The current line of military vehicles in use by the Marcian Defence Service are tough, rugged units all developed from a single, ubiquitous design, the RAT, or Rover, All Terrain.
The RAT's origins lie in a joint civilian project between Westenra Engineering, a leading arms and equipment manufacturer for the Marcian military and police, and the Serpis Mining Corporation's Colonial Executive, their department concerned with the establishment and maintenance of colonies and inhabited mining sites. Their goal was to create a tough, hardwearing, standardised vehicle that could be used in the extreme conditions facing modern colonists: Low and High Grav conditions, dangerous atmospheric pressures and temperatures, anoxic and toxic atmospheres and extremes of terrain. While the project took the best part of a decade to complete, the result was an immediate success. While Serpis had originally hoped singular use of the vehicle would give it some superiority over its competitors, they (and Westenra) soon found so much more profit could be gained through actually selling the vehicles.
A number entered military service under a Rapid Production / Deployment Initiative, or RDPI, where the MDS' own trails found many of the systems to be adequate for their upcoming replacement of the old service vehicle fleet. After further development by the IGMDS Trails Department, Westenra Engineering and a team from the CSA. This military continuation of the RAT project produced two successors for service in the Marcian armed forces, the HAR and the MAR, Habitable Atmosphere Rover and the Maintained Atmosphere Rover respectively. The two rover designs are based on the RAT, but with a number of notable differences. (While the RAT, however, is still in service with some volunteer and cadet units, the vehicles and previous series of IFVs have been replaced by the successor lines.
Both are designed around the same six wheeled chassis, slightly bigger than that of the RAT, and have a composite armour shell with electromagnetic and kinetic shielding and a primitive laser-fire dissipation barrier. They have a driver and commander as standard, and models not fitted with additional weaponry may carry up to 10 passengers in the main compartment. They also feature parachute/atmochute attachment points, and limited burn rocket motors at strategic locations on the main hull to ease with drops from carriers and accidental falls on maneuvers. Other standard equipment includes comprehensive communications suites, six-wheel drive, and amphibious capability and advanced PPS and radar mapping.
The main difference between the HAR and the MAR is their ability to operate in extreme enviroments, like those found on exoplanets and mining colonies. While all RATs were sealed off from the surrounding atmosphere, only MAR mility vehicles are, as the cost of maintaining these on human-supportable colony planets and established homeworlds would be an unnecessary one. The HAR is sufficiently armoured, but open to the outside air like an ordinary armoured vehicle (but like contempary IFVs may be sealed off in case of emergency and emergency air filters and air supplies used) and panels can be easily removed in hot climates and when needed. This may not be done with the MAR, whose interior is completely sealed from the outside atmosphere, and its hatches are airlocks. Conditions inside are maintained, in part by atmospheric filtration and gas supplies, but mainly through use of an ORC, or a biological Oxygen Regulation Culture. In this case, the ORC is a genetically modified fungus-like plant culture grown in the hull of the vehicle which can rapidly take up Carbon Dioxide and other dangerous gases and release oxygen as it grows. This gives, on average, 72 hours of breathable air for five men completely sealed in before the culture requires regrowing. Contaminated cultures are easily purged from the system.
A number entered military service under a Rapid Production / Deployment Initiative, or RDPI, where the MDS' own trails found many of the systems to be adequate for their upcoming replacement of the old service vehicle fleet. After further development by the IGMDS Trails Department, Westenra Engineering and a team from the CSA. This military continuation of the RAT project produced two successors for service in the Marcian armed forces, the HAR and the MAR, Habitable Atmosphere Rover and the Maintained Atmosphere Rover respectively. The two rover designs are based on the RAT, but with a number of notable differences. (While the RAT, however, is still in service with some volunteer and cadet units, the vehicles and previous series of IFVs have been replaced by the successor lines.
Both are designed around the same six wheeled chassis, slightly bigger than that of the RAT, and have a composite armour shell with electromagnetic and kinetic shielding and a primitive laser-fire dissipation barrier. They have a driver and commander as standard, and models not fitted with additional weaponry may carry up to 10 passengers in the main compartment. They also feature parachute/atmochute attachment points, and limited burn rocket motors at strategic locations on the main hull to ease with drops from carriers and accidental falls on maneuvers. Other standard equipment includes comprehensive communications suites, six-wheel drive, and amphibious capability and advanced PPS and radar mapping.
