Rifts Up Close: CR-1 84mm Rocket Launcher

By Tim Willard

During the Federation of Magic Invasion of 12 PA General Thaddeus Talbot broke his shattered lines into teams of hunter killer teams armed with missile launchers and sent them out to wage guerrilla warfare. Post-Battle analysis showed that Talbot's H&K teams wreaked havoc on the invading FoM forces, despite the fact that Talbot and his headquarters company fought to the death.

The original launcher was little more than a throwaway launcher with a fire and forget rocket. This required the Hunter Killer squads to carry up to 5 of the 14 pound rocket launchers for a total of 90 pounds, rather than a single launcher and multiple rockets.

The launcher itself is built in Chi-Town, Iron Heart, and Free Quebec. However, the scope itself is only built in Chi-Town and Lone Star. The launcher and scope are shipped to and assembled in Chi-Town.

In 18 PA the Coalition States unveiled the CR-1 Rocket Launcher, which was simply a reloadable bare bones launching system with open air iron sights. The rocket was loaded from the rear as the weapon was tilted forward. The rocket would slide in and lock into place with a click that would push the trigger, which was mounted on the top, into the firing position.

After extensive combat use, the CR-1A was released in 32 PA, which now featured an unpowered plastic "scope" that was only a piece of clear plastic with distance estimators built onto it. However, the caliber was upgraded to 84mm, and the missiles had fin stabalization added. When the missile was fired, the thick plastic "storage" ring would be ejected from the rear, so that the fins could deploy when the weapon left the launcher.

In 54 PA the system was entirely overhauled, based on soldier recommendations, resulting in the CR-1A1. The system was now front loading, with an electronic sight that was powered from an internal power cell that was good for up to 4 hours. However, the system produced serious backblast, was front heavy, and the scope only provided 1X/3X magnification.

In 65 PA the CR-1A2 was released. This version added a counter-weight and backblast baffle onto the rear of the launcher, added thermographic sight to scope, reduced launcher weight from 21 lbs to 16 pounds, and added a shoulder pad and forward pistol grip, although it was still launched by a top mounted press down trigger. The scope included, however, suffered from severe overloading when the missile was fired, ruining the scope 42% of the time, and overloading the scope for 10-16 seconds.

In 82 PA the CR-1A3 was released. This version moved the trigger from the top to a pistol grip in the center of the weapon, moved the scope backwards (the illustration shows a cross between a CR-1A1 for the scope position and the a CR-1A3 launcher) for ease of use, and added flare compensation into the scope. However, roughly 15% of the missiles would not properly and lock into the firing position.

In 98 PA the CR-1A4 upgrade came out, which reduced the weight, changed the scope to 1X/3X/5X/10X/15X/20X magnification, passive nightvision, infrared, removed the problematic thermographic system, added in a laser rangerfinger, and a laser targeting system. The laser targeting system was in hopes that a laser guided mini-missile would be developed. In addition the locking threads were modified, dropping the missile lock failure rate from 15% to 1.3%. However, the system was heavy, the scope expensive, and the doctrine insisted that any CR-1A4 system had to be brought back, regardless is the firer had ran out of ammunition or not. Although most commanders were just satisfied if the soldier brought back the 5,000 Cr scope.

Weight: 14 lbs
Length: 44"
Caliber: 84mm
Muzzle Velocity: 950 fps
Minimum Range: 25m (75 ft)
Maximum Range: 2500m (7500 ft)
Maximum Effective Range: 1760 (5280 ft)
Typical Combat Range: 500m (1500 ft)
Magazine Capacity: 1
Manufacturer's Cost: 450 Cr for launcher, 1,800 for the scope
Wholesale Cost: 600 Cr for launcher, 5,000 Cr Scope (5500 Cr for both)
Manufacturer's Recommended Price: 18,000 Cr (5,000 Cr launcher, 13,000 Scope)
Black Market Price: 24,000 Cr (2,000 Cr launcher, 22,000 Scope)
Wilderness Price: 150 launcher, 3,000 scope

Note: The heavy, impact shielded and shock dampened scope weighs 6 lbs by itself. However, the internal components are often used to fix/upgrade vehicle and robot power armor and power armor sensor systems)