Skova-H.I. Horus

A mobile suit from Anno Astra:

Skova-H.I. Horus

Standard medium mobile suit for the High Ennead's armies. Built entirely by state-owned industries in the Ra system, the Horus was developed with technical assistance from Tien Kuo and the Midgard Union as part of a trade agreement involving naturally occurring superdense compounds. It is designed primarily for terrestrial combat, and is considered highly suitable for high-speed flanking maneuvers.

It can achieve ground-effect and low-level flight, even without the assistance of its Minovsky T-Drives, by using a combination of air-breathing thermonuclear jet turbines and load bearing, variable-angle airfoils. In Earthlike conditions, on level ground, it can attain speeds of up to 500 kph using both its Minovsky Drives, weigh reduction systems and air-breathing turbines. Its ground effect system is also powerful enough for sustained operations over water. Telescoping sections within its abdomen and upper legs permit it to lower its height, improving stability at high speeds while reducing drag and sensor cross-section. To protect the turbines, the Horus uses both electrostatic and mechanical filters to remove dust entering its air intakes.

Due to its design, the Horus does not mount any heavy shoulder hardpoints. To offset this, its airfoils have stores pylons capable of handling a wide range of ordnance, most commonly guided missiles, hypervelocity rocket pods, pulse lasers and light coilguns. Handheld weapons loadout usually consist of an assault coilgun (such as the Ekaterinian NR-57) and medium folding shield, or a variable-velocity coil-launcher and a shortened version of the assault coilgun.

To save weight and facilitate its height-adjustment feature, the Horus uses so-called 'Micro-Mail' armour to protect large portions of its abdomen, neck and upper legs. The 'Micro-Mail' armour is composed of myriad interlinked plates, likened to a cross between medieval armour of lamellar and mail construction. It has great flexibility while providing decent protection against shrapnel, laser fire and medium-velocity projectiles. Each plate, when energized, locks electromagnetically to its neighbours, becoming a solid, rigid whole. It has some protective value against plasma and particle beams while in this state. Beneath this is a ballistic polyamide fabric layer, which provides added protection against the elements and also acts as a spall liner.

While optimized for high-speed ground combat, the Horus is woefully deficient in zero-g vacuum. Its verniers, asides from its turret binders, are few and poorly sited due to the internal space requirements of its ground-effect systems. This necessitated the use of add-on vernier thrusters and propellant tanks, consequently reducing its maximum ordnance payload. On a more general note, the portions of its anatomy protected by 'Micro-Mail' are quite vulnerable to high-velocity coilgun fire and conventional shaped-charge warheads, a deficiency shared by the air intakes. It was felt that these design trade-offs were counteracted by its higher speeds, although this conclusion remains to be proven in a conflict of note.

Edit:

Forgot to add that the big feet provide more surface area, lowering ground pressure and allowing it to operate on soft ground without sinking as much as other MS in the same weight class. It also provides for a larger air cushion during ground-effect mode; less pressure is needed to sustain the same weight.