Originally intended to carry a rotary cannon like the Falke, the Stag Beetle was upgraded to a low pressure 60mm rapid fire cannon capable of penetrating the armor of almost anything when it was decided to also use the Stag Beetle in an anti-armor role. Later a laser unit was added, reducing the cannon load by half when the Stag Beetle's original role as an anti-aircraft came back into focus.

Unfortunately the Stag Beetle was a maintenance nightmare. The antigrav generators had never been built to handle the loads they where given, more so when the SB's armor was increase for it's ground attack role. The complex 24 cylinder engine needed to be removed for maintenance, which was required every 30 flight hours.

The need for extreme maintenance and reliance on expensive parts led to the Stag Beetle being removed from service after less then 2 years, tho' several units of purpose built anti-suit version with the original rotary canon flew for several years as an area deterrent weapon.