Model number: CF-06
Code name: Grenzmark II
Nickname: Grento
Classification: mass production flight-capable combat frame
Manufacturer: Seed Corporation
Operator: Systems Overterrestrial Coalition
First deployment: CY 1
Crew: 1 pilot in cockpit in chest
Height: 17.5 meters
Weight: dry weight 50.4 metric tons, full weight 68.0 metric tons
Armor type: carbon nanotube-infused ceramic/steel composite
Powerplant: cold fusion reactor, max output 922 KW
Propulsion: rocket thrusters: 4x 37,800 kg thrust each, top speed 756 kph, 180° turn time 1.65 seconds; legs: top ground speed 190 kph
Sensors: Seed Corporation Halo radar/optical target acquisition and identification system mounted under grilled radome “head”
Optional Fixed armaments: x2 2-Tube missile launcher, mounted on legs
Hand armaments: 115mm machine gun, 40 rounds per magazine; heat axe, battery-powered, stored on skirt armor rack
The Coalition Security Corps recognized the need for an updated combat frame to improve on the rather primitive Grenzmark I’s performance. While Seed Corp hurried the superior but provisional CF-05 Grenzmark C into production, Head CF Engineer Tesla Browning set to work producing the Grenzmark I’s true successor.
Browning developed the basic blueprint for the Grenzmark II in relatively short order. He used the occasion to implement a long-held personal goal: designing a mass-production combat frame featuring flight capability imported from his CF-01-1 prototype. When Browning submitted his design, the Seed Corp board pointed out the high cost inefficiency of turning over their entire manufacturing facility to the Grenzmark II and shipping the finished units to earth. Browning immediately unveiled a bold plan to build a new factory in the Coalition-controlled city of Chicago, which would save the company billions in the long term. The board granted unanimous approval.
The first production run of Grenzmark IIs saw deployment in mid-CY 1. Originally limited in number, the new CFs were initially assigned to sensitive SOC installations, elite combat units, and the commands of well-connected CSC officers. Grento pilots faced a steeper learning curve than the older Grenzie had required, including several hours of additional flight training, but the new Grento’s dramatically enhanced capabilities eventually won steadfast adherents.
Though visually almost identical to the Grenzmark C, the Grenzmark II’s resemblance to its predecessor proved strictly superficial. In addition to a standardized version of the experimental Halo sensor suite tested on the Grenzie, the Grento boasted a far more powerful propulsion system that not only granted improved air speed but enabled sustained atmospheric flight. The Grento’s dramatically increased mobility made it equally capable of launching ground assaults and providing close air support.
A firm adherent of the design maxim “More is more,” Browning beefed up the Grento’s offensive capability with an optional pair of outboard missile launchers and an improved handheld machine gun. A redesigned loading mechanism and double stack magazine allowed the weapon to fire 115mm rounds as opposed to the Grenzie rifle’s 110mm shells while still maintaining the same ammunition capacity.
Despite the Grenzmark II’s impressive performance, the Coalition’s new front line CF wasn’t without its detractors. Many cited an apparent reduction in durability as a major flaw. Some speculated that the Grento’s armor was thinned to improve its flight characteristics by reducing weight. Others of a more conspiratorial bent claimed that CSC Director Sanzen Kaimora ordered the Grento’s armor protection reduced to raise pilot casualty figures as a bargaining chip with the Coalition Secretariat.
Whatever its shortcomings, most saw the Grenzmark II as the maturation of the combat frame platform. Substantively improving on its design would require a paradigm shift in weapons technology.
To see the versatile Grenzmark II in action, read Combat Frame XSeed now!
Good — it doesn't look like a Zaku now. Can't wait for the full version of XSeed.
Looking good!
By the way, I got a copy of Ophian Rising coming in with Diminika Lein's Reptilian Wanderer. Thought you'd like to know!
Glad you guys are liking my XSeed stuff and the cover and line art.
@JD: Thanks for shelling out your hard-earned for OR!
We now have mechs capable of flying on earth. I am a happy man.
Embarrassment of riches incoming!
Brian,
Your mechs are well thought out. Now for the ships and transporters 🙂
xavier
Okay, so this is something about EVERY mech/mecha that at some point or another bothers me (not that I couldn't enjoy the IPs when long as they weren't groin-kicking me)… How can a mech be so much bigger than a modern tank, but not weigh that much more? The three main battle tanks of Japan of the last forty years have weighed about 40 tons, 50 tons, and 40 tons respectively. The Abrams here in the US weighs 60-70 tons. The Grento weighs 60 tons. But the Grento is five times the height of the Abrams. Even assuming the armor is less dense but still as hard, and even with the modern tanks being longer, shouldn't a mech weigh more?
A Grento is about twice the size of an Abrams. Look at the former's height and the latter's length for a more accurate comparison. It's constructed with materials like palladium microalloy glass and graphene that all told weigh half as much as the Abrams' steel and Chobham armor materials. Thus, the Grento is twice as big as the Abrams, but the stuff it's made from weighs half as much, so the mech and the tank weigh about the same.
Okay, I can buy that. Better than any answer I got from BattleTech (as a casual consumer of the books.)
Glad you're satisfied. One reason XSeed is taking longer than I'd have liked to write is that I have to keep stopping every five minutes to do research on stuff like this.
The initial impression I've gotten from readers is that it will all have been worth it.