T48 Tortoise (FT)

The T48 Main Battle Tank, also known as the T48 Tortoise or simply the Tortoise, is a heavy armored main battle tank and combat walker hybrid developed for the Commonwealth Armed Forces. In comparison to the contemporary T82 Gator Main Battle Tank also in service with the Commonwealth Armed Forces, the T48 has superior mobility as its four vehicle treads could double as legs in order to traverse rough terrain that could be limiting to traditional tanks. In addition, the T48 could also be used as a mobile artillery platform with its twin rocket launchers being capable of saturation bombardments in addition to anti-air or anti-armor actions. Since its introduction in service in 2734, over 145,000 Tortoises were produced.

Development
Lion Defense Solutions began working on a potential successor to the T60 Grizzly Main Battle Tank as a private venture in 2724, calling it the Stag Beetle. Following announcements by the Commonwealth Department of Defense to find a successor for the T60 Grizzly, Lion submitted its design in 2728 to the Department of Defense. Although the Department of Defense ultimately canceled the competition of finding a suitable replacement for the Grizzly, Defense Secretary Arthur Woo expressed interest in the design of the Stag Beetle as serving a multi-role position of both combat tank and mobile artillery.

In 2731, Congress approved of the Armored Hybrid Project, giving Lyon Defense Solutions a contract to produce a demonstrative vehicle that would have superior mobility to a traditional tank yet is just as armored as a traditional tank. After various testing phases, the deal was finalized in 2734 and the Stag Beetle entered service as the T48 Tortoise Main Battle Tank.

Description
In wheeled mode, the T48 resembles the T60 with a much wider tank turret that included a single smoothbore cannon and twin rocket launchers, sharing similarities with the Grizzly in height, width, and length. In walker mode, the T48 dwarfed most vehicles in size, standing at 11.3 meters high. Although it does bring an added bonus of additional mobility in traversing rough terrains and avoiding a variety of manmade or natural obstacles, its additional height makes the Tortoise easy to spot. Lyon Defense Solutions remedied the height issue by installing a trophy countermeasure system, which intercepts any incoming projectiles headed towards the tank. However, the trophy system was created to effectively deal with projectiles, it has less than satisfactory effect on countering most energy weapons. The T48 also utilizes an EMP device, designed as a last ditch measure to disable any enemy electronics within the vicinity of the tank.

The T48 has numerous offensive weapons, its main armament being the 240 mm smoothbore main gun. The 240 mm main gun, although more than capable as being an anti-tank cannon, saw heavy use as a self-propelled gun carriage. Often times, the T48 would be used as long range mobile artillery that could provide support for infantry in combined arms tactics. One of the T48's secondary armaments are twin rocket launchers designed to be used in taking out mass armor, although it could also be effectively used for saturation bombing. The T48 is equipped with two .50 cal heavy machine guns, both in dealing with enemy personnel and aircraft.

Service History

 * Operation Sparrow (Ongoing Anti-pirate actions in the frontier colonies)

Operators

 * Unscflag.png Unified States Commonwealth: Primary user with over 145,000 vehicles.