Shagohod

The Shagohod the weapon featured in the video game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. It is a crawling rocket-boosted tank with nuclear weapon launch capability (a single SS-20 "Saber" IRBM) and is considered as the first Metal Gear to be created. Unlike the Metal Gear mechas (walