The story of the Alliance's ground vehicle fleet is the story of the Alliance's early years; desperate scrambling, stopgap solutions, and holes, but also great ingenuity and resourcefulness.

While the Alliance first started with over a dozen chassis in service, some with only a handful of vehicles in use, it quickly moved to streamline its ground vehicle fleet, drawing it down to only 3 major chassis in service, the Gazelle, the Mountain Goat, and the Grizzly. This streamlining has done great things for Alliance logistics, something already stretched by the expansive size of Alliance Space. However, it has also caused problems of inefficiencies in the Alliance vehicle fleet. Some of the vehicles in use based on one of the main chassis are serviceable, but really should have a dedicated chassis, causing problems for the Alliance.

GAZELLE CHASSIS:

During the 1st days of the Alliance's operation, when the wider galaxy was just opening up, the Alliance scrambled to build up a fleet of vehicles to explore these new worlds. At the start, most of that fleet was made from a mixture of hand me downs from national militaries and exploration organizations alongside a number of civilian vehicles bought on the market. This vast fleet, mostly made up of pre-eezo vehicles, was a logistical nightmare for the Alliance, which led to it rather rapidly moving to unify its fleet with a single vehicle, the M16 Gazelle. The M16 was first built in 2150 as the 2150 Worldstrider by a civilian manufacturer as an extreme environment transport, designed to move a driver and 5 passengers or a modest amount of cargo across hostile environments, both through nature and humans, found across many worlds in the Sol System. While it was not the first vehicle to heavily integrate eezo and prothean technology, it was one of the earliest to use more mature tech instead of the rapidly made designs that came out in the year after the Mars Ruin's discovery.

The Alliance's first major order of the design included over a hundred of them, with a licensing agreement for the Alliance to construct them in its own fabricators coming about in 2152. In 2157, countless of the chassis can be found in the Alliance's service or in civilian hands.

When the Alliance Marine Corp formed, subsuming and replacing the Alliance Security Division that already used the design, the Gazelle was given to it as a stopgap until a true IFV could be put into service.

Marine variants of the Gazelle are given the designation M19 Cheetah, and equipped with heavier military grade armor alongside an automated machine gun on top of the vehicle which is controlled by a dedicated gunner or it is completely automated, capable of choosing its own targets. All M16s in marine service have been either built or upgraded to the M19's specifications. While the M19 was meant to be a stopgap, not meant for true military conflict, the short time period between its introduction and the First Contact War (only 6 years), means that most marine units are primarily transported by the M19.

The M25 Lion was first built in 2154 in the face of minor conflicts breaking out on several worlds and increasing delays with the Alliance's IFV program. A rather simple upgrade to the existing M20, the M25 replaced the M19's automated machine gun turrets with a larger 104mm mass accelerator designed for the M29 Grizzly, dramatically increasing the firepower that can be brought to bear, though not fixing the actual problem of rocket and missile launchers capable of ripping even the up-armored M19 open becoming more common across the colonies. The Alliance usually deploys a single M25 with each Platoon, serving as a command and direct fire support vehicle.

The M28 Hyena and M27 Python were both introduced a few months after the M25, and serve in missile artillery and fire support roles respectively. The M28 replaces the passenger seating and machine gun with a large missile pod made of 6 cells, each able to hold one larger (ground attack or anti-ship) or two small (anti-air or anti-personnel) missiles. They are generally deployed at the Battalion level as part of the Headquarters Company in a single Platoon of 5.

The M27 Python, similarly to the M28, replaces the passenger seating instead with a point defense laser system, capable of taking down everything from hand grenades to small gunships. Each Battalion's Headquarters Company has a single Platoon of 5 Pythons, which are often divided between the Companies instead of staying together.

The M24 is the main reconnaissance vehicle for the Marine Corp. It sacrifices 2 passenger seats and the machine gun for several recon and scout drones, sophisticated sensors, and an automated anti-material rifle turret. Each Alliance Battalion has a Platoon of these in its Headquarters Company, but there has been some talk of expanding that number, either through adding another Platoon, integrating M24s into Infantry Companies, or creating full Recon Companies. Debat is still ongoing in Alliance Command about what path to take, if any at all.

