the shape of things to come

BATTLE ARMOR EQUIPMENT
The Clans—particularly Clan Wolf—claim credit for developing battle armor as we know it today, but military historians would likely fi nd me remiss if I
did not point out that before its fall, the original Star League had just begun researching the viability of powered, full-body armor systems. Though these
early suit designs—often referred to as Power Armor (Light) suits, or PA(L)s—could never hope to repel small arms fi re or accomplish the tasks a Clan
Elemental can, these suits share more similarities in architecture than not with their present-day brethren.
Likening battle armor or exoskeletons to a miniaturization of BattleMech technology may be a gross over-simplifi cation of the facts, but it will suffi ce
for the purpose of exploring the technologies one might fi nd in today’s battlesuit designs.
Likewise, it’s important to remember the scale of weapons and such mounted on battlesuits, versus their heavier equivalents on vehicles, BattleMechs
and the like. Though they share the same names, many items—like virtually all of the weapons mounted on battle armor—are not so much a miniaturization
of vehicular weapon systems as they are a heavier, signifi cantly upgraded variation of an analogous infantry-portable weapon. Enhanced for the more
eff ective targeting systems, myomer musculature and power supply capabilities of battle armor, these weapons gain weight and size from their conventional
progenitors, and attain capabilities roughly analogous to those seen in vehicular-scale guns. Because of these capabilities, weapons mounted on
battle armor are more commonly classifi ed by their vehicular-scale nomenclature, rather than that of their baseline infantry-scale support weapons.
—Preface to Modern Infantry Systems 321, Prof. Arastide Habeas, NAMA Publications, 3067
[Once again, the late Professor Habeas’ primer on battle armor and infantry weapons systems is thorough, but somewhat dated. As with the previous document, I
have amended this one with information on the newer technologies that have entered production since the onset of the Jihad.
—Major Elisa Brubaker, WolfNet, 15 December 3071]
• ADVANCED SRM LAUNCHER •
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• BOMB RACK •
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• MINE DISPENSER •
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• TAG (LIGHT) •
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• JUMP BOOSTER •
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• ECM SUITE •
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• HEAVY MORTAR •
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