The Hunter is a popular tank produced by Defiance Industries. Defiance is also a well-known manufacturer of all types of weapons, and it's designers have even created two new heavy tanks, the Rommel and the Patton.
         As it's name makes clear, the Hunter Light Support Tank is a support vehicle. Like most support vehicles, the Hunter is not equipped to last in a stand-up fight. It does not, therefore, operate out in the open amid the heavy fighting, but remains behind in sheltering terrain to provide the battlefield commander with indirect fire support.
         The Hunter is designed to be a cheap, effective combat vehicle that an army can use as a backup in case it needs covering fire in order to pull out of combat. Equipped with the heaviest long-range support weapons available, it can carry out this function very well.
         After a while, the Hunter became a fairly steady   seller for Defiance Industries. New Hunters are still found in many armies in the Inner   Sphere.

         The Hunter's large missile load makes it an extremely effective support vehicle. As Defiance does not produce the huge long-range missile rack that the tank requires, the battle proven FarFire Maxi served instead. The FarFire Maxi is the best support weapon available and in used on many different vehicles. The rack is mounted in the popular "missile-box" style toward the rear of the vehicle, facing forward. This allows the Hunter to fire over defensive barriers without exposing itself to enemy fire.
         The Zippo Flamer is mounted as a purely defensive weapon, and is used only to set fires to deter pursuers when the tank is retreating from a battle. In fact, the flamer is normally used only as a cookfire for the vehicle crew. The FarFire's extreme range usually keeps Hunter tanks from ever getting close enough to need their flamers in battle.
         The TharHes Mini-Talk and the TharHes AGART are not the Hunter's original targeting and tracking systems. Months after the first few hundred tanks were sold, a problem in the power link-ups caused the comm gear to surge and burn out. The problem turned out to be in the tracking system rather than in the communications system, and so Defiance began installing the TharHes AGART Tracking System. The only problem with this replacement was that some crewmembers of the original Hunters complained when they could no longer patch their communications gear through the tracking system to receive various clandestine television stations.

         The Hunter is well known for the part it played in the battle for Halstead Station. At one point during that famous fight, several units of Hunters on both sides squared off on the outskirts of a battle in progress and began to pound each other's troops to pieces. When the battle was over, only the Hunters remained. The two Hunter   commanders, each realizing that he could not win a long-range fight, met in the middle of the war-torn field, shook hands, and fought hand-to-hand to determine the winner. Both commanders were knocked unconscious at about the same time.
         Meanwhile, in another part of the Halstead Station battle, a group of five Davion Hunters moved into position on five different hillsides around an area that Kurita was using as a holding point for its damaged 'Mechs. The Hunters on the far north hill opened fire with three salvoes. The missiles, firing at optimum range, created havoc among the damaged 'Mechs. Though not at full fighting capability, the Kurita 'Mechs slowly moved to attack the unseen   marauders to the north.
         After the force had moved 20 meters, the Hunter to the northwest immediately opened fire. Once again confused, the damaged 'Mechs changed course in their sluggish approach toward the most obvious enemy. This time, a new enemy fired.
         Every time the 'Mechs moved in a new direction in response to the attacks, it eventually wore down both their 'Mechs' capacities and their pilots' nerves. Wounded and rattled, the Kurita MechWarriors eventually ejected from their   battered 'Mechs in a show of surrender to superior forces. The Hunter commander permitted the warriors to walk away from the battlefield, but without letting them learn the identity of their conquerors.
         By approaching these Kurita 'Mechs, the Hunter commander turned the tide of this major battle in favor of Davion. Had those 'Mechs been repaired in time, later analysis showed that Kurita would have won the day.

         Variants on the Hunter are rare, because there is no room to add extra weapons and usually no reason the remove the LRM-20.

         Jeff Dahl
         Commander Dahl is the originator of the famous "Hidden Vehicle" tactic used at Halstead Station. It was compassion that prevented him from letting the wounded Kurita pilots see his tank unit. Dahl was aware of the Kurita codes of honor, and knew that it would have been an unforgivable loss of face for these men to report to their commanding officer that a five-vehicle support unit had defeated them.

         Sejanus Aelia and Losinja Harama
         Aelia and Harama were the Davion and Kurita commanders, respectively, who decided to fight hand-to-hand at the Battle for Halstead Station. Neither was demoted, but Aelia was severely reprimanded and Harama was sent back to command garrison troops.