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Zero, M, FB, Plus, 7, 7Gin, D7, F

Illustrated by Tomotake Kinoshita

Caption:The basic VF armaments are machine guns, missiles and so on -types of armament that, despite being based on ones from before the fall of the Macross, have been developed with enhancements from OTM and new technologies- and charged particle beam guns and so on - which were put to practical use for the first time by the introduction of OTM.

Variable Fighter
VF Armaments Consist of 3 Different Kinds of Armament
The basic armaments of a VF consist of 3 types: the Gun Pod, a suspended/hand-held machine-gun pod, the guided weapon missiles that have pursuit abilities, and laser machine guns, charged particle guns and so forth, which are called "beam guns". Aside from several exceptions, these 3 types are common to almost all the VFs from the VF-0 -which exists as a sample of the VFs- to the latest craft. By using these armaments correctly, a VF can respond to every combat situation.
Gun Pods are machine guns covered in a cowl. They are mainly mounted on the underside of the body in Fighter form, and a grip extends from them in GERWALK and Battroid forms and they are used as a hand-held gun. Although they surely have a destructive power that greatly exceeds that of an aircraft's machine gun, many of them have a comparatively simple gun-powder cartridge mechanism structure, and they seem to be old-fashioned. However, in addition to what can be expected from the rise in destructive force due to the effect of bullet-grouping and a Gun Pod's multi-purposefulness -due to a variety of bullets with multiple uses-, and their overwhelming ability due to a thick barrage, they have the advantage of not being easily influenced by such things as jamming and interstellar gas; Gun Pods have amassed a firm position as a short and medium range firearm.
Although there are various models of missiles for VFs, such as long-range anti-ship types, on top of being able to be used irregardless of being in space or atmosphere, many missiles are general-purpose types that can attack all targets, such as ground targets, flying targets and space ships. Basically, the missiles are the "fire and forget* (fire and leave it as is) style", that independently pursue their target. Because of this, more than the reduction of the burden on the mother craft VF and pilot, it greatly contributed to the improvement in a VF's ability to deal with multiple targets and granted saturation attack abilities, because a great number of missiles could be fired simultaneously.
Among the guns of a VF, the beam guns can be said to have received the most benefit of OTM (the Over Technology of Macross), and as laser machine guns, they became standard equipment from the VF-0 onwards. Although they were used for such things as auxiliary weapons and laser communications equipment at first, large output charged particle guns that demonstrated bullet speeds and destructive power greater than that of bullet firing weapons also came to be installed in VFs later on.

*Translator's note: the typo "foaget" in the original was fixed in the revised edition.

Related Matter: Enhancing Equipment and Increased Firearms
As enhancing equipment for a VF, manoeuvrability and cruising range improving Super Parts and offensive and defensive capability enhancing Protector Weapon Systems exist. Although the orientation of both kinds of equipment differed, its certain that one of their objectives was the enhancement of firepower. As a result, it became possible to load more firearms than the VF itself could, and they came to have functions as Destroid class armament platforms. The enhancing equipment also has the standard VF armaments and are systems that a great number of VFs have used since the dawn of their era.

Caption: The Super Parts in the Unified Forces* were adopted as the rule from the VF-1. A VF's operating time outside of an atmosphere and it's manoeuvrability and fire power were greatly improved by this equipment.

*Translator's note: "in the Unified Forces" added in the revised ed..

Caption: The Protect Weapon System that was also inherited by the VF-25* was also available in forms other than Battroid Form, which was unlike the Armour Packs up until then.

*Translator's note: "the latest VF-25" changed to "VF-25" in the revised ed..

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Fixed Armaments and Standard Equipment
As VFs were developed based on fighter aircraft, it was a natural outcome for aircraft armaments to also be inherited by them. However, because exclusive firearms for each form become dead weight (even at the best of times, there are parts of a VF that are difficult to use due to the form, such as "arms" and "wings"), there were demands for armaments that had a multi-purposefulness that enabled them to be used at the same time in all of a VF's forms. Due to these sorts of reasons, gun pods that transform into rifles and missiles that have a high degree of freedom in their positioning also became standard equipment. The fixed laser machine gun armament can also be used in all of a VF's forms, and can be completely used at the same time as the other armaments.

Caption: Although the standard armaments of a VF are obviously those of a fighter aircraft, such things were attempted as interaction with the arm manipulators in order to enable their use even in Battroid Form, making their base into a turret, and adjustments to their location on the airframe.

The Different Kinds of Fixed Armaments and Standard Equipment

A Machine Guns
Laser machine-guns are mainly installed in the head when in Battroid. They can also be used as laser torches and space laser-communication apparatus.

B Gun Pods
30 to 57 mm calibre bullet firing, 3 to 6 barrel Gatling Guns. A grip appears from the pod-style machine gun when used in the VF's arms.

