Athena

The Athena Combat Vehicle is a front-line tank produced primarily by Clan Hell's Horses. It shows its intended role as a sniper in the fact that it mounts a mere seven and a half tons of Ferro-Fibrous armor. Its fusion engine propels it 54 km/h, barely enough to keep up with most battlefield elements. Despite that, the Horses have maintained and fielded the combat vehicle since it first rolled off the production lines in the early part of the 31st century.

Weapons and Equipment
A large portion of the mass of the Athena is wrapped up in its pair of Type AA4 Gauss Rifles. Even an inexperienced crew can still fire them accurately at range thanks to the inclusion of a Mark-5 Series Targeting Computer. Even skilled crews can benefit from the advanced targeting system, aiming their shots at vital areas. Backing these up is a Type Xa LRM-10.

The Athena's designers hoped to make up for the tank's thin armor (relative to Inner Sphere vehicles) with defensive weaponry. While twin Series 2h ER Medium Lasers are not threatening to most units, they are also made more accurate by the Targeting Computer. Should unarmored infantry assault the tank, it can unleash its two Type AP40 Machine Guns on them. The defensive weaponry is handled by a secondary gunner, who receives the benefit of these weapons being mounted in a turret.

Variants

 * HAG : The HAG variant of the Athena was introduced during the fighting of the Jihad era. The variant only retains the twin ER Medium lasers while it replaces all other equipment. A XL Fusion Engine replaces the Standard Fusion, making room for new weaponry while doubling its armor protection. Replacing its Gauss Rifles is a pair of forward mounted Class 30 Hyper-Assault Gauss Rifles with 24 rounds of ammunition. The vehicle's anti-infantry weapons are now a pair of AP Gauss Rifles mounted in the turret alongside the lasers. In addition to the increase in armor protection, the vehicle receives an ECM Suite to distrupt enemy electronics. To make its weapons more accurate the vehicle retains the Targeting Computer. BV (2.0) = 2,444


 * XR : Developed by the resource-starved Clan Hell's Horses, this Athena variant replaces the fusion engine with a massive Fuel Cell engine. This dramatically reduces the heat signature of the vehicle. In addition the Hell's Horses scientists and technicians replaced the existing weapon systems with a suite of weapons in a Dual Turret configuration. The smaller forward turret contains four Machine Guns and two Medium Chemical Lasers, while the larger rear turret carries four Large Chemical Lasers. These chemical lasers are just as effective as their Inner Sphere counterparts and don't require heat sinks or power amplifiers. However, this is offset by the fact that they do require "ammunition" of prepackaged chemicals. The Athena-XR carries two tons of ammunition for the Medium Lasers and six tons of ammunition for the Large Lasers. All of the Athena-XR's weapons are tied into the Targeting Computer that makes the standard Athena so feared. BV (2.0) = 1,427

Design Quirks
The Athena-XR variant is subject to the following Design Quirks:
 * Poor Performance
 * Prototype
 * Rumble Seat
 * Trailer Hitch