Mass: 20 tons
Frame: Corean-II Delux Endo Steel
Power Plant: LTV 160 XL
Cruising Speed: 84.8 kph
Maximum Speed: 127.2 kph
Armor:
Manufacturer: Bergan Industries
Primary Factory: Ares
Communications System: Garret T10 B
Targeting and Tracking System: Corean CalcMaster
One of two upgraded Locust designs coming out of Confederate factories, the LCT-7L Locust is based on Capellan experimentation with triple-strength myomer in the old LCT-1V Locust.
After the Fourth Succession War, the Capellan Confederation continued to experiment with the enhanced, but vulnerable, myomer formula that had been planted with them by the Federated Commonwealth. The platform for this experimentation was the LCT-1V Locust being produced at the Bergan Industries plant on Ares.
The LCT-7L Locust grew out of this experimentation. When the Black Knight Legion seized the Capellan Confederation, the prizes included the Locust plant on Ares and the military research center on Grand Base. With the information gathered at those locations, in combination with the original research from the NAIS, CAF Research and Design was able to synthesize a enhanced myomer that was not vulnerable to the catalyst that would destroy the original version. The main problem was that it would only operate effectively when the mech was running hot, a feat that was all but impossible to accomplish in the Locust 1V.
The LCT-7L Locust solves that problem by dramatically increasing the mech's weapons load. The original engine is replaced by a XL version, the frame is lightened with Endo Steel, and the heat sinks are replaced by double-strength "Freezers". The weight saved is used to replace each of the arm-mounted machine guns with three Martell medium lasers.
The array of lasers produces enough heat that, even with the improved heat sinks, a talented mechwarrior can keep the mech's heat in the ideal range - hot enough to activate the myomer, but not so hot to have detrimental effects on other aspects of the machine's performance. They also have the effect of providing the Locust with firepower unrivaled by any other light mech, without sacrificing either its legendary speed or its relatively heavy armor. Indeed, when the mech is running warm, the speed is boosted by the improved myomer, giving it a sustainable top speed in the 150 kph range.
There are no variants, per se, of the LCT-7L Locust. There are other Locust models in production (of note is the Confederation's other official Locust design, the LCT-5C Locust, now in full production at the Majesty factory on Canopus IV), but they are derived directly from the original 1V model rather than from the 7L. Though attempts were made to make the 7L more like a conventional scout mech by swapping lasers for TAG systems or active probes, they were all abandoned because they resulted in the loss of the positive heat delta necessary to activate the myomer.