Ten Years of Deploying Land Air Mechs taught the Star Leauge Defense Force many things. the first being that many of the purported "All aspects in one" did not live up to expectations in the slightest. The LAM was promised to be able to subtly insert into atmosphere, evade detection by cruising at nape of the earth more safely then any aircraft, be able to capture an asset, evade pursuit, and eventually extract itself to a waiting vessel in orbit.
realities showed that the thermal profile of a LAM in atmosphere was equivalent to that of an assault shuttle, thanks to the unique thermal stresses of it's conversion gear, that the sound of it's jump jets in Airmech mode were as loud if not louder then most conventional turbofan VTOLs, and most importantly that the realities of converting into aerospace mode meant that whatever cargo or assets were picked up by the mech or airmechs hands could not be flown back into orbit (and many "objective markers" in practice would not have survived such a trip anyway)
Perhaps most embarrassing was the low amounts of fuel most LAMs possessed for Fighter Modes made the machines barely suitable for self extraction even after offensive raids. a series of crashes, many from the upper atmosphere were determined to be the result of a LAM running out of fuel before it could even escape the planet it was supposed to raid in exercises. this limited LAMs to ground pounding operations and completely eliminated their presence from the SLDF Fleet.
Ikolor Fredasa immediately wanted to go back to the drawing board, and insisted that a more conventional solution to a fancy offensive raider was possible. the long forgotten Mikoyan corporation answered the call with thier Wing in Ground Effect Vehicle, code named Little Bird.
the Little Bird was built to match the Stinger and Wasp LAMs in most every way. while it could not exceed the Wasps 5 ton Bomb Bay, as a WiGE aircraft it was not meant to. Three off the shelf Martell Medium laser provided offensive punch that was more then respectable in most circumstances, and permitted the Little Bird to break contact much earlier on an attack run then small laser equipped stingers. the five and a half tons of plate armor also permitted the Littler bird to be able to take massive amounts of damage on the nose or the flank, and even take a PPC or Gauss Rifle Blast to the rear of the aircraft without armor breach while the Stinger and Wasp, despite possessing the same tonnage of armor could not withstand that kind of damage (and would be grounded with such a hit).
the real winner for the Little Bird however was cost. even before maintenance requirements, crew training, specialized equipment, and deployment realities, a single Littlebird WiGE cost half of what a Stinger LAM could on the same job, despite the XL Fusion Engine used to propel the thing.
despite all of these advantages, the beast that was the SLDF was hard to move. by time the Little Bird Prototypes were completed and trials set, the Land Air Mech was already firmly entrenched, and LAM Operators held an even more elite mystique then MechWarriors. While the SLDF accepted the Little Bird Contract, instead of taking thier place in Striker Regiments they got assigned to CAAN units, often working aside and quietly outperforming their transforming counterparts.
Little Bird
Mass: 20 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Motive Type: WiGE
Rules Level: Tournament Legal
Era: Age of War/Star League
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/D-F-E-A
Production Year: 0
Cost: 2,322,000 C-Bills
Battle Value: 688
Power Plant: 180 Fusion XL Engine
Cruise Speed: 140.4 km/h
Flanking Speed: 216.0 km/h
Armor: Standard Armor
Armament:
3 Medium Lasers
1 Remote Sensor Dispenser
1 Cargo, Standard (0.5 tons)
Manufacturer:
Primary Factory:
Communications System:
Targeting and Tracking System:
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Equipment Type Rating Mass
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Internal Structure: Standard 8 points 2.00
Engine: XL Fusion Engine 180 5.50
Cruise MP: 13
Flank MP: 20
Heat Sinks: Single Heat Sink 10 0.00
Control Equipment: 1.00
Lift Equipment: 2.00
Armor: Standard Armor AV - 88 5.50
Armor
Factor
Front 30
Left/Right 20/20
Rear 18
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Equipment Location Heat Spaces Mass
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3 Medium Lasers FR 9 3 3.00
(R) Remote Sensor Dispenser RR 0 1 0.50
Cargo, Standard (0.5 tons) BD 0 1 0.50
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 3 Points: 7
13g 2 2 0 0 1 0 Structure: 1
Special Abilities: ENE
