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

Illustrated by Tomotake Kinoshita

Caption: The anti-giant use armament series, which began to be researched at the same time as the VF, is the Destroid. Pictured are the Tomahawk and Spartan. Although they don't have the multi-purposefulness or manoeuvrability of a VF, they excell in firepower and bullet resistance, and shouldered a part of the fighting strength of the Unified Forces.

Destroid - The Heavy Firepower and Heavy Armour OTM Using Humanoid Weapons Developed by the Army
Destroids are the general term for the huge humanoid land warfare armaments that adopted OTM (Over Technology of Macross) - advanced alien science and technology. The majority of the Destroids are composed of bodies with an overall height in the 10 m class, similar to a VF's battroid form, because they were developed on the prerequisite of fighting and contacting the giant Zentraadi clan, just like a VF (Variable Fighter). However, they are different from the aircraft based VF, and as AFV (Armoured Fighting Vehicle)-like humanoid weapons, the features of the Destroids are heavy firepower and heavy armour that surpasses those of a VF. The research and development of the Destroids was largely advanced under the Army's leadership, which differs from the VF, which was developed jointly by the Unified Naval, Air and Marine Forces.*
The Unified Ground Forces began the development of the anti-giant use OTM using armaments before the start of the Unification War. Subsequently, research and development advanced on the Army's giant-use weapons, which are generally called Destroids, as bipedal walking craft that adopted OTM. Although the Destroids didn't incorporate an ambitious design like that of a VF, the development of an OTM using weapon, which mankind hadn't experienced up until then, was rough going. Around the time that the Type 04 (MBR-04) -which could endure practical use- was completed, by way of the trial made Type 01 to 03, which had small thermonuclear reactors installed in them, the trend of the Unification War was definite. One theory is that the commencement of the MBR-04's design was in May, 2002, the start of the prototype was in December, 2003, and dragged on until November, 2007, with the roll-out of the earliest model in the Type 4 series, the MBR-04-MkI. Together with being the first-ever practical type Destroid, this MBR-04-MkI was named "Destroid", and that name took hold as the general term of the armament system. After that, such Destroids were implemented as the firepower stressing specification MBR-04-MkVI** Tomahawk, which was developed from the MkI, and the antiaircraft interception model ADR-04-MkX Defender. Thus, as individual armaments, the Destroids differ from the great multi-purposefulness of the VF, but they secured the ability of the entire weapon system by increasing the Destroid variations that suited specific functions.

*Translator's note: originally: "the research and development of the Destroids was largely advanced by only the Army."
** Translator's note: originally was "MBR-04-MkIV" and was indicated as an error in the original edition.

Related Matter: The Initial Destroid
In about 2008, in the last stage of the Unification War, the initial Destroid models were the advance prototype Monster and the Cheyenne, which were deployed aboard the Carrier Asuka for combat, despite only a few of them having been produced as advance prototypes. In addition, despite being from a different lineage than the Destroids, such craft as the Anti-Unification Alliance's Variable Weapon Octos were also committed to Mayan Island, and OTM using weapons other than Variable Fighters certainly improved the war potential of both sides.

Caption: The Cheyenne, the initial model Destroid, was invested into combat. It had such things as wheels for motoring and a manipulator and forearm armament switchover function.

Caption: The Octos is an OTM using armament that transforms between Land Warfare Four-Legged form and Submersible Cruising form. It is an armament in a lineage that differs from the Destroids, and is suitable for landing warfare.

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Destroid Classifications
All of the Destroids tend to appear to be similar to tank or self-propelled artillery because their greatest feature is great firepower, due to such things as beam guns, large calibre machine-guns and multiple missile launchers. However, in practise they are largely classified into four types depending on their specification, and their respective usefulness differs. In fact, there is the MBR (Main Battle Robot), whose purpose is combat like a main battle tank, the ADR (Anti-air Defence Robot), whose duty is antiaircraft attacks, the extra-atmospheric air defence and short range defence use SDR (Space Defence Robot), and the ultra-great firepower of the HWR (Heavy Weight Robot). The model designation assigned to the Destroid combines 3 alphabet letters that denote these classifications, 2 digits that represent the type (series), and "Mk #" (# is a Roman numeral) that denotes the development order within the type.

