User:CarpeJugulum/M13C Defender Main Battle Tank

"They took the Spartan Laser and put it on a tank. And... well, it works pretty well."

- Anonymous UNSC tank driver

The M13C Defender was the main battle tank of the UNSC during the Fifty-Years' War.

Design
After the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC military began looking into directed energy weapons as the new standard for their soldiers. One of the first UNSC vehicles to succesfully utilize this technology was the Defender.

Designed specifically for anti-vehicle use, the Defender's cannon was little use against infantry. Its predecessor, the M080B Scorpion, had high explosive shells to create area damage, but the Defender's laser didn't have the ame area effect. The designer's answer was to mount three heavy machine guns and a computer-controlled missile launcher to return fire at hidden enemy infantry with anti-tank weapons.

The Defender also uses a drone programmed to seek out and destroy infantry targets armed with heavy weapons.

Variants

 * M13C/APC- an armored personnel carrier version of the Defender. The turret has been removed and the tank has been lengthened to make room for five infantrymen.
 * M13C/AA- an anti-aircraft version, this variant was equipped with higher-quality sensors and is smaller and lighter. Used mainly as a support vehicle, one of the HMGs has been removed.

Servicemen's quotes
"Well, I liked the old Scorpion, but this laser isn't half-bad."

"It's reliable- hardly ever breaks down-, powerful, and looks intimidating. The only thing that scares me when I'm in a Defender is some [Mike Foxtrot] with a launcher, and there's enough countermeasures to take care of that."