User:Rotaretilbo/M428 Fennec Main Battle Tank

Summary
The M428 Fennec is a main battle tank produced by the UNSC. The M428 is named after the fennec fox (aka desert fox), a throwback to World War II commander Erwin Rommel, nicknamed the desert fox. It is a well armed, heavily armored, and highly mobile tank designed for modern armored ground warfare. Notable features include the use of a powerful gas turbine engine and sophisticated composite armor. It is the heaviest tank in service, weighing in at over 80 tonnes. The M428 Fennec entered service in 2513. Two main versions of the M428 Fennec have been deployed, the M428 and M428B, incorporating improved armament, protection, and electronics. It was the principal combat tank of the UNSC alongside the M808 Scorpion Light Reconnaissance Tank. The M428 did not see nearly as much combat during the Covenant War as its lighter counterpart, however, because it was more difficult to transport, being significantly heavier. The M428 saw the most action later in the war on inner colonies such as Reach, but was also deployed to outer colonies in small quantities. During the Battles of Earth, the M428 lead the charge against Covenant forces, especially in regions of Northern Asia, North America, and Western Europe. It was retired in 2554 and replaced by the M1000 Tiger.

Design
The M428 was designed in the late stages of the Insurrection in response to increased use of IEDs by rebels. The M428 was virtually completely resistant to most improvised bombs of regular size, and were more ideal for urban combat than the slower, lightly armored Scorpion.

M358 Smoothbore Cannon
The M358 is one of the heaviest guns to be deployed on a combat tank in the UNSC during the early-mid 26th century. It features an improved fire-control system that aids the gunner by calculating range and arc to put the round where the gunner is aiming. The fire-control system also features an optional uplink to the neutral interface system, to allow for single-crew control of the vehicle, though not optimal. The M358 fires M979 munition, an iridium dart with a long tungsten sabot and tungsten fins.

M247T Medium Machine Gun
The M247T is a common machine gun used in ground vehicles. In the Fennec's case, the M247T is pintel-mounted, allowing the gunner to fire it along the same basic trajectory as the main gun. It fires heavy 7.62 rounds, and is accurate for short and medium combat.

AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun
The AIE-486 is mounted in front of the commander's hatch, and is used primarily for anti-air purposes.

Reach
The M428 was used briefly to defend several of the generators for the orbital MAC platforms across the planet. In most cases, Fennecs were destroyed in friendly air bombardments, and those that remained were quickly overrun by Covenant forces. Some Fennec tanks were used to try and retake specific generators, but the loss of HIGHCOM threw most everything into chaos, and all remaining tanks were destroyed.

Earth
The M428 saw extensive use at Berlin, Petrograd, Houston, and the surrounding areas. M428s were used to defend cities, and recapture those that had already been taken. The M428 was never deployed to Africa, as that area was glassed before any large transports could move the heavier tanks.

Other
The M428 saw brief use on several outer colonies, and also some use on most of the inner colonies, during the Covenant War.