Howler

The Howler is the Main Battle Tank of the Orion Nero Initiative, used by the Star Corps and conceived for modern armoured ground warfare.

Known Howler Tanks

 * 1st Tank Battalion
 * Rhino Company
 * Rhino 1
 * Rhino 2
 * Rhino 3
 * Badger Company
 * Badger 1
 * Badger 2
 * Badger 3
 * 2nd Tank Battalion
 * Trident Company
 * Trident 1
 * Trident 5

Characteristics
Crew

The Howler tank consists of a crew of 4: 1 Tank Commander, 1 Driver, 1 Loader, 1 Gunner.

Armament

The Howler tank has an extensive range of weapons, with its primary weapon being the 125mm Smoothbore Cannon. The shells that a Howler tank use include a standard Armour-Piercing Shell, High-Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) Shell, Kinetic Energy Penetrator (KEP) Shell, Smoke Shells and Illuminator Shells.

Its secondary weapons include a mounted .50 Calibre machine gun on the Commander's hatch, a mounted 7.62mm M240 Machine gun on the Loader's hatch and a coaxial mounted 7.62 M240 Machine Gun.

Protection

The Main armour used on the Howler is Composite armour which is a type of vehicle armour consisting of layers of different material such as metals, plastics, ceramics and/or air. The armour wraps the entire vehicle and helps defend the Howler defeat HEAT Projectiles.

The Active Protection System (APS) used by the Howler Tank is the Trophy which allows for the safety disarming of incoming shells. The Trophy system works by firing a shotgun of projectiles towards the flight course of incoming projectiles and each shotgun pellet is capable of destroying the projectile. However, the only projectile the Trophy System cannot destroy are the sharp KEP shells, unlike the Afghanit system. The Multiple Explosively Formed Penetrators (MEFP) are located on both sides of the turret, at the front and back, and are capable of destroying all projectiles within a 190 degree radius. EFP can only fire a single shotgun burst before needing to reload, leaving the vehicle vulnerable from two or more projectiles coming in from the same side.