Overview: The CBR-6S is unique in that it was produced entirely engine, weapons, airframe and armor - by the same company, Cobalt Enterprises. No one has any idea of the ownership or location of Cobalt Enterprises. ComStar declines to state what knowledge they possess. Capabilities: The Cerberus was designed as an all-purpose attack craft. This would explain the name, which refers to the threeheaded dog of the Greek underworld. Although most weapons with supposed "Jack of All Trades" capabilities, (like LAMs) perform at least some of these functions at a mediocre level, the Cerberus is the exception. It performs all of its tasks amazingly well. For its weight the Cerberus is a marvel. It has the same armor a craft nearly twice as massive as itself, it is faster than most other fighters its size, it has a large fuel capacity tan the average fighter, and it can inflict more damage than the other fighters in its class. The CBR-6S was designed mainly for atmospheric combat. The air frame of the fighter enables the pilot to utilize the atmosphere to the fullest while maneuvering. Those who have flown the craft within atmosphere say that it is the smoothest handling ship they've ever piloted. They also point out that its space ride leaves much to be desired. The Cerberus's strafing attack is devastating, but the craft is still fast enough to carry heavy bombs. This makes the CBR-6S one of the most deadly air-support vehicles in existence. The only major design flaw in the fighter is its problems with overheating. Fighters loose more heat sinks in battle than any other war machine does. As a fighter does not have enough sinks to begin with, the results can be disastrous. Battle History: As far as anyone can tell, the CRB-6S is a completely new design - one of the very few new designs of the past hundred years. The Cerberus appeared only three years ago under very odd circumstances. During a Kurita raid on Cassias, a Davion border world near the Periphery, a skirmish between a heavy company of Kuritan raiders and Davion militia was underway in a river valley. Suddenly and without warning, six CRB-6S's screamed out of the sky from all directions. Each of the six fighters made a single strafing run on the river. Although the targets of this attack seemed to be entirely random, more Kuritan 'Mechs than Davion were immobile when it ended. The remaining fighter dropped a heavy smoke bomb into the fray, obscuring vision and sensors. When the smoke cleared, the fighters had disappeared and the six remaining Kuritan 'Mechs were dispatched by the Davion militia. Out of the six fighters, only one had been damaged. An alert Kuritan Archer pilot fired two salvos at one fighter, and managed to hit its cockpit. The Davion defenders were informed by their command that the fighters had landed on top of a large plateau nearby. No one could have been more surprised than the Davion commander when two of the five remaining fighters were found abandoned there, cockpits open to the sun. On the seat of the craft were copies of the plans for the CRB-6S, a small silver figurine of a bizarre helmet (the top of which opened, revealing a silver sculpture of a human brain), and a note saying "To the finder: Merry Christmas from Cobalt Enterprises". It has not been determined who piloted the fighters, or where the pilots went after the attack. Similar events occurred within five weeks on the SteinerMarik border and the Liao/Periphery border. All occurred in basically the same way, except that the squadron split up, giving fighters to both sides. The same props were left behind. Each of the Successor States have at least one of these fighters now. Variants: As the CRB-6S is a new design (and a limited one atthat), there are no existing variants; the New Avalon Institute of Military Science has considered turning one medium laser on each wing around, making a somewhat better space fighter at the cost of some strafing ability. Notable Fighters and Pilots: Leftenant Jeffry Stalin Stalin is notable not because he is an extraordinary pilot, but because he is one of the few people to pilot the CRB- 6S. As a member of the air lance in that great NAIS experiment in force synthesis, the Solar Blade Companies (Jeffry is in the third), he sees a lot of ground action. Therefore he fights within the atmosphere as much as possible and strafes, given any opportunity. Although Stalin has developed an uncanny peripheral vision, keeping track of every participant in a combat without actually watching them, he relies even more on luck, creativity, and his jet-black Cerberus, the 'Make My Day'. CBR-6S Cerberus Aerospace Fighter Tonnage: 50 tons Frame: CE-Kree IV Engine: CE 250 Armament: 1 CE-Nukis Heavy Laser CE-Hellbeam Medium Lasers Manufacturer: Cobalt Enterprises Communications System: CE-8549176320 s Targeting / Tracking System: CE-Warlok I Simulator Stats: Type: CIBR-6S Cerberus Tons: Tonnage: 50 tons 50 Thrust: 7 Overthrust: 11 Structural Integrity: 7 Engine 250 12.5 Fuel: 90 6 Cockpit: 3 Heat Sinks: 15 5 Armor: 200 12.5 Armor Factor: Cockpit: 6+10 Nose: 60 Wings: 33 Fuselage: 46 Engine: 32 Weapons: Type: Location Large Laser Nose 5 Medium Laser Nose 1 Medium Laser RW 1 Medium Laser RW 1 Medium Laser LW 1 Medium Laser LW 1 Medium Laser Rear 1 Back to BattleTechnology 10 Table of Contents Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1988 by Pacific Rim Publishing. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com