Manufacturer: Chassis Number: 14,315 - Crew: 1 Weight: 0.43-0.46 tons Length: 1.18 m Width: 0.98 m Height: 2.23 m Engine: HL375G Speed: 52 kph Range: 195 km Radio: FuG34S Sight: TZF(sd.) 45 Primary Armament: 4.7 cm Prg.56 Laser Secondary Armament: Armour: 7 mm tungsten armour 10 mm super ceramics Image copyright by Kow Yokoyama. On October 24th, 2884, Mercenary forces started the trials for the new SAFS. It was commissioned when the AFS started to be overwhelmed and defeated by Shutoral Nutrocker heavy tanks and with the introduction of the PKA suit, the Mercenaries realised that they no longer had the upper hand. Further more, the old AFS was now under-gunned by the new weapons of the Shutoral forces, and something needed to be done about this situation. With this, the Mercenary High Command came up with its requirements. The new suit needed to be able to mount a more powerful laser than the AFS's current Prg.42. It also need to be able to survive contact with enemy Nutrocker tanks, and finally, it must be as manoeuvrable and as fast as the current AFS. In addition, production must be stepped up, and the suit must be easily maintainable in the field. This was a tall order for the design team. Firstly, at the time, the only sure way of defeating a Nutrocker was by using the Dollhouse with its missile. Obviously, mounting these missiles on the new AFS would be impractical. Studying a captured Nutrocker solved the armouring problem. The Nutrocker employed special heatproof ceramic armour which helped to render the AFS laser useless against. This special armour was copied into the new super ceramic armour that would equip the new AFS. The weapon was finally solved by a breakthrough in laser mechanics. The Prg.56 used a special mercury compound to produce a high output beam in the high ultraviolet range. This was enough to be able to overcome the heat proof ceramics of the Nutrocker tank. Finally, a higher output engine and a special indirect sighting system was added to the new AFS. The indirect sighting system meant that the pilot could be completely enclosed in armour and wouldn't need a weak armoured glass visor to see from. The sighting system itself worked by using multiple retractable rotating cameras that constantly monitored everything outside the suit, and relayed this information to various screens in front of the pilot, and also (later) directly to the optic nerve itself. This was a brilliant breakthrough and would be applied to most other Mercenary designs, including the new Falke aircraft. The Super AFS was also equipped with an ejection system for the pilot. When activated, this would blow the suit into two halves - front and back, allowing the pilot to get quickly get clear of a wrecked machine. However, this system wasn't liked by the pilots and was only equipped on early production models. With the system removed, any weak points in the armour due to it having to split in an emergency were removed. On December 14th 2884, four suits of the Super AFS were delivered to the primary AFS company of the 14th armoured hunting regiment. Previous types of AFS were losing their effectiveness against the new weapons of the Shutoral forces. Then, on December 25th, these four suits attacked and defeated (resulting in its capture) a Pkh.103/2 Nutrocker II hover tank. The SAFS received little damage, and no crew were hurt. After this, Mercenary High Command appointed the SAFS priority production as the preferred weapon of choice. After that, the name of the Super AFS became a pronoun for fear on the battlefield.