BattleAxe

From BattleTechWiki

BattleAxe

Production information
Manufacturer	Achernar BattleMechs
Model	BKX-7K
Class	Heavy
Technical specifications
Mass	65 tons
Chassis	Achernar Special Type 4
Armor	StarGuard-X
Engine	DAV 280
Speed	64 km/h
Jump Jets	Rawlings 40-Beta
Armament	x2 PPC x2 LRM 5 x1 SRM 6
BV (1.0)	1,087
BV (2.0)	1,329

1 Description
2 Armament
3 Variants
4 References

[edit] Description

The prototype of the BattleAxe originally appeared in 2459, which relied on the standard armament of the time, lasers and missiles. Over the next fifteen years, the speed was increased by a third and the mass of the cockpit and armor were reduced. It was not until the late 2460s that the Federated Suns switched out the Large Lasers in the arms for the new Particle Projection Cannons. Unsure of the BattleAxe's maneuverability, the designers mounted experimental jump jets on to the upper legs, allowing it to vault over anything it could not run through. Unfortunately, MechWarriors had to go through training for the new jump jets and the landing process as many died early on.

[edit] Armament

The original production variant of this 'Mech, the BKX-7K, utilizes two massive Donal Particle Projection Cannons, which were relatively new at the time. To support the massive cannons, it also has two Federated-5 Shot LRM-5 launchers with one ton of ammo to split between them and a Harpoon-6 SRM-6, giving it something to hit with at all ranges. For armor, the BattleAxe only has nine tons of armor.

[edit] Variants

BKX-7NC - Due to the uncertainty of the BattleAxe's jump jets, many MechWarriors had technicians remove the jump jets in favor of two more LRM-5 launchers, one on each side of the torso. It was labeled the 7NC because of its nickname "No Crash". BV (1.0)= 948 BV (2.0)= 1,252

BKX-8D - After digging around in the Achernar archives, the leaders of Achernar decided to attempt and redeem their design in the 3070s. They upgraded the armor to Light Ferro-Fibrous compounds, utilized CASE, and mounted a Light Fusion Engine. They swapped each PPC for a pair of Extended-Range Medium Lasers and each missile rack for for the new MML 7. The heat sinks were upgraded to double heat sinks while the jump jets were retained. Rounding out this revamped design is a C3 Slave Unit.