War Machine Profile #9: G-9A Jaguar Light Robot Vehicle

By Brian Hardwick

Overview: The Jaguar is one of two designs built by the Republic of Columbia in South America. The Jaguar is an important weapon in the Columbians war with the neighboring vampire kingdom, with over 100 in service. Production, however, is slowed by the fact that the Columbians cannot build the nuclear power plant needed for the vehicle--Instead they are imported from the Silver River Republics.

The most interesting fact about the design is that it is of pre-Rifts origin. The Columbians have actually salvaged pre-Rifts models and put them into service. Unfortunately, we don’t know for sure who the original designer is. Whoever it was, the Jaguar was designed to be an excellent striker, combining firepower, armor and speed into one platform.

Firepower:The Jaguar’s firepower is concentrated in its left arm: a 20mm Auto-Cannon. Firing a 40 round burst, this powerful gun offers not only the range of a rail gun but a better punch on average as well. The location of weapon on the arm provides a good range of motion for the pilot in combat. The usefulness of the auto-cannon is further demonstrated by the Columbians anti-vampire wood rounds, capable of shredding a vampire. Designed for sustained battles the auto-cannon has a enormous payload of 16,000 rounds! This gives the pilot the ability to fire the weapon an amazing 400 times!

Backing the auto-cannon up are powerful lasers mounted in the "eyes" of the robot. The range of the lasers equal that of the auto-cannon, and their power matches that used on many Coalition vehicles. Finally, the Jaguar has twin shoulder mini-missile launchers. With a respectable combined payload of 32 total missiles, these launchers provide a quick boost in firepower when fighting scattered infantry or used as a anti-missile or aircraft system. Here again we see the range of the mini-missiles complementing the other weapon systems.

Armor Protection: Protection for the Jaguar is adequate for its intended role, on par with such modern designs as the CS Hellfire.

Speed: The Jaguar’s top speed of 90 MPH makes it one of the faster designs, but many newer designs from other nations can overtake it. Still, in South America, only the Arkhon’s Great Cyclops Assault Robot can outrun it.

Deployment: The Jaguar is most numerous in the Columbians 1st Army Corps. Several units composed mostly of this design are deployed to rush enemy lines, provide flanking support and act as a quick reserve force. The design is also at home with the Columbians' "Aguirre" Heavy Combat Robot or with the "Zancudo" helicopter to form a highly mobile hunter-killer team.

As mentioned above, the Columbians deploy over 100 of the Jaguars in its Armed Forces. The design is also for sale on the open market. It’s quite possible that more than one of the "caudillos" have made a purchase or two of the design. The biggest buyer has been the city-state of Omagua.

Upgrades: While the Jaguar has good protection, a few additional plates of armor for the Main Body would be welcome. With the Columbians acceptance and use of Techno-Wizardry, it may be possible to use some TW enhancements to facilitate this. Expanding on the use of Techno-Wizardry, the usefulness of adding magic to make the Jaguar a stealth design should not be overlooked. Also, while it's not specifically mentioned, the design needs to be able to load both standard explosive rounds and anti-vampire wood rounds and the pilot only need to flip a switch to select between the two as the situation demands.