| Type 74 Hovertruck |
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| Information: Name: Type 74 Hovertruck Role: Command and communications vehicle Armaments: 20mm Gatling gun Operator: E.F.F. Lineart: Underground sonar device Additional pictures: A Type 74 driving over water A Type 74's engines in action View of a Hovertruck's antenna |
| In the deep jungles of Southeast Asia where the mass produced Gundam Ground Types were first fielded, the dense foliage and plant life made the |
| majority of direct communications (i.e. flares) un-useable, and Minovski particles from a mobile suit's reactor already made the small radios inside a mobile suit nearly worthless. To compensate for this shortcoming, Earth Federal Forces fielded a limited number of Type 74 Hovertrucks to operate with their mobile suit teams. A Type 74 is a command vehicle, designed to hold back behind the combat while the mobile suits went forward and fought. To this extent, a Type 74 was lightly armed, only carrying an anti-personel or anti-aircraft 20mm Gatling gun, turret mounted on the top of the truck. A Type 74 carried the same armor as a Type 61 Main Battle Tank to protect it from light attacks and small arms weaponry. The main asset of the Type 74 is its super powerful radio antenna and underground sonar device. The radio antenna was a simple enough affair, allowing communications even through dense Minovski particles, but the underground sonar apparatus was a different story all together. Much in the way of naval sonar of past wars, a Hovertruck's underground sonar allowed the Hovertruck to send vibrations through the ground which would bounce of a Zaku's high-tensile steel armor and return to the apparatus, thus revealing the Zaku's location. The Hovertruck's crew would then send the data on the enemy mobile suits' locations to their own mobile suits through the high powered radio antenna. To make up for the inhospitable terrain, a Hovertruck was equipped with a pair of hover-engines instead of tank treads for high-speed movement and manuverability. The Hovertruck also carries the team's supplies, such as food, medical gear and other necessities during long missions. |
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