Technical Data
Model number: YCF-156B
Code name: Bombardier
Nickname: Horseshoe crab
Classification: anti-ship, bunker buster combat frame
Manufacturer: Astraea
Operator: UCP
First deployment: CY 99
Crew: 1 pilot in cockpit in chest
Height: 19.2 meters, 21 meters with outboard generator lobes
Weight: Dry weight 73 metric tons, full weight 125 metric tons
Armor type: “1D” carbyne laminar armor
Powerplant: x1 cold fusion reactor, max output 4000 KW; x1 supplemental reactor, max output 3800 KW
Propulsion: gravity drive: 425,000 kg max thrust; top speed 5580 kph, 180° turn time 0.42 seconds; legs: top ground speed 195 kph
Sensors: GVISOR (Gravitic, Visible & Infrared Scanning Optical Receptor) mounted in head
Fixed armaments: x32 missile tube, each holds x10 cruise missile, warhead types vary, wing-mounted; SCORPIO drone swarm launcher, back-mounted, x2 plasma cannon, output rated at 2.0 MW, forearm mounted
General Notes
The ExSol Rebellion of CY 98 caught the UCP distracted, but not unprepared. After an initial round of successes, the seceding colonies soon learned of the Commonwealth’s pacification plans firsthand. A centerpiece of those plans was the YCF-156B Bombardier. In CF mode, it was tall and thin with a huge external powerplant and gravity wings for extra stability. The wings held eight missile tubes each and closed to form a long flattened teardrop shell for spaceflight or atmospheric insertion. This flight mode gave the Bombardier its “horseshoe crab” nickname.
Designed as an anti-ship bunker buster, the Bombardier’s general mission profile was devised years before its implementation. It wasn’t until unrest swept the extrasolar colonies that the required specifications were retrofitted to an updated Astraea frame. Like the AZC-105S Dragonfly Space Type it descended from, the Bombardier carried a colonial airbase’s worth of missiles. With a modular design capable of mounting various deep penetrating, anti-ship, space, or terrestrial warheads, the Bombardier’s cruise missile complement was a veritable Swiss Army knife of long-range ordnance.
Though designed to enter atmo, drop off missiles, and return to orbit, Bombardier carried less than half the missiles of its decades-old predecessor. This reduction was more than compensated for by the addition of the new SCORPIO micro drone launcher. The back-mounted gun fired a stream of tiny drones equipped with gravity drives and SPATHA-derived singularity shields. Each graviton-sheathed drone could punch through most ion fields and all but the thickest carbyne laminar armor.
Self-guided by onboard A.I., the drone swarm could track moving targets, break through them to strike others, and evade fire directed at the drones themselves. The overall effect was a pulsing torrent of autonomous bullets branching through space to penetrate every enemy ship and CF in range. This aptly named superweapon was mounted between the two lobes of the supplemental generator that fed it. As a result, firing the SCORPIO required the CF to turn its back on the target to fire. Its four beetle shell wings moved to protect the CF from the backblast or enemy weapon fire. Though intended as a long-range weapon, the Bombardier carried two plasma cannons, one mounted on each forearm, in case an enemy tried to engage it in close combat.
The lone test unit, painted stealth black with red highlights, was deployed to Cassone in CY 99 after the colony’s attempted secession. Bombardier distinguished itself by outshining a CF team led by UC Marine ace Salika Azusa in retaking the ExSol. The new unit later handed PAX ace Dex Trapper a rare defeat when he joined an MRV team in a failed bid to oust the UCP again.
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