Barkhausen Projector

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*"I can't believe this thing even works."*

- Barkhausen Commander

## Tactical Analysis

* **Instant Meal on the Go:** The Barkhausen Projector is armed with a Microwave Projector that projects high-intensity microwaves into the sky. The microwaves ionise the air, damaging anything that flies through the mass of superheated ozone. This is more effective against swarms than single aircraft, however.

* **150000W Power Rating:** Normally, the Barkhausen Projector has inherent safeties that reduce the Projector's rate of fire to enable it to cool down between shots. However, in times of emergency, these safeties can be taken offline, increasing the Barkhausen's power significantly at the cost of damaging itself over time.

* **Armour Thinner Than Its Wavelength:** The Barkhausen Projector has an inherently unstable microwave generator that may explode violently on death, destroying the vehicle and its crew. Its destruction is more likely than it might seem, as it has no answer to enemies on the ground, instead relying entirely on other vehicles to protect it.

* **Keeping your cool in the heat:** A new model of the Barkhausen Projector has been developed, which can fire for a much longer period of time than the previous model, but the additional complexity means that only experienced operators are capable of operating them. This also allows operators to up the power even further in overclocked mode, which has the effect of destabilising air in the target area and slowing down aircraft.

## Operational History

Shortly after the British disseminated the technology for high powered microwave radar transmitters among the Allied Nations, the heating effect of a beam of high power microwaves was accidentally discovered by Allied engineers. Such technology, it was immediately realised, could have a potential use in cooking food, and further experiments were conducted into this area.

Before any real progress could be made, however, war broke out. The Second World War meant that all the cavity magnetrons that could be manufactured were used for radar sets, and that the Allies' scientific minds were all directed towards the war effort, so research into the potential civilian applications of microwaves stalled. It was only after the war had ended that research into the application of microwaves in the heating of food could resume in earnest.

Several commercial microwave ovens were developed in the post war period, and a number of companies which previously had experience manufacturing cavity magnetrons for the military turned to making them for civilian applications instead. However, the microwave ovens developed during this period were large and bulky. Attempts to improve the technology continued, but in 1965, another world war erupted, interrupting the development of civilian technologies again. However, the potential military applications of high power microwaves had interested the Allies. Research into these applications continued throughout the war. Among the more interesting results was the effect that microwaves had on metal. Further studies conducted into this area would directly result in the **Barkhausen Microwave Projector**, an experimental anti aircraft platform that uses high-powered microwaves to ionise air into a mass of superheated ozone, damaging any aircraft in a large area.

Initially, a purpose built chassis was to be designed to mount the special high power microwave emitters that form the Barkhausen's weaponry. However, pressure from the military, mounting costs, and continued problems with the attempts to design a dedicated vehicle meant that the plans were shelved and the equipment mounted on an International Inc Leopard LAV. It worked, but not without some drawbacks.

Much of the Leopard's armour had to be stripped off in order to offset the additional weight of all the equipment, leaving the Barkhausen vulnerable to attack. The mounting of the emitters also makes it impossible for the emitter to be used on surface targets. In addition, the Leopard chassis is too small too fit all the required cooling equipment, and as a result, the microwave emitter can only be activated for a few short seconds before it starts to overheat. To compensate, automatic safeties are incorporated into the Barkhausen, shutting off the emitter so that the system has time to cool down. Disabling the safeties, however, is easily done, and operators have been known to do this in order to allow the emitter to fire indefinitely at the risk of a catastrophic overload. Though this practice is officially banned, most Allied commanders turn a blind eye to operators doing this as it greatly enhances the Barkhausen's effectiveness.

## Behind the Scenes

* The Barkhausen was inspired by a combination of real-life military applications of microwaves and footage of metallic objects such as CD-ROMs inside microwaves.

## Just the Stats

 **Armour Type** | Light Armour

 **Kill Reward** | 9600

 **DPS** | 30