MBR: Heavily Equipped Bombardment Model / Close Hand-to-Hand Attack Model (Main Battle Robot)
Captions: MBR-04-MkVI* Main Battle Robot Tomahawk / MBR-07-MkII Main Battle Robot Spartan
Despite pursuing large firepower by diverse armaments such as beam guns and lasers, the battle types value bullet-resistance and manoeuvrability. In addition, in the 04 series, the Tomahawk is the heavily equipped bombardment model that specialized in using a group of firearms, and the 07 series is the close-attack hand-to-hand fighting model that also supported hand-to-hand combat.

* Translator's note: originally was "MBR-04-MkIV" and was indicated as an error in the original edition.

ADR Anti-air Interception Model (Anti-Air Defence Robot)
Caption: ADR-04-Mk X Anti-Air Defense Robot Defender
A defensive specification that mainly carries out antiaircraft attacks on highly-manoeuvrable targets. The Defender is equipped with high-initial velocity dual machine-guns that were developed with the objective of ultra long-range firing in space.

SDR Exo-Atmospheric Close Defence Model (Space Defence Robot)
Caption: SDR-04-Mk XII Space Defense Robot Phalanx
It was urgently developed in order to supplement the ADR model, which had fecundity problems. Although the Phalanx was developed with the prerequisite of extra-atmospheric operations, it was able to be operated even on the ground.

HWR Non-Orbital Ground Weapon (Heavyweight Robot)
Caption: HWR-00-Mk II Heavy Weight Robot Monster
A mobile fortress-like armament developed to oppose the gigantic armaments of the clan of giants. Although its manoeuvrability is extremely low compared to the Destroids in the other classifications, the Monster boasts a great firepower that surpasses the MBR models.

Development and Technical Features
A great number of corporations participated in the development of the Destroids. Only the representative industries are recorded as: Viggers (also in charge of some of the armaments), Crawler, Sentinental and Klansman developing the bodies; Clance-Maffai, GE, Guggenheimer, Gualand and Shinnakasu Heavy Industry doing the engines; and Mauler, Rammington, Astra, Bifors, Ericon, Norman-Punks, and Raytheon doing the armaments. The Destroids had OTM and the technology which these corporations had cultivated and OTM put into them. The Destroids didn't only acquire existing [conventional] missiles and large-calibre machine-guns, but also had large outputs due to thermonuclear reactors which were used as the main engines and enabled the use of such things as laser guns and beam guns. Also, despite adopting a bipedal walking system,, they had a structure that was simpler than a VF because the Destroids didn't use a transformation mechanism, and their low total cost was also an advantage.

Caption: Although it seems like the Destroids are exclusively for land warfare because of their AFV-like outward appearance, it is possible to operate them in space, and they were also committed to air defence battles on the Macross. However, after the First Interstellar War, VFs also increased their all-purposefulness, and the number of Destroids being operated seems to have decreased.

Destroid Structure and the Technology Invested into Them
Up: Destroids are equipped with thermonuclear reactors as the main engines, just like a VF, and they boast of an output that operates beam guns. Pictured is the Destroid Tomahawk.

A Cockpit
The cockpit is positioned right under cupola (an observation tower) the equivalent to the head and the uppermost part of the body. Although the inner structure has few monitors, it is similar to a VF's cockpit in battroid.

B Armour
Although Destroids have inferior mobility when compared to a VF, a lot of the Destroids boast of a high defensive strength. The danger of an induced explosion is reduced by concealing the armaments with covers, such as the missiles.

C Fixed Armaments
Destroids are equipped with diverse, powerful fixed armaments, such as multiple-missile launchers and beam guns. The MBR models have gun clusters that are arranged focusing such things as laser guns and machine-guns.

D Legs
Similar to a battroid, Destroids use a bipedal walking system, which was derived from OTM, as the mechanism of movement. In addition, the Cheyenne series uses wheels at the same time as the legs.

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© Aaron Sketchley