Bolo (tank)

A Bolo is a fictional type of artificially intelligent superheavy tank. They were first imagined by Keith Laumer in the short story "Combat Unit" in 1960. They have since been featured in science fiction novels and short story anthologies by him and others. While stories are partly set in the near future, most take place in the 27th to 33rd century or even later. The fictional universe of Bolo stories is populated by alien races, which forced humanity and human colonists on distant planets to defend themselves with a large military.

Bolos as envisioned by Laumer in his future history military SF are described as automated superheavy tanks. What they have in common—besides enormous firepower—is:

Weapon systems described as part of early Bolo marks include mostly real world weaponry; the more futuristic settings of the novels describes them carrying advanced nuclear weapons. The main tank gun of a Bolo is thus usually a variant of the Hellbore system which is described in the Bolo story-universe as a long-range deuterium projectile, typically fired by a railgun and ignited by a laser once it reaches the intended target, resulting in a fusion reaction. Hellbores were meant as weapons for interstellar vessels, and the versions mounted on Bolos were modified to fit.

Secondary weapons cover a wide field of weapon systems, as Bolos were supposed to address most combat situations, including land, sea and air battles, sometimes including space/orbit. While Bolo models generally opted for a "balanced" approach to offensive and defensive capabilities, there were often specialised variations on the base model, such as heavy siege units, scout units and ECM platforms. The additional weaponry thus includes but isn't restricted to: Firing systems such as a combination of Gatling guns with mortars similar to the 2S4 Tyulpan; VLS (also for launch of drones etc.); as well as tank guns or railguns similar to battleship secondary armament, which includes additional Hellbores of a smaller caliber. Projectiles include KEP projectiles, DSFSLRP (futuristic APFSDS), other missiles and anti-personnel flechettes. Bolos may carry different types of drones (UAVs, hover-UGVs, even satellites) for maintenance, reconnaissance (sometimes including spy satellites) and providing additional offense.

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