Exploratore Light Scout Helicopter

[Baldur Mekorig]

Exploratore Light Scout Helicopter

Mass: 10 Tons
Movement Type: VTOL
Power Plant: FBF  80 Fuel Cell
Armor: FBF Lorica Aerea
Armament:
 None
Manufacturer: Santa Bertrille Aeroespacial
   Main Factory: Benevolentia
Communications System: Garret Supremesound w/Scopus 1 TAG
Targeting and Tracking System: Garret D2j w/Diana BAP

Overview

With the recent incorporation of the Vali and Ballista the self-propelled artillery vehicle to the Hegemonic arsenals, the MHAF have found the need of acquiring new exploration and artillery target acquisition vehicles, as the options like the Ferret and other light vehicles were not up to the modern battlefield. Saint Bertrille Aeroespacial in association with O´Hara Holdings created the Exploratore to fulfill that need. 

Capacities

With the technical assistance of O`Hara Holdings engineers, with ample experience in the manufacturing of helicopters, and according to some sources, with the help of former clan technicians belonging to a privateer unit associated with the O´Hara household, the Saint Bertrille ´s design bureau used old and proved ideas, but finding new options. A fuel cell engine, while expensier and more complex than a I.C.E. , give a huge power to a light frame based in civilian models, and along with a series of modifications in the exhausts and the rotor's tips, gives the model n extreme agility and silent fly. A model “Diana” Beagle Active Probe, based in the FBF Centipede's own is installed in a mast mount, allowing the VTOL to scout using the cover as hills or trees, while the Scopus 1 TAG, installed next to the cockpit, allows the targetting for Arrow Iv missiles or Copperhead artillery rounds.
All this equipment did not come without a counterweight, that is the total absence of offensive or defensive firepower in the model. A number of test pilots presented observations on that, but the vehicle's main role is scouting and artillery targets acquisition, not direct combat. Some of the test pilots, those from civilian origin, did not presented any complain on that, and remarked the maneuverability and agility of the model, even in low altitude, and the structural reinforcement to the model's frame.

Deployment

The model is still going trough testing, both in New Venice and Benevolentia test ranges, but its final production entry is expected from three to six months.

Variants

There was a suggestion for a light troop transport variant, or the use of more “primitive” equipment as recon cameras, and once the model enters final production those variants will be considered.

Notable Crews

Pilot Isamu Dyson

A civilian helicopter pilot for a local news station, and former acrobatic pilot, Dyson have taken the small VTOL further than the structural limits imagined by the engineers, and in a serie of bold maneuvers, in multiple time he got to stalk a number of targets like mechs or vehicles without detection. However its boldness already costed him some accidents, with two test models damaged during “soft” emergency landings, and a broken leg in a third “not so soft” landing.

Exploratore Light Scout Helicopter
IS experimental
10 tons 
BV: 113
Cost: 543,111 C-bills

Movement: 13/20 (VTOL)
Engine: 80 Fuel Cell

Internal: 5
Armor: 24
                     Internal    Armor
--------------------------------------
Front                       1        8
Right                       1        5
Left                        1        5
Rear                        1        4
Rotor                       1        2

Weapon                         Loc  Heat
----------------------------------------
TAG                             FR     0

Equipment                      Loc
----------------------------------
Beagle Active Probe             RO
Mast Mount                      RO

PD: I do not own the VTOL image. Found it in Deviart, and modified it. The original belongs to its author.