Re: [DS] [SG2] GMS launchers

> Some people are apparently under impression GMS/P is equivelant to
> Dragon, with GMS/L equivelant to TOW.  God knows what this turns a
GMS/H
> into, but when someone a while back posted about being a TOW platoon
> leader, someone said "And this is GMS/L!"
> 
> It's not.  
> 
> GMS/L is Dragon/Javelin size/weight.	GMS/P doesn't exist today.  It's
> got the same penetration as an IVAR.	So it's really just a buzz-bomb
> warhead with a sustainment motor and a better guidance system.  GMS/L
> teams are two-man crews of Dragon equivelant, as they have more punch. 

Your basing this comment on today. I guess I just don't agree. Yes, 
the GMS/P has the same penetration as an IAVR. But what penetration 
does an IAVR have? IAVR is man portable unguided AV rocket. GMS/P is 
man portable anti vehicle rocket with guidance. That much I agree 
with. But where do you take from that set of facts that GMS/L is a 
Dragon/Javelin? It requires a team and IIRC a mount of some type - 
tripod for example. That to me smacks of a futuristic TOW launcher. 

FWIW, in my TO&Es, I equip richer troops with GMS/P, poorer with 
IAVR. They are man portable. (by a man). GMS/L is a support section 
weapon with a crew of 2-4, like a light version of a TOW. GMS/H is a 
huge anti-armour missile, like a fattened up TOW. This is required by 
the high level of armour carried by vehicles in 2183. It would 
typically be deployed on a vehicle (ITV kind of vehicle), on an air 
unit (like an Aliens gunship), or on a wheeled chassis as a towed 
crew-served weapon.  I think this view is aligned with the view 
depicted in SG2, which is a latter day publication than DS2 if I'm 
not mistaken. 

Maybe you like your light troops bristling with heavy anti-armour and 
anti-air. I find that giving them GMS/P at the squad level, and GMS/L 
at the company level gives them a lot of punch. Plus any vehicle 
support will have GMS/H or GMS/L. And when all else fails, a bunch of 
them have either AT rifle grenades (only good against light armour or 
unarmoured vehicles) or IAVRs. 

But that's only my 0.02. 
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Thomas Barclay		     
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