Third Generation 

 King Crab

 Amphibious Heavy Assault Mech

Mass:

16 tons

Chassis:

Non-Humanoid Type 1 crab

 Length:

 13' 2"

 Width

 [shoulder to shoulder]: 11' 3"

Profile or side:

 main shell 5' 7"[Legs max extension 8' 9"]

Power Plant:

Cold fusion model 1F

Cruising Speed:

31.0 km/h [land] 

19.0 km/h [swimming]

Maximum Speed:

46 km/h [land] (sideways)

35 km/h [submerged](requires use of legs and water propulsion system on ocean floor)

ARMOUR:

front:

3cm Clear vision Composite Protective Crystal with integral 0.25 cm  unobtainium mesh screen

Top or Back:

 2.5 cm unobtainium 

Bottom: 

1.0 cm unobtainium   

 Arm and Claws:

 1.5 cm unobtainium. 

Legs:

 1.5 cm unobtainium 

Armament:

Top hull:

  Integrated Missile/Torpedo Launcher, 'Revolver Style' eight rounds fully optional firing choice.

(Primary Load is often PL-9 or other heat seeking variants along with a few  mini-torpedo.)

 (Includes single encrypted transmission radio/sonar guidance antenna) 

Bottom hull:

Single integral mine/torpedo Launcher, four rounds.

(Primary Load any torpedo or mine up to 2.5 meters in lenth and a maximum loaded diameter of  165 mm) 

(Also mounts a single encrypted transmission radio/sonar guidance Antenna).

(Cavitation Rocket torpedo's exist) 

Right Arm mounts:

20mm Gatling Cannon  2000 rpm cyclic, 5 round burst, 180 round drum feed

(Primary Load: case less Depleted Uranium sabot rounds mixed with conventional ball rounds).

Two Barrel 1.5 meter shoulder fired missiles or Mini-Torpedo Launcher 16 rpm cyclic, 2 round burst, 8 round drum.

(Primary load: 1.5 meter torpedo acoustic homing  3 kilometer range.) 

Left Arm mounts: 

 Mini-Torpedo/Missile Launcher 32 rpm cyclic, 4 round burst 16 round drum.

(Primary Load: 1.5 meter torpedo or any of the inventory of shoulder fire 1.5 meter missiles telemetry link possible with on-board sensors). 

7.62 Machine Gun 500 rpm cyclic, 5 round burst, 500 round belt feed.

(case-less rounds with a mixture of ball, tracer and jacketed.)

Manipulators:

Both arms outfitted with Servo-Synchronized gripping crab claw.

(The claws are optimized for crushing or cutting and are incompatible with optional pistol or rifle manipulator equipment for other mecha.)

 Leg mounts:

each of the six legs has a adapter that allows for the bolting on of the 0.5 ton optional pistol heavy weapon system.

(The optional 0.5 ton pistol system originally intended for the manipulators of a Iron man mecha cannot be removed or reloaded under field conditions.)

Rear mount:

Launch able robotic torpedo Sub  

( Maximum direct control range fifteen kilometers by spread spectrum wide band ultrasonic digital link)

(The sub can be equipped with a droppable explosives).

Propulsion/Maneuvering:

Primary Swimming Thrust: Magnetic Hydraulic Drive (MHD, 'Caterpillar') System.

Primary Land or ocean floor Thrust: Heavy Hydraulic Servo-Legs.

Control:

conventional  by crew of 2

(pilots required to be under 5.3 feet.)

Manufacturer(s):

Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology 

Communications System:

Izhevsk Mechanical Works spread spectrum

Targeting & Tracking System:

Izhevsk Mechanical Works (Izhmash)  

Production Dates

Prototype 2012 (< 100 units), production 2020 (constant , but very low level production)

OVERVIEW

The model #AA-569 described above is an amphibious mecha inspired by the body shape of a crab. It was first  prototyped in 2012 and was heavily criticized for being a overly specialized clumsy design with limited usefulness outside the coastal region.  In addition poor training of test pilots, early teething problems, several  design flaws  and the harshness of the intended operational environment quickly earned these prototype an aura of being a unforgiving clumsy design that was a widow maker.  It is ironic that after the 2012 production run ended and the mecha were being sold off that it quickly became the darling of the Chinese and Russian  mecha research centers looking for a large mecha to test experimental technology and weapons on.

The majority of the less than one hundred 2012 prototypes produced were given over to various  mecha research centers and it was these King Crabs that first saw many of the improvements intended for the more humanoid mecha's.  Most King Crabs stationed at testing or research centers had the integral top missile/torpedo and the bottom mine/probe systems removed and various types of weapons systems cycled through the top mount.  King Crabs were armed with with everything from 125  mm main tank guns to the more exotic Laser and Rail or coil guns. Given it's popularity with the research centers less than twenty of the earliest prototypes were sold to allied nations.  In spite of this at least three early model King Crabs have been confirmed to be floating around in the black market.  In 2015 these three mecha successfully executed a simultaneous midnight raid of Metro Banks and The Bank of the Philippines along with a nearby Lexcorp robotics research center before using the King crabs aquatic abilities to successfully escape into the ocean.

The earliest prototype used the artificial muscle fibers in the legs and claws, but the high voltage needed by the fibers made them prone to catastrophic failure in water. In at least one case seal leaks caused the electrocution of  both the pilot and copilot.  In all following prototypes the muscle fibers in the legs were replaced with a mixed system that used conventional hydraulic cylinders and plumbing within the legs, while moving the artificial muscle fibers to the main body where they were used to pump the oil. This greatly reduced the vulnerability of the six legs at the cost of requiring a significant reduction in cockpit size.

In 2020 a small force of kryptonian enhanced Algerian nationals successfully performed a amphibious assault through occupying Libyan forces and the King Crab was again put into production.  As limited production was hurriedly resumed the pilots still operating the 2012 production run mecha successfully lobbied to have only raw recruits selected and trained exclusively to pilot the King Crab. These new pilots along with a core of test pilots from the research centers quickly disproved the belief that the design was clumsy and demonstrated that the six legs and extra mass of the King Crab made it a superior platform for all the heavy weapons being produced for the UltraDragons..   

The 2020 and all later production of King Crab mech  have the addition of a Electronic Disruption Field that could scramble lightly shielded electronics within fifty meters.  In the late 2020's many King Crabs often replaced the arm 20 mm gatling cannon with a Railgun with a far slower firing rate that was far harder hitting .  

Many King Crabs also came out armed with the same large railgun as the Ultradragon, but the combination of  the stable multi-leg shape and easy access to water allowed the firing rates to be double that of the Dragon or Ultradragon.