| Sketchley's Translations Main Index | Macross Portal |
| By AARON SKETCHLEY (aaronsketch@HOTdelete_thisMAIL.com) | Ver 1.0 2013.03.24 |
| Technology 01C: Variable Fighter |
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Illustrated by Tomotake Kinoshita
Caption: Although gun pods don't have long range or pursuit abilities like missiles, they manifest tremendous power in the short range zone due to their large calibre bullets and great rapid-fire performance. As a matter of fact, they are recognized as the main weapon of a VF because of this, as VFs often fight at short range.
Variable Fighter: Gun Pods Are Used As The Linchpin Armament Of A VF
Gun pods are external machine guns that are used held in the arm in both Battroid and GERWALK forms, or suspended under the fuselage in Fighter form. Although the large calibre Gatling machine guns usually fire bullets, diverse variations exist, among them beam gun and low-lethality types.
The aircraft armament called the "gun pod" is something that existed from before the birth of the Variable Fighter (hereafter VF). Naturally, gun pods aren't limited to the hand held types like the ones for the current VFs. However, gun pods are used in such cases as when a machine gun is expanded upon and barrels are added or as an additional large calibre machine gun that cannot be carried inside the airframe, which is consistent with the point that gun pods are external machine guns that are concealed in a cowl. The VF gun pods are also externalized large machine guns that are impossible to be internalized, the same as the ones for aircraft, and they almost invariably have calibres larger than 30 mm. The calibre of the GU-17A for the VF-25 is also 58 mm. Although machine guns with this large a calibre are used for anti-ground attacks if its for aircraft, the ones for VFs are operated as multi-purpose firearms that assume the target has advanced manoeuvrability and bullet resistance due to energy conversion armour, such as the VFs of enemy organizations or Zentraadi mobile weapons. Gun pods have amassed an unshakable position as the main armament for a VF and their multi-purposefulness is verified by such things as the availability of the gun pod in all forms of a VF, a fire power that isn't limited in its targets due to diverse, large calibre ammunition, and a rapid fire performance that exceeds a rate of 1,000 rounds per minute.
Extra Report: Internal Machine-Guns For VFs
Among the VFs exist aircraft that have internalized bullet-firing machine guns that have a smaller calibre than that of a gun pod. Apart from their use against targets that have a low bullet resistance in the earliest period, as the ages advanced they were used because bullet-firing weapons were looked at once more due to the implementation of anti-optical weapon vapourization armour.
Caption: The Anti Unification Alliance's SV-51 is equipped with 12.7 m* Gsh-231 Machine-guns in the main wing roots. They are used as anti-conventional aircraft and anti-ground guns.
* Translator's note: typo on both versions of the sheet. 12.7 mm is the correct size.
Caption: The VF-171 series, which is the New Unified Forces' main fighter in the latter part of the 2050's, is also equipped with machine guns on both sides of the cockpit.
Left: The Internal machine gun for the VF-25 (Rammington ES-25A / ROV-25)
It's possible to install 25 mm Rammington ES-25A machine-guns in the main wing roots. It's also possible to exchange them for 25 mm ROV-25 beam machine-guns (the beam machine-gun is pictured).
Caption: The fundamental form of the gun pod was completed at the time of the GPU-9, which had an expansion and contraction mechanism, cowl and tail fins. However, when fired it had the problem of a large recoil.
Caption: The 58 mm calibre GU-17A for the VF-25 has 5 barrels. When used in Battroid and GERWALK forms, a cover used for cooling folds out.
Related Matter: Non-Unified Forces series VF Gun Pods
The non-Unified Forces series VFs, such as those of the Anti Unification Alliance and the Varohta Forces, were also equipped with gun pods. In addition to the significance that the operational ideas of VFs had a universality that crossed over organizations, one could also sense the technical relationships from their use of gun pods.
Up: The SV-51 Gun Pod
The Gsh-371. ?Although its 55 m calibre is larger than the GPU-9, it only carries a mere 120 rounds. The magazine can be exchanged, and the SV-51 is normally equipped with one spare magazine. The gun pod is pictured being held in the arm.
Up: The Fz-109 Gun Pod
The model considered to have been based on the Unified Forces VF-14, which is the model for the Fz-109. It's a standard type of gun pod.
Up: The Fz-109 Blaster
A beam gun type of gun pod that uses a consolidated gun barrel and engine component which are split apart when it is stowed away. Pictured is how it appears in Battroid and GERWALK forms.
The Structure of a Gun Pod
The figure below is the GU-11 for the VF-1, which is a standard Gatling gun style gun pod. If you exclude such things as the grip for using it Battroid and GERWALK forms and the cowl expansion and contraction function, one could say that the VF-1 gun pod is an armament that has a structure that resembles that of the gun pods that were used as aircraft armaments and have a high reliability.
Caption: The common features that gun pods share with traditional aircraft equipment can be seen even in the maintenance side, such as the jack-stands used in loading operations when a VF is in Fighter form.
