Aethon
| Aethon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Infantry fighting vehicle |
| Place of origin | Republic of Syara |
| Service history | |
| Used by | Army of the Syaran Republic Syaran National Army |
| Wars | Refusal War Zemplen War |
| Production history | |
| Produced | 1980-2018 |
| No. built | ~9,500 produced |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 15.3 tons |
| Length | 6.42 m (21 ft 1 in) |
| Width | 2.90 m (9 ft 6 in) |
| Height | 2.20 m (7 ft 3 in) |
| Crew | 3 + 7 passengers |
| Armor | Titanium boride |
Main armament | 20mm autocannon ATGM launcher |
Secondary armament | 7.62mm machinegun |
| Engine | TYN-78 320 hp |
| Power/weight | 22.6 hp/t |
| Suspension | torsion bar |
Operational range | 500 km |
| Speed | 65 km/h (40 mph) |
The Aethon is a Syaran tracked amphibious infantry fighting vehicle. It was the last armored vehicle produced by the Republic of Syara before its dissolution in the 1980s.
The Aethon was introduced in 1980 to replace the Ceteus IFV, which had proved unpopular with the Army of the Syaran Republic. The Aethon, like the Balius, replaced the 75mm low velocity cannon with a smaller auto-cannon while adding an anti-tank guided missile launcher. A more capable engine made the vehicle more mechanically reliable, but the Aethon could carry only seven soldiers compared to eight in the Ceteus. Later variants of the Aethon were armed with a heavier 30mm autocannon, and some models were armed with more ATGMS or were designed as mortar carriers. Although only 1,200 were produced prior to the outbreak of the Refusal War, production was restarted after the founding of the Commonality. With nearly 10,000 chassis' produced, the Aethon is the most numerous Syaran armored vehicle ever made. Production of the Aethon was finally ceased in 2018 to shift resources for the development of the Xanthus modular AFV.