The Dartjäger is one of the strangest-looking Jäger variants yet produced. Nicknamed “Bug-Head” by the soldiers assigned to it, the Dartjäger is designed to serve as the Republic’s RRV (Rapid Response Vehicle), a unit that can be deployed very rapidly, in almost any environment, to deal with a situation until a more suitable relief force arrives. As with all RRVs, mobility is given priority over all other design considerations. To accomplish this mission, the Dartjäger is built for speed and all-terrain capability, with twin oversized secondary movement system wheels in each foot. The wheels lock for walking and are composed of foamed polymer surrounded by Flexite webbing, yielding a strong movement system.
Special alloy braces in the legs and lower torso ensure that the additional structural stress will not affect the machine. Several of the Jäger’s armor plates, notably on the arms and legs, were replaced with lighter composite ballistic cloth. Although the engine remain exactly the same as that found on the Jäger, the removal of the armor panels and improvements on the transmission and suspension increased the top speed by almost 20%, reaching an impressive 84 kph on clear ground, sand and broken ground.
The Dartjäger was introduced in TN 1835 and rapidly deployed in the Badlands, where its off-road capabilities would be put to greatest use. Because of this deployment, the Dartjäger has historically been one of the rare Gears that has always been more common in the Southern MILICIA than in the Southern Republican Army, which almost always gets the best pickings in terms of military hardware. Until the introduction of the Iguana, the Dart was often used as a makeshift scout vehicle like its cousin the Jäger Recon. The introduction of the Iguana, with better armor and matching speed, rendered the RRV largely obsolete. Its off-road capabilities are still useful and largely unparalleled, however, and it is now most likely to be found in border units. During the War, Dartjägers were used as flanking units, entire regiments moving across dangerous terrain to encircle a stranded Earth battle group.
