M40 Ridgeway Heavy Tank

"The Ridge' is a scary tank. Its got stealth, mobility, firepower and point defenses better'n anything we had on the M22. What's so neat is the way the automatics handle the workload - you'd think you need at least three crew to run all this crap, but in fact you can do it with the same two girls you had in the Jackson. The only problem we had in our battalion was running the panzers in after they were delivered, factory fresh - you need to fire the guns a lot and run all the equipment a number of times before the sensors and weapons settle down and fully integrate."

―Capt. Andrea Mae Samona, 2nd Colonial Marine Tank Battalion (from Aliens: Colonial Marines Technical Manual, p. 75)

The M40 Ridgeway Heavy Tank, (also known simply as the Ridgeway or The Ridge'), is an American heavy tank and the newest tanks of the United States Colonial Marine Corps. ^[1]^[2]

Development and Overview[]

Designed in the 2170s to replace the phased out M22 Jackson and to complement the classic M577 APC.^[1] The tank possessed a cutting edge stealth, mobility, firepower, point defenses and a full 3D tactical suite inside the tank. The tank is equipped with a 115mm Rifled Gun capable of firing 60 rounds per minutes, it can support troops with its 60mm mortars, deploy smoke barriers and mines and defend against aerial threat such with its CIWS 20kW Plasma Defense Gun. However when the tank is delivered factory fresh, several shots has to be made to calibrate the sensors and armaments.^[2] The M40-E upgrade from the early 2180s is featuring a brandly new chassis design compared to the original. The Ridgeway is also amphibious and can be deployed in aquatic environment but its speed is drasticly reduced to 15 km/h.^[1]

Variants[]

M40-E[]

The M40-E upgrade from the early 2180s is featuring a brandly new chassis design compared to the original.^[1]

History[]

The M40 Ridgeway saw its baptism of fire during the 2174-2175 Linna 349 Campaign.^[2]

The 3rd Battalion's 5th Regiment's tank platoon of the 33rd Marine Assault Unit has a contingent of ten M40-E1 heavy tanks.^[4] The USS Tamb'Itam possessed two of them.^[5]

In 2184, at least three M40E Ridgeways were stationned at Fort Nebraska on Ariarcus, one at the gate, ^[6] and two stored in the base Sublevel 1 motorpool.^[7]

During Operation: Go Fish, on Pandora, six M40s are deployed by UD-4S Skycrane to support the fighting troops and driving out UPP troops from the spaceport and from the planet.^[8]