Crane Utility LAM
History:
As the 28th century dawned, military contractors across the Inner Sphere and Shallow Periphery were faced with a truly horrific prospect: true and lasting peace across all of human space! The SLDF reigned supreme and many a soldier could hope for a whole career without any war whatsoever. Sure, a minor squabble may turn up here and there every now and then. But the secret build-up of House Amaris, the Periphery uprising and all the job-security that came with it was many grueling decades off.
But as the saying goes, a necessity to turn a profit can birth the strangest kinds of invention. And aggressive lobbying can make some chump pay for it, most of the time. Enter LexaTech, one of the industrial giants committed to make the still-new Land-Air-Mech technology more than just a passing fad among buyers of military hardware. Still a young unit type by 2703, the very specialized training and high maintenance necessary to maintain a LAM force made even the armed forces of the great houses somewhat hesitant about ordering them in bulk. To improve the public image of Land-Air-Mechs and open up a new revenue stream one particularly creative junior exec of LexaTech proposed a LAM for the civilian market. If governments were unwilling to spend trillions upon trillions on weapons that may never be used, he reasoned, perhaps they could be pressured to spend those trillions on 'public safety'.
A few generous and well-placed donations to influential firefighters' unions and emergency agencies later, news outlets on all major worlds of the Terran Hegemony were flooded with opinion pieces and letters from private citizens and local politicians demanding more spending for emergency services and disaster relief. How come, they uniformly said, we are willing to equip our armed forces with all that fancy new gear (that they direly need, of course! This is not a call to cut back on military spending!), but we so readily neglect our emergency services? Why, our firefighters and paramedics still need to rely on vehicles! With wheels! Why can't they have the latest in Mech technology, as well? Just imagine how many more lives could be saved each year!
Public demand for a new kind of emergency vehicle was obviously there, and the market stood ready to deliver!
Description:
The CR-UT-03 Crane Utility LAM was the third in a series of four 'utility LAMs' considered by LexaTech and the only one to be developed past the early prototype state. Early testing showed severe problems when trying to develop a shape-changing, ten meter tall machine into a flying / walking ambulance, bulldozer or excavator. Test dummies where maimed, ripped to shreds or cut in half. Excavator buckets were super-heated by exhausts past their melting point and bulldozer blades did not pass a single wind tunnel test. Only a flying crane proved somewhat possible.
And so the CR-UT-03 was developed into just such a crane. Capable of self-deploying from orbit, skimming only meters above the ground at supersonic speeds and lifting up to 20 tons, it was a true marvel of engineering! Fitting it with smaller utility equipment such as a water cannon, a 40 meter fold out ladder or medical equipment was trivial in comparison. Development went as smoothly as could be hoped for and even the catastrophic and tragic loss of a prototype during a public demonstration did little to dissuade LexaTech from pushing through to completion. Family members were condoled, money was paid, a retirement home rebuilt and fastening bolts for the crane assembly redesigned for supersonic flight.
Deployment:
When the CR-UT-03 Crane was finally revealed to the public it was met with general confusion. It was an impressive feat of engineering, so much could not be denied. But whom was it for? Even during the height of the Star League few fire departments could muster the funds to buy LAMs, let alone train the pilots and technicians necessary for operating such a highly specialized vehicle. A few were bought by eccentric nobles and gifted to their domestic emergency services (to the general dismay of said services), dozens were bought by the SLDF (after some moderate lobbying) and pushed from service to service until they ended up in several soon-forgotten storehouses. Many of these were centuries later found and restored by ComStar, but saw little use even during the most dire times of the Succession Wars.
In the end, the Crane proved to be a resounding financial disaster and only rising tensions between the lords of the Star League and nationalistic rumbling in the Periphery saved LexaTech from bankruptcy.
Crane Utility LAM CR-UT-02
Mass: 40 tons
Chassis: Standard LAM
Power Plant: 160 Fusion
Cruising Speed: 43.2 kph
Maximum Speed: 64.8 kph
Jump Jets: Standard
Jump Capacity: 120 meters
Armor: Standard
Armament:
1 Fluid Gun
1 Nail/Rivet Gun
Manufacturer: Unknown
Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 2743
Tech Rating/Availability: D/D-E-F-F
Cost: 2,748,398 C-bills
Type: Crane Utility LAM
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Experimental)
Tonnage: 40
Battle Value: 666
Equipment Mass
Internal Structure 4
LAM Conversion Equipment 4.0
Engine 160 Fusion 6
Walking MP: 4
Running MP: 6
Jumping MP: 4
AirMech Cruising MP: 12
AirMech Flanking MP: 18
Safe Thrust: 4
Max Thrust: 6
Heat Sink 10 0
Gyro 2
Cockpit 3
Armor Factor 96 6
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Head 3 9
Center Torso 12 15
Center Torso (rear) 4
R/L Torso 10 10
R/L Torso (rear) 4
R/L Arm 6 8
R/L Leg 10 12
Right Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm, Lower Arm, Hand
Left Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm, Lower Arm, Hand
Weapons
and Ammo Location Critical Heat Tonnage
Cargo (1 ton) LL 1 - 1.0
2 Heat Sink RT 2 - 2.0
Ladder (40 m) RT 1 - 0.2
2 Jump Jet RT 2 - 1.0
Fuel Tank RT 1 - 1.0
Nail/Rivet Gun LA 1 0 0.5
2 Heat Sink LT 2 - 2.0
2 Jump Jet LT 2 - 1.0
2 Lift Hoist/Arresting Hoist LT 6 - 6.0
Paramedic Equipment RL 1 - 0.25
Fluid Gun RA 2 0 2.0
Fluid Gun Ammo (40) RA 2 - 2.0
Fun fact: Most, but not all industrial equipment is prohibited from being mounted on LAMs.
