Mass: 30 tons
Movement Type: VTOL
Power Plant: Omni 10 ICE
Cruise Speed: 53.0 kph
Maximum Speed: 84.8 kph
Manufacturer: ConfedAir
Primary Factory: Buenos Aires
Communications System:
Targeting and Tracking System:
The Desert Hare is a rare and unusual craft. It has the distinction of being the only mobile artillery capable of flight, with the exception of the Fortress class dropship. Fully half of the Desert Hare's mass is dedicated to a Thumper artillery piece. The bulky weapon leaves little room for anything else - the Desert Hare is extremely slow for a helicopter, lightly armored, and other than the Thumper, poorly armed. The only other weapon it carries is a rear-mounted SperryBrowning machine gun, which is of limited utility, even for covering a retreat.
The intended use is as a highly mobile artillery piece, firing a multiple-round strike into a target zone, then moving before counter-battery fire can find it. Unlike most other mobile artillery, the Desert Hare does not need to take time to ground and set up a firing position before attacking. It is, in fact, unable to fire the Thumper while grounded, because the landing gear is not designed to handle the artillery piece's tremendous recoil. Firing the Thumper while on the ground usually results in the collapse of one or both struts on the front wheels, which causes the craft to roll onto its nose or side, damaging the Thumper and usually destroying the main rotor.
The Desert Hare's usual firing stance is in an autopilot-controlled stationary hover. The autopilot is able to track the ground with the targeting radar and automatically adjust the direction of the rotor thrust to keep the craft stationary and provide a stable firing platform for the Thumper. The Desert Hare's highly advanced targeting and tracking system even allows it to fire on the move. Because the Hare is unable to adjust fire while its own position is changing, however, the odds of a round fired while the helicopter is moving striking closer than the general vicinity of the target are extremely low.
While the Desert Hare has maneuverability unmatched by any other mobile artillery piece and the ability to effectively ignore most terrain, it lacks the raw speed to evade light battlemechs or hovercraft in open terrain. Though the Thumper can provide significant direct-fire capability in a pinch, the Desert Hare is really too fragile to fight off purpose-built combat units.
Because of this, Desert Hares are almost always accompanied by escorts, usually at least two helicopter gunships, which can protect the Desert Hare without affecting the group's mobility.