Mass: 30 tons
Frame: Republic-R
Power Plant: Leenex 60
Cruising Speed: 21.6 kph
Maximum Speed: 32.4 kph
Armor: Durallex Medium
Manufacturer: Orguss Industries
Primary Factory: Marcus
Communications System: Dalban Interact
Targeting and Tracking System: Dalban Urban
The UrbanMech has long been shunned by all the militaries of the Inner Sphere, with the exception of House Liao's, who couldn't afford to be picky. As a result, there were a large number of UrbanMechs in Capellan space, at least until 3030, when Lord General Rowe invaded Liao space. Too slow to run and too weak to fight, the Capellan UrbanMechs did not fare well against the Black Knight Legion's heavy mechs. Almost all of the UrbanMechs either surrendered or were destroyed.
This left the CAF with a large amount of UrbanMech salvage. Consideration was given to just scrapping it, but it was determined that the potential value of the material was too great to simply throw away. Faced with the prospect of reconstructing a large number of UrbanMechs, the Confederation decided to do it right - the new UrbanMechs would have recovered technology incorporated during their reconstruction.
Making significant changes to the structure, armor, or power plants of the rebuilt UrbanMechs would defeat the purpose of the effort, however, which was to put the salvaged materials back into service. The modifications, accordingly, were mainly to the weapons systems. The UM-R88 UrbanMech, as it was designated, did not solve the UrbanMech's biggest problem, its lack of mobility, but it did improve the UrbanMech's already impressive firepower.
The obvious modification was to replace the Imperator autocannon with a lighter Mydron Excel LB-X model. Along with the removal of one heat sink, this provided the space to double the size of the ammunition bay, increasing the versatility of the autocannon by allowing it to mix regular slug and Cluster scatter rounds. CASE was added to protect the enlarged ammo bay, and the remaining extra weight was used to upgrade the Harmon Light Laser to a Magna Mark II.