CREDITS:
Kerlonceaux for adopting my account and uploading this for me
p0tato72 for the thumbnails
Typhoon03, and others for their advice
And a whole lot of people I may not be able to credit properly

MODS NEEDED:
Tracks 2 for the Tracks.
Zoom for the sight experience(set the zoom to max - UPDATE: IT MIGHT NOT WORK ON THE NEW VERSION. PLEASE SET THE ZOOM OF THE CAMERA ITSELF).
Anti Missile Ball for the APS.

CONTROLS:
Throttle 75% - Hatch Open Protected Position
Throttle 100% - Hatch Closed Position
VTOL Up/Down - Forward/Backward
Yaw - Neutral Steering
AG1 - Enable Turret Traverse + Elevation
AG1 + Pitch - Turret Elevation
AG1 + Roll - Turret Traverse
AG1 + FireGuns - Fire COAX GPMG
AG2 - CITV Scan Mode + Elevation
AG2 + Trim - Gunner's GPMG Elevation
AG3 - ATGM Select + Stabilization
AG4 - Reload Hatch
AG5 - Automated Target Tracking
AG6 - Gunner's Hatch
AG7 - Open Troop Compartment Door

Strf 135 Kaluga

The Stridsfordon 135 Kaluga, commonly nicknamed the Strf 9040D, is an Infantry Fighting Vehicle designed and built by Nokken Heavy Vehicles for the Federal Republic of Alkuva. It is designed to complement and eventually replace the Strf 90s in service.

HISTORY

The Strf 90 platform was a solid design for its time. It however, was plagued with issues stemming from its development. A group of people, known as the "1st Technology Studies Group" sabotaged its development by submitting requirement requests and tricking the higher ups into changing the requirements of the IFV's development to their standards. An example of this was the removal of the ATGM launcher and laser rangefinder.

Having later discovered the trickery by said group, the successors to the higher-ups during the time of the Strf 90's development started up a program to address the issues, either by making an entirely new IFV, or modifying the original design. It was decided that a new design would be done, given the painful costs of trying to design systems around an existing hull, and a decidedly small one at that.

Requirements were then shown, with a handful of companies joining the competition:

• Marileium Universal, with a design based on a couple Rheinmetall Ost and Greater Britannian prototypes.
• Nokken Heavy Vehicles and Hailstorm Defense, with a slightly enlarged Strf 90 hull.
• A Greater Britannian Company, [insert name here], provided a heavy IFV based on an existing tank hull.

Nokken and Hailstorm's offer won, given a 50% parts commonality with the Strf 90, and overall ease of logistics given it uses existing ammunition. It was then accepted into the Armen Alkuva as the Strf 135 Kaluga.

DESIGN

DEFENSIVE

Camouflage

The Armén Alkuva uses paint schemes of 716437 for desert operations, and 475242 for woodland/forest operations. In terms of camouflage, the Kaluga can fit a variety of camouflage netting and coverings depending on the mission.

Armour

The Kaluga is fitted with composite armour designed to protect from 40mm rounds from the front and 30mm from the sides. The sides are fitted with an add-on package designed to reduce the penetration of/stop certain RPG warheads and 35mm rounds.

The turret top is protected with an armour package as well.

The Kaluga is given an add-on v-hull package to protect against IEDs and certain mines.

Active Protection

The Kaluga is by default fitted with a set of modular 5 barrel grenade launchers designed by Iron Dome Land Systems, with 1 station on each side carrying 3 sets of launchers. When activated, the grenades airburst, covering an area with a layer of thick smoke, blocking visual, IR, thermal, and occasionally, millimeter-wave radar detection.

Laser Warning Receivers are fitted onto the IFV to provide any warning against laser-guided weaponry and laser rangefinders, direct the tank to where the laser source came from, and engage it.

The Kaluga APS Suite provided by Marileium Universal and Hailstorm Defense, called Escutcheon II-L. It incorporates the existing defense mechanisms on the tank and adds other systems. It works as a layered defense with softkills providing the outer layers of the defense, and the hardkills providing the final layers. The location the threat came from is identified while the threat interception process occurs, allowing for counterattack.

Electronic Warfare

The Kaluga is equipped with a Hailstorm Defense-Marileium Universal DE-35(IED) Counter-IED system in the form of a single pole-like jammer

Survivability

The ammunition for the 40mm cannon, with new developments has a reduced chance of being ignited by enemy fire.

Spall protection is provided by 1 layer of an aramid material.

Damage Control

A Halon Firefighting System is equipped to extinguish any fires in the crew compartment. An Engine Fire Suppression System is equipped and triggered by pulling a T-Handle in the driver's position.

A Damage Management System is installed to show the state of certain components.

Other

The Kaluga is protected by Overpressure CBRN systems. These allow the tank's crew to operate in environments irradiated, or affected by objects that could harm the crew.

COMMUNICATIONS, NETWORKING, AND SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

The Kaluga is equipped with the SpeedShare Datalink System that transmits and receives info from other vehicles, relying on the systems the tank equips.

The Kaluga uses an IFF system to identify and distinguish targets and allies.

