Development of new electronics - ECM, active probes, and particularly the C3 system in the Combine - has created a rebirth of the "Wild Weasel" role in 'Mech combat. It was inevitable that the DCMS would commision new electronic-warfare version - particularly as the cooling of relations with the Combine's old Concord of Kapetyn partner, the Capellan Confederation, meant that Ravens were no longer easily available. The recent stellar performance of the Cetan scout design made it an immediate priority for upgrading for this role.

The Cetan was designed as a fast light scout, capable of engaging Clan scouts like the Dragonfly and Uller at their own games - capable of burst speeds in excess of 150 kph, and carrying 15 tons of weaponry, the Cetan had earned an excellent reputation in a comparatively short period of deployment. 7 tons of ferro-fibrous armour didn’t hurt its survivability, either.

While the chassis and armor of the Cetan was largely left alone, and visually the two designs are very similar, the entire weapons load was removed and/or replaced. Firstly, an extended-range PPC replaced the standard PPC used by the Cetan, giving the Chiron sniper abilities without the problem of a minimum range. Then, every piece of advanced electronics then available was loaded in - a C3 slave, Guardian ECM, Beagle Active Probe and TAG. Finally, a NARC Beacon launcher was added, with a ton of pods. The resulting masterpiece tips the scales at over 8 million C-bills, which is not inappropriate for a specialised medium 'Mech.

The Chiron has not been deployed long enough to generate any significant variants. Unit commanders wishing to strip out the "fancy gizmos" for more weaponry usually end up trading their Chiron for an ordinary Cetan - not only does this prevent most logistics issues as the two 'Mechs share so many components, it can also possibly save a career - the DCMS does not look kindly on a lance commander foolish enough to swap away a very expensive piece of equipment assigned to them for a very specific purpose!

The Chiron, interestingly, is not often deployed with a lance of C3-equipped 'Mechs. Given that the Combine has been hesitant (until recently) to mass-deploying C3, it has proven more common to have a C3-equipped fire-lance led by a dual-C3 command design like the Shugenja, partnered with a scout lance with one C3-equipped scout. While this deployment is techincally sub-optimal, it is far more effective than having a C3 fire lance with no C3 scouts at all.

Secondly, the Chiron is deployed as (to use the Federated Suns term) "scout mother" - a fast but heavy design providing a moving "bubble" of ECM to more numerous, fast but light scout 'Mechs. The Chiron has the advantage of being as fast as most modern Scout 'Mechs, which helps compensate for the lack of jump-jets.

Fluff by WorkTroll.