[ Back ] [ Up ] [ Next ]

Battletech ® is a Registered Trademark of FASA Corporation. Original Battletech material Copyright © 1994 by FASA Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Used without permission. Any use of FASA Corporation's copyrighted material or trademarks in this archive should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks. Battletech ® is a registered trademark of FASA Corporation.

Indra

Armament:

1 Type 22 ER PPC

4 Series IX Machine Guns

Manufacturer:    Various

   Location:    (Unknown)

Communications System:    Consolidated Type 2I

Targeting & Tracking System: Series VI KITT

Overview:

         The Indra is heavily armed and armored for its size and role. Though the two vehicles serve vastly different roles, a strong rivalry exists between crews of the Indra and the Zorya, based on the fact that the infantry transport is superior to the Zorya light tank in almost every area, though the opposite might be expected.

Capabilities:

         The Indra is named for the Brahmanic archer-god who wields a bolt of lightning, so the choice of an extended-range PPC for the vehicle's main armament is particularly appropriate. The PPC masses only six tons, but its huge power requirements and the resulting waste heat require the manufacturer to install almost as much mass again in heat sinks. Even with the added heat sinks, repeated firing of the fixed-forward main gun can make the infantry compartment unbearably hot. One modification designed to compensate for this flaw involved installing a dedicated cooling circuit around the cargo bay, but this change ultimately made little difference.
         Anti-personnel defense comes from quadruple chain guns mounted in the micro-turret. These provide devastating anti-infantry fire through 360 degrees, allowing the swift elimination of unarmored infantry while "smart targeting" ensures minimal casualties among friendly troops. The turret weapons have also proven effective against armor and aircraft, fouling tracks, turret mechanisms and control surfaces to deadly effect and far in excess of their commonly accepted anti-armor abilities.
         To give its passengers the best chance of arriving at their destination unhurt, the Indra carries five tons of ferro-fibrous armor, with both front and sides well-protected against a single hit by even the heaviest weapons. The turret and rear are less well-armored, but will hold against small arms and most anti-vehicle weapons. The weak link, as with all similar vehicles, is the drive train and the wheels, but the Indra's tires contain a light armor weave and make use of the same self-sealing gels (Harjel) used on WarShips and Elemental suits, allowing them to repair any breach and re-inflate as needed. This system is effective against up to 50mm caliber weapon attacks, as the entry and exit holes produced by larger rounds are too large for the Harjel to provide a sufficient seal.

Deployment

         The most notorious Inner Sphere deployment of the Indra occurred on the world of Turtle Bay. When rioting broke out following the occupation, Clan Smoke Jaguar dispatched a number of vehicles to control the violence, using Indras to attempt to intimidate the population into submission. This ploy failed, and in the central marketplace of the city of Edo the crowd actually attempted to seize control of two vehicles, prompting the crew to open fire. In less than a minute the tanks killed nearly five hundred people, escalating the situation to the extent that the Jaguar commander declared the situation insoluble and razed the city from orbit.

---

Type/Model:	Indra Infantry Transport
Mass:	35 tons

Equipment:		Items	Mass
Internal Structure:	20 pts Standard	0	3.50
Engine:	155 Fusion	0	5.50
Shielding & Trans Equip:		0	3.00
Cruise MP:	5
Flank MP:	8
Heat Sinks:	15 Single	0	5.00
Cockpit & Controls:		0	2.00
Crew:	3 Members	0	.00
Turret Equipment:		0	.50
Armor Factor:	96 pts Ferro-Fibrous	1	5.00