It is fitted with a suite of cameras that provide an almost 360-degree field of view, improving situational awareness. In addition, the electro-optical sensors fitted on Escutcheon II-VL can provide an extra set of infrared eyes.

MOBILITY

Tactical

It is powered by a Jettars-Marileium GT 650hp Multifuel Gas Turbine, and a Model-430 12-speed transmission. These are capable of bringing the tank to speeds of 80 kph forward and 40kph reverse on average.

The Kaluga has a torsion bar suspension and friction dampeners. The running gear consists of 7 roadwheels and 4 return rollers per side, with the idler wheel at the front and the drive sprocket at the front. The tracks are T38 rubber tracks with attachable grousers/cleats when operating in loose terrain, like snow and soil.

An APU provided by Marileium Universal and Jettars is installed to power the IFV's systems if the engine is not online.

Strategic

The Kaluga can be transported by a wide variety of vehicles, with certain cargo aircraft carrying 1 to 3 vehicles, and certain ships carrying 1-6.

OFFENSIVE/FIREPOWER

Main

ATGM Launcher

The Kaluga is fitted with a twin launcher carrying Akeron-MP ATGMS, or Whelk dual-purpose ATGMs for anti-tank usage.The Kaluga has 2 reloads(2 ATGMs per reload), while the TankHunt variant has 6-8 reloads.

WM498

The Kaluga is equipped with a 40mm WM498 dual-feed automatic chain gun, provided by Hailstorm Defense with a maximum elevation of 55 degrees and and a max depression of 8. It can fire 40mm APFSDS-T and HE-MP-T rounds. 100 rounds of APFSDS-T and 150 rounds of HE-MP-T are loaded by default, with 3-7 reloads, depending on the variant.

Secondary

A water-cooled, Dalarna Armouries GPMG-338 Model 3 with 700 rounds. It is coaxially mounted with the 40mm cannon.

FIRE CONTROL AND SENSORS
The Kaluga uses a ballistic fire-control computer that displays user and system-supplied data from a variety of sources to compute, display, and incorporate the three components of a ballistic solution - lead angle, ammo type, and range from the target, to accurately fire the main gun and coaxial/s. These three components are determined using a laser rangefinder, crosswind sensor, a pendulum static cant sensor, data concerning performance and flight characteristics of each specific type of round, tank-specific boresight alignment data, ammunition temperature, air temperature, barometric pressure, a muzzle reference system (MRS) that determines and compensates for barrel drop at the muzzle due to gravitational pull and barrel heating due to firing or sunlight, and target speed determined by tracking rate tachometers in the Gunner's or Commander's Controls Handles. All of these factors are computed into a ballistic solution and updated 30-45 times per second. The updated solution is displayed in the Gunner's or Tank Commander's field of view in the form of a reticle in both day and Thermal modes. The ballistic computer manipulates the turret and a complex arrangement of mirrors so that all one has to do is keep the reticle on the target and fire to achieve a hit. Proper lead and gun tube elevation are applied to the turret by the computer, greatly simplifying the job of the gunner.

A Gunner's Unity Sight is also included. It's simply a vision block that the gunner has that allows him to see a 1x view through the GPS housing. This sight can be useful if you need to see immediately to the front of the turret in a relatively wide field of view.

To help with lead for moving targets, the Kaluga uses an IR lock-onsystem that calculates the speed and turret traverse rate needed. Later models will use an AI tracking system.

The Kaluga has access to a variety of sensor systems. The commander has access to a sophisticated panoramic sight which contains both an Nd:YAG laser rangefinder as a main and stereoscopic rangefinder as an auxiliary. It has a ×2.5, ×5, ×10, x15, x25, x50, x75, and 90x magnification direct day channel and a ×2.5, ×7.5, ×15, x20, and x25,x 50, x75, and 90x magnification video channel on top of a thermal vision mode for the electronic channel. The gunner has a sight with a ×2.5 and ×10, x15, x25, x50, x75, and 90x direct day channel and a ×2.5, ×5 and ×10, x15, x25, x50, x75, and 90x video channel with thermal vision mode. All periscopes on the tank are fully digital; all three crew also have fifth-generation thermals incorporated into their digital periscopes. These periscopes/vision ports also have analog backups if the digital systems are down.

TROOP-CARRYING CAPACITY

A Single Kaluga can hold up to 8 soldiers in its troop compartment, albeit unrecommended. The Armen Alkuva mandates that 6 soldiers will suffice for such a platform.

Gunner's Primary Sight

Commander's Independent Thermal Viewer

VARIANTS
Manufactured:
Strf 135 - Base model without Escutcheon II-L.

Strf 135A - Added Escutcheon II-L.

Strf 135 TankHunt and Strf 135A TankHunt - These are models with reduced troop-carrying capacity in favor of more ammunition for the ATGM launchers and the auto cannon.

Strf 135A+ and Strf 135B - New turret with under-armour ATGM launcher.

Patgb 375 - APC variant which replaced the turret with an RCWS and increased troop capacity by up to 9-11 soldiers.

Grkpbv 115 - Mortar carrier with 2x 81-120mm Automatic Mortar in one turret.

Gallery

A Kaluga and a Sabalo on an exercise, circa 2025.

Ditto.

3 Kalugas in an echelon right formation, circa 2025.