Guided-Ray Irradiator
Guided-Ray Irradiator (GRID) is an anti-personnel neutral particle beam (NPB) weapon developed by Metatron. It consists of a particle accelerator, usually a linac, connected to a collimator aperture which allows its direction and beam width to be varied. A series of magnets constantly scans the beam before it is stripped of its charge, allowing a large target area to be covered. Essentially, it is a far more powerful version of the electron beam irradiator technology used in radiotherapy machines or industrial production lines for sterilisation.
| Guided-Ray Irradiator | |
|---|---|
 CMI officer holding a semi-portable GRID rifle | |
| Type | Neutral particle beam |
| Place of origin | Great Britain |
| Service history | |
| In service | Since 2123[update] (Raven) |
| Used by | All Raven military divisions |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Marcus Pedersen |
| Designed | 2119 |
| Manufacturer | Metatron |
| Produced | Since 2123 |
| Variants |
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| Specifications | |
| Action | Electronic |
| Sights | Variable |
GRID systems are usually able to operate at one of two power levels. Low power (continuous) mode illuminates the target continuously, and is primarily lethal via cellular damage from radiation. High power (pulsed) mode saturates a target with enough radiation to result in its rapid thermal destruction. Both modes are highly effective of sterilising areas of organic life. A firing beam creates an intense flash of blue, purple, and violet light in atmospheric environments, due to the ionisation of the air. Due to its power requirements, it is usually mounted to fixed emplacements and not carried around by personnel.
GRID is most ideal for use against biological targets due to its ability to tear apart cellular structures, making it an effective defence against self-propagating bioweapons, such as viruses. If necessary, orbital GRID beams can sweep across entire cities, terminating all biological life within. It is even effective against synthetics at higher power levels, unless they incorporate radiation hardening. GRID utilises gigawatt power levels at the ground scale; to mitigate the issue of atmospheric scattering at the orbital scale, it uses even higher terawatt power levels.
History
After the The First Incursion, demand rose for a direct countermeasure to threats similar to the Grey Mold: biological organisms with the ability to assimilate matter and rapidly replicate. GRID was developed by Metatron as a response to this demand, and it was quickly realised the technology also had more widespread applications as a biological sterilisation weapon. The orbital GRID variant was first developed, mounted to combat satellites; later along came portables and turrets for base defence. The Sentinel variant was developed later, around the time of the construction of Black Mountain, specifically for the Sigma Unit's unique security demands.
Effects
In organics, low-power (continuous) GRID beam exposure is immediately lethal after less than a second, but the time to death is variable. Just a second of exposure will result in death after approximately 6-8 hours, as well as severe full-body third degree burns. Multiple seconds of exposure will result in near-immediate death from extreme trauma as the target’s skin is ablated off. High-power exposure results in immediate thermal vaporisation. It is occasionally possible to treat victims of low-power exposure by transferring their consciousness to a synthetic body before their organic body ceases functioning; however, if exposed for too long, the brain damage caused will make this non-viable. Continuous beam is used for sterilising areas of biological life, while pulsed beam is used for combat against individual targets.
Types
Metatron manufactures multiple types of weapon systems that integrate GRID. These include turrets, intended to be mounted on facility perimeters or inside protected areas; orbital arrays, intended to be mounted on satellites or capital ships for the saturation of ground targets with radiation, as well as semi-portables and sentinels.
Semi-portables are designed to be used by heavy infantry wearing power armour, which is necessary due to the bulky nature of the equipment. Because of the limitations of onboard power supplies, shots are limited, and they must be spaced out to prevent overheating. They usually use lower power levels than turrets. Due to bremsstrahlung radiation produced from firing a portable GRID weapon, the operator power armour must incorporate a robust radiation shielding system, usually one that utilises a forcefield.
Sentinels are fixed, fully autonomous robots with a vertical rotary barrel designed to be used in close quarters for the defence of chokepoints, such as forcefield-protected airlocks, in critical high-security areas. Unlike all other GRID weapons, sentinels are unique in that they operate only in continuous mode, at power levels usually intended only for pulsed use. They do not feature a capacitor array, and are fed directly from a fission or fusion reactor. Due to the waste thermal energy generated by their immense power consumption, sentinels must incorporate a heat rejection system that utilises exofluids. A 1GW beam power, used in Sentinels, produces a dose rate of approximately 143,000,000 Sv/s.