The Marine Corp expects to phase out the M16 and M19 by 2164, with the M25 following soon after, but there are plans to retain the M24, M27, and M28 for some time due to their proven effectiveness.

MOUNTAIN GOAT CHASSIS:

Designed in anticipation of a new colony rush, the Mountain Goat cargo truck was built for potentially extreme environments on new worlds where transport may be needed in dangerous places. The Mountain Goat takes advantage of mass effect to its fullest, including a large eezo core to allow the vehicle to carry insane loads or move on terrain where its competitors would sink into the ground.

The capabilities of the Mountain Goat brought it to the attention of the Alliance, which purchased several and the rights to produced licensed copies in late 2150. Renamed the M17 Goat Cargo Truck, it can be found at almost all Alliance Outposts and bases as an integral part of their operation alongside the M18 Horse Passenger Truck built on the same chassis.

The M20 Donkey Mobile Fabricator built on the Mountain Goat chassis replaces the cargo section with a large mobile fabricator to supply an Alliance unit with munitions, spare parts, equipment, and even drones. Two M20s are deployed to each Battalion's Support Company supported by 2 M17s carrying resources to form a Fabricator Platoon.

The M26 Camel and M21 Yak are both more militarized variants of the Goat, with the M26 designed for drone carrying and command, and the M21 being used as a dedicated command vehicle for Battalion Combat Teams. The M26 is deployed in Drone Platoons and Recon Platoons, with the former containing 5 and the later 1, while a single M21 is provided to the Command Platoon of all units Battalion strength and above. Both vehicles were meant as stopgaps during, though they have proven effective enough, and the Marine Corp is overstretched enough that there are no current plans for their replacement.

The M22 Buffalo is a modular engineering vehicle designed to assist with construction, transport damaged vehicles, and deploy small prefabricated items such as bridges. The M22 is not much different from a standard M17, though extended a fair bit, but the main difference is its ability to power and equip engineering modules to give it specific capabilities. The most common modules in use are the manipulator, which comes with a massive mass effect enhanced manipulator arm for construction and object removal, the extreme load transport, which allows for larger objects such as bridges which are too large for a normal M17 to be carried, though with significant difficulties, and the field repair station, which allows the M22 to carry a full Gazelle and other small vehicles, repairing them with the onboard repair drones and fabricator. Each Battalion has a Engineering Platoon made up of 5 M22 within its Support Company. Civilian units within the Alliance such as archeological expeditions and Alliance Outposts also often use the M22. While the M22 has proven to be mostly adequate since its introduction in 2152, it has several fundamental problems that have led to the Alliance searching for a replacement. To put it simply, the Mountain Goat chassis is too small to properly serve in the role. While each module has proven adequate in most circumstances, they each have major flaws that cannot be dealt with due to the fact they already stretch the limits of the chassis, with the M22 already being inoperable on some higher gravity worlds. The M22's replacement, the M32 Elephant based on the Grizzly chassis, is already nearing completion and the first production units are expected to reach Alliance units in the second half of 2157.

The M23 Oxen is a heavily armored transport designed to provide safety for valuable items and personnel. It is used by the Marine Corp as an combat ambulance, moving the injured safely to medical facilities even when under fire.

In 2156, the Alliance introduced the M30 Llama Mobile Medical Station, a full surgical and medical suite integrated into a Goat chassis. Few have been produced as of 2157, with most prioritized for emergency response units instead of the Marine Corp's Battalions. A Battalion should have a single M30 deployed in its Medical Platoon within its Support Company, though only a few have one, instead relying on less sophisticated field facilities packed into a M17 that need to be unpacked and set up.

