Arquebusier AQS-1R Mass: 50 tons Tech Base: Inner Sphere Chassis Config: Biped Rules Level: Advanced Rules

Era: Clan Invasion Tech Rating/Era Availability: D/X-X-D Production Year: 3071 Cost: 3,460,375 C-Bills Battle Value: 908 Chassis: Defiance 450-D Standard Power Plant: Pitban 200 Fusion Engine Walking Speed: 43.2 km/h Maximum Speed: 64.8 km/h Jump Jets: None Armor: Valiant Lamellor Standard Armor w/ CASE Armament: 2 GM Whirlwind Autocannon/5s 1 Defiance B3M Medium Laser 2 Hovertec SRM-2s 1 Defiance B3S Small Laser Manufacturer: Spelunker Mechworks/Defiance Industries Primary Factory: Furillo Communications System: Nashan Quartet ComSys Targeting and Tracking System: N&D Longreach ReTAC-3 Overview: Blakist air power nearly proved decisive on Furillo, and it already had on Hesperus. With most of the manufacturers of anti-aircraft Mechs in Davion space (or captured by the Jade Falcons), and with very few Riflemen and Jagermechs survivi ng the assault due to their limited armor coverage, the need for a dedicated anti-a ir platform had never been as pronounced. To this end, the dated factories of Spelunker Mechworks came up with a design that was simple, easy to maintain, and most importantly, cheap. Of course, they couldn't do it on their own -- which is where Defiance o f Furillo comes in. With a large number of spare weapons, parts, and engines, but with no desire to become associated with less-than-top-quality equipment, DefFuri dec ided to buy up Spelunker as a subsidiary, funding the construction of another assembl y line to build a bare-bones anti-air Mech in exchange for a portion of the profit s. Capabilities: The Arquebusier, as it became known, is built on a very similar chassis to DefFuri's other fire-support medium, the Cobra. Each arm mounts a 5-class autoca nnon taken from various Lyran upgrade programs over the years (usually Defiance Class 5 or GM Whirlwind). This low-cost armament has the secondary advantage of allowing

the Arquebusier to use some of the advanced NAIS ammo types, small quantities of whi ch still lie unused in Steiner ammo dumps in the aftermath of the Civil War. In addition to the autocannons, the Arquebusier mounts a pair of SRM pac ks and a mismatched pair of lasers for close-in defense. Lacking hands, the Mech is mediocre at best inside the minimum range of its autocannons. Because of its armament, however, the Mech is cool-running. The Arquebusier mounts CASE in both torsos to protect its ammunition, an d is protected by a respectable amount of armor for a 50-tonner. Its speed is mediocr e, but as it is intended to provide anti-aircraft support to front-line Lyran units , 65 kilometers per hour is more than enough to keep pace with Zeuses and Banshees . Besides which, the engine in question is common and relatively cheap, with a lon g record of reliability. Deployment: Built only by a single factory line on Furillo, the Arquebusier numbers only 60 examples at present. All have either been sent to Hesperus or Skye, or else are still on Furillo. All are slated for or used by Lyran regiments or Lyran-aligned mercenary units. Variants: There are no variants at this time. However, the design was meant to be reasonably adaptable -- at least as far as the arm-mounted weaponry is concerned . Refits replacing one or both of the antiquated autocannons are expected to becom e commonplace as battlefield salvage and damage accumulates. ================================================================================ Equipment Type Rating Mass -------------------------------------------------------------------------------Internal Structure: Standard 83 points 5.00 Engine: Fusion Engine 200 8.50 Walking MP: 4 Running MP: 6 Jumping MP: 0 Heat Sinks: Single 10 0.00 Heat Sink Locations: 1 LL, 1 RL Gyro: Standard Gyro 2.00 Cockpit: Standard 3.00 Actuators: L: SH+UA R: SH+UA Armor: Standard Armor AV - 128 8.00 CASE Locations: 1 LT, 1 RT 1.00 Internal Structure Head 3 Center Torso 16 Center Torso (rear) L/R Torso 12 L/R Torso (rear) Armor Factor 9 17 6 16 5

L/R Arm L/R Leg

8 12

13 14

================================================================================ Equipment Location Heat Critical Mass -------------------------------------------------------------------------------Autocannon/5 RA 1 4 8.00 Autocannon/5 LA 1 4 8.00 2 SRM-2s RT 4 2 2.00 Small Laser LT 1 1 0.50 Medium Laser LT 3 1 1.00 @AC/5 (20) RT 1 1.00 @SRM-2 (50) RT 1 1.00 @AC/5 (20) LT 1 1.00 Free Critical Slots: 32 BattleForce Statistics MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov 4 2 1 0 0 2 0 Special Abilities: SRCH, EEE, ES, SOA, AC 1/1/1 Armor: 4 Structure: 4 Points: 9