Locust Gunship

**Dev. Status** | Conceptual

 **Key Features** | »» Module weapon hardpoint»» Jamming beacons (many)»» Gravitic propulsion rings (spins)»» Red LED scanner»» Reloading mechanism

*"And the locust went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such."*

- Exodus 10:14
## Tactical Analysis

* **The Swarm**: The Protectorate Locust Gunship is a light support vehicle that hovers over the battlefield. Its function is to support Protectorate ground forces below with its weaponry.

* **Modular Capability**: Like other Protectorate units, the Locust utilises module based weaponry. While it starts off completely unarmed, it can be equipped with a module weapon of a Command Node's choice.

* **The Fog of War**: In addition, Locust Gunships carry with them another weapon; powerful jamming beacons. Once dropped onto the battlefield, a beacon will disrupt the radar and communications of the enemy in its radius of effect.

* **Mere Pests**: Keep in mind that the primary purpose of the Locust is to be used as a support vehicle, and is best used in conjunction with Protectorate ground forces.

## Background

The Protectorate, in its preparations for war, has taken it upon itself to study the militaries of Earth and copy their strengths. Their reason for this is simple; the Protectorate are robots with no prior knowledge of how to fight a war, so they should study those who do. Furthermore, since the militaries of Earth would be their enemies, it was only logical to study them in order to find their weaknesses and exploit them. Several A.I.s have dedicated their processing power to this task, sifting through human tactics, human arsenals, the past wars of humanity, and so on.

One A.I., while analysing the arsenal of the human power known as the "Soviet Union", came across a human weapon known as a "Twinblade". Noting that the Protectorate had no equivalent vehicle to the Twinblade in its inventory, the A.I. submitted a recommendation shortly after. There were a number of advantages to possessing an air vehicle like the Twinblade. Such an air vehicle could hover over the battlefield for extended periods of time, and would be able to support Protectorate ground forces. The Core Mind Collective approved the creation of an air vehicle analogous to the Twinblade.

While its inspiration came from the Twinblade, the new **Locust Gunship** was anything but. The designers had replaced the inefficient rotors with far more efficient gravitic technology, which were just as effective when it came to generating lift but far superior when it came to propulsion, if consuming more power. The Protectorate incoporated module based weaponry into the design, following standard protocol. This had the additional advantage of making the Locust far more versatile than the Twinblade, since with the proper module weapon, it could handle any surface target. The exterior design also differed greatly from the Twinblade's, being considerably slighter in order to save material costs, and following Protectorate design aesthetics.

The Locust designers also saw it as the opportunity to install another weapon. Special beacons, designed to jam the radio frequencies that human militaries used, were included on the Locust. Once activated, they could be dropped onto the battlefield, where they would begin to disrupt communications and radar, preventing the human forces from fighting back effectively. Protectorate forces themselves would use frequencies that the beacons were set not to jam, allowing them to continue to operate within a beacon's radius of effect.

The first operational test of the new Locust Gunship, the razing of the Siberian mining town of Yakut, was highly successful, with the town having been completely wiped off the map. The Core Mind Collective has approved the design for production.