Research (UFOAI)
Research entries of UFO: Alien Invasion.
Armour
Alien Body Armour
Commander, we've recovered a suit of alien body armour from the battlefield. This armour has been a plague to our soldiers; aliens wearing it have shrugged off shots that would have torn their unarmoured friends apart. It's not surprising that we still haven't managed to cut it open to perform an initial survey of its composition. We should investigate the armour's weaknesses as soon as we can, and perhaps ascertain a way to adapt it for our own uses.
This project will require a moderate amount of lab time and funding. Work will start as soon as we have your authorisation, Commander.
Cdr. Navarre
"Commander, we've got a full report on the alien armour for you. It was something of a surprise to learn that the alien armour is made of a composite of plastics and carbon containing no metal whatsoever. In fact, the most important element is something with which humanity is already well-acquainted: carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes (also known as CNTs or 'buckytubes') are cylindrical carbon molecules that are incredibly strong, one of the strongest materials known to humankind. They have been relatively little-used on Earth because of their extreme cost. No economical means of mass-production has been found to date, restricting their use to the most expensive programs on Earth, such as aeronautics and space exploration. The alien armour uses CNTs as its penetration layer, i.e. the layer that stops bullets and other incoming ordnance from penetrating into the body. The nanotubes are woven into long latticework patterns and recessed into a bed of hard polymer, backed by a layer of semi-liquid gel that very effectively dampens the energy of a blow and spreads the remaining force across a very large area. The final layer -- woven from flexible aramid fibre -- serves to contain the gel and doubles as a spall liner, catching any fragments that may be blown loose from the inside of the armour. Thanks to the conductive properties of carbon nanotubes, the armour performs very well against plasma. This makes sense. It is their weapon of choice and we would expect them to know how to protect against it. Because plasma weaponry appears to have limited penetration capabilities, the armour is able to disperse the heat before it can melt through the protective layers. The armour also performs pretty well against ordinary bullets and explosives, although it's not very effective against incendiary devices or flamethrowers. These weapons raise the atmospheric temperature around the wearer so that there is no place to dump the heat, effectively roasting the wearer inside his suit. Other features of the armour include servo-assisted movement in the boots, allowing the wearer to move more quickly, and a curious system built into the bracers that automatically assists the wearer's aim by selectively applying pressure to parts of the forearm. We are looking into many new uses for this technology. Adapting this armour to a human body would be impossible due to the differences in physique and the difficulty of working with the materials involved. However, I've written up a separate research proposal to investigate the possibility of designing and mass-producing our own armour using the alien suit as a template. It will be in your inbox presently. If you'll permit me, I'd like to raise a final issue with you, Commander. One of my researchers has toyed with a personal laser project over the last couple of months. While we were testing the alien armour, we allowed him to experiment with it in his downtime and we were astonished by the results. The relatively weak laser beam was hardly reduced as it passed through the armor. I know that we've long believed that effective man-portable laser weaponry is just a myth, but these suprise findings have reinvigorated my team. I'm hearing all sorts of interesting proposals. This armour will seriously dent our ability to use the aliens' plasma weaponry against them on the battlefield. If we could use lasers to pack a reasonable punch into a hand-held rifle, it could be the best response to their armor. Please give some thought to the laser weaponry ideas in your queue. Cdr. Navarre"
Alien Medium Armour
Commander, we've salvaged a new suit of alien armour from the field. It's much heavier than the alien armour we've encountered previously, and it seems to stop ordinary firearms without taking so much as a scratch. Its trauma plates are made of the densest CNT (Carbon Nanotube) weave I've ever seen. We need to research this armour right away to determine which weapons will remain effective against aliens wearing it, and to try and find a method to replicate it for our own troops. As long as we can't match this technology, we are at a severe disadvantage.
This project will require a significant amount of lab time and funding. Work will start as soon as we have your authorisation, Commander.
Cdr. Navarre
"Where armour is concerned, the aliens' design philosophy seems to be, "If it works, let's use more of it." This new armour is similar in design to the alien body armour, but it does away with the compromises and delicate balances of light armour. Instead of just protecting the torso and head, the medium armour attempts to cover all vital areas with much more dense nanopolymer plates, including major arteries and sensitive nerve clusters. In comparison with the alien body armour, the medium suit has double the number of nanotube strands per square centimetre. As a result these plates are nearly impenetrable to standard human firearms and even the softer mesh covering the joints can stop bullets with disturbing ease. As I mentioned before, the suit strongly emphasises protection over mobility. The large trauma plates get in the wearer's way no matter what race or size he might be, and the dense nanotube polymers used are so heavy that the overall weight will slow down even an Ortnok. There are numerous mini-servos and other mechanical parts that help deal with some of the weight, but their effect is limited overall. Other devices are integrated into the armour to assist aiming and vision. These are quite interesting and we may be able to replicate them on a larger scale as weapon enhancements. The aliens seem to have designed this armour with the war against humanity in mind. Besides being virtually bulletproof, its performance against lasers, incendiary and plasma weapons is much improved over the Alien Body Armour. Aliens wearing this armour will suffer minimal damage from crossing open flame or brief shots from our flamethrower, but prolonged exposure will still overheat the suit and cook the alien inside. In better news, the armour does not fully enclose the alien, leaving some skin or breathing passages exposed to air. That means blister gas will remain effective, though it will take longer for the gas to reach its full effect. The alien suits won't fit our troops without modifications that would critically weaken them. We've taken a few stabs at replicating the dense nanopolymers, but our Workshop machinery is currently unable to weave so many nanotubes at once. I have a few ideas about how to upgrade it, though, as well as some designs for a new armour to take advantage of those upgrades. The proposal should be in your queue now, Commander. Now please excuse me, sir -- I was due in my rack twelve hours ago and I think my eyes are starting to bleed. Goodnight! Cdr. Navarre"