Lyonesse

The Lyonesse is a near planet escort small craft, designed to provide protection for spacecraft operating from a planet and its near orbits. Its armor protection is comparable to many DropShips of the period and its array of energy weaponry is strong enough to take out any opponent that attempts to destroy its charges. The Lyonesse, after its introduction in 2513, met with great success filling the near-orbit niche. This prompted Andurien Aerotech to build an additional model to compliment the Lyonesse; the Aquarius. This sister ship eclipsed the Lyonesse in speed, weight and popularity. Despite this, it did not overshadow the Lyonesse's excellent close-in fire power.

However, after Gibson Federated BattleMechs merged with Andurien Aerotech in 2562, popularity of the Surface-to-Orbit escorts waned and soon production for both the Lyonesse and its younger sister ship was discontinued. Both ships were replaced by more modern Heavy Aerospace Fighters and some DropShip designs which had longer ranges than the short-legged Escorts.

During the early years of the Jihad, the Lyonesse and its sister ship were revisited by House Marik and the Word of Blake, putting the designs back into production with newer technology to cope with the conflict.

Weapons and Equipment
The Lyonesse is equipped with principally short range weaponry. The ship's main battery includes four forward-mounted Medium lasers, placed between its two wing sections. Three additional Medium Lasers and a single Small Laser are mounted in the ship's aft section to protect the rear arc. In addition to its Medium Lasers, the ship's forward batteries include a single SRM-6 launcher mounted in the nose along with the Lyonesse's only long-range weapon, an LRM-20. Both launchers are supplied with two tons of ammunition.

The ship's only Achilles heel is its fuel tank. Designed for only near-planet operations, the ship has only been given 5 tons worth of fuel. The ship's engines are only able to move it at a maximum speed of 5.

Variants

 * Lyonesse-M1 : The Marik Variant building during early years of the Jihad, replaces the ship's laser weaponry are upgraded to Extended Range models. Its single heatsinks are switched out for Double strength models. Unique to Lyonesse M1, it was given a pair of Heavy PPCs to beef up its fire power . BV (2.0) = 2,512


 * Lyonesse W1 : At same time as Marik's construction's, Word of Blake's version of the Lyonesse went in a different direction. Many of the Lyonesse's weaponry was stripped out for Arrow IV artillery launcher, changing the ship from Escort vessel to a mobile artillery piece. However, the ship must be on the ground to utilize the launcher. Also, the ship's armor is traded for Ferro-Aluminum, retaining same armor protection as it did with standard armor. Also, the ship's engines are upgraded to increase its speed . BV (2.0) = 2,413

Related Small Craft

 * Aquarius Surface-to-Orbit Escort
 * Tigress Close Patrol Craft (Gunship)