Plainsman

The Plainsman was a 35-ton hovertank produced by Pinard Protectorates Limited, at the behest of the Wolf's Dragoons.

Description
The fast and hard-hitting Plainsman was a staple of many second-echelon forces throughout the Inner Sphere. The Plainsman was actually conceived as part of the Wolf’s Dragoon rearmament program of 3030. The Plainsman’s design focus was on reliability and ease of maintenance, so only tried-and-true components were used throughout. The resulting solid design was considered by many to set the benchmark for durability and serviceability in hovertanks.

Besides its reliability, the Plainsman brought considerable speed and punch to the battlefield. Though lightly armored, the tank proved its worth in hundreds of battles throughout the Inner Sphere. The Earthwerks turbine was known to be bulky and noisy while spooling up. However, its ability to run for 5,000+ hours with no more than a prayer of thanks for daily maintenance saved considerable man-hours and sweat for service techs across the Inner Sphere. The Starslab armor dated back to the time of Kerensky, but improvements since then prevent the micro-cracking problems common in earlier versions.

The Plainsman was used by many second-echelon units in the Lyran Alliance, Free Worlds League and the Draconis Combine. The 2nd Shin Legion's recon company also deployed the Plainsman. Perhaps the Plainsman's most notable operation was during the War of 3039. On Sadalbari, a Federated Commonwealth home guard militia company was in the process in replacing its battle-weary Pegasus hovertanks with Plainsman hovertanks.

Weapons and Equipment
The Plainsman's twin turret-mounted Harvester 20K SRM 6s and front mounted Harvester 2K SRM 2 afforded the hovertank considerable short range firepower. The SRM 6s share thirty reloads between them.

Pinard Protectorates Limited experimented with split-turret designs to allow the SRM 6 launchers to be independently targeted to different arcs of fire. However, extensive testing found the complicated split-turret design to be unreliable under field conditions. This condition undermined the primary philosophy of the Plainsman's original design goal. The testing also determined that splitting the fire of the twin SRM 6 launchers actually reduced the Plainsman's overall punch.

The Quikscell Company on planet Oliver approached Pinard to produce a variant of the Plainsman with an upgraded weapons system. Pinard subcontracted to produce a modified version of the FireScan targeting system. Reports suggest the Plainsman's target accuracy may be increased by a much as 20 percent.

Variants

 * Scout : In addition to the standard tank, Pinard also offers the Plainsman "Scout" variant in 3065. The Scout replace the front-mounted SRM 2 and its ammo with a Beagle Active Probe system. This change also allows an additional half-ton or armor to critical areas in order to compensate for the lost firepower. BV (1.0) = 389, BV (2.0) = 578


 * Streak : Pinard acquired Streak Missile Launcher technology that it utilized in the two turret-mounted launchers. The resulting 3071 variant carried two Holly Streak SRM-4 launchers in the turret while the front mounted Harvester SRM 2 was retained.  Although the upgrades make the Plainsman even more deadly at short range, the well-known ruggedness and reliability of the Harvester launchers ensured a continuing strong demand for the standard version of the Plainsman. BV (1.0) = 413, BV (2.0) = 600


 * Sealed : This version uses a Floatation Hull and Environmental Sealing to participate in amphibious operations. The ICE engine is replaced with a Fuel Cell engine. A single torpedo launcher replaces the forward firing missile launcher. BV (2.0) = 632