Jinete Hovercraft (ICE)
Mass: 35 tons
Movement Type: Hover
Power Plant: Various 105 ICE
Cruising Speed: 86.4 kph
Maximum Speed: 129.6 kph
Armor: Durallex Light
Armament:
2 Medium Laser
4 Machine Gun
Manufacturer: Gavin Motorworks
Primary Factory: Jamestown (destroyed 2766)
Communication System: Duotec 65
Targeting & Tracking System: RCA Instatrac Mk. II
Introduction Year: 2810
Tech Rating/Availability: D/X-C-C-C
Cost: 648,975 C-bills
The Jinete is a vehicle that has been slowly but surely moving towards extinction since the end of the Star League. Originally manufactured by the Taurian Concordat and heavily exported to the other periphery powers, this hovercraft was a common sight on the battlefields of the Periphery uprising, inflicting considerable damage in lightning attacks against SLDF forces but likewise taking heavy losses against their effectively endless enemies. The loss of the factories on Jamestown during the uprising and the general collapse caused by the Succession Wars would see many of the surviving vehicles scrapped for want of spare parts or to salvage equipment to repair more valuable units, thinning the numbers even further as well as forcing many crews to accept a downgrade of their vehicle just to keep it in some semblance of fighting trim. By the late Succession Wars, the vast majority of Jinetes still in operation were these downgraded units.
The main focus of this downgrade was, unsurprisingly, removing the vehicle's now irreplaceable fusion engine and mounting an internal combustion turbofan in its place. Not only did this necessitate a loss in speed, but it had a catastrophic affect on the vehicle's main armament, forcing the removal of the original bow mounted large laser. With most users hoping to retain an ammo independent primary armament, the "standard refit", such as it was, mounted two medium lasers in place of the original large, granting roughly the same firepower, but forcing the crew to engage much more closely than the original model required. Untouched by the refit are the host of secondary machine guns, with two mounted in a small turret on the roof of the vehicle, and another on each flank specifically to allow for passing "drive by" attacks against enemy infantry. Though reasonably effective, this weapon layout is undeniably inefficient, and contributes to an interior already cramped by the vehicle's low profile design, which makes even basic maintenance unpleasant and difficult for technical crews. The exposed turbofan engine is another weak point in the design, as difficulty in properly armoring the rear section of the vehicle creates an obvious weak point that its forward mounted main weapons cannot readily protect.
Though the citizenry of the Taurian Concordat is said to have something of an attachment to the Jinete due to is history, a frank analysis of the vehicle's capabilities perhaps makes it unsurprising that the Concordat has never attempted to put the vehicle back into production, despite having solved the shortage of appropriate fusion engines by the start of the 31st century. And without a source of new parts, other surviving Jinetes scattered across the periphery seem condemned to their fate of gradual extinction, slowly wearing out due to extreme age and neglect. There is no way to get an accurate estimate of exactly how many Jinetes may still exist in the periphery, though it is telling that, aside from a couple notable examples, it is all but unheard of to see more than one or two of these tanks in the same place, and by the present era, the numbers that can be found in each of the major periphery states seems to be consistently in the single digits.
Variants:
The original version of the Jinete ran on a GM 175 fusion engine, not only allowing it to clear 150 kph on open ground, but also allowing it to mount a magna large laser as the primary armament. By the late Succession Wars era, this version of the Jinete was believed extinct everywhere except the Taurian Concordat, and even there it was believed there were no more than a dozen such vehicles in existence. Two of these would be taken as war prized by Hansen's Roughriders during their feud against the Concordat in the 3060s, and six more, a ceremonial parade unit stationed on Taurus, would be destroyed during the Blakist asteroid strike in 3074. The four surviving examples, along with a handful of downgraded Jinetes that have since been restored to their original configuration, are now maintained as museum exhibits, and the original model of the Jinete is now considered extinct in military service, though it is possible that other examples might still be out there somewhere.
In addition to the medium laser equipped refit that is considered the current "standard" for the design, crews forced to downgrade their vehicles have also tried other configurations, with versions mounting either an autocannon or a battery of short ranged missiles being the most commonly seen. The SRM variant in particular is a potent design, even finding space for another machine gun in the turret mount, but vehicle crews require a special kind of nerves to operate it, as the bulky missile ammunition bays occupy a significant portion of the vehicle's original crew compartment, leaving the crew crammed together directly on top of a lightly armored box of live ammunition.
Though the autocannon variant is similarly crowded (though the crew must work around the barrel shroud of the gun rather than ammunition), it is actually notable for another reason, as it may possibly be the most numerous version of the Jinete currently in existence. This variant, or a vehicle very much like it, has been reported operating in fairly large numbers in the forces of the Alexandria Covenant and its various related star systems. Though it is not believed the Covenant worlds are actually capable of building the machine (or possibly any modern combat vehicle for that matter) they still appear to possess sufficient stockpiles of vehicles and equipment to keep them running, and at one point clearly possessed the technical expertise necessary to downgrade their original examples to this simpler standard. Of course, this presents another mystery all its own, as the Jinete was first developed well after the Covenant was formed and between the First and Second Upheavals, making it impossible to determine how this broken periphery state obtained these vehicles in the first place.
Solving that mystery, or even determining how many Jinetes the Covenant worlds actually have, may ultimately prove impossible unless sustained friendly contact with this religiously xenophobic people can be established.
Type: Jinete Hovercraft
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Introductory)
Movement Type: Hover
Tonnage: 35
Battle Value: 550
Equipment Mass
Internal Structure 3.5
Engine 105 ICE 7
Cruising MP: 8
Flank MP: 12
Heat Sinks: 6 6
Control Equipment: 2.0
Lift Equipment: 3.5
Power Amplifier: 0.5
Turret: 0.5
Armor Factor 112 7
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Front 4 30
R/L Side 4/4 24/24
Rear 4 10
Turret 4 24
Weapons
and Ammo Location Tonnage
Machine Gun Left 0.5
2 Medium Laser Front 2.0
Machine Gun Right 0.5
2 Machine Gun Turret 1.0
Machine Gun Ammo (200) Body 1.0
Features the following design quirks: Narrow/Low Profile, Non-Standard Parts
Find the link to download Record Sheets: Beyond the Periphery here:
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=84454.0 (I swear the other two Jinete variants will be in the next version)
Author's note: The Jinete was inspired by the hovercraft in one of the plastic miniature sets released for the game Ogre, and, well, that's why it's the way it is. The weapon placement roughly mirrors the weapon mounts on the hovercraft model, and the thin rear armor is meant to reflect the exposed engines and lift fan on that same model. So there really is a reason why it's kinda... not great?
