: Depends on the round type and target. Standard is issued for most engagements; hollowpoint is usually issued only when unarmored targets are expected in tight quarters; armor piercing is also standard; shield piercing is issued only when shielded targets are expected; tracers are for nighttime fighting; and HE rounds are issued to sniper squads.

Safeties: Located above the trigger on the left side in the form of a pulldown-pushup switch that unattaches the trigger from the magnetic pulse generator. AIES link allows access to magnetic pulse generator safety; essentially shuts the gun down.

Fire mode selectors: AIES link needed. Default is semi-auto, 1,500m/s. See Fire modes above.

Weapon sights: AIES provides main sighting abilities. However, 30x scope on Mk.II is designed to supplement those. The standard 06x scope on the Mk.I provides some extra sighting power. The weapon has no iron sights. A laser sight is built into the rifle's frame below the barrel. It is turned on and off with a small button above the grip.

Attachment hard points: A grenade launcher similar to that of the old WickedArms GP-12a can be attached to the area below the battery and in front of the trigger guard on the Mk.I.

Note: the weapon's stock slides into and out from the receiver to maintain stability. It is like that of an Type 28 SMG.

Field Maintenance Procedure: Weapon requires no major cleaning, as no chemicals are produced. The foregrip under the barrel can be removed by undoing two hidden snaps on the front and back of it, but other than that, there's little else that can be repaired without a workbench. Barrels can be switched if necessary. The magnetic pulse generator's rear end (“the bolt”) is exposed and can be tinkered with using simple field tools, but it is a somewhat fragile unit.

Replaceable Parts and components: The Mk.I is serviced fairly easily. The quick-change barrel is the most important part, but the battery, scope, trigger group and stock are the only parts that can be field-stripped. The rails inside the barrel are actually replaced with the Mk.II, instead of just attaching a new barrel as with the Mk.I. The receiver can be removed from the back and includes the magnetic pulse device that propels the rounds, as well as the cocking device that loads new rounds. The recoil pad on the extending stock can also be added.

Mk.I

Mk.II

The Light Armor Service Rifle is comprised mostly of a titanium alloy and polymer furnniture. The alloy is a mix of of smooth and checkered blue/grey, the standard Star Army colors, with the polymer a dark grey. The bolt is uncolored and exposed on the right side of the weapon. A modular rail is set on top of the weapon, allowing for a highly versatile rifle without changing the basic components. The magazine actually slides in between the extendable stock's rails and beneath the end of the rail. The barrel fits snugly with the lower portion of the rifle that holds the foregrip and battery. It is not connected, as the barrel is a quick-changer.

LEFT SIDE: The safety is above the trigger. The charging handle is above the main grip.

The infamous design team responsible for mostly failed projects was finally given a task and asked to tailor it. They did just that, creating a rifle usable by soldiers in the new M4 Sylph light power armor and possibly future light armors. In essence, the weapon gives the armor badly needed medium attack power that can be used against unarmored and armored targets alike. Because the old WickedArms weapons are no longer in production, and any other space-borne power armor weapon is overpowered, this weapon suits the light armor well. However, it is primarily designed to face targets inferior to Yamatai's spacy armors. Oddly enough, it is the first design team's actual success. A pistol is in the works.