Flycatcher Q-MC
One of the stranger expressions of the Star League's unbelievable wealth and resources, the Flycatcher was a highly specialized drone designed for clearing spaceborn minefields in the most direct, straightforward way possible, by flying directly into them. Designed with an enhanced radar cross-section to better trip the simple sensors of the typical space mine and with fully half of its mass dedicated to armor (and another third dedicated to fuel), the Flycatcher was surprisingly effective at its job, able to both gradually deplete a minefield's numbers and survive to do so again, while the simple drone control system ensured no pilot would be put at risk in doing so.
Though the Flycatcher was quite effective at its job, the inherently transitory nature and difficulty in employing space mines meant there was little need for large numbers of the craft. The majority of these drones would be assigned to the League's small fleet of specialized Vincent Mark 17 corvettes, themselves equipped to serve as dedicated minelayers and minehunters and thinly spread throughout the fleet. A few dozen squadrons (assigned to modified Leopard class dropships) were also maintained as floating units to be assigned as needed. Though largely unsung, the Flycatcher did its job ably throughout the Periphery Uprising and Amaris Coup, but quickly vanished from the Inner Sphere following the fall of the Star League. The Great Houses, not seeing the value of the craft as designed, would instead either strip those they got their hands on for parts or, alarmingly, use them as kinetic kill munitions, particularly against relatively immobile space stations and shipyards. The design is all but extinct in the present day. Though the occasional example will turn up in the odd star league cache, abandoned warehouse, or scrapyard, these are almost always immediately stripped for parts when found, and only one complete Flycatcher (a museum piece on display on Kathil) is known to exist.
Mass: 100 tons
Frame: Unknown
Power Plant: 100 Fusion
Cruising Speed: 32.4 kph
Maximum Speed: 54 kph
Armor: Standard
Armament:
Manufacturer: Unknown
Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 2750
Tech Rating/Availability: D/E-F-F-E
Cost: 3,419,050 C-bills
Type: Flycatcher
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Tonnage: 100
Battle Value: 2,303
Equipment Mass
Engine 100 Fusion 3
Safe Thrust: 3
Max Thrust: 5
Structural Integrity: 10
Heat Sinks: 10 0
Fuel: 2680 33.5
Cockpit 3
Armor Factor 800 50
Armor
Value
Nose 550
Wings 100/100
Aft 50
Weapons
and Ammo Location Tonnage Heat SRV MRV LRV ERV
Drone Operating System FSLG 10.5 - - - - -
