Raven Helicopter
Tech Base: Inner Sphere (Advanced)
Movement Type: VTOL
Tonnage: 30
Internal Structure: 3 Tons
Engine 160 Fuel Cell 7.5 tons
Cruise MP- 10
Flank MP- 15
Heat Sinks: (1) 0 Tons
Control Equipment: 1.5 tons
Lift Equipment 3 tons
Armor Factor
Front: 16
Right/Left Side: 10/10
Rear: 10
Rotor: 2
Weapons and ammo
AP Gauss Rifle Front .5 tons
Ammuntion AP Gauss (40) Body 1
Heavy Machine gun Right Side 1 ton
Heavy Machine Gun Left Side 1 ton
Ammo HMG (50) .5 tons
Cargo (infantry) 4 tons
Lift Hoist 3 tons
Overview
Replacing no fewer then three helicopters used by the SLDF and House Amaris (the Cyrano, Hawker and Iriqouis XVI) the Ravem is a 30 ton helicopter provided by Nevermind industries whose primary purpose is to deliver and provide arial support to those same infantry troops, be they battle armor or conventional troops
Capabilities
Unlike the Centaur, which was initially a failed design, the Raben was Instantly a success. Built around the principle of speed, the 160 Hydrogen Fuel Cell Engine also provides to boon of running at half the decibel level of a flywheel powered helicopter, and at a nearly 40% reduction in thermal profile.
Despite these caps, the Raven can still travel at a speed of 160 KPH delivering troops more rapibdly then land based APCs thanks to its VTOL nature, and extracting them just as quickly.
To fulfill its support role the Raven mounts an AP Gauss Rifle in the nose with a full ton of ammunition to feed it. Further each side boasts a heavy machine gun that can be fired either by the ravens targeting computer, or overridden and fired manually by the passenegers.
The final component in the Ravens arsenal is a lift hoist that can permit it to haul up to 15 tons of cargo with no loss in performance. In exercises as well as actual combat this has been used to haul deployable bridges, Medical supplies, support vehicles for the infantry it hauls, and even at one point a Beagle Hovertank
Deployment
The Raven and its variants are found in every division and every militia, with only the Orbital Response Command not containing any, and that is merely because of the units charter. Mirroring the former Free Worlds states and DCMS Ravens are traditionally attached to Infantry Regiments rather then armor.
Variants
Aside from mission specific ambulance, cargo/salvage, and SAR variations which strip everything out for specialized equipment, there is also the Kasatka Gunship variant, which removes cargo capacity and lift hoists to mount a quartet of Rocket Launcher 10s, 3 AP gauss Rifles and two hardpoints designed to deploy bombs, anti radiation missiles, or two additional rocket pods