Armored Vehicles
The Umbrian Republic Army has a long tradition of using vehicles to enhance the mobility and firepower of the Republic's legions. The traditional legionary structure is highly dependent on light infantry, and these armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles are vital to providing them with the maneuverability necessary to fight in the varied terrain types and environments they may encounter.
The Ascomanni War, and the physical disparity between the alien invaders and the Umbrians, would also reinforce the need for infantry fire support. Tank and mobile artillery units would become increasingly common as the war dragged on, where they would prove invaluable in beating back waves of enemy infantry and armor.
The disparities between the Umbrians and their alien adversaries would also be reflected in the size and firepower of the enemy's equipment: across the board, Umbrian war materiel was smaller and less well-armed and armored than their Ascomanni counterparts.
This was best exemplified by the standard Ascomanni battle tank, the Type-4. This hulking vehicle was just over five meters tall, with thick, heavily sloped armor and a lethal rear-mounted turret. By comparison, the Umbrian Atru main battle tank was two and half meters tall, and it could easily be penetrated by the Type-4 at ranges up to two kilometers.
The experiences of early battles demonstrated the importance of reliability above all else, especially given the number of other disadvantages the URA's mechanized units had to contend with. While Umbrian technology had advanced beyond traditional tracked and wheeled vehicles, these were found to be the most effective and dependable across the varied conditions of the Frontier's battlefields.
As the pace of the war accelerated, new tactics and strategies were created and refined to support the growing number of armored vehicles which could be found in the legions. A specialized school for mechanized warfare, only the second of its kind, was established at the Ozenuso Recruitment Depot, and officers specializing in armored or mobile warfighting increasingly find themselves in the Army's cadre of senior officers.
By 31153, these advances would largely negate the disparity in equipment between the two sides. A number of key victories would be achieved through speed and decisiveness, such as the defense of Gela, where two armored cohorts of the Ninety-Third Legion were used to smash a hole in the Ascomanni defense line, creating a gap which the remainder of the unit exploited to cause chaos in the enemy rear area.
While the increased effectiveness and volume of armored vehicles available to URA commanders has taken some of the sting out of the Ascomanni assault, these improvements alone have proven to be insufficient to address the alien invader's overwhelming numeric superiority.