HAVr A11.02 Halberd-class Heavy Repulsortank

The success of the AT-AT has been universally acknowledged throughout the imperial military, as their great firepower, range, and armour gave their armies significant advantages. However, while the rest of the Kuat Drive Yards are content with the success, KDY designer Loria Entralla Rieper saw that the AT-AT is far from perfect. When solely used as a firepower platform, the AT-ATs are unnecessarily large, making them difficult to deploy in sufficient numbers, and its excessive weight and the ground pressure of the walkers made them impractical on worlds with soft terrain. Aiming to create a more compact and more versatile vehicle without sacrificing firepower and protection, Rieper convinced the KDY to begin the development of a new type of vehicle.

To save time and resources, KDY engineers aimed to base the new vehicle on existing designs, combining the chassis of the AT-AT swimmer with repulsor skis. The product failed to meet the specifications, as the vehicle is still far too large and clumsy to be deployed on a tight timetable. Following the initial failure, Rieper took the project into her own hands and started from scratch. It was decided that the new vehicle would be a type of heavy repulsor tank, and while it does allow the new vehicle to be drastically smaller and lighter, the heavy laser cannon of the AT-AT at max power setting produced too much recoil for a hovertank. To overcome the challenge, Rieper drew inspiration from the republic UT-AT project and made use of Mekuun Cooperation’s Repulsorlift ski technology, which allowed the new repulsor tank to reverse the repulsor lift and settle the vehicle firmly on the terrain below, allowing the vehicle to brace for much higher recoil in a “siege mode”, should the need for max power setting occurs when besieging enemy positions.

The new repulsor tank prototype HAVr A11.01 was completely different than existing repulsor tanks, as the prototype is significantly heavier and slower, but comes with vastly improved armour and armament, tailored to combat another armoured combat vehicle instead of speeders and infantry. The prototype went into trails and showed great potential, while also exposing many flaws. The vehicle lacked sufficient weaponry to engage infantry, having only a coaxial blaster rifle in the turret, as well as a pistol port on the hull, which proved too fragile and impractical. To compensate for this, an improved version, designated as HAVr A11.02 was produced, featuring 2 additional heavy blaster rifles as well as a grenade mortar that can deploy thermal detonators, frag grenades, and smoke grenades.

When the HAVr A11.02 Halberd-class Heavy Repulsortank was officially approved for production, the product of Rieper’s program was no doubt one of the slowest, but also one of the most powerful repulsor tank in the galaxy, offering a smaller, more flexible alternative to the AT-AT when its function as a troop transport is not needed. Featuring the same firepower and armour of an AT-AT on a repulsortank chassis made the vehicle a strong contender against the heaviest of walkers and tanks, as well as a favourite amongst worlds with lighter military threat or difficult terrain.