A Machine Gun that Can be Shared by an Aircraft and Humanoid Weapon
In order to make VF gun pods unite the functions of an external machine gun in Fighter form and a hand-held machine gun in GERWALK and Battroid, some mechanisms are added to the packaged Gatling style machine gun.
Down: Tip Sensor
A compound sensor positioned on the tip of the cowl in the top part of the muzzle. It is composed of such thing as an auxiliary sighting system and a radar for measuring the initial bullet velocity.
Down: Cowl & Tail Fins
The cowl and tail fins consider aerodynamics in Fighter form. They cover the engine part and gun barrels.
Up: Engine Part
The engine part does such things as loading and ejecting the ammunition. The motor that provides the driving force to rotate the gun barrels is built into the tail of the gun pod.
Up: Expansion and Contraction Mechanism
Gun pods have an expansion and contraction mechanism in order to improve their hold-ability in Battroid and GERWALK forms. When expanded, the engine part is exposed.
Left: Grip of the Gun (The Grip)
Gun pods have grips in order to be held in the manipulators when in Battroid and GERWALK forms. The grip becomes the rack connector in Fighter form.
Up: Magazine
There are many cases where the space inside the gun barrel's cowl is loaded with the gun pod's ammunition. Although the initial gun pods couldn't exchange magazines, types that could exchange magazines were later also developed.
Up: Gun Barrels
Cooling capabilities and rapid-fire performance are improved with Gatling type rotating gun barrels. Gun pod types that have from 3 to 5 gun barrels are numerous.
The Special Characteristics of Gun Pods
Gun pods, which excel in short range combat abilities and have many uses in unguided gun fights, are indispensable weapons for VFs that often do close visual combat. Also, gun pods confer advance combat abilities onto VFs in their combined operation with such things as missiles and laser machine guns that have different special characteristics.
Caption: Besides the improvement in fire power by simultaneously using the gun pod with the other weapons, the gun pod could also be linked with the radar and used to intercept missiles.
Available in All Forms
The gun pod's greatest feature is the point where it is available in all 3 forms of a VF. However, there is also a danger of stalling in Fighter form, as the recoil when firing the gun pod at full strength is extremely large.
Caption: Although the gun pod is stored inside the leg of the VF-17, which values its stealth performance, it can be fired even in Fighter form from an open-and-shut style slit.
Diverse Kinds of Bullets and Damage Capabilities as a Bullet Firing Weapon
Gun pods have a multi-purposefulness due to the diverse kinds of bullets they can use, such as high-explosive incendiary, high-explosive, armour-piercing incendiary, AHED and MDE bullets. Also, a certain offensive ability characteristic to bullets can also be expected from gun pods.
Caption: As a Gatling style gun pod, there's the GU-17V for the VF-25, which supported the new warhead MDE weapons that could also effect the Vajra for the first time. The GU-17V is an improved version of the GU-17A.
Powerful Close-Range Fighting Capability
Although, properly speaking, out of range attacks are desirable, there were also a lot of cases where VFs were forced to battle within visual range. Gun pods, which excel at rapid-fire performance and angels of attack, are effective in short range combat.
Caption: One could say that gun pods, which excel at adaptability and rapid-fire performance, are suitable firearms in combat from point-blank range through short range; more so than missiles, which are required to keep a target at a fixed range.
Resistant to Jamming and the Ability to Cope With All Regimes
There is no method of obstructing corporeal bullets, besides physical barriers, which include pinpoint barriers; which differ from missiles that are susceptible to jamming, and beam weapons that suffer from the influence of such things as interstellar gas and magnetic fields.
Caption: The greatest feature of a gun pod is its high operability, which isn't limited in its targets or situations that it can be used in. One could say that the advantage of a gun pod's use is the point where it limits an enemy's defensive measures against it.
Caption: The specifications were repeatedly upgraded, such as the one for the VF-1 with the attached shoulder strap, and the one for the VF-19 (YF-19) that had an exchangeable magazine in the stock.
For the VF-0
The GPU-9 is the gun pod of the earliest period. At this point in time, the standard gimmicks as a gun pod had already been completed. The recoil when firing at maximum strength is proportionate to the output of one of the VF-0's engines, and it causes a decrease in speed.
For the VF-22
The BP-14D is for the VF-22S. It features cartridge-less bullets and a shape that considers stealthiness. 2 gun pods are standard equipment on the VF-22. It's known as an unusual model that was jointly developed by the Howard and GE companies.
Multipurpose and Compound Models
Types that incorporate other weapon functions onto the unchanged basic performance of a Gatling style gun pod. Although it is a specification that improves the multi-purposefulness of a gun pod even more, they aren't seen very much, probably because of the steep rise in development costs.
Caption: They also had adequate performance as a normal gun pod. The VA-3 Invader that were retained by the planet Zola poaching group (right picture) were equipped with a gun pod model that integrated a harpoon and a machine gun.
For the VF-11B
Hypothesized around hand-to-hand combat, the gun pod for the VF-11B is equipped with a pop-up style bayonet under the cowl. The top part of the cowl is an exchangeable magazine. The model number is GU-15.