C Missiles
Guided weapons that are equipped onto the undersides of the wings and inside multi-weapon bays and dedicated launchers. Although there are differences in such things as the range and warhead weight due to the specifications of the missile, there are many that can be used for various purposes like the VF-1's AMM-1; such as use in both space and atmosphere and such things as anti-ground, anti-air and space interception. The variations of missiles are also abundant, such as the RMS-1 Large Anti-Ship Reaction Weapons and HMM-01 Micro-missiles.

Caption: Large Anti-Ship Reaction Weapon

Technological Innovation and the Transition of Armaments
VF's entered a long age of trial and error from the VF-1, and although they kept the armaments and basic lines, figures with multiple uses came to be seen. Above all else, the things that had a particularly great change were the installation of built-in beam guns and the internalization of missiles.
The VF's built-in beam guns (excluding the head laser machine gun) were already seen in the VF-4, which succeeded the VF-1 and was put to practical use. After the VF-17, which used the thermonuclear burst-engine, beam guns became standard equipment, including on the exchangeable equipment for a VF. The increase in a thermonuclear engine's output was one of the causes of that change, and with those increases it became possible to install higher-powered beam guns while maintaining the craft's manoeuvrability as a VF.
The internalization of missiles was remarkable at the time of the VF-5000, the improved redesign of the VF-1, and hereafter, internalized missiles were universal. The background of that was to retain the aircraft's stealthiness and higher performance micro-missiles, along with the idea that such things as unmanned craft and Missile Ships could become the substitutes for large long-range missiles.

Caption: Although Gun Pods haven't greatly changed, from the VF-11, it became possible to change the gun pod's magazine, and the number of bullets carried was increased. Models also exist where the gun pod can be used as a beam gun by exchanging the magazine for a special one, like the VF-17's gun pod (pictured).

Caption: The laser machine gun is arranged on the dorsal surface of the airframe as protection for the rear in the Fighter form of the VF-5000. This arrangement became standard from the VF-11 in VFs considered to be for air superiority, and their ability to respond to threats in the rear and upper regions have improved (pictured is the YF-19).

Caption: As long as heavy equipment wasn't needed, missiles were seldom loaded onto the underside of the wings. The craft that adopted multi-weapon bays, such as the VF-19 and VF-22 (pictured), could carry plenty of missiles internally, even if they weren't micro-missiles.

The Evolution of Each Kind of Armament

Laser Machine Guns and Internal Beam/Laser Guns
With the air-superiority fighter type of VFs, the top of the head is exposed in the center of the body even in Fighter form so that the laser machine gun could be used for protection in the rear. Aircraft that point the machine gun under the body, like the VF-1, can be said to be designs that take ground attacks into consideration. Also, such things as beam guns were highly prized, as they also came to be internalized and had an overwhelming bullet speed and great offensive ability that rendered such things as "bullets" unnecessary.

Caption: VF-9
Mauler ROV-25 Dual Beam Gun Turret

Caption: VF-17D
Medium Bore Beam Guns

Gun Pods
In addition to attempts at increasing the number of bullets carried by Gun Pods by changing [from internally loaded] to a system of [exchangeable] magazines, cartridge-less styles of Gun Pod, such as the type for the VF-22 (YF-21), were also put to practical use. Although the VF-25G's Sniper Rifle is an unusual model, it had a very long barrel consisting of a particle accelerator and folding stabilizers, as it used gun powder and a rail gun to shoot. The Shock Gun Pod was also developed as a non-destructive weapon for capturing [opponents].

Caption: YF-21
Howard General GV17L Cartridge-less Gatling Gun Pod

Caption: VF-25
Sniper Rifle

Missiles
The number of cases where large missiles are loaded onto VFs decreased, and small missiles, such as micro-missiles, came to appear like they were heavily used (usage restrictions were imposed on reaction weapons after the First Interstellar War). The circumstances behind that change was the tendency to put importance on stealthiness. As a result, built-in launchers and multi-weapon bays came to be preferred, and missiles also appear to have progressed toward smaller sizes and higher performance to match that preference.

Caption: YF-21
Bifors BML-02S All-Regime Rapid Firing Micro-Missile Launchers

Caption: VF-19 Kai
Medium Range High Manoeuvrability Missiles

Related Matter: Concerning the Armaments for Hand-to-Hand Combat
The hands and feet of a Battroid were supposed to be for hand-to-hand combat with the Zentraadi. However, blows on battle pods and Powered Suits that used such things as the Battroid's punches or gun pod had especially insufficient damage. Because of this, from the YF-19, VFs punched and kicked using the pin point barrier at the same time, and the VF-25 was equipped with a knife that was strengthened by a pinpoint barrier.

Caption: The VF-11B was equipped with a gun pod that had a pop-up style bayonet, and one blow with it caused crippling damage to Powered Suit equipped Zentraadi.

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© Aaron Sketchley