Today Daumann Heavy Construction, Rheinland's biggest military contractor for weaponry and combat vessels; announced the new police vehicle the "Crowd Basher". We are the Nuremberg Depot, Daumann's main vehicle storage facility where the announcement of the vehicle has been made public.
This new vehicle will be widely available to the Rheinland Federal Police, and is fit to stand the conditions of most planets in Rheinland with ease.
"We wanted a vehicle that was easier and cheaper to maintain than it's predecessor the "Crowd Striker". The striker used anti-gravity plates which, even though made the vehicle faster, it also made it expensive and energy consuming; the police felt discouraged to use it due to its operation and maintenance costs; the Basher is much more cheaper and the smaller and cheaper power core allowed us to invest in other areas of the vehicle for a more balanced crowd controller"Said Susanne Schwede, lead designer of the vehicle.
The "Basher" uses the same allegedly non-lethal weaponry from its predecessors, a microwave ray, classified as RCMR-45E "Daumann Igniter". It also comes with stronger armor than the Striker and, of course, wheels instead of anti-gravity plates.
"The anti-gravity plates are a great invention, indeed; but using it on a vehicle used for crowd control is needles and inefficient, for not saying costly. Wheel are cheaper, and more effective for its purpose; and you don't need a specialized crew to replace a flat tire"Schwede said.
"The standard Basher comes with a microwave ray, however since the mount is of modular design,it can be equipped with a wide array of modules, like a command antenna, or more lethal weaponry depending on the needs of the police, and it can easily stand side by side with military vehicles"Said the weaponry designer Carl Mahn.
Currently the vehicle will be available to the Rheinland Federal Police, however it may be available to foreign police forces, or even mercenary groups; given Daumann gets the required permissions.
"The military is not interested on non-lethal vehicles, at least not on a large scale as the RFP would; however should they need them the vehicle is ready for use, but at least from our part we are not pursuing a contract with them, not in the short term. Foreign police might be interested on the Basher, since they already have Striker on their possession, Leeds for example has approximately 200 Strikers, and they will surely want to replace them, we just need to get the proper permission to export them; we also know of several planetary military contractors, again, many of them at Leeds, interested in purchasing one or two thousands" Said Susanne Schwede.
Several people continue to raise their concerns on the use of Daumann weapons as "non-lethal" stating that the technical and medical studies is lacking or non-existent.
"Daumann alleges that these rays are non-lethal, but they continue to use names like Striker, Basher Daumann Igniter, and such, that doesn't sound non-lethal at all; and when you try to access their technical studies they can really tell you a tale on why one is not allowed to see them"said Harro Winter, one of the leading members of the pacifist party.
"When I wrote a letter to them asking if the weaponry had been tested on human volunteers, their response was that they did, and if I was interested, they were still accepting"said one of the activists of the party.
"I spent 1 week at medical, after a Striker fired its ray on my group, during a manifestation at New Berlin, with first and second degree burns, and that wasn't even half of the power" Said one of the populist party
But there has also been response from Daumann supporters, the Society of Concerned Citizens of Rheinland, and the authoritarian party.
"Of course, the negative feedback comes form the people this vehicle is meant to be used against, I have yet to see one normal working citizen speaking against it"Said Arthur Sprengel of the SCCR.
"If manifestations were conducted on a peaceful manner, there would be no need to deploy Strikers, or now, Bashers, but there you see the pacifist party is the first to throw Molotov bombs at the RFP"said another member of the SCCR
"It's a shame the Federal Police didn't want to deploy Strikers before, but with a cheaper and more effective option, we hope to see these illegal riots and manifestations controlled once and for all, the road to a successful state is proper control form the authorities"Said Arthur Grohn of the authoritarian party.
Despite the divided crowds at the site of the announcements, it' clear the the new vehicle is a success and will be in hands of the police anytime soon, Strikers will be sent to Nuremberg for retrofitting as the new Bashers start their duties. Reporting from Nuremberg Depot, Rebekka Cohrs.
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