Talk:AFOH/@comment-14850713-20171214151121

IC:

The High Command has ordered the replacement of the Cheval APC and its derivatives with the new Cohort APC which is based on the Mauler MBT and the Cataphract IFV, giving the armored and mechanized infantry divisions improved armor protection and type commonality. The Cheval will henceforth serve only in support brigades, with the Cohort serving all combat brigade requirements (including C3I, engineering and medevac). Resembling a turret-less Cataphract, the Cohort is also the basis for the new Petain SPGH, which replaces the long-serving Roland, and the Spartan Multi-role Combat System (MCS), which replaces the SMA SAM/SSM launcher.

The Petain is in reality a turreted assault gun with the capability to provide indirect fire. Heavily-armored and with full Protektor III APS, it is armed with a conventional 150mm gun-howitzer, and can serve as a stop-gap tank destroyer if the situation calls for it. Its protection and mobility allows it to accompany tanks as they close-in with an adversary, with the proximity to decimate follow-on units.

The Spartan MCS addresses a key shortcoming of the SMA, which is its difficulty to be reloaded in the frontline due to its vertical-launcher configuration. Also, as SMA batteries are dual-role, their lack of an integral Tiger Eye and dependence on the accompanying radar vehicle hampers it in the air defense mission, specially in fluid, mobile warfare. The Spartan mounts 2 armored box launchers, each with 2 pods containing 4 Helios SAM/SSM missile per pod (or 1 Harpoon) giving the Spartan a lower load-out vs. the SMA (16 Helios or 4 Harpoons vs. the latter's 24 and 6). These and the latest light version of Tiger Eye are mounted on an armored automated turret. The modular launchers are also interchangeable with a 76mm Oto Melara gun pod (with 120 rounds), which allows the Spartan to act as a CIWS/C-RAM weapon and demonstrates its versatility.