Wasp WSP-3L

         The Wasp was the first recon ‘Mech ever to be mass-produced. Over the last six centuries, the Wasp has served in every House army. This fact made negotiations run smoother between the Vicore group and Hellespont Industrials, and paved the way for the CCAF’s approval and financing of the light ‘Mech’s construction.
         Vicore’s goals for the Wasp were simple: to be both cost effective and innovative. Hellespont industrials would have to make only minor changes to their Wasp line to produce this new version. The Strategios took one look at the new Wasp and immediately jumped at the chance to add another stealth BattleMech to their TO&Es.

         This new model incorporates Hellespont’s endo-steel which, with the inclusion of a standard fusion engine and the maximum possible amount of stealth armor, gives the new Wasp an incredible survivability for the lightest of BattleMechs-a quality absolutely necessary in a scout ‘Mech. In designing the ‘Mech’s armor layout, the project engineers paid close attention to better protecting the Wasp’s joints. They also relocated the jump jets to the torso-a fact that not only provided better protection for the ‘Mech but actually saved costs. At the same time, though a relatively minor move, the designers chose to incorporate only standard heat sinks to cut down on expenses-and to make use of the CCAF’s huge stockpile of these heat sinks, a stockpile that had barely been touched in the past decade. Finally, the Wasp was equipped with a pilot ejection system similar to that on the Phoenix Hawk.
         Like the original, this new Wasp is only lightly armed, carrying an extended-range medium laser as its primary armament. In a somewhat controversial move, the CCAF authorized the addition of a single Marian rocket launcher to the design, giving it an additional punch to help it extract itself from difficult situations. When added to its high mobility and stealth characteristics, the weapons loadout makes the Wasp 3L an extremely effective and survivable light recon ‘Mech.

         With the development of this new Wasp, we have solidified confirmation of the Word Blake’s involvement. Our operatives sighted a Blakist Level II of Wasps, painted in typical Black Warrior schemes, off-loading from a Union-class DropShip on Circinus. Now, with the Capellans producing this design, we are pushing harder to find the link between Word of Blake and Vicore. So far we have found no solid leads or facts.
         Both the MAF and the TDF are building this Capellan design under license from Hellespont, though it took years of upgrades to the Taurus Territorial factories on Taurus before that facility could work with the Capellans’ stealth armor. The Lyrans are building their own design on Furillo, mounting a light engine, two extended-range medium lasers, a TAG designator and a Guardian ECM suite. Archernar on New Avalon has received a license from Defiance Industries to produce the same design.

         The first production run of Wasps was completed in late July. Within the CCAF, these first units were assigned into lances with Raven 4Ls and the new Phoenix Hawk which, along with the new Stinger or Sha Yu, would form light Shadow Lances-“Ying Qiang”.