Ordnance Types

Overview

Prior to the formation of the Star League, a Universal Ordnance Rating Standard was achieved as a means of broadly comparing all military conventional explosives of the same general size using a single letter code. Those letters on the lower end of the scale represent minor explosives such as micro-grenades, while those on the higher end represent large artillery rounds such as mortars and missiles. While larger sizes do exist, they represent vehicular-scale weapons, and besides high-explosives each category includes diverse alternate payloads.

Types and Classes

Type	Class A	Class B	Class C	Class D	Class E
Anti-Personnel	X	X	X	X	X
Air-Burst				X	X
Anti-Vehicle			X	X	X
FASCAM				X	X
Flare	X	X	X	X	X
Flash	X	X	X	X	X
Gas	X	X	X	X	X
Guided				X	X
High-Explosive	X	X	X	X	X
Inferno		X	X	X	X
NARC			X	X	X
Smoke	X	X	X	X	X
Stun	X	X	X	X	X

Class

Ordnance Class	Typical Weapon
A	Very small and weak ordnance, such as "button-bombs" favored by spies and saboteurs. The Microgrenade falls under this category as well.
B	Small explosive charges, such as light-weight grenades and those used in Compact Grenade Launchers.
C	Standard grenade-sized charges, small enough to be carried by hand and thrown.
D	Large charges too heavy to be thrown by hand, including mortar and recoilless rifle rounds.
E	The largest class size, represents most mines and heavy support weapons with a wide area of effect.

Types

Ordnance Type	Description
Anti-Personnel	Favored against conventional infantry forces, AP rounds cause damage through concussion and shrapnel, and are useful in house-clearing operations since they won't penetrate through walls.
Air-Burst	These mortar rounds explode anywhere from two to five meters above the ground, showering the area below with deadly shrapnel. This ability to ignore certain protective cover like foxholes and sandbag barriers comes at the cost of armor penetration and explosive potential.
Anti-Vehicle	A concentrated shaped charge is used to penetrate the armor on combat vehicles and other hard targets, but it has a reduced blast radius compared to other explosives and must strike the target at a particular angle to be effective.
FASCAM	FASCAM (Field Artillery Scatterable Mines) ordnance scatters submunitions over the target area by exploding thanks to a timed fuse. Size of resulting minefield depends on the size of the munition.
Flare	Flare ordnance is launched into the air to illuminate the target area, while a small parachute keeps it airborne for several minutes.
Flash	Flash rounds produce brilliant light which can blind anyone within the target area; however protective visors and battle armor provide full immunity against this effect.
Gas	This ordnance releases a toxic and incapacitating gas which causes choking, sneezing and eye irritation. Those with protective filter equipment are immune to the effect, although other types of toxic chemicals can be loaded into these rounds.
Guided	These mortar rounds were developed by the Free Worlds League using technology from the Semi-Guided LRM project, homing in on any target marked with a TAG or light TAG. These rounds function as normal in the absence of any TAG designation or targeting spotter and can be combined with air-bursting capability.
High-Explosive	The most common type of ordnance. Delivers a potent explosive blast useful as anti-vehicle and anti-emplacement weapon.
Inferno	Inferno rounds explode in midair above a target area, dispersing a highly flammable liquid such as napalm. Setting fire to anything within the area, they are especially designed to raise the heat levels of BattleMechs.
Narc Beacon	Narc Beacons attach themselves to the target and emit a guidance signal for friendly missiles.
Smoke	This ordnance releases a dense white smoke cloud which limits the ability to see and fire upon anything protected by its concealment.
Stun	These rounds produce a blinding flash and deafening sound used to disorient anyone within a target area. Those with proper protective gear or in battle armor are better protected against this effect.

Anti-Personnel Universal Ordnance Rating Table

This table applies to Anti-Personnel grenades and infantry scale artillery. The AP factor by design is lower to prevent unnecessary, or unwanted collateral damage, as these ordnances are usually intended for in house fighting.

Class	Damage	Mass
A	2X/8A	200 g
B	3X/10A	450 g
C	4X/12A	600 g
D	4X/13A	2 kg
E	4X/14A	4 kg

Air Burst Universal Ordnance Rating Table

Air burst ordnances aren't feasible to use in a standard grenade sized package. As a result they are generally only fired by mortars and artillery type weaponry, and only have two classes. These ignore ground level cover, such as walls, and other fieldwork. It does NOT ignore cover above the target however, vertical cover can still apply, usually in the case of a building.

Class	Damage	Mass
D	5X/10A	2 kg
E	5X/11A	4 kg

Anti-Vehicle Universal Ordnance Rating Table

Anti-Vehicle ordnance is intended to penetrate armor at a localized area. This type of ordnance has a maximum effective radius of one meter, unlike most other ordnance which taper off armor penetration and body damage over distance. Grenade variants of this ordnance are available, if uncommon in the C grade.

