(1) activates turret. (2) activates Commander's MG. (3) activates water propulsion. (4) fires main gun. (5) activates land propulsion. Trim controls direction and Yaw steers. Pitch controls weapon elevation and Roll controls weapon traverse. Throttle controls hatches. LandingGear lifts raises propeller for storage when on land.

The Paternian Army's new Light Tank to replace the aging Scorpion M4A1, Scorpion M4A2 and the troublesome Sentinel M7. The Scorpion, while successful in airborne and reconnaissance operations, suffered heavy losses when forced to fight enemy tanks due to its poor armor.

The Sentinel was even more troublesome. While its gun-missile system was highly effective at its job, its electronics were too delicate, the armor was too thin, the gun's velocity was too low to hit anything moving beyond 500m, and the missile produced lots of smoke when fired, simultaneously revealing their position and obscuring the gunner's vision. In addition, neither vehicle was amphibious.

The General Burns sought to solve that. Named after the late General John Burns, the tank is designed to provide an airmobile and amphibious tank with sufficient survivability and firepower. To this end, the machine received the same effective armor as the Avenger MBT, which is significantly greater than the M4 or M7. It also received the Chamelion active camouflage system, designed to blend iin the surroundings, masking it from infrared, UV, and even some visible light detection systems, allowing it to blend wiht the environment as if it did not exist. The graphene layer prevents detection with radar. The machine was fitted with an improved 90mm Railgun M3A1, now equipped with effective HE rounds. This combination of stealth, mobility, armor, and firepower enabled it to be just as effective as an Ardent M6A3 or a Victoria M5A5 in open combat.

In combat, the crews loved the tank, appreciating the greater firepower and stealth, endearingly naming it "Zipp", after a fictional character known for his incredible speed. The Teutons, however, look at is more fearfully, referring to it as "Eisen-Geist" or "Stiller Tod" (Iron Ghost and Silent Death, respectively) due to the machine's lethality and stealthy nature. Often, Teuton forces are aware of its presence only when it fires its main gun, and even then cannot reliably ascertain its location.