T-52 Raccoon

The Raccoon is an armoured personnel carrier (APC) that is used by the CORE Military. The Raccoon is a common sight within the armouries of the CORE Army and was designed to hit hard and fast by exploiting gaps in enemy lines or plugging gaps in the CORE's own. The Raccoon's capacity to punch through seemingly impossible terrain also makes it an ideal counterattack asset. CORE Army commanders will often hold back squads of short ranged, hard-hitting infantry in Raccoon APCs, throwing them in to blunt enemy breakthroughs before the foe can build momentum. The twisted wreckage of tanks and piles of corpses that might block other reinforcement efforts are no issue for the Raccoon, which will adroitly skirt round such obstacles with ease. For the same reasons, they are also regularly employed as light reconnaissance vehicles, or tasked with running escort duties for columns of artillery. The Raccoon will swiftly deploy squads of heavy infantry, countering unexpected threats with overwhelming firepower until reinforcements can be brought to bear.

Though slightly less robust than the Bear, Raccoons are the swiftest ground transport vehicle in the CORE Militarum, and as such they are used for rapid redeployment and for vanguard maneuvers ahead of the main force. There is no better delivery system for small groups of soldiers armed with devastating weaponry, and Veterans, Special Weapons Squads and Command Squads who have shown an aptitude for close-quarters firefights are often assigned a Raccoon to carry them into battle. After the Raccoon surges through the withering hail of incoming enemy fire, the hatches burst open and the passengers pour out, weapons blazing.

Though lightly armored, the Raccoon still packs a punch. Mounted on its hull are a pair of Autocannons that mow down enemy forces as it roars into the breach. Once its infantry payload has disembarked, it can continue to provide a mobile base of heavy fire for them, moving alongside the troops as an assault escort. Alternatively, it may break from its former passengers and head to some other part of the battlefield where it can lay waste to a fleeing enemy unit or pick up and deliver a fresh Infantry Squad to their target.

The rugged quad-track unit affords Raccoon the ability to negotiate even the most tangled terrain with ease. Axial servo-dampeners redistribute the weight of the vehicle across its four tracks as it moves, allowing jagged outcrops and unevenly piled rubble to be traversed at full throttle. The Raccoon's mobility is so reliable that CORE Militarum commanders often elect to bring them on long campaigns that range across multiple war fronts. Whether their regiment ends up fighting inside a crumbling hive city, through the knotted jungles of a Death World or across the open plains of a barren planet, the Raccoon will perform its duty.

Armament
The Raccoon is a robust infantry assault vehicle and is heavily armored with thick plates and equipped with heavy weapons to both support CORE infantry and bring heavy firepower to bear on enemy foot soldiers. The Raccoon is primarily armed with a set of twin-linked Autocannons, one located on each side of the vehicle's hull. The Raccoon can have an armored turret added to the top of the vehicle, and its twin-linked Autocannons located on the turret. This allows a 360-degree field of fire and an elevated firing location. The Raccoon can also be equipped with either a pintle-mounted Storm Rifle or Heavy Machine Gun, either on the top of the vehicle or equipped as part of its turret. The Raccoon can also make use of bull bars on its front to protect from debris and can be equipped with many other standard and non-standard CORE upgrades and attachments such as a searchlight, relic plating, a dozerblade, recovery gear, smoke launchers, extra armor plating, a Hunter-Killer Missile Launcher, camouflage netting, and an VOX array.