The ARV-99 Rescue Labor is a fire-rescue labor developed and manufactured by Shinohara Heavy Industries (SHI). It is designed to support firefighting and search-and-rescue missions in difficult-to-reach and dangerous environments.
Design and Development[]
Rationale[]
As a result of the succession of large-scale construction projects such as the Babylon Project, the scale of accidents and disasters such as fires is rapidly increasing. Furthermore, after the Great Tokyo Bay Earthquake, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency was forced to introduce powerful equipment to deal with large-scale disasters. After the debut of Hishii Heavy Industries' CRL-98 Pyro-Buster, SHI realized that it had left a gap in its labor lineup and set out to develop a rescue labor of its own. Thus, the ARV-99 was created. The ARV-99 was designed to make use SHI's existing labor architecture, using lessons learned from the AV-98 Ingram and ARL-99 "Helldiver" lines to develop a model that far surpassed Hishii's labor in terms of agility and dexterity.
Mechanical & Electronic design[]
Compared to these earlier models, the ARV-99 is rather bulky and cumbersome. This is on account of its heavier armor that provides greater coverage. Designed to operate in environments where fire and unstable structures are present, the ARV-99 features a heavy armor system that provides superb heat resistance and impact protection, at the cost of overall mobility.
Another element that was carried over was the advanced sensor array. The ARV-99 is equipped with several highly precise sensors including thermal and infrared cameras, allowing for high situational awareness even in the middle of a raging fire.
In terms of equipment, the ARV-99 is equipped with a heavy-duty water cannon on each shoulder. These cannons, fed by a water tank mounted on the labor's back, can be used to extinguish fires in critical areas quickly, though they have a very limited capacity in comparison to a regular fire truck. It is likely that the ARV-99 can be connected to a pumper truck or fire hydrant via a firehose, like a regular fire truck, greatly increasing its water capacity. Each arm is equipped with a three-finger manipulator, allowing the labor to pick up and carry basic equipment and clear debris. In addition to two water cannons for extinguishing fires, it is equipped with a high-performance manipulator for delicate work required for saving lives and a powerful searchlight. In reality, due to cost and operational reasons, it does not seem to have the dexterity to match the predecessor model, the Metropolitan Police Department's Ingram.
Operational History[]
An ARV-99 Rescue Labor using its water cannons at the Tower City Fire
The most notable use of the ARV-99 Rescue Labor was during the 1999 Tower City Fire. In this incident, a group of people including a prominent foreign minister became trapped in the Tokyo Tower City Project when a fire broke out. The Tower City Project, a massive construction expected to be one kilometer tall by its completion, was a massive structure that posed a serious challenge to the Tokyo Fire Department. The fire department, upon arriving and setting up a command post, deployed ARV-99s and Pyro-Busters to enter the building and rescue the scattered construction workers and visitors, in support of regular units on-site. However, an ARV-99 became stuck in a critical passage while en route to the minister, endangering the rescue mission. At this point, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Special Vehicles Unit, Section 2, Division 2, was called in to provide assistance. Pilots Noa Izumi and Isao Ohta were tasked with entering the tower from above using a construction crane, but after Ohta's Ingram became entangled in the crane's wiring, Izumi was left to enter the building on her own. Izumi was able to use the Ingram's advanced dexterity to get to the stranded victims and rescue them, successfully completing the mission.
Specifications[]
Empty Weight: 6.05 tons
Maximum Operating Weight: 6.81 tons
Maximum Lifting Capacity: 2.40 tons
Minimum Revolving Radius: 3.80 meters
Armor Material: Reinforced steel
Armaments[]
Standard Equipment[]
- Heavy duty water cannon x2
Gallery[]
References[]
