In today's Hanpatch update, we are presenting you the third and - for now - final part of the great ECA Deployment Zone rework. You have seen the Puma and the Panzergrenadier, but we promised you a third new and exclusive unit of the German Bundeswehr:
In the 2020s, the German Army sought a replacement for its aging Wiesel tankettes that were used to support light infantry troops since the 1980s. The Luftbeweglicher Waffenträger (air-mobile weapons carrier, or LuWa for short) is a small, lightweight armoured vehicle with a unique segmented tread chassis. Like its diminutive predecessor, the vehicle can be modified to fill a variety of roles: Its standard armament is a rapid-fire 27mm autocannon, which can be replaced with anti-tank/anti-personnel missile launchers, an automated 80mm mortar or a field support suite for an onboard engineer and medic. Since its introduction, the LuWa provided effective support in counter-insurgency and peacekeeping operations in Africa and German soldiers began referring to it as the Löwe (Lion) in a respectful modification of its original name. During the Third World War, the Lions used by elite Luftlande Divisions were air-lifted directly to Deployment Zones, providing a rapid-response alternative to the heavier Austrian-made Pandur IFVs of the ECA ground forces.
The Lion is only available through the Deployment Zone, replacing the stock Fast Attack Battlegroup with the new Luftlande Battlegroup. The Pandur remains available as a buildable unit at the War Factory as it is functionally distinct enough to not be outright replaced by the Lion. In addition to the unique Bundeswehr units and the national veteran versions of various ECA vehicles that we revealed previously, we would like to close this update by showing you the unique infantry variants that are also included in this rework.
Like all the vehicles from the DZ, these infantry units all have superior stats - effectively a baked-in "fourth" veterancy level - and come with distinct woodland camo skins. The grenade symbol on their cameos is the icon of the Foreign Legion, an elite branch of the French Army composed of foreign nationals who earn French citizenship through their service. We chose this motif in order to create a shared "elite unit" identity for these units whilst at the same time neatly explaining why they still have mixed nationality accents.
This concludes our series on the new Deployment Zone, available only in Hanpatch. Stay tuned for future content updates.
Legio Patria Nostra !