Hiryo

Japanese for Flying Dragon, the Hiryo Armored Infantry Transport is a Wing in Ground Effect vehicle designed to carry Battle Armor infantry into the field while providing protection and firepower to ensure it gets to the unit's destination.

Pesht Motors, the Draconis Combine's primary manufacturer of civilian transports, developed the Hiryo as a means of getting back at Wakazashi Enterprises, a nominally military manufacturer whose civilian Koi WIGE Transport intruded on what Pesht considered it's personal domain. The design was already well-advanced when the DCMS called on the Combine's vehicle manufacturers to develop suitable Battle Armor transports to redress the critical lack of such vehicles revealed by the Combine-Ghost Bear War. Capturing the attention of the Procurement Department, despite aggressive lobbying by Wakazashi, the Hiryo has become the Combine's Battle Armor transport of choice during the Jihad.

Powered by a 205 rated GM Light Fusion Engine, the Hiryo is capable of speeds up to 129 kph while carrying eight soldiers in full Battle Armor, its range and endurance limited only by its crew. Its troops are able to disembark either via a large rear ramp or eight extra hatches on the crafts underside for rapid airborne deployment, the Hiryo able to get its crew into and out of the heaviest combat zones thanks to its six tons of New Samarkand Heavy Ferro-Fibrous armor.

Weapons and Equipment
Like many troop transports, the Hiryo is focused on the delivery of its cargo and mounts a single defensive weapon, a nose mounted Lord's Light 2b Snub-Nose PPC. Able to unleash devastating firepower, the Hiryo's high speed allows it to close to the weapon's best ranges in short order.

Variants

 * Hiryo (Light PPC) : A test variant developed by Pesht Motors which replaces the vehicle's Snub-Nose PPC for two Light PPCs to give the vehicle a longer range. (BV 2.0) = 686, 708


 * Hiryo (MRM) : A much more radical weaponry change, the vehicle Snub-Nose PPC is replaced by a Twenty-Tube Medium Range Missile Launcher. Mounted on the nose, the vehicle has been given three tons of ammunition at the cost of 4 tons of its Battle Armor/Infantry Bay. Leaving it with only a 4 ton capacity. The vehicle is noted as being more effective against soft targets, but the dubbed "Gunship" has proved less popular with DCMS forces. BV (2.0) = 644, 666


 * Hiryo "Hound" :Experimental prototype of the Hiryo which was produced by Pesht Motors on Unity in the late 3070s. This version recasts the infantry transport as a scout as well as a transport. The variant's name comes from the experimental Bloodhound Active Probe found in the nose. The Hiryo's engine is exchanged for a Extra Light Fusion Engine, and its Snub-Nose PPC is exchanged for an experimental Medium X-Pulse Laser. The vehicle's cargo capacity is reduced to only 4 tons, to make room for a C3 Remote Sensor Launcher with four C3 Sensors in its "ammo" bay.  Also to help Hiryo deal with the hazardous environments the Jihad has created for soldiers, it has been fitted with Environmental Sealing. BV (2.0) = 628


 * Hiryo (Bloodhound) : This version of the Hiryo is based on the experimental "Hound" variant. A standard GM 205 fusion engine powers it, and New Samarkand Heavy Ferro-Fibrous armor protects it. The Diverse Optics Type 25PX Medium X-Pulse Laser and Environmental Sealing of the Hound remain, but the C3 Remote Sensor Launcher has been removed to make room for the heavier engine. BV (2.0) = 504

Design Quirks
The Hiryo (Bloodhound) variant is subject of the following Design Quirks:
 * Easy to  Pilot
 * Difficult to Maintain
 * Non-Standard Parts
 * Rumble Seat

Vehicle Notes
The Hiryo original premiered in Jihad Source book Jihad Hot Spots: 3072. The original image of the vehicle was drawn by Brent Dill.In later TRO: 3075, the image of the Hiryo was changed, drawn by artist Doug Chaffee. Noticeably the original vehicle's "grill" & single pair of "runners" or vector thrusters are missing from the newer TRO 3075 image. Also there was a change in the variant names. Originally, these were depicted in Record sheets of JHS:72 as Hiryo B and Hiryo C. Being replaced by weapon name that vehicle carries.