GRIZZLY CHASSIS:

When the Alliance first began to militarize in the second half of 2151, it began looking on the military market for an acceptable IFV for the new Marine Corp. However, the designs in service within the militaries of the Earth and Sol based nations were not designed for extreme environments in mind. While most could endure the extremes on Earth, the Alliance expected to engage on far more hostile worlds than humanity's home planet. Due to this, the Alliance put out a design contest for an IFV that could fulfill its needs. By 2152, a company was chosen for the vehicle, and the Alliance expected it to be ready for service by the beginning of 2155. Instead, delays caused the first M29 Grizzlies to come into service in the middle of 2156.

The M29 Grizzly is armed with a heavy machine gun and a 104mm mass accelerator both in a turret on the IFV's top. The M29 has a crew of 2 consisting of a driver and gunner/drone operator, with 4 dismount troops and a small unit of drones, the drones being attached externally. An additional 2 people can fit in the troop bay, but it is uncomfortable and puts strain on the M29's life support systems when on inhospitable worlds. The M29 is extremely durable, capable of operating in highly dangerous environments and can also take a significant amount of damage without being destroyed or made inoperable. The feature that caused most of the delays was a kinetic barrier, making the M29 the smallest vehicle in Alliance Space to have a kinetic barrier in 2157. All these systems have led to the M29 being extremely large and bulky, causing some problems when it comes to transporting and deploying it on Alliance ships.

The M31 Scorpion is a tank based on the Grizzly chassis, replacing the troop bay with heavier armor and a 155mm mass accelerator. The M31 was not in widespread service at the start of the First Contact War, with only a few vehicles in use in several test units. There is some debate within the Marine Corp on how to integrate the M31 into its force. The 2 main ideas are for creating dedicated Tank Battalions, the least popular choice with the already thinly spread nature of the Marine Corp, the addition of a Tank Company to Alliance Battalions, either a new company or replacing one of the Infantry Company, or the deployment of a Tank Section or Platoon within each Company, the former as a component of the Command Section (turned Platoon), and the latter a freestanding component. Several test formations within the Alliance currently use each model and are deployed in wargames in order to test each model.

The M32 Elephant is a modular engineering vehicle designed to replace the M22 Buffalo. The M32 is significantly wider than the M22, making it far more stable and far easier to carry larger loads. The M32 uses completely new engineering modules than the M22, each more suitable for their role. While the M32 does not have any weapons, its armor and kinetic barrier gives it far more protection than the M22 and the Alliance believes it will be safe to bring the M33 into combat zones if needed, unlike the M22. One of the main delaying factors for the M32's deployment has been the requirement for the M32 to be able to carry a Grizzly chassis vehicle, a problem considering it is a Grizzly chassis vehicle. Nonetheless, the M33 is in the final stages of development, with prototype vehicles existing, and final production models expected for test deployment within selected formations as replacements to M22 near the end of 2157.

2156 CHASSIS:

The 2156 chassis is currently in development as a heavier chassis for use as a command vehicle and heavier fire support platform. The chassis is nowhere near ready for use as of the First Contact War, being only in development for half a year. Alliance RnD expects the chassis, tentatively designated as the Owl Chassis, to begin use around the turn of the decade.

Vehicles In Service:

M16 Gazelle (Exploration, Troop Transport)

M17 Goat (Cargo Transport)

M18 Horse (Passenger Transport)

M19 Cheetah (APC)

M20 Donkey (Mobile Fabricator)

M21 Yak (Command Vehicle)

M22 Buffalo (Modular Engineering Vehicle)

M23 Oxen (Armored Transport)

M24 Leopard (Recon, Harassment)

M25 Lion (APC, Fire Support)

M26 Camel (Drone Support and Control)

M27 Python (Anti-Air)

M28 Hyena (Missile Artillery)

M29 Grizzly (IFV)

M30 Llama (Mobile Medical Station)

M31 Scorpion (Tank) (Late 2157)

M32 Elephant (Modular Engineering Vehicle) (Late 2157)

Deployment Timeline:

2150: Gazelle, Goat, Horse

2151: Cheetah

2152: Donkey, Yak,

2153: Oxen, Leopard

2154: Lion, Camel

2155: Glave, Hyena, Python

2156: Grizzly, Own, Llama

2157: Scorpion (late 2157), Elephant (late 2157)