AMAV

= United Republican AMAV =

Overview
The United Republican AMAV is the primary combat transport of the Arcean Revolutionary vanguard. Created following the Great War, where the Aerorifles realised that an air transportable fire support was needed to supplant the advances of mobile infantry like Aerorilfes, as the airships that transported these troops could not always be relied upon to provide this role and could often prove vulnerable while on station. Immediately postwar, the use of gun cars filled this gap but quickly proved to be too lightly armed or armoured to take on enemy armour. With the introduction of the AMAV in 1815, one of these shortcomings was fixed. The six wheeled vehicle is low weight to facilitate transport by airship, resulting in light armour that is resistant to small arms but suffers when engaged by anything heavier than a heavy machinegun round. During engagements in the former UHR and Kanarva, AMAVs suffered heavily from improvised bombs, landmines and anti-tank grenades. The troop compartment, in the standard model, is open topped and lightly armoured, capable of carrying 6 areorifles and their equipment. In cross country capability, the 6-wheel drive allows for excellent manoeuvrability across wet ground, rough terrain or uphill, while on flat open ground, it can reach speeds of up to 90mph. The turret and driver's compartment of the AMAV are its most armoured sections, plated more heavily against enemy fire. While it carries 6 riflemen, the crew compartment contains the vehicle's crew of three: Driver/Commander, gunner and loader.

Armament
The turret of the AMAV carries the 20mm cannon, which is the primary weapon for supressing infantry and engaging soft-skinned vehicles. It is guided by an optical sight which later postwar updates would change to add basic night vision capability. However, in order to provide the adequate anti-landship capability for which the AMAV was designed, the turret mounts a Woomera wire-guided anti-landship missile. This is affixed to the turret's right side, aimed by a secondary weapons sight for the gunner, whom guides the missile onto the target with a small joystick affixed to the side of the 20mm trigger mount. With an effective range of 500 to 3000 meters, it provides an effective killing capability against enemy armour.

Modern Arcean Combat doctrine stresses the use of the AMAV in conjunction with the Helena landship, whom form the spearheads of armoured assaults, with AMAVs bringing up mounted rifleman from behind the armoured screen. This makes up for the extreme weakness in armour that the AMAV suffers from, in comparison to it's contemporaries. In the case of lack of landship support, AMAV crews are instructed to head for defensive positions and use their vehicles weapons at range, while in unsupported assaults, to hang back and fire at a distance while the dismounted infantry approaches.