Meteor

Description
The Federated Suns designed Meteor Heavy Strike Fighter is the standard against which all heavy Conventional Fighters in the Inner Sphere and Periphery are judged.

Seeking to claim a slice of the same military niche of for-export conventional fighters as Andurien Aerotech's Angel and Imstar Aerospace's Defender, rather than aggressive sales tactics Federated Suns based Jalastar Aerospace of Panpour chose to focus almost entirely on planetary militias in the Terran Hegemony. Third-party sales during the Star League era and examples captured as the Hegemony was sliced up after the League's collapse made the Meteor the template for all heavy strike fighters across the human inhabited space.

While more expensive than Turbine Engine powered designs, the wealthy and technologically advanced Terran Hegemony buyers welcomed Jalastar's choice of a GM 225 Atmo-Fusion Engine to power the Meteor, which gave the fighter both a respectable airspeed, heavy weapons load-out and two and half tons of armor. Three tons of fuel gave the design good endurance for its role.

Weapons and Equipment
The Meteor's primary weapon is a single nose-mounted Mydron Model B Autocannon/10 supplied with two tons of ammo, providing sustained medium range firepower. Backing this up are two wing-mounted Holly SRM-4 with two tons of ammo, ideal for ground attack.

Cargo
Often billed as a fighter-bomber, the Meteor frequently flew into combat with its nine external hardpoints laden with enough ordnance to threaten even the toughest foes.

Variants

 * Inseki : Japanese for Meteorite, the Inseki is a carbon-copy of the Meteor produced by House Kurita and introduced in 2683. BV (2.0)= 381


 * Inseki II : An after-market upgrade of the original introduced in 2793, the Inseki II replaces the autocannon with a Hellstar PPC and swaps the SRM racks for Telos DecaCluster LRM-10 launchers. Retaining the ton of reloads for each missile launcher, a Machine Gun with half a ton of ammo guarded the fighter's rear. BV (2.0)= 632 , (610)


 * Bat Hawk : Introduced in 2916, the Taurian Concordat based Wingman Enterprises Limited's Bat Hawk variant replaced the fusion engine with a locally manufactured 225-rating turbine engine. While the autocannon was retained, the heavier engine forced both SRM-4 racks to be replaced with a single nose-mounted Harvester SRM-2, both weapons only supplied with a single ton of reloads each. BV (2.0)= 341 , (293)


 * Meteor-G : Manufactured by Gutierrez Aerospace in 3060, the so-called Meteor-G trades damage for range by swapping the autocannon for a Corean Light Gauss Rifle, retaining the two tons of reloads, and upgrading the SRMs to more efficient Guided Technologies Streak SRM-4 racks sharing a single ton of missiles. The more advanced but heavier weaponry forced Gutierrez's designers to drop one ton of fuel. BV (2.0)= 520, (547)


 * Meteor-U : A FedCom Civil War-era Davion variant introduced in 3063, the Meteor-U upgraded the standard autocannon to Ultra model and replaced both SRMs with a pair of Intek Medium Lasers and two extra heat sinks. While able to inflict nearly double the damage of the standard model, the extra weight required reduced the U's fuel load by one ton. BV (2.0)= 794 , (716)


 * SeaBuster : Strike Fighter - A five ton heavier Magna 250 Fusion Engine powered variant of the Bat Hawk intended to replicate the MechBuster based custom built version, the mass-produced SeaBuster carries a nose mounted Pontiac Ultra 100 Ultra AC/20 to inflict massive damage on an enemy force. A Diverse Optics Type 2 Medium Laser in each wing provides supporting firepower. For additional tactical flexibility, the SeaBuster carries a Recon Camera in the nose. Finally the SeaBuster uses a Floatation Hull to allow it to land or take off from waterways. Iron Halo 777 Heavy Ferro-Fibrous armor protects the pilot from enemy fire. BV (2.0) = 856

Design Quirks
The SeaBuster Strike Fighter is subject to the following Design Quirks:
 * Accurate Weapon (External Ordnance)
 * Hard to Pilot
 * Rumble Seat