Darter

The Darter Scout Car owes its existence to the destructive nature of the First Succession War. Following the end of that war, the Federated Suns needed to rebuild. They gave preference to their BattleMech forces, so they asked for manufacturing concerns to submit designs that would allow them to produce an effective combat vehicle that filled a supporting role and not tie up materials needed to rebuild the more-dedicated combat units. The Darter won that contract for General Motors in 2822.

The Darter has respectable speed for a vehicle, topping out at 151 km/h. This speed comes courtesy of an Internal Combustion Engine, which allowed the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns to save Fusion Engines for its 'Mech force. A paltry two tons of armor protect the Darter, precluding it from all but the lightest combat. Rather than mounting dedicated electronics, the vehicle has three tons of cargo space that can be easily reconfigured. Despite their fragility, Darters are easily repaired.

Weapons and Equipment
The only weapon on the Darter is a Johnston Minigun Machine Gun with a full ton of ammunition.

Variants

 * BAP : This version of the Darter has replaced half its cargo space with a single Beagle Active Probe. The cargo capacity is reduced to 1.5 tons, but armament and armor remains the same as the standard Darter. BV (2.0) = 136


 * C3 : This version replaces one ton of cargo space with a C3 Slave unit to send targeting data to friendly forces. It is otherwise identical to the standard Darter. BV (2.0) = 125


 * ECM : The only difference between this variant and the Beagle variant is the fact that the Beagle probe has been replaced by a Guardian ECM Suite. BV (2.0)=193


 * SRM : Some crews have eschewed cargo in favor of an SRM-4 and ton of ammunition. BV 2.0= 192


 * SRM2 : This version takes a standard Darter and reduces the cargo space to one ton. It adds a single SRM-2 and ton of ammunition. Otherwise, it behaves and is equipped like a standard Darter. BV (2.0) = 167