by Mark Latham
SN Lincoln-class Corvette
Length: 1,129 feet
Beam: 363 feet
Draught: 402 feet
Crew: 42
Engines: 2 Rolls Royce Mk III fusion engines; STAR Industries phased core hyperdrive
Range: 400 light years (jump); 4 months (fusion propulsion).
Armament: Prow-mounted KT EM-900 rail-cannon; 2 railgun broadside banks; turret-mounted railgun battery; 10 turret-mounted K12 ALRVM anti-fighter missiles
Originally designed for use by SolNav, the Lincoln-class corvette is a medium-range interstellar fighting vessel, featuring a heavy offensive payload for its size and a moderate transport capacity. Twelve of these vessels were purchased for use in the STAR Pan-System Marine Corps in 2242, and heavily modified to allow for the transportation and fast launch of a single marine platoon mounted in a Seraphim dropship. After seeing heavy action in the last two decades, only five of these aging craft remain.
The Lincolns remain one of the fastest fighting vessels in military service, although their design and size does not allow for easy upgrading of their propulsion units. Additionally, only the command bridge retains artificial gravity functionality thanks to an antiquated spinning mid-section. Consequently, these corvettes are generally deemed unsuitable for long tours, but are often found accompanying Demeter-class cruisers as part of small combat fleets, or serving as escorts for civilian vessels in regions where a small marine presence is deemed a necessity.
Seraphim Mk II Endo/Exo-Atmospheric Dropship
Length: 133 feet
Height: 40 feet
Crew (essential): 3
Transport capacity: 24 infantry + 2x GDLV23 APCs
Powerplant: Twin Harrington 8V56 turbofans; Cygnus AeroTech CAT-45 nuclear propulsion unit
Max Speed:
(high altitude) Mach 1.25 (721 knots)
(low altitude) 174 knots
Range: 6,478 nautical miles
Armament: Nose-mounted KT EM-30 railgun; 6 K50 Bulldog AMRAAMs (fusion missiles); 2 AIM20 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles
Though referred to as a dropship, the epithet is something of a misnomer, as the Mk II Seraphim is actually a sophisticated airborne troop carrier and altitude combat vehicle in its own right. Capable of combat maneuvers in planetary atmospheres and in vacuums, with tilt-and-turn turbofans for extreme maneuvering and VTOL functionality, the Seraphim is a formidable armored transport, guaranteeing the STAR marines air superiority in most theaters of war.
Seraphim Mk II Endo/Exo-Atmospheric Dropship.
Each Seraphim has a transport capacity for 24 marines in full kit, with extra stowage space for exo-suits and specialist hardware such as sentry guns. The belly of the dropship contains a breakaway compartment, stowing two APCs side-by-side, plus a Netrunner RSU. The compartment can be dropped from a height of up to 820 feet via grav-chutes, breaking apart into a temporary fortification upon landing and dispersing its full payload of marines mounted in APCs. Alternatively, the stowage compartment can be lowered using a standard hydraulic system once the Seraphim has landed at a suitable dropzone.
The Seraphim is protected by lightweight herculanium-alloy armor, supplemented by auto-reactive “smart2” heat shields, which position themselves automatically when the ship enters an atmosphere to make its rapid sub-orbital drops.
GDLV23 Mk III “Timberwolf” APC
Length: 30 feet
Height: 9 feet
Crew (essential): 2
Transport capacity: 12
Powerplant: Twin 6V2000 solid fuel engines.
Max. road speed: 75 miles per hour
Range: 310 miles
Armament: 2 SI-242 rotary cannons (front fixed, 30-degree arc of fire); 2 baffler defensive launchers; 1 universal-fit cupola weapon mount The Timberwolf is one of the few pieces of military hardware used by the STAR Marine Corps that is not unique to their organization. An incredibly versatile armored transport, the Timberwolf APC has been used by the Terran Army for almost 20 years, and its design has proven so effective that it was not altered when it found service in the Marine Corps.
Featuring an 8x8 drive system powered by twin six-valve engines, the Timberwolf is deliberately low-tech to make it durable and easy to maintain in the field. Its thick armor plates are made of lightweight herculanium alloys which make the vehicle suitable for air-drops, while its secondary layer of nitrogen-cooled ceramic weave not only provides protection from alien bio-weaponry and molten blood, but also offers the marines within moderate shielding from the infra-vision believed to be possessed by some bug species.
In an emergency, the Timberwolf can be pressed into service as both command station and field hospital, providing a stable base of operations for STAR marine sorties.
GDLV23 Mk III “Timberwolf” APC.
First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Osprey Publishing,
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