Scavenger Leopard
MBT-XT-23 "Scavenger" Leopard
General and Technical Data
Model Number: MBT-XT-23
Name: Scavenger Leopard
Unit Type: Prototype main combat tank
Manufacturer: Royal Canadia Armour
Operator: Canadia
Accommodation: 3 (vehicle commander, gunner, driver)
Dimensions: Overall length 9.54 meters; overall height 2.62 meters; overall width 3.37 meters
Weight: 62.1 metric tons
Construction: Heavily reinforced structure and reactive armour
Equipment: Sensors, range unknown; hybrid energy generation/transfering system; advanced material collection and recreation system
Fixed Armaments: 1 x 60mm CIWS vulcan, hull mounted; 1 x heavy railcannon, turret mounted; 2 x heavy missile launchers, hull mounted; 1 x grinder saw, forward hull mounted
Technical and Historical Notes
As advanced as Leopards are, and as highly trained as their pilots are, tanks still fell behind signifigantly in the new era of Mateys started by the R-Matey. However, since Canadia tactics still rely heavily on combined arms forces, Royal Canadia Armour was tasked to find a way to extend a tank's lifespan in combat.
Their first designs used aspects of nanomachines, based on technologies discovered in the Nanofighter, however all these prototypes would turn out to be signifigantly more expensive then could be afforded for a mass produced unit. RCA found itself stuck, until one engineer suggested something amazing. If Leopards could take battlefield scrap and convert it into ammo for the rail cannon, why couldn't they also turn the scrap into extra armour plates?
Working on this premise, the engineers overhauled the slug generator, allowing it to make either slugs or armour plates as required. Because the plates are larger, it required much more energy to process then the slugs, so a smaller version of the E-Tank's hybrid generator was installed. This generator is not large enough to allow the unit to resupply other units, however it was more then sufficient to keep the improved slug generator running, and to help supplement the regular generator.
Using the improved slug generator, the prototype Leopard (jokingly refered to as the "Scavenger Leopard") could replace damaged armour plates quickly using numerous small manipulator arms around the frame. Should the Scavenger Leopard already be at full integrety, extra plates could still be applied in order to provide a "buffer" zone, but the extra weight causes speed loss. In addition, the Scavenger could only handle increasing the armour plates by up to 50% before it started putting too much strain on the drive systems.
The weaponry of the prototype was mostly unchanged from the original Leopard. The only difference is that a grinder saw was attached to the front of the Scavenger. This saw is used to grind down larger pieces of scrap (or even opponents), and send the scrap to the slug generator for processing. In case any blades get damaged, the slug generator could also recycle it into a new blade, and replace it quickly.
Impressed with the final design, the Scavenger Leopard was presented to the Canadia army for their trials and reviews. Though the prototypes are still currently in testing, the Canadia army is impressed with the results, and is expected to start upgrading their Leopard forces to the Scavenger by the next year.
