Mobile Long Tom

Description
The Mobile Long Tom was essentially an artillery piece on wheels. Known in official Star League records as the LT-MOB-25, it is actually six vehicles all hooked together as part of a massive convoy. This combat vehicle was first produced for the Star League Defense Force and the design soon became common in the every military throughout the Inner Sphere and Periphery.

The main unit was a 65-ton tracked vehicle and the only one in the convoy that possessed an, admittedly meager, engine capable of only 25.6 km/h and requiring constant refueling. This piloting cab also served as the targeting center, featuring an additional ton of communication equipment and the mounted weaponry. However the vehicle was protected by a scant four tons of armor, though it was not supposed to be anywhere near combat. For this reason the Long Tom relied on defensive units for anti-air support.

Included in the artillery system was a pair of 5-ton support carriages. The purpose of these was to carry support personnel who directed the fire of the Long Tom. Finally, three 10-ton ammunition carriages were also towed around and carried enough ammunition to supply just over four minutes of continuous fire. All four were protected by just two tons of armor each, and the weight of the full convoy meant the Mobile Long Tom could not travel cross-country due to the very-real threat of becoming stuck. For this reason its travel was restricted to heavy roads.

Weapons and Equipment
The purpose of this entire convoy of vehicles was to move one weapon: an Armstrong Industries Long Tom Rifle Mobile Chassis System. The artillery piece was capable of extremely long range fire more suited to demolishing defensive fortifications than firing into a firefight. The only short-range weapons were four, side-mounted SperryBrowning Machine Guns that were more suited to anti-infantry than anti-'Mech duty.

Variants

 * LT-MOB-50 : This variant was only different from the -25 in that it was much rarer and used rails to travel faster. Due to the limited nature of rail travel, comparatively few of these were produced.


 * LT-MOB-95 : Introduced by the Federated Suns this variant combines all the weapons, ammo, and control systems in a single tracked chassis.

Dark Age Dossier Variant

 * Long Tom Artillery : During the post-Jihad years, a more compact version of the Mobile Long Tom known simply as the Long Tom Artillery was created. This combat vehicle retains the same tonnage and weaponry of the original but it is no longer configured in a wagon-train like fashion. Instead it is a single combat vehicle, which was first produced by Federated Suns and later by other powers including Capellan Confederation.