Description / application in missions

The modification Super Locust was intended to be vehicle for close combat, so the Empire engineers increase the armor of the base machine that caused some reduction of its maneuverability and mounted new models of automatic cannons, which together with its sighting system became more effective at short and medium ranges.

This is one of the latest models that appeared in the army just before the Watchful Peace. Super Locust was created to counterpoise the Protectorate very successful walking tank T-Rex. The Empire engineers rejected traditionally various armament of walking tanks in the design of Locust and Super Locust. Thus Super Locust carries only two automatic anti-tank 40 mm quick-firers. Too large weight of these cannons and their allowance of ammunition didn’t allow varying the arsenal of the new walking tank. In spite of the fact that Super Locusts are strongly armored, carry very powerful armament and belong to the class of assault machines, their mass is relatively little. They would be desirable acquisitions for the Empire raid groups. However these new walking tanks didn’t fall into raiders’ hands. The Empire plants still produce very few machines of this model, so the military authorities deliver them only the elite units of the Guards, which protect the central worlds of the Polaris Empire. And besides, the cost of the new machines is still very high. Nevertheless several picked units equipped with Super Locusts managed to take part in operations. At the very end of the battle for Teclius, when the battle-ground was threatened with an orbital impact from the cruisers of the Ghost, just the detachment of Super Locusts evacuated Lady Agatha out of the dangerous zone. By that time, the rest Empire walking tanks had been lost in ceaseless battles, but the element of the new still experimental Super Locusts the command threw into the battle only at the most critical moment.

The armament of the assault walking tank Super Locust:

-- Two automatic armor-piercing quick-firers of 40 mm caliber “Bamboo” ATC-40, developed by the Empire Main Artillery Bureau. This cannon was developed after studying the sample of T-Rex’s weapons, which had been procured by the Empire secret service still before T-Rexes themselves were added to the Protectorate arsenals. After the battle for Rusty Splinter, the “ghost” of the Protectorate T-Rexes didn’t leave the Empire pilots, so the armament of the new assault tank was made to repeat the firepower of T-Rex. The new automatic armor-piercing cannon ATC-40 turned out to be just of that kind. It resembles the heavy machine-gun of the famous Protectorate machine in everything. Excellent and very reliable automated mechanisms of this cannon provide it a rather high rate of fire. Its armor-piercing shells with the core from depleted uranium have a very high initial velocity, so a volley from this cannon can pierce the armor of any fighting machine. A low-powered laser is mounted on the barrel of this automatic cannon it is used both for aiming the cannon at the target and for dazzling optical devices of the opponent. The laser sight together with a powerful radar and ballistic computer compose a highly effective aiming complex of a new generation, none of other fighting machines has anything of such kind.