Description / application in missions

This assault gravi-flyer is exceptionally effective both in reconnaissance and open battle. Its composite armament together with good speed makes Sprut the most dangerous enemy for machines of remote fire support. Spruts were widely used as separate mobile squads of 2 – 6 machines in all major operations of the final stage of the war.

After the battle on Velian, the Protectorate military made sure that assault gravi-flyers were exceptionally effective fighting machines. A competition for developing a fighting machine similar to the Empire Thunder was announced. The excellently showed itself monoblock RM-1, which served as a basis for a whole family of fighting machines, was at the designers’ disposal, so the work didn’t take long time. In a few months, a pre-production model of Sprut was sent for flight tests and showed splendid results. Soon this new assault gravi-flyer began arriving into the army. With all external differences, there is much common in the designs of Sprut and Thunder. For example, the weapons of Sprut are exactly of the same kind as ones of its Empire analogue. In spite of their similarity, the tactic of the application of these machines was quite different in the Protectorate and the Empire. The Empire commanders preferred to make tactical “ties” of Thunders and walking tanks that supported each other on the battlefield. Accordingly the Empire gravi-flyers were included in ground units. The Protectorate military applied Spruts as autonomous combat groups – flights or squadrons of 4-12 machines setting them independent objectives or attaching to ground units during operations. Such combat groups of Spruts were widely applied in all large operations of the final phase of the war.

The armament of the assault gravi-flyer Sprut:

-- Impulse cannon “Fire Dagger” ImC-1 Mk1, produced by Star Fire Industries Corporation. This is a copy of the Empire model “Power Dart” IMG-1M. This cannon hits a target with a tiny needle made of radioactive isotope cobalt-99 and enclosed into electromagnetic cocoon. The destructive effect of such a shell is equal to the effect caused by a hit of a light artillery shell. The impulse cannons don’t require bulky ammunition and consume less energy than other energy weapons. The impulse cannon’s fifty-kilogram needle-cartridge is enough for a long battle. Engineers considered the impulse cannon optimal for equipping gravi-flyers, as they had to limit the take-off weight and to save the energy consumption.
-- 4 multi-purpose guided missiles “Crossbow” Mk24, produced by General Rocketry Tiranon Corporation.These are self-guided missiles used for equipping assault aircraft. Such missiles are very effective at long and medium ranges, but at short distances the homer system of these missiles doesn’t have enough time for lock-on and, as a rule, miss.
-- Two-barreled machine-gun of 12.7 mm caliber S&W Mk95. The standard model of the double-barreled machine-gun has been used for a very long time all over the inhabited Space. This is the most reliable kind of existing firearms.