Class: Stork
Type:HAES
Operators: Magnetic Assembly
Manufacturer: Magnetic Assembly, Kaito Corp,

Weight: ~260 lbs
Height: Custom tailored for user's height, though usually 6-7 feet tall.

Propulsion: Optional RCS Backpack, Artificial Muscle Strength Enhancement
Max Acceleration: Walking Speed

Sensors: Electro-optical, Thermal, Radar
Communication Gear: Radio
Armament: None
Life Support: Full self-contained environment

The Birthday-Class HAES suit worked well enough that it had become the standard HAES suit in use with the American Union, finding its way into hazardous chemical teams, EOD units, and anywhere that dangerous space-walks might be undertaken. Even after the new years revolution, the suit continued to be used within the assembly for years until Green-Squadron finally was allocated more funds to upgrade their equipment. Despite having the funds, the newfound independence of the Magnetic Assembly meant that the entire Assembly itself was full to capacity on new design and production projects. Though Green-Squadron had originally intended to stay in house with their design work, this wasn't a realistic option. Instead, the initial design work would be contracted to Kaito Corp which specialized in custom mechanical design. Design of the new suit would start in 2323, with the goal of building a better protected suit that had more capacity for expansion. This expansion capacity was a way to try and include advanced features without having to design them at the start of the project, allowing for an initial release of a suit that would do the basics well. The first test units would start being delivered to Green Squadron at the end of 2325 with serial low rate production of the suit starting officially in 2326 with Bishop Fusion Systems, a company that already specialized in space based low rate construction of highly custom equipment.

The suit is designed as a single piece with an access hatch on the top of the machine. While this can make it difficult to get in and out of the suit, especially while standing, it creates a mechanically simple seal for the suit and is considered an acceptable trade for increased survive-ability.



The arm section of the suit uses a fully encapsulated section for the hands, with the wearer of the armor remotely operating the robotic hand attachments that can be fitted to the armor's wrists.



The top section of the armor has a port to attach additional equipment, usually an additional sensor pod.

The rear of the armor has connections for backpacks, which often will include additional batteries as well as other support equipment like a void maneuvering unit.

The armor of the suit is the priority of the suit, with all other concerns coming after.

Ballistic plates in the front facing sections of the torso are designed to survive hits from anything short of dedicated anti-armor weapons, while event he weakest joints and rear sections of the armor are designed to survive rifle-scale weapons as well as micro-meteor impacts and the sand-blasting effect of debris being thrown up from impacts on airless planetoids. The thin visor that allows manual viewing out of the suit uses transparent armor as well as a para-scope like system to maximize the amount of protection that can be provided in the forward facing aspect.

Vision itself is left to panoramic armored cameras around the armor. While these sections are rated to withstand small arms fire, direct impacts tend to render the sensor underneath unusable by damaging the armor over it.

The armor is designed to withstand blasts much like an EOD suit, automatically locking joints when it detects excessive force being applied to the armor and fully encapsulating the wearer's limbs so that more vulnerable body parts like fingers and feet can't be individually exposed to massive force.

Much like space suits, radiation protection is limited by the mass of the suit. A combination of ballistic armor plates and thin layers of composite shielding significantly reduce the amount of received radiation from background sources though it should not be relied upon to protect against directed radiation weapons or proximity to fully active fusion reactors.

The armor uses a liquid cooling system to both maintain internal temperature and to distribute hot spots on the exterior of the armor to better manage thermal shock from both void-weather and directed energy systems. An additional piezoelectric fan system can be used to circulate exterior air through small vents in the front of the armor to provide extra cooling when planetside.

The rear of the suit has a series of mechanical connections designed to allow the quick addition or removal of a backpack unit. The suit itself is already too heavy for most people to move in effectively without mechanical assist, and being able to quickly drop the suit's backpack is a measure that is intended to help a pilot operate the suit in event of a power failure, as well as a way to bring onboard new capabilities when they are required.

A simple package of solid state batteries meant to extend the energy capacity of the armor to allow several hour long usage sessions.

A more expensive, compact fusion reactor that provides just enough power to keep the internal batteries topped up during normal usage. Due to the reactor's size, the system is very inefficient compared to commercial and starship reactors. This means the pack also needs to contain relatively large tanks of fusion fuels.

A relatively small manned maneuvering unit that uses chemical reactions to move the suit in zero g environments. The pack also carries additional batteries and can charge itself using the excess power generated from thruster usage.

The Birthday class houses its own fully enclosed life support system complete with positive pressure, air recycling, and temperature control for the wearer. This is capable of keeping them alive with no outside support for almost a week before its systems reach their limit and require maintenance.

The suit is designed to sync up with a wearer's MAD-89 Portable Pharmacy armband to administer combat drugs and other stimulants, sleep-aids, or medicine to assist the wearer as needed. While this isn't suitable for major-injuries, it does assist with automated systems such as sleeping the wearer of the suit while the suit is performing functions in automatic mode such as walking or other basic tasks.

The armor itself is designed with the minimal amount of batteries and no onboard power generation in an effort to reduce weight and complexity. Generally the armor can operate for only about half an hour using the battery systems distributed throughout the armor itself. It is fully intended that for any real operation some form of backpack module is used to provide power, or that power is provided by being wired into another power source like a reactor carrying bad dog drone.