| Routine patrols are anything but routine on the modern battlefield. Recon teams can expect to face large detection networks and aggressive enemy border patrols. They must often defeat sophisticated sensor networks and pierce electronic jamming to report their findings. To help the often out-gunned light Gear recon cadres, one man, often the cadre's leader, is issued a Chatterbox, an electronic warfare and communication variant of the Igiuana. Although sometimes considered an officer's machine, the Chatterbox is more of a very specialized C3 (Command, Control, Communications) unit. The Chatterbox enables a combat group to stay in touch while mired in the worst electronic warfare net and can provide jamming and cover long enough for the team to escape. The main feature of the Chatterbox is its Obelisk Electronics MERIT 3000 sensor, communications, and electronics warfare package. The 3000 package includes a powerful radio, a secondary radio system, ECM and ECCM pods and a satellite uplink. This electronics equipment is mounted on the sides of the Chatterbox's cockpit, on either side of the pilot's head, forcing the use of a WV-750TC/C upside down V-engine. The standard shoulder mounted Vogel-6 rocket pod is also unworkable with this design and Territorial Arms judged it unnecessary to establish an alternate rocket hard-point for a command and control Gear. An HLB-16 anti-personnel grenade launcher was added to the Chatterbox to give it some additional defense capabilities. The removal of the Vogel-6 also compensates for the MERIT 3000 system's weight, allowing the Chatterbox to maintain standard operational capabilities. It is, however, far more expensive, and is never sent on missions alone.
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