For the VF-17
By exchanging the exclusive magazine, the MC-17A for the VF-17 can also be made into a large-output beam-gun specification gun pod. In order to maintain the stealthiness of the aircraft after being taken out of the VF-17's leg, the gun pod also uses a stealthy shape.
Beam Gun Models
Types of gun pod that fire beam guns, not corporeal bullets. They feature high fire power in a specification that came to be seen in the latter half of the 2050's when high-output thermonuclear reaction engines were implemented. Types that support MDE also exist.
Caption: Output regulation is also possible, such as rapid fire and single shots. The gun pod for the VF-27 can destroy an armour pack equipped VF or space ship in a single shot, if it is in large output mode.
For the VF-171EX
The MDE beam gun for the VF-171EX is connected to the body of the VF with a cable. It's formal name is the Anti-Vajra Heavy Quantum Beam Reaction Gun / 30 mm MDE Machine-gun Matrix.*
* Translator's note: on the cover of issue #22 (original version) that this page appeared in, the gun was also formally named AVPAGC/MEDC30-EX-A.
For the VF-27
The BGP-01β beam gun pod for the VF-27. In addition to rapid-fire mode, it can also be used as a single-shot large-output beam grenade launcher. It was later remodelled to the MDE type specification.
Large and Great Fire Power Models
The types that pursue such things as fire power and hit accuracy that surpasses that of a normal gun pod. Their operability in all forms tends to be disregarded because they are forced to have their size increased, and they were often used only in a specific form, which centred on the Battroid form.
Caption: As to be expected, they are hard to handle in Fighter as well as GERWALK forms, due to the ease that they became gun pods with long barrels. They were extremely suitable for use in Battroid, with it's arms that have a high degree of freedom.
For the VF-11C (Full Armoured Thunderbolt)
The GU-XS-06, which is a large gun pod that is carried only when the VF-11C is equipped with an armour pack. It demonstrated offensive abilities to the degree that it can render the reactor of a Varohta military vessel inoperable within a short time.
For the VF-25G
The SSL-9B Dragunov Anti-Material Sniper Rifle. It's a type that combines gunpowder and a rail-gun. It is later improved enabling it to use high-speed anti-Vajra MDE weapons.
Caption: The gun pods for VFs, which were born as external Gatling machine guns, came to show a heavily used appearance in the evolution of the VF. Also, serviceability and so forth was also improved, and at present, they have become essential weapons for a VF.
Special Gun Pods that Play a Leading Role as Nonlethal Types
Although VF gun pods, which are successor models of the external machine guns for aircraft, are usually weapons that have the objective of destroying, killing and wounding the target, low lethality types also came to be seen with the progress through the ages. These types seem to have been abundantly developed in order to carry out non-physical attacks due to the appearance of criminal organizations that are equipped with VFs; such as for the arrest of passengers without injury (it's thought that there are cases where these gun pods were used to deal with Zentraadi riots), and delivering "songs" to alien creatures that aren't easily influenced by normal attacks.
One of the pressing needs of mankind, who were advancing as emigrants to various places in the galaxy, was the development of not only VFs, but also new gun pods in order to deal with new threats, for example alien creatures such as the Protodevilun and Vajra, which the Macross 7 Fleet and Macross Frontier Fleet encountered.
Caption: In order to capture without destroying the VFs that criminals pilot, models of gun pods for arrests were also developed.
Caption: The Speaker Pod γ (Gamma), which was used for transmitting songs to military vessels, was a gun pod that transcended such things as the shape and scale of what are normally called gun pods.
For the VF-5000
The aircraft of the guards of planet Zola's were equipped with a shock gun pod used for captures. By shooting an adhesive bullet, it was a gun pod that could trap a target by incapacitation, not destroy it.
For the VF-19 Kai
A launcher pod that fires speaker pods. After hitting the target, it became possible for Nekki Basara to transmit his "songs" to the enemy pilot.
Spiritia Absorption Type
A weapon for extracting the living body energy "spiritia" from the Protodevilun, who have an absolute offensive ability. It was used by the VF-19, VF-17 and so on that were attached to the Macross 7 Fleet.
Related Matter: The Variable Craft that Aren't Equipped with Gun Pods
Gun pods are firearms that are used for combat against armaments that have both a high defensive capability and manoeuvrability; for example, a VF. However, among the variable craft also exist aircraft that don't have gun pods as standard equipment, like the VA and VB. Many of these aircraft, while having airframes with powerful built-in guns, are almost invariably specialized toward a specific purpose.
Left: FBz-99G Zaubaaguran
A heavy variable aircraft of the Varohta Forces, which is considered to be an improved Unified Forces VAB-2D Large Attack Craft. It is equipped with a lot of beam guns and missiles.
Caption: The hands are composed of a palm beam gun and claws. It doesn't have a manipulator like a VF, and cannot be equipped with a gun pod.
Left: VB-6 Konig Monster
With a VB that can simultaneously fire a lot of reaction weapons, it demonstrates the greatest class of fire power among the variable aircraft.
Caption: Because the arms are fixed armaments and the hands are simple manipulators, it cannot be equipped with a normal gun pod.