(Timeline 3177) The Type-37 Ikazuchi airborne strike Mech is the most common mech in service of the Imperial Japanese Army. Since it was put into production in 2182, more than half a million of these second generation mechs have marched off of imperial assembly lines. These mechs not only see widespread service to the Chrysanthemum Throne, but are also a popular export item, several other states, including the Tsardom of Romanova, the Free Nizamate of New Hindustan, the Republic of Zion and the Turkish Republic.
The Ikazuchi is fairly small, standing only eight meters tall and weighing about 16 tonnes. Its armor is rated against small arms and can offer some protection against heavy machine gun fire, but the Ikazuchi is still comparatively fragile. Its main advantage is flight. Using a powerful jet engine, countergravity systems and two manuvering wings an Ikazuchi mech can fly at speeds of up to 500 km per hour. Should the flight modual be damaged, it can be ejected. If it is jetisoned in flight, the countergravity systems generally allow the mech to safely land. Like all Japanese mechs, it is operated through a bio-feedback system. Nearly 75% of the Imperial Pilots that rated to operate these war machines are women.
The standard armament of the Ikazuchi is a Type-7 beam rifle. This weapon draws power through a connection in the right hand and can be set to various power settings to either maintain a continious beam of energy or fire a single short intense burst which can be a threat to even even some medium tanks if fired at their side armor. It also has little recoil, but takes some time between shots due to cooldown. They are also equiped with six wing mounted missiles, either for anti-air or anti-vehicle work, a bayonet and a 6.5mm machine gun in the left arm as a back up weapon. Customization is often the case and non standard mechs are commonly used by specialist teams.
The Ikazuchi stands as the Vanguard of any planetary offensive the Empire launches. Whole divisions of these mechs are generally deployed at the first wave of planetfall, scouting out and clearing landing zones, forcing enemy columns to spread out, harasment and manuver warfare. They are also useful in urban combat, making use of their VTOL and ground combat capacity to quickly move to engage trouble spots. In the Japanese Empire's war with the European Alliance, the Ikazuchi has proven quite sucessful in its intended role. This has prompted interest by the European Alliance's high command and has begun various programs to make counters for the Ikazuchi.
Standing some 20 meters tall and weighing in at 200 tonnes, the Type 50 Yokai Heavy Assault Mech is an imposing sight and one feared on the battlefield. Introduced in 2203, they are the first members of the Third Generation of Combat Mechs used by the Imperial Japanese Military. Though they are expensive and so far only 65,000 have been produced, their effectiveness on the battlefield makes even a single Yokai a force which is met with awe by the forces of the Empire and dread by its enemies.
Yokai Assault mechs are armed with a variety of weapons. The most common (Seen here) is a 95mm Rail rifle. Firing high speed AP rounds at a rate of 300 RPM (or at a slower rate if nessisary), this weapon can make a mockery of most tank's armor. For harder targets, a set of vertical launching missiles are employed. Its secondary weapons are a pair of wrist mounted laser cannons comprable in output to that of Ikazuchi mech's beam rifle (albiet with a further reduced rate of fire for full power shots). For defense, the Yokai is heavily armored, but also possesses a highly miniaturized defense screen generator. This allows the Yokai to establish a frontal defense screen. This can only be maintained for periods of a few minutes before overheating, but it can make the front of a Yokai highly resistant to missiles and shockwaves (though it does not offer much protection against high speed kinetic impactors which can get through.
Yokai are generally used alongside Imperial Armored columns of Medium and Light Tanks. While they are slow, few things save for ultraheavy tanks such as the European SpW-45 Reichsritter one on one. Their weaknesses is their slow speed (at best 50km/h) and their weak back armor. The prefered tactic by the European Alliance when engaging Yokai with main battle tanks is to strike at them from two sides at one with superior numbers.
