The MAT-31ELF, fully titled the “Medium Assault Tank Model 31 Extended Life Firesupport”, or simply the “Elf,” is a armor and combat package overhaul of the MBT-31 Foxtrotter. This “Extended Life Firesupport” enables this decades-old design to be brought out of mothball, and be fielded once more as an assault tank in the Federation Army.
The Elf is the result of the Medium Direct Fires (MDF) program, which was a program to find a cheaper alternative to expensive main battle tank platforms (such as the MBT-37 Blackfoot) to provide direct fire support to infantry. This program was started in spite of the decline of the “tank” in modern battle, due to the rise of drone swarms, loitering munitions, and growing doctrinal focus on drones and indirect fires within the Federaiton military and abroad. Indeed, during the MDF program trials, many Federal lawmakers and the general public was skeptical of the need for another tank, and were especially skeptical of the resulting retrofit of the decades-old MBT-31 “Foxtrotter” design — a design that should be obsolete in most respects.
However, the MDF program and resulting MAT-31 Elf is a response to the specific missions the Federation military found itself fighting during the Standoff Era. The Federation was engaged in multiple conflicts and undeclared-wars abroad. Most of those conflicts are counter-insurgency operations against lesser-than-peer adversaries. In those cases, the Federation War Directorate determined that using complicated and expensive weapons platforms against a less-sophisticated enemy is not sustainable. Instead, the Federation military should to prioritize cheaper and reliable weapons platforms in these conflicts. Hence the retrofit and adoption of an “obsolete” tank to serve as a direct fires platform. The MAT-31 Elf is both cheaper to operate, cheaper to maintain, and cheaper to replace in the case of a hull loss — the latter of which is important with the proloferation of anti-tank drones in the hands of rebels and insurgents.
Do not let the old chassis fool you, however. The Elf’s new armor and survivability packages, including the standard fitting of thermal cloaking panels, boosts the MAT-31’s survivability. The upgraded 105mm rifled gun and accompanying autoloader also allows for more accurate shot placement and faster follow-up shots, while still using pre-existing stockpiles of 105mm shells. The ELF package makes the MAT-31 a far more lethal, and survivable, design compared to the original Foxtrotter.
The MAT-31ELF is, at its core, an obsolete tank that is most definitely outclassed by most armored vehicles, but its doctrine is not to act as an armored spearhead, or maneuver against other armor. It’s now an armored assault gun; A cheap, mobile, and versatile direct fires platform with enough armor to take a beating from infantry and light armored vehicles. When employed in that doctrine, the MAT-31ELF does its job.
Created on August 28th, 2025.
Last modified on October 13th, 2025.