M4 Scorcher

NOTE: This article is about NATO's M4 Scorcher self-propelled gun artillery vehicle in ArmA 3. For the ArmA 2 M4A1 carbine, see M4A1.

Scorcher
Faction	NATO
Type	Self-Propelled Howitzer
Seats	3 seats: 1× Driver 1× Gunner 1× Commander
Item capacity	Max: 3000 mass 12× Weapons 128× Magazines 12× Backpacks
Top speed	64 km/h
Fuel capacity	100 L
Primary armament	Main: 1× Howitzer 155 mm
Secondary armament	Secondary: 1× Remote RCWS 12.7 mm HMG 1× Remote RCWS 40 mm GMG Defensive: 1× Smoke Generator
Variants	M2A1 Slammer, M2A4 Slammer UP, M5 Sandstorm
Games

The M4 Scorcher is the primary self-propelled, heavy artillery vehicle used by NATO forces in ArmA 3.

Overview

• Role:
  • Indirect fire support

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Based on the licensed version of an Israeli tank chassis, the Scorcher M4 is a 155mm self-propelled artillery at the end of its lifetime cycle. It has modules allowing indirect fire support, with an advanced artillery computer allowing for various unguided and guided ammunition to be fired. The rear of the chassis no longer permits transporting passengers, as ammunition storage is installed. Field Manual

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Design

Fitted with a 155 mm howitzer cannon as its primary weapon, the Scorcher is a powerful gun-based fire support vehicle that can launch a mixture of high-explosive, smoke, cluster, and even precision guided shells on targets at extreme distances.

Armament
The standard loadout of the Scorcher gives it 32 rounds of high-explosive (HE) shells for the main gun. In addition to the standard HE shells, 6 different sub-munition types are also available, forming a total of 24 more shells that can be loaded. These include:

• 2 rounds of infrared-guided (heat seeking) shells
• 6 rounds of scatter shells that can cover an area with anti-personnel (AP) mines
• 2 rounds of cluster shells that can saturate an area with a hail of explosive fragments
• 6 rounds of deployable white smoke shells that can cover the impact zone instantly in a thick cloud of smoke
• 2 rounds of laser-guided shells
• 6 rounds of scatter shells that can cover an area with anti-tank (AT) mines

For self-defence, the Scorcher also has an RCWS turret fitted on top that is armed with a dual-mount 12.7 mm heavy machine gun/40 mm automatic grenade launcher.

The externally mounted RCWS comes pre-loaded with a single 200-round belt of 12.7 mm ammunition and 96 rounds of high-explosive (HE) 40 mm grenades. Both the HMG and GMG each have a single belt to reload from.

A battery of Scorchers carrying out a fire mission.

Features
The Scorcher shares the same chassis as its rocket-armed counterpart, which grants it the same level of protection as available to its MBT parent.

Drawbacks
However, care should still taken as even though the Scorcher is fairly well-armoured and can use its cannon in direct fire mode against close range targets, it is not a vehicle that should be seen on the front lines.

This makes it paramount that it be escorted by friendly units at all times as unescorted Scorchers will be easy targets for anti-tank infantry and other anti-armour threats.

Crew Capacity
The Scorcher has a seating capacity of three personnel for a crew consisting of the driver, gunner and commander.

Camouflage

• Sand: Standard pattern-less dark tan paint scheme used by all NATO ground vehicles and certain aircraft. This can be universally employed in all types of terrain, but is more suited to arid and forested environments. Any camo nets applied on the Scorcher's hull or turret will use a two-tone desert camouflage pattern scheme.
• Olive: Tropical olive green paint scheme. Only useful for jungle or woodland environments. Camo nets attached to the Scorcher use a two-tone woodland camouflage pattern when this scheme is used.

Components

• Camo Net (Hull): Drapes the entire hull with camouflage netting. Partially conceals covered sections from thermal sensors.
• Camo Net (Turret): Identical to the Hull camo net, but for the turret instead. Most of the surface area is concealed by netting, though certain components such as the RWS and the barrel are not covered.

Capabilities

It fires all 32 HE rounds in four minutes and 12 seconds, averaging at just under 8 seconds per shot. This makes its fire rate considerably slower than the Mk6 Mortar, although its damage and blast radius per shell is significantly greater.

The Scorcher has five range modes available for firing:

• Close range: 826 to 2,415 metres (ETA 30-22 seconds)
• Medium range: 2,059 to 6,021 metres (ETA 48-35 seconds)
• Far range: 5,271 to 15,414 metres (ETA 78-56 seconds)
• Further range: 14,644 to 42,818 metres (ETA 130-96 seconds)
• Extreme range: 22,881 to ~67,112 metres (ETA 162-117 seconds)

Overlaps occur in the following ranges:

• 2,059-2,415 metres (Close and Medium)
• 5,271-6,021 metres (Medium and Far)
• 14,644-15,414 metres (Far and Further)
• 22,881-42,818 metres (Further and Extreme)

Unfortunately, this means that when simply using the built-in artillery computer, the Scorcher can only perform MRSI strikes in narrow nearby bands, or in the large band beyond ~23 km. It is also unable to have more than two volleys landing on the same target at the same time.

Note however that the built-in computer tends towards using low-angle trajectories. The Scorcher is capable of firing at up to an 80 degree angle from flat ground. This means that it is technically capable of getting multiple volleys to land on the same target simultaneously, but it would require manual calculation of the appropriate trajectories, or the use of spreadsheets or third-party applications.

Manual Firing

By default, the turret can be manually raised and lowered with the page up and page down keys. For precision aiming, the rate of adjustment can be slowed by holding down the shift key (by default) while aiming up or down.

It is also possible to adjust range mode without the artillery computer, though this is more difficult. By default, using the F key will cycle through the different range modes, from Close range through to Extreme range and back to Close. It is also possible to bind a key to go from longer ranges to shorter ranges, though there is no default binding for it (Weapons > Previous weapon). Although there is no indicator without the artillery computer to determine which firing mode is currently active, it is possible to work it out by using the rangefinder to point at an object within Close range (826-2,415 metres) and cycling through the firing modes until the red X on the crosshair goes away, indicating you've returned to Close range.

Trivia

• The Scorcher's turret is based on the real-life "M109 Paladin" SPG, or more specifically the latest "M109A7" variant that shares common components with the "M2/M3 Bradley" IFV.
• Along with its parent vehicle and rocket artillery counterpart, the M4's chassis is based on the "Merkava Mark IV" MBT.
  • As a result, the M4's overall appearance and role is nearly identical to that of the real-life "Sholef" SPG, a prototype gun-based artillery variant of the "Merkava Mark I" that was designed by Soltam Systems of Israel.
  • Co-incidentally "Sholef" in Hebrew translates to Slammer, which is the name of the M4's parent vehicle.

Gallery

Arma3-scorcher.jpg

Scorchers firing at nighttime.

External links

• Wikipedia: M109A7 Paladin
• Wikipedia: Bradley Fighting Vehicle
• Sholef SPG

See also

Variants

• M2A1 Slammer
• M2A4 Slammer UP
• M5 Sandstorm

Vehicles of comparable role and configuration

• 2S9 Sochor (CSAT counterpart)