The main difference between the HAR and the MAR is their ability to operate in extreme enviroments, like those found on exoplanets and mining colonies. While all RATs were sealed off from the surrounding atmosphere, only MAR mility vehicles are, as the cost of maintaining these on human-supportable colony planets and established homeworlds would be an unnecessary one. The HAR is sufficiently armoured, but open to the outside air like an ordinary armoured vehicle (but like contempary IFVs may be sealed off in case of emergency and emergency air filters and air supplies used) and panels can be easily removed in hot climates and when needed. This may not be done with the MAR, whose interior is completely sealed from the outside atmosphere, and its hatches are airlocks. Conditions inside are maintained, in part by atmospheric filtration and gas supplies, but mainly through use of an ORC, or a biological Oxygen Regulation Culture. In this case, the ORC is a genetically modified fungus-like plant culture grown in the hull of the vehicle which can rapidly take up Carbon Dioxide and other dangerous gases and release oxygen as it grows. This gives, on average, 72 hours of breathable air for five men completely sealed in before the culture requires regrowing. Contaminated cultures are easily purged from the system.
The vehicles themselves are modular, the same 'baseframe' can be transformed into any variation of vehicle with the simple addition of parts. This has been done intentionally to aid battlefield repair and the ease of supply. Whatever loadout is fitted to the baseframe gives the HAR or MAR a certain specialty, recorded by referring to that particular vehicle with an initial, for example a Habital Atmosphere Rover with a missile launch system (M) would be referred to as a HAR-M.
RAT
RAT
Rover, All Terrain
Purpose: Civilian exploration vehicle
Armament: .303 Autogun
Armour: N/A
Max Speed: 70mph
Crew: 2
Capacity: 6 passengers / equiv. cargo
HAR-D / MAR-D
Habitable / Maintained Atmosphere Rover - Droptroops
Habitable / Maintained Atmosphere Rover - Droptroops
Purpose: While all HAR / MAR vehicles can be paradropped, the 'D' variation is specifically designed for the use of Droptroops.
Armament: .50 Chaingun, .303 Autogun
Armour: KEMNBC Medium Composite Plate
Max Speed: 65mph
Crew: 2
Capacity: 8 passengers / equiv. cargo
HAR-M / MAR_M
Habitable Atmosphere Rover - Missile
Habitable Atmosphere Rover - Missile
Purpose: Long range artillery vehicle, for infantry support and bombardments, also fulfills an anti-aircraft role when no mroe specialised vehicle is available.
Armament: SkyBane / SkyFire Missile Silo, .303 Autogun
Armour: KEMNBC Heavy Composite Plate
Max Speed: 60mph
Crew: 2
Capacity: N/A
HAR-S / MAR-S
Habitable Atmosphere Rover - Support
Habitable Atmosphere Rover - Support
Purpose: Personel / cargo transport vehicle, infantry fighting vehicle / ambulance
Armament: .50 Chaingun, .303 Autogun (depending on role outfitted for)
Armour: KEMNBC Medium Composite Plate
Max Speed: 70mph
Crew: 2
Capacity: 8 passengers / equiv. cargo
HAR-E / MAR-E
Habitable Atmosphere Rover - Engineers
Habitable Atmosphere Rover - Engineers
Purpose: Armoured recovery / engineering vehicle
Armament: .50 Chaingun, Mortar
Armour:KEMNBC Heavy Composite Plate
Max Speed: 60mph
Crew: 2
Capacity: 4 passengers / equiv. cargo
MAR-AA
Maintained Atmosphere Rover - AA
Maintained Atmosphere Rover - AA
Purpose: Anti-aircraft support vehicle
Armament: Flak gun battery, SkyFire Missile silo, .303 Autogun
Armour: KEMNBC Medium Composite Plate
Max Speed: 70mph
Crew: 4
Capacity: N/A
MAR-B
Maintained Atmosphere Rover - Battle
Maintained Atmosphere Rover - Battle
Purpose: Main Battle Rover
Armament: SCB Tank Gun, co0axal .50 Chaingun, .303 Autogun
Armour: KEMNBC Ultra Composite Plate
Max Speed: 55mph
Crew: 4
Capacity: N/A
