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Alternative Lightning Division vehicles from those in The Crucible

The Lightning Division post 340TW

The Lightning Division are a mechanized unit of brigade strength. They are veteran troops originally from Mittel Europa on Old Earth and - in the late 330s TW - they decided to upgrade the motive power sources and transmission systems of their vehicles. From 340TW onwards they progressively replaced their tracked vehicles - the lighter Thyssen AFVs and APCs, the Uralvagonzavod manufactured 'Kraus' tank and anti-air and anti-artillery - with hover vehicles. Post the Kerwi Campaign in 346, the Division concentrated on Icarus Industries products with updated AI suites. The Lightnings always favoured rail-guns in various calibres mounted on their tracked vehicles and saw little reason to change with the advent of hover vehicles. In consequence their standard M2A7 Blower employed by the Lightning Division from 349TW onwards is based on the command turreted version of the M2A4F. This is equipped with a 22cm, discarding-sabot rail-gun and the rear of the turret bulge mounts a small turret with a 1cm gatling rail-gun. The command variant of this vehicle is indistinguishable from the standard version. Infantry are carried in what is effectively an up armoured M9 Command Car, the M9A14 Crew Car. This has frontal reinforcement compared to a standard Command Car and has two roof mounted 1cm gatling rail-gun turrets mounted off set so that they can both fire forwards and backwards with little impedance. The Crew Car carries just one 4 man squad of infantry: it's fair to say that the dependence on infantry has been reduced in the Division's front line forces, although rear echelon forces still use tracked vehicles and infantry can - and are - transported in the Thyssen TR21 APC which takes twelve men. A command variant on the M9A14 Crew Car is identical: it is armed in the same way though it does not carry an infantry contingent. The Thyssen TR28 12cm twin heavy mortar is still used where needed, as are the tracked  recovery vehicles.