The Tirat Forward Liasion Vehicle
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“An amphibious, obnoxious little shit of a creature.” Catherine Wellon: Field Notes and Personal Diaries, Volume 1 University of Victoria Press, 2207 While the new Redkat IFV more than adequately fills a great number of second-line roles, and even a limited number of first-line ones, the Wellon Army recognised that there were a considerable number of roles for which the vehicle selected for the FWCV programme would be overkill. They therefore ran a parallel programme for a Forward Liaison Vehicle and much to the disgust of various military vehicle manufacturers named NWV as the winner of the FLV competition as well as the FWCV. In practise it was no contest, the degree of commonality between the two vehicles was just too great to ignore, the Tirat was simply a stretched version of the Redkat’s Command Module, the greater wheelbase giving it the stability that the Command Module lacked on its own and the space to be customised for the FLV role. Like the Redkat the Tirat immediately spawned a whole family of variants and may in fact become NWV’s most profitable vehicle line if current trends continue.
FV842 Tirat Forward Liaison Vehicle FV8421 Tirat-A Armoured Ambulance FV8422 Tirat-L Logistics Vehicle FV8423 Tirat-S Security Vehicle FV8424 Tirat-E Electronic Warfare Vehicle FV8425 Tirat-C Command Liaison Vehicle FV843 Tirat-P Internal Security Vehicle FV8431 Tirat-PC Command Vehicle FV8432 Tirat-I Incident Control Vehicle
FV8434 Tirat-N Special Liaison Vehicle Variants The Tirat is produced in two basic forms, the FV842 military variant and the FV843 paramilitary variant. The prime differences between the two are a lower level of armour on the paramilitary vehicle and the deletion of certain military specific sensors. Less visibly the FV843 family lacks the NBC filtration system of the FV842. The two variants each have their own families of role-specialised variants.
FV842 Tirat Forward Liaison Vehicle The baseline variant of the Tirat has the
driver, commander and gunner stations of the Redkat Command Module,
but immediately behind them the Tirat fits a passenger section with
space for four fully equipped troops. The vehicle can be accessed by
the commander or gunner’s hatches, by two small side doors into the
troop compartment or by a large rear ramp. The troop seats can be rapidly
folded flat to the floor to allow up to one tonne of cargo to be carried.
The basic vehicle mounts the Redkat’s Class B1 turret with its VR5 GMG,
30mm AGL and Verlet Defender, though for lower threat environments the
B2 or the Verlet Sentry Remote Weapon Mount can be substituted. Firing
ports are provided to the sides and rear (one each).
FV8421 Tirat-A Armoured Ambulance The Tirat-A was the first Tirat variant to be fielded, meeting an urgent need for an armoured ambulance in the Field Ambulance units of Wellon’s reserve forces, which had been using unarmoured range-truck variants. Able to take two stretchers or three seated patients along with a med-tech the prime difference between the Tirat-A and the baseline Tirat is the fitting of a bulged rear-door in place of the ramp, this was necessary to give sufficient space to carry a stretcher longitudinally. The baseline Tirat-A is unarmed, but vehicles sent to the French arm have been retrofitted with the Verlet Sentry for self-defence. Vehicles with this modification are classified as the FV8421 Mod 1.
FV8422 Tirat-L Logistics Vehicle
FV8423 Tirat-S Security Vehicle
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