| APK-MCC "Falcon" Helicopter | |
| |
| Faction |  Allied Nations
|
| Unit Type | Gunship |
| Designation | Assassination Target |
| Tier | N/A |
| Production Building | N/A |
| Secondary Ability | Land/Take Off |
| Cost | N/A |
| Production Time | N/A |
| Heroic Upgrade | N/A |
| Dev. Status | Conceptual |
| Country of Origin |  New Zealand
|
| Produced by | Apteryx Aircraft, Christchurch |
| Key Features | » Mk. 1970 Advanced C4ISR Suite » FHG-30 .50 cal Door Gun (x2) » RFA-BURST Missile Launcher (x2) » "Athena" Equipment Enhancer Array » All-terrain rugged landing gear |
"Let's show them who's boss!"
- - Allied Officer, commanding from a Falcon
Tactical Analysis[]
- Who's in charge here?: The Falcon Command Helicopter is one of the most advanced machine to ever take to the skies. Bursting with advanced communication and simulation systems and with enough room for the pilot, the commander and his or her full battle staff, the Falcon enables the commander to relay instructions to his troops while remaining near the frontlines.
- All guns ablazing: Naturally, with such precious cargo aboard, the Falcon is bristling with weapons. It is armed with 2 .50 cal door guns that tear right through infantry formations, as well as a pair of burst firing missile launchers which can wreck armoured columns with ease. It is also equipped with an "Athena" Equipment Enhancer Array, which enhances the capabilities of nearby Allied troops.
- VTOAL: Additionally, the Falcon also has extremely rugged landing gear, enabling all terrain landing when the enemy's AA count gets dangerously high. Do note that all its guns remain functioning when landed, but it is unable to move. Naturally, this ability lends a great deal of flexibility to the Falcon, so use it to your advantage.
- Just...keep me alive please: However, with the Falcon rated at the highest priority target on the "MUST KILL" list of the enemy, you can be assured that they will send everything they can at you to take it down. Additionally, it also has one of the weakest armour among Assassination Targets, coming in a close second after the Himmelhammer Van. Hence, protection is key to its survival.
Operational History[]
During the Third World War the Allies realized a need of improving communications between the forces on the field and the commanders. The standard was to rely on radio communications, with most forces and vehicles equipped with a radio, but sometimes signal disturbancies would interrupt communications, with heavy losses as a result; the most prominent example being the Battle of Reims, where half a tank division was lost due to the commander's radio malfunctioning.
Usually, the commander would be located in the nearest Allied base, and in a mobile command post (usually a converted half track or APC) if the nearest military base would be too far away. Allied operational research, based on existing Allied statistics, had shown that communication problems were reduced by a whopping 60% if the commander was less than a mile away from the battlefield. However, Mobile Command Posts had their own problems. Both the Allies and the Soviets had various methods of locating the enemy command post.
While such command posts were invariably well protected, with static ones usually well within a well fortified base and mobile ones protected by air defence vehicles and armoured vehicles, both sides still took their toll of commanders. The converted half tracks the Allies used, while boasting more radios, greater speed and less distractions, had less space, less armour and less firepower than the converted superheavy tanks the Soviets preferred. Following an incident where an entire elite French division was annihilated after they were thrown into disarray following the death of their division commander at the hands of a squadron of the dreaded Soviet Twinblades, the Allies resolved to solve the problem.
The French commander, who was one of the Allies' best generals, was only the latest in a long list of dead generals, colonels and majors killed while fighting against the unstoppable Soviet juggernaut, then pushing its way across Europe. The dreaded Soviet Twinblades proved to be most effective at hunting down mobile command posts, and the Soviets were only getting better at pinpointing the location of Allied command vehicles.
The Allies were taking a heavy toll of commanders, and many inexperienced deputies and surbordinates found themselves suddenly promoted into the unfamilar positions of their superiors, only to be killed shortly after in action. Hoping to end the vicious cycle or at least slow it, the Allies poured more increasing amounts of funding into improving communication systems, whie simultaneously putting out a contract for a dedicated and survivable mobile command post.
The contract was eventually given to New Zealand-based Apteryx Aircraft, who proposed a heavy helicopter for the purpose. By December 1968, the "Falcon" Mobile Command Helicopter was in production, equipped with a state of the art C4ISR suite, large transport capacity and multiple weapon systems.
By the time it was completed, however, the war was nearing its end, and the helicopter never saw much use in the war. It was, however, deemed a success in the Allied retaking of Iberia, where it was used most oftenly; both the battles of Madrid and Valencia were commanded from Falcons. Currently, the Falcon has been distributed to about a third of all the Allied field officers, to be used if deemed necessary. With the end of the war and advances in long range communication, the need for a dedicated mobile command post has lessened considerably, and the expense of such helicopters means that the Allies have stopped production while their operational research division reviews the effectiveness of the Falcon.
The helicopter is armed with both guns and missile launchers for fending off enemy combatants, who would obviously prioritize the Falcon if present as its destruction would send the force into chaos. The Allies have also developed a new equipment enhancer array based on the Athena Network System, which is connected with most weapons and armours that the Allies use, improving their capabilities when close, proving its worth even more.
However, even though it is filled to the brim with measures for combat, it still needs to be covered due to the absolute need of survival. If the Falcon is lost, so is the battle. In order to avoid enemy anti-air, which it is vulnerable against, the helicopter can also land at will if the threat from anti aircraft weaponry is too high.