Class	Damage	Mass
C	8X/10A	1 kg
D	8X/11A	3 kg
E	8X/12A	5 kg

FASCAM Universal Ordnance Rating Table

This table is for field scatterable mines. This is different than vehicular scale Thunder LRMs, if only because these are infantry scale mortars and artillery. These apply density 2 minefields at the location of scatter.

Class	Scatter Radius	Mass
D	3 meters	3 kg
E	5 meters	5 kg

Flare Universal Ordnance Rating Table

Flares are of common use in warfare, anywhere where darkness is. Flares in BattleTech have a burn time of 25 seconds in the Universal Table. The key differences between classes are their illumination radii, and deployment method.

Class	Illumination Radius	Mass
A	50 Meters	200 g
B	75 Meters	450 g
C	100 Meters	600 g
D	200 Meters	2 kg
E	300 Meters	4 kg

Flash Universal Ordnance Rating Table

Flash ordnance is designed to blind targets within the effect radius of the "explosion". These are commonly used by police and security forces but aren't too common on the modern battlefield, as most conventional combat helmets (with a flash BAR of 3, advanced helmets at 7) are designed to protect the user from this ordnance.

Class	Damage	Mass
A	2S/2AD	200 g
B	3S/3AD	450 g
C	4S/4AD	600 g
D	5S/5AD	2 kg
E	7S/7AD	4 kg

Gas Universal Ordnance Rating Table

Gas ordnance can be anything from the relatively innocuous Tear Gas to Weapons of Mass Destruction. The Universal Ordnance table covers tear gas, since it's relatively common, but other gases and toxins can be substituted for different damage and environmental protection penetration ratings.

Class	Damage	Mass	Effect Radius
A	1S/5ACD	200 g	3 Meters
B	1S/5ACD	450 g	6 Meters
C	1S/5ACD	600 g	9 Meters
D	1S/5ACD	2 kg	12 Meters
E	1S/5ACD	4 kg	15 Meters

Guided Universal Ordnance Rating Table

Guided ordnance is common to the Free Worlds League, and is very similar to most other conventional ordnance, except that these types of ordnance can be partially "guided in" to improve accuracy of the warhead. As a result, of course, this is only relevant in artillery units.

Class	Damage	Mass
D	5X/10A	2 kg
E	5X/11A	4 kg

High Explosive Universal Ordnance Rating Table

This is the "standard" ordnance type which has universal application. Unlike the Anti-Personnel ordnance, this type of ordnance is designed to destroy everything it comes in contact with, regardless of its hardness. This ensures higher penetrative power against armored targets, but less overall damage to soft targets. This type of ordnance is very common in all-purpose landmines, as well as general purpose artillery, and are especially useful when hammering a static target.

Class	Damage	Mass
A	4X/6A	200 g
B	5X/8A	450 g
C	6X/10A	600 g
D	6X/11A	2 kg
E	6X/12A	4 kg

Inferno Universal Ordnance Rating Table

Inferno ordnances are special fuel-air mixtures which stick to a target and burn on contact with atmosphere. Essentially napalm on steroids. This type of ordnance depending on the conditions can burn from anywhere to 4 minutes, to 24 minutes (though this is generally halved in wet weather).

Class	Damage	Mass
B	3E/3ACS	450 g
C	3E/5ACS	600 g
D	3E/7ACS	2 kg
E	3E/9ACS	4 kg

NARC Universal Ordnance Rating Table

Infantry, and most small scale artillery can throw, fire, or in general find a way to attach a NARC beacon to a target. This can be used to assist other Narc capable weapons in finding the target.

Class	Hit chance improvement	Mass
C	+1 to infantry portable NARC missiles	1 kg
D	+2 to infantry portable NARC missiles	3 kg
E	+3 to infantry portable NARC missiles	5 kg

Smoke Universal Ordnance Rating Table

Smoke is another common ordnance type used on battlefields, from providing visual cover to marking units in distress. Smoke usually lasts anywhere from 4 minutes to 24 minutes, unless high wind is present.

Class	Effect Radius	Mass
A	3 meters	200 g
B	6 meters	450 g
C	9 meters	600 g
D	12 meters	2 kg
E	15 meters	4 kg

Stun Universal Ordnance Rating Table

Stun ordnances are designed to be nonlethal explosives intended to "shock" a target with a sudden "bang" in a way that they are stunned and unable to react to what comes next. This is common to most police forces and special force units. Artillery scale versions are available, but are rarely fielded except in case of riots.

Class	Damage	Mass
B	1S/8AD	450 g
C	1S/10AD	600 g
D	1S/12AD	2 kg
E	1S/14AD	4 kg

Notes

Armor piercing and damage values value of these types of weapons diminish by 1 for every meter away the target is from the center of the explosion down to 0 in both fields, when the target is not in range of the explosion to be affected by it.

0 Armor Piercing can still deal damage, if the target is unarmored, or the target is wearing armor of a BAR insufficient to negate the explosion at 0 AP.

Bibliography

• Combat Equipment
• DropShips and JumpShips
• Lostech: The MechWarrior Equipment Guide
• A Time of War