M33 Advance Recon and Transport Vehicle
From FABT
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Production information | |
Manufacturer: |
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Line: |
M |
Model: |
M33 |
Class: |
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Technical information | |
Length: |
9.8m |
Width: |
6.4m |
Height/depth: |
9m |
Max acceleration: |
210 kilometers per hour |
Engine unit(s): |
1 Element Zero engine |
Power plant: |
1 Element Zero engine |
Shielding: |
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Sensor systems: |
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Armament: |
No built-in armament, modularity allows installment of heavy or light ordnance as required. |
Crew: |
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Usage | |
Commissioned: |
6 December 2160 CE |
Decommissioned: |
1 October 2380 CE |
Role(s): |
Utility vehicle |
Era: |
Asari Cycle |
Affiliation: |
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- "If you're a vehicle enthusiast, there's no reason not to sign up. The Edestus will give you your kicks, perhaps even more than you bargained for!"
- — Alliance recruitment brochure that mentions the M33 Edestus.
The M33 Advance Recon and Transport Vehicle (M33 ARTV), colloquially named as the Edestus, was a class of light, eight-wheel drive, heavy-duty utility vehicle employed by the Systems Alliance and later also used by the Systems Coalition. Designed and built by the Chloryne Group for use by the Alliance military, the M33 Edestus was purpose-built for use as a utility vehicle and offroad reconnaissance transport, lightly armoured but possessing a powerful eezo core for multi-day reconnaissance and all-terrain activity. Designed with modularity in mind, the M33 Edestus main chassis possesses no integrated armament, although a mount exists for implementation of choice firepower dependent on situation and demands. Being an eight-wheeler, the Edestus could travel across virtually any terrain with relative ease, making it perfect for reaching locations most Alliance vehicles couldn't, transporting recon elements to choice locations of observation: the engine's relative silence meant it was excellent for stealth deployments, being the vehicle of choice for high-risk special operations and utilized for quick insertion and extraction. The M33 was extremely popular in both the Systems Alliance Army and Systems Alliance Marine Corps, who both valued the vehicle's multi-purpose design and utility and it's reliability, being extremely low maintenance and possessing a simplistic design that made such maintenance relatively obstacle-free.
The M33's popularity made it a must have for many militaries even outside of the Alliance, used by many Earth-based militaries and even finding use among the Council races, with the Edestus fielded by the Salarian Union and Thessian Republics. Even after the Reaper War and the rise of the Systems Coalition, the Coalition continued to make use of the Edestus, and would continue to use it even after the Dominion Civil War. In 2380 CE, the M33 Edestus was finally replaced by the M57 White, ending a service life spanning over a century, one of the longest of any vehicles produced by the Alliance. It saw hundreds of deployments, usage by hundreds of corporations and PMCs and militaries, and became one of the most famous vehicles in human military history. Many M33 Edestus' still exist today, either in museums or owned by collectors. Cerberus were able to acquire and build roughly 400 Edestus vehicles prior to the Reaper War, although almost all of them were destroyed by war's end, with the few surviving being taken by PMCs or reused by the Alliance, and later Coalition, militaries.
The M33 Edestus was named for the extinct Edestus shark on Earth, as per the Alliance's naming convention for tanks and other armoured land vehicles.