Designation: Main Battle Robot MBR-04 Tomahawk.

I. Dimensions:

II. Type:

• Design: Vickers-Chrysler Robotech Systems Inc.
• Builders: Vickers-Chrysler Robotech Systems Inc.
• Two man all-weather main battle Destroid mecha.

III. Service History:

• Mk. I: Proof-of-concept mecha for the leg assembly; three produced, 2006.
• MBR-04 Mk. II: Prototype for the Mk. IV Tomahawk; four produced, 2007.
• ADR-04 Mk. III: Prototype for the Mk. X Defender; four produced, 2007.
• Mark IV: Served with the UNDF/RDF Army from late 2007 until refitted into the Mark VI from 2009 onwards.
• MBR-04 Mark V Warhawk: Served with the UNDF Army from April 2007 until replaced by the MBR-07 Spartan beginning in March 2008. All Mark V models were then refitted to the Mark VI Tomahawk standard.
• MBR-04 Mark VI Tomahawk: Served with the RDF Army, Marines, and Spacy from early 2009 until 2020, and with the Southern Cross' Tactical Corps from 2013 until 2020.
• MBR-04 Mk. VII: Prototype c. 2009, never saw service.
• CER-04 Mk. VIII: Prototype c. 2010, never saw service.
• SDR-04 Mk. IX: Prototype for the Mk. XII Phalanx; one produced, 2010.
• ADR-04 Mk. X Defender: Served with the RDF Army, Marines, and Spacy from March 2009 until 2020, and with the Southern Cross' Tactical Corps from 2013 until 2020. Local militia units operated a few until 2025.
• ADR-04 Mk. XI Defender: Served with the RDF Spacy from 2010, and with the RDF Army and Marines from 2011, until 2020.
• SDR-04 Mk. XII Phalanx: Served with the RDF Spacy from late 2009, and with the RDF Army from 2011, until 2020.
• SDR-04 Mk. XIII Phalanx: Served with the RDF Army and Southern Cross' Tactical Corps from 2014 until 2020.

(All further data are for the Mk. VI Tomahawk model only)

IV. Propulsion:

Main powerplant:

• 1 RRL-1 miniaturized protoculture-cell energizer.
• 12 standard cannisters of protoculture.

Auxiliary power unit:

• General Electric EM9G hydrogen/oxygen fuel cell, 450 kW for twelve hours.

Thrusters for space maneuvering (actually fitted only in the Spacy destroids):

(propulsion)

• 2 Rocketdyne AST-04 dual thruster banks on the back, total thrust 14 kN with a fuel supply sufficient for a total delta-v of approximately 0.2 kps.

(attitude control)

• 14 Nakajima NBS-1 high-thrust vernier thrusters, located on the heels (4), calves (2), forward waist (2), chest (2) and on the shoulders (4).

V. Performance:

• Maximum speed: 48 kph.
• Protoculture endurance: an average of 250 hours operational use.

VI. Electronics:

Radar System:

• Hughes APG-198 short range (45 km) X band pulse Doppler phased array, multi-mode radar with battlefield surveillance, short distance air search and fire control modes.

Optical tracking:

• Thomson DOS-2000 multi-band digital camera system, for medium range spherical UV, imaging infra-red and optical band detection and tracking.
• Thomson LT-3 multi-frequency laser ranger and designator.
• Zeiss TS-2 long range telescopic array for visible/IR spectrum.
• Edmund Optics deployable periscope; max. height over the head, 5m.
• Edmund Optics IR/visible light searchlight mounted on the left shoulder; maximum strength, 35 million candela in optical mode.

Tactical Electronic Warfare System (TEWS):

• Elettronica radar warning receiver,
• OlDelft infra-red warning receiver,
• Westinghouse ALQ-198(V) active radar jammer,
• 4 Ford CLL-3 missile box launchers mounted two to each leg. Each box launcher can hold and launch 4 short range, chaff/smoke/jammer loaded rocket-propelled grenades. One box launcher can lay a full-spectrum smokescreen at a distance of 200 meters.
• Close-range chaff dispenser,
• Smoke ejectors on the hips (mk VI only).

VII. Armament:

• 2 x Mauser PBC-11 liquid-cooled electron beam cannons, each fires 30 MJ of particle energy at 15 rpm with great accuracy and to long ranges, atmospheric conditions permitting. Each arm consists of one cannon.
• 2 x Bofors MRL-1 missile launcher. 24 Total internal, short range (8.2km) combined infra-red imager and passive laser homing 120mm Rapier III missiles in two shoulder mounts. The missile carries a HEAT warhead.
• 1 x Oerlikon MRL-2 missile launcher mounted on the right shoulder. The missile launcher is fitted for 6 short range Mach 3.0 IR-guided Stinger II anti-aircraft missiles.
• 2 x Colt M-89 12.7mm machine guns in the head, firing standard and tracer rounds at 600 rounds/minute. The armor piercing capabilities are minimal, restricting the guns to lightly amrored or unarmored targets. The ammunition supply is 2500 rounds per gun.
• 2 x Astra TZ-III gun clusters flanking the central chest. Each cluster contains:
  • 1 x Oerlikon KCN 25mm autocannon, firing APHE (Armor Piercing High Explosive) and HEI-T (High Explosive Incendiary - Tracer) rounds. The maximum rate of fire is 850 rpm. The ammunition tray in each cluster can contain 800 rounds.
  • 1 x Vickers 180mm direct-fire mortar, launches shells of 75 kg up to an effective range of 500 meters. The cannons can fire one shell every 12 seconds, and each grenade thrower has a supply of 7 rounds.
  • 1 x RRG Mk3 laser. This weapon fires a 3 MJ laser pulse at 60 rpm.
  • 1 x FN DFT flame-thrower. The effective range of this weapon is 100 meters, and the cluster has fuel supplies for this thrower for one minute.

VIII. Armor:

The armor on the Tomahawk (excepting the frontal torso) is composed of a standard Chobham laminar developed in the late 20th century and improved with the materials science advances made during the Robotech era. This armor was mainly designed to defeat projectiles and other kinetic weapons. The armor stops all small arms, heavy infantry weapons fire, and light mecha-mounted weaponry, and provides good to excellent resistance to medium mecha-mounted weaponry, such as the Valkyrie's 55mm APFSDS round, and poor to fair resistance to heavy mecha-mounted weaponry, such as the VHT's 120mm smoothbore shells.

The torso armor on the of the Tomahawk is composed of a standard Chobham laminar reinforced by a depleted Uranium mesh on the outer plate. More dense than the standard Chobham, this armor was designed to defeat projectiles striking the forward surfaces of main battle vehicles, and is also effective against beam weapons. The armor on the torso stops all small arms, heavy infantry weapons fire, and light mecha-mounted weaponry, and provides excellent resistance to medium mecha-mounted weaponry, such as the Valkyrie's 55mm APFSDS round, and fair resistance to heavy mecha-mounted weaponry, such as the VHT's 120mm smoothbore shells.

The Tomahawk provides full protection from nuclear, biological, and chemical hazards, using a sealed cockpit environment activated by radiation and hazardous chemical sensors, or manually when biological warfare conditions are anticipated. The internal consumables supplies can provide atmosphere for three days maximum.

IX. Development:

While the SDF-1 was being rebuilt, the militaries of the Earth set about to incorporate Robotechnology into their armies. It soon became clear that the well-established conventional tank/APC duet was no longer a completely satisfying military option. Thus, as a response to the mecha found on board the SDF-1, the Destroid series were developed, using an anthropomorphic design for true all-terrain capabilities. Because of the new technologies used, design and manufacture of each individual mecha unit was extremely expensive. Thus, when the specifications were drawn up for several of the new front-line mecha, attempts were made to retain a high degree of interoperability. In this vein, two classes of destroids which had to answer near identical demands on strength and mobility were specified to use a common leg section. The sections of these Destroids above the waist would however differ. Later, this leg section was used on board the SDF-1 as the basis for a third Destroid; this design was also produced on Earth after the Zentraedi Holocaust.

The leg assembly designed and built by Vickers-Chrysler, became the basis for a major Destroid series during the First Robotech War, the -04 series. Numerous versions of the -04 assembly saw combat service, the most important ones of these were the Mk. VI, a main battle robot, the Mk. X air defense variant and the Mk. XII mobile missile launcher. Other torsos, including a lighter main battle torso (the Mk. VII) and a combat engineering torso (Mk. VIII) were never ordered. A lighter and faster Destroid torso capable of "wearing" the Tomahawk's weapons jacket, the MBR-08 Mk. III 'Masamune' , saw only limited service in the RDF Marines.

The Tomahawk versions of the -04 series were heavily armed and armored weapon systems. Because of the limited understanding the UNDF had of the Tirolian technologies at that stage, the Tomahawk had to be equipped with a large arsenal of tried and powerful conventional weapons to back up the new, maintenance intensive, and somewhat mercurial, Robotech weapons. The latter were limited to two large particle beam cannons, derivatives of the Makral Tszikatro 05 mounted on top of the Zentraedi Glaug, and two light lasers in the two gun clusters. The armament was then augmented with a missile battery in the shoulders, with a light SAM missile battery in an external launcher, and further with two 25mm autocannon, two 180mm Petard mortars, two flame-throwers and two 12.7mm machine guns. The first production model (Mk. IV) mounted a larger cockpit hood and sensor array in place of the machine guns and AA missiles, but all these were later refitted into the final Mk. VI configuration. The Tomahawk Mk. IV first walked off the assembly lines in February of 2007. In addition to the Mk. IV, there was another main battle version, the MBR-04 Mk. V Warhawk, which replaced the detachable weapons pack with the set used on the Marines' MBR-8 Mk. II Masamune. As this configuration was predicted to be rather similar to the Spartan in combat performance, very few of the Mk. V Warhawks were ever produced, and these were later refitted into the Mk. VI Tomahawk standard.

By early 2009 the Mk. VI, the ultimate version of the Tomahawk line, had begun to be produced en masse and started to replace its earlier brethren, serving with the RDF Army and Marines, and with the Southern Cross' Tactical Corps in its first decade of existence. The Mk VI's weapon load would give the Tomahawk an excellent capacity either to fight the aliens, or to keep order in the world. Because of the numerous barrels (12 in total) projecting from the front, the Tomahawk was a feared sight among the populace. As a premier combat mecha, the Tomahawk saw much action in the various battles with the Zentraedi. Typically, it would be the first front-line mecha to engage, using its missiles to suppress air attacks and Missile Pods, then opening up on approaching Pods with its heavy particle beams. As the range closed the TZ-III gun clusters would be brought into play. Generally, this would break up any but the most determined of attacks.

See additional design notes.

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