DOC-06 · TECHNICAL READOUT
Glasshopper AV-25A
Mass: 25 tons
Movement Type: VTOL
Power Plant: GH PowerMaxx 110 Fuelcell Plus
Cruising Speed: 108 kph
Maximum Speed: 162 kph
Armor: StarSlab Standard
Armament:
1 LRM 15
2 CLRocketLauncher10Prototype
Manufacturer: TriStar Intersellar
Primary Factory: Sherwood
Communication System: TriStar Multilink II
Targeting & Tracking System: TriStar TrackMaster III W/ ArtiSpot
Introduction Year: 3033
Tech Rating/Availability: IS Level 3
Cost: 986,944 C-bills
Overview
Memphis's favorite insect finally got its aircraft in 3033, and the name was overdetermined: a leaping, swarming fire-support VTOL, built on Sherwood, powered by a Greene & Harvester PowerMaxx fuel cell — and someone in the program office noticed that GH had been hiding in the middle of "Glasshopper" all along, an observation now engraved on the plant's dedication plaque.
Capabilities
Twenty-five tons of rotary fire support: a Holly LRM-15 with the full Multilink and TrackMaster-ArtiSpot suite for netted, spotted, corrected fire, and a pair of prototype ten-tube rocket pods for the leaping strike — one bound, one volley, gone, in the family style. The fuel-cell plant trades endurance for the hydrogen economy the March already runs, and StarSlab plate gives it more resilience than anything this fast and this vertical has a right to.
Deployment
Glasshoppers deploy the way their namesake does — in numbers, from unexpected directions, to mixed reviews. Flights of them rise off the pans in the mineral-banded squadron colors the Sanddiver units made fashionable, swarm a grid, volley, and scatter; enemy after-action reports have described the experience in terms that Deseret's farmers would recognize immediately, and the type's semi-official motto is lifted from the University's famous assessment of its namesake: both assessments are correct. Two generations of Dominion rotation and Clan-era service have made the Glasshopper the March's default answer for fire support that has to arrive over an obstacle, and the gift shops of Deseret, which already sold the insect, now sell the aircraft beside it, in the same tin.
Type: Glasshopper
Technology Base: IS Level 3
Tonnage: 25
| Equipment | Mass | |
|---|---|---|
| Internal Structure | 3 | |
| Engine | 110 Fuel Cell | - |
| Cruising MP: | 10 | |
| Flanking MP: | 15 | |
| Heat Sinks: | 0 | - |
| Control Equipment: | 1.3 | |
| Turret: | - | |
| Armor Factor: | 56 | - |
| Weapons and Ammo | Location | Critical | Tonnage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ammo LRM-15 | Body | 1 | 1 |
| Ammo LRM-15 | Body | 1 | 1 |
| LRM 15 | Front | 3 | 7 |
| CL Rocket Launcher10Prototype | Right | - | - |
| CL Rocket Launcher10Prototype | Left | - | - |