Bring death from above and support the US Fireflies with the heavily armed Linebacker Jump Walker!
Following the disastrous drop assault on Collegno in 1946, the limitations of the original M2 Mudskipper series became clear. While a perfectly satisfactory design, the Firefly jump infantry were in need of more versatile fire support when they dropped into combat. American designers developed an extensive series of refits for the Mudskipper to increase its tactical flexibility. An M21 Tesla cannon and innovative new universal mounts for secondary weapons enabled the walker to be quickly configured to face a wide variety of threats, more articulated legs and feet were much more resilient to the pressures of high-impact landings, and a new control system enabled it to be piloted by a single crewman without loss of utility. The new variant was dubbed the M2A5, and officially considered a continuation of the Mudskipper line rather than a distinct vehicle, but crews and Firefly troopers alike quickly dubbed it the ‘Linebacker’. The combat debut of the new model came in May 1947 when 200 Linebackers were rushed to the front line to help breach Axis lines during the siege of Stuttgart during Operation Valentine.