Locust LCT-5M

The LCT-5M is a 20-ton striker built on the same chassis that began as the 2499 LCT-1V scout, but it fights close in with a very different toolkit. Where the LCT-1V paired two machine guns with a single medium laser, the LCT-5M carries four ER small lasers, two in each arm, backed by an ER medium laser in the center torso. A 240 XL fusion engine and endo steel structure lift cruising speed from 86 to 130 km/h and top speed from 130 to 194 km/h, unusually fast for its weight, and ferro-fibrous armor replaces the standard plating of the original. It keeps the minimal, weapon-pod arms without hands and the low, hard-to-target silhouette of the earlier model, along with its cramped cockpit. Achernar Battlemechs builds it, with additional production at Corean Enterprises - MacAdams-Suharno and Gibson Federated BattleMechs.