M29 Infantry Fighting Vehicle
From FABT
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Production information | |
Manufacturer: |
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Line: |
M |
Model: |
M29 |
Class: |
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Variant: |
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Technical information | |
Length: |
19.4m |
Width: |
6.5m |
Height/depth: |
8m |
Max acceleration: |
10-15 kilometers per hour |
Engine unit(s): |
1 Element Zero engine |
Power plant: |
2 Element Zero engines |
Shielding: |
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Hull: |
Composite armor |
Sensor systems: |
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Armament: |
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Crew: |
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Usage | |
Commissioned: |
20 June 2159 CE |
Decommissioned: |
3 February 2185 CE (still saw use in PMCs and other militaries until at least 2240 CE) |
Role(s): |
Infantry transport and support vehicle |
Era: |
Asari Cycle |
Affiliation: |
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- "A large, cumbersome beast the Grizzly. The marines say she's too slow for their liking, but if you ever needed an immovable force, the Grizzly would be your best bet. She's more of a heavy tank than a IFV, but she's tough, stubborn, and not easily beaten. A real grizzly."
- — Alliance gunnery sergeant.
The M29 Infantry Fighting Vehicle (M29 IFV), colloquially named as the Grizzly, was a class of infantry fighting vehicle that was employed by the Systems Alliance. Designed and built by NEO Ordnance Dynamics, the M29 Grizzly was one of many armoured fighting vehicles proposed to replace the M28 Angel, a vehicle which had significantly underperformed in the First Contact War. The Grizzly's design was more along the lines of a heavy tank than an infantry fighting vehicle, with a powerful main gun, thick composite armor and kinetic barriers: the engine for the vehicle however did not adequately compensate for these late iterations into the Grizzly's design, which resulted in a vehicle that was far too heavy, and thus possessing inadequate speed for the role it was intended for. Despite this, the Grizzly was a quick favourite in the Alliance Army, who valued it as a support vehicle, capable of limited infantry transport and as an artillery platform: however, the Alliance marines had the exact opposite opinion, who criticized the vehicle's lack of all-terrain capabilities, limiting where they could deploy it, and its slow speed hindering the fast movement the marines required for their operations. This meant that, while the Grizzly would continue to see service in the marines as a transport and infantry support vehicle, the majority of its service life was spent in the Army, where it was more popular and saw heavy use. The marines made use of a variant with even thicker hull plating and the bulky main gun replaced with an anti-infantry machine gun, utilized as a heavy recovery vehicle.
Despite this favored use, the Grizzly was not popular with higher-ranking officials within the Alliance military, who petitioned for a replacement to the Grizzly. With the M35 Mako deployed during the Skyllian Blitz to immense success, the Grizzly's days became officially numbered, with the decision to made to produce a replacement that would double down on the Grizzly's hybrid design of heavy tank, infantry fighting capabilities and transport deployments. The end result was the M30 Requiem main battle tank, entering service in 2180 CE. By 2185 CE, the last Grizzly had been mothballed and removed from Alliance service, although many more had already entered circulation across the galaxy and even served in numerous PMCs and Earth-based militaries, but within the Alliance military, its role was entirely supplanted by the M30 Requiem and M35 Mako. Even by 2220 CE, the M29 Grizzly still saw limited use across the galaxy, although many had been lost during the Reaper War and Post-Apocalyptic War respectively. The last Grizzly is thought to have been deactivated and scrapped by 2240 CE.
The M29 Grizzly was named for the grizzly bear on Earth. This is unusual as far as Alliance naming convention goes for Alliance armoured land vehicles, which are typically named after sharks. This name is due to NEO Ordnance Dynamics, who had built the vehicle under the moniker of "Project Grizzly", a name which stuck with its Alliance operators and ultimately became the vehicle's official nickname.