Marsden I
Sarna News
| Marsden I Main Battle Tank | |
| Production information | |
| Manufacturer | Arcturan Arms |
| Mission | Frontline Combat Vehicle |
| Type | Tracked |
| Technical specifications | |
| Mass | 65 ton |
| Armor | AA Battleplate (BAR 7) |
| Engine | Arcturus Engines CM Elite ICE |
| Speed | 54 kph km/h |
| Crew | 9 |
| Armament |
1 Arcturan Arms Longarm Series Autocannon/5 |
| BV (1.0) | ??? |
| BV (2.0) | 500 |
Description
Named after Archon Robert Marsden who had died the year before, the Marsden MBT entered into service with the LCAF in 2396, shortly before the start of the Age of War. Combining a time-tested, simple design with modern equipment it proved a successful general workhorse MBT for the Commonwealth for almost seven decades before it was pushed into second-line duties by its successor, the very similar Marsden II. It continued serving for more than a century in planetary militias and garrison units until the end of the Reunification War after which all surviving tanks were decommissioned.[1]
Armament
The Marsden I carried a medium autocannon as its main gun on a fully pivoting turret, along with a coaxial machine gun against infantry. While limited to 20 shots the cannon benefited from an advanced fire control system and quickly gained a reputation for accuracy. The real innovation, however, was the six-tube missile launcher embedded in the thick frontal armor of the tank's hull. With its 2 tons of ammunition the launcher could keep up sustained missile fire to shatter the enemies' armor or disable their motive systems. It could also fire specialized ammo like smoke rockets to create cover.
Variants
Some minor electronics upgrades aside the Marsden I saw no specific variants throughout its service life. The basic design was eventually copied by other major states, leading to almost identical tanks with different names in other militaries.
When it was phased out of service Arcturan Arms converted a few into engineering tanks and combat bridgelayers but did not pursue those projects further after its own Büffel engineering vehicle proved superior.
References
- ↑ Era Digest: Age of War, pp. 23-24