Ammon

Description
Something of an oddity, the heavy ground-attack-focused Ammon is the first new second-line Clan AeroSpace Fighter design produced in over a century.

Developing new manufacturing plants to assist in solidifying their control of Barcella, Clan Diamond Shark produced a number of existing BattleMech designs, as well as, surprisingly, a new second-line fighter to help take the strain off their front-line forces in their efforts to force Clans Ice Hellion and Jade Falcon off-planet. While looking primarily to the needs of their own touman, the mercantile bent of the Sharks led them to sell surplus production to several other Clans, and sell the full design specifications of the efficient and cost-effective fighter to Clans Ghost Bear and Coyote.

Befitting its second-line role, and to speed development and construction, save for 20 double heat sinks the Ammon utilizes no advanced structural components. With its focused role, the fighter sacrifices speed and uses a 250-rated Fusion Engine to free up space for 14 tons of Formula Z5D armor and an impressive weapons array.

Weapons and Equipment
Developed primarily for ground-attack roles, the Ammon’s primary weapons are a trio of nose-mounted Series 7K ER Large Lasers supported by a Type VI Streak SRM-6 fitted to each wing. With enough heat sinks to fire almost continuously, the Ammon’s strafing runs are legendary, ably supported by the Streak launchers, making maximum efficiency of a single ton of reloads carried. Almost as an afterthought, a single Series 1g ER Small Laser is mounted to the rear, primarily to discourage pursuit until the pilot can bring the main guns to bear.

Variants

 * Ammon-XR : This variant of the standard Ammon replaces the standard weapons load with Experimental Technology. The wing-mounted missiles are Streak LRM-15s while the nose mounted lasers have been replaced by twin Improved Heavy Large Lasers. The rear arc of the Ammon-XR is protected by a Laser Anti-Missile System. The technicians of Clan Diamond Shark have completed several of these refits, but observers don't know how many because the Ammon-XR is identical to the standard Ammon in every other respect. BV (2.0) = 2,549


 * Ammon 2 : This variant replaces the ER Large Lasers of the original with a pair of ER PPCs and additional armor protection. BV(2.0)=2,628

Design Quirks
The Ammon-XR variant is subject to the following Design Quirks:
 * Atmospheric Flyer
 * Prototype