BAP-91 (FT)

The BAP-91 is an Interstellar Union assault walker. A bipedal, fourth-generation combat walker, the BAP-91 is considered the most advanced combat walker available to the Union. It is heavily based on the Federation's M12A5 Goliath Mk 3.

Description
Heavily based on the Federation's Goliath Mk 3 fifth-generation walker, itself manufactured by Matanza Armatek, the BAP-91 has an extremely similar silhouette and many components directly copied from the Goliath Mk 3. The vehicle is a biodiesel-powered, single-driver bipedal walker capable of speeds of up to 42 km/h on all terrain which is 2 km/h faster than the Goliath Mk 3.

The primary armament of the BAP-91 is an M45 arc projector mounted on the right armature, with a secondary 20 mm rotary cannon on the left armature.

History
With the exception of the BAP-47, walkers did not attain widespread acceptance within the United Front Ground Forces, as they did not fit into existing combined arms battle doctrine. Nonetheless, the Military Affairs Directorate was increasingly concerned about the extremely wide 'walker gap' between the Union and its neighbours, with the extremely widespread and rugged BAP-47 design being 140 years old by the time of the 287 Empire-Union War. Other foreign developments of fifth-generation walkers, such as the UNSC's T16 Dokkaebi and the Federation's Goliath Mk 3, also drove the Military Affairs Directorate to begin a commission in the late 280s to find a way to create a modern combat walker.

Following the 287 Empire-Union War, the Empire's effective and large-scale use of such vehicles during the war forced the Military Affairs Directorate to accelerate its plans. The war had proven that the Union's reliance on anti-walker countermeasures were inadequate to the cutting edge of walker technology, and the Union strongly required all-terrain walkers of its own to maintain strategic parity. The head of the commission, Major Edmundo Amengual, was ordered to develop a proper combat walker by 295.

Still lacking much knowledge on the construction of modern combat walkers, Amengual decided on an unorthodox method of creating a walker. Using a shell company, the Union purchased a disabled Goliath Mk 3 walker from an insurgent group within the Federation, with the wreckage smuggled out of the Federation in early 289. This walker was repaired and evaluated through 289, with various parts directly copied. In 290, at least three identical copies of the Goliath Mk 3 were undergoing testing at the Tamayo Facility on Unificado. A modified design intended to simplify construction and reduce production costs was created by early 291, which would become the production model of the BAP-91.

Mass production of the BAP-91 commenced some time in late 291, though it was only unveiled at the Liberation Day parade of 292.