Rifts Up Close: ML-557 Mini-Missile Rifle

By Tim Willard

With the addition of combat cyborgs to the NEMA forces in the years following the Congo/Sudanese War of 2058 (One of NEMA's toughest challenges as world peacekeepers) NEMA once again opened the Future Warfighter Program in order to develop heavy weapons for the powered armor soldiers, cyborgs, and other amplified humans. Field testing on weapons was done for over 3 years before the Program authorized three total weapon systems to be fielded for cyborgs and power armor soldiers.

The ML-557 Mini-Missile "Rifle" (Known as the ML-557 Magazine Fed Light Rocket System in military circles) was submitted to the 2060 Future Warfighter Program by Madson-Lenski Missile Armament LLC, which normally produced the missile systems and munitions for NEMA, and alliance militaries.

By utilizing prototype synthetic plastics, ultralight composites, and alloys that possessed extremely low heat transfer properties, as well as a "cold" blowback system and a tight ECCM package built into the weapon. The weapon also came standard with a bipod, vehicle mounting point, laser designator, optical guidance system, and a multi-function sight. Surprisingly the entire package was wrapped up with a 65 KCr price tag, making it highly affordable. (MLMA-LLC planned on making the money on their line of miniaturized smart missiles, not the weapon itself)

Surprisingly enough, this weapon proved rugged, durable, and not prone to damage when used in high stress environments by power armor clad soldiers or cyborgs (which often showed a tendency to break handgrips due to the sheer force, usually measured in the tons, that their hands could put out.

On top of the weapon is a detachable laser designator, that enables the user to either laze in a target while holding the weapon, give the targeting device to a forward scout, or set it down, position it manually, and fire from a distance. The laser used the extreme upper ranges of "IR visible" light, dancing across frequencies with such speed that it was nearly impossible to lock onto the beam unless the proper algorythm was shared. While the detachable sight shared the algorythm with the launcher itself, for multiple launchers to home in on the same same sight (usually when in use by a forward observer or set in a static position) the users of the weapon had to engage the battlefield network.

The screen/keyboard system contained an internal firmware smarthframe allowing the weapon to be set up and fire autonomously at pre-identified targets or targets painted with the detachable lazing mount and the "fire" control activated. Additionally, it can be used to set up the battlefield network, remote view through different weapons or detachable sights, as well as download satellite maps, area maps, or used to designate targets to the missiles inertial mapping software for precision strikes at a distance.

The rear sight is only engaged when the weapon is in direct fire use, with the forward screen folded safely against the top of the weapon. It uses thermographic, passive nightvision, IR, VIR, and UV sightings, as well as electronic telescopic enhancements. It can also be removed and given to a forward scout or placed at a specific point to allow the user of the weapon watch what the sight sees on the battlescreen. The battlefield network interface also shows what the missile is seeing during flight in either a small window in the upper corner, or taking up 80% of the center of the screen. A retractable joystick can be used to provide terminal guidance on the missiles.

The weapon bipod swings down, and while still collapsed can be used as a forward handgrip, and provides the weapon with excellent recoil compensation, as it acts in concert with the internal recoil compensation hardware.

A secondary battle screen, deployed and put in use when the main battlefield network interface is missing or destroyed, displays only what the weapon's sights are seeing.

The weapon is loaded by inserting the missile through the feeding port on the right side, and using the cocking lever (located just above the lower center handgrip) to pull the missile back into the magazine and rotate the magazine down.

The missiles are highly complex weapons with both flight and terminal guidance performance, internal inertial mapping hardware, visual profile recognition, and usually programmed for top-down attacks (making this weapon very effective against foes with a head, as the missile detonates above the head and fires an explosively forged penetrator straight through the top of the skull), and able to be controlled by the launcher for minimal flight adjustments. The missile contains a new, multi-effect warhead which can penetrate 1,000mm Explosive Reactive Armour or Rolled Homogenous Armour, up to 75mm of neo-tungsten carbide polyceramic hyper-alloy, or more than 3m of reinforced ferrocrete. A direct attack mode has been added as well as improved anti-jamming capability. The missile uses super-pressurized nitrogen to expel itself from the launcher, and engages its primary rocket thruster approximately 50m from the launcher, leaving no heat signature for the enemy to follow back to the launcher.

During the Cataclysm and the Second Dark Ages, this weapon was issued at least one to a squad, and was popular for it's ability to provide perimeter survelliance and battlefield network capablity. Even after the majority of the smart missiles were gone for the system, many squads carried the empty launcher just for the utility.

During the Dark Ages once in awhile an explorer would trip an automated smartframe ambush, rockets ripping out of the ruins to target those unfortunate enough to have tripped its attack protocols. This led to stories of ghosts using weapons of the Neeman's to attack those who dared enter the cities.

On Rifts Earth this weapon is highly illegal in the CS terroritory (who look more to capture intact ones for examination), as well as rarely found with any of the battlefield network accessories. Usually it is found as a stripped down, fire and forget, sightless "rifle" when in the hands of those who inherited it from generation to generation or those who find one in the ruins.

However, in 92PA, Iron Heart Weapons Manufacturing Research Division managed to get their hands on 22 of these weapons, complete with datasheets and instructions and immediately began reverse engineering the whole system.

Weight: 27 lbs (empty) 40 lbs (fully loaded)
Length: 40"
Caliber: 68mm
Maximum Range: 2100m (6300 ft)
Maximum Effective Range: 1600m (4800 ft)
Typical Combat Range: 300m (900 ft)
Magazine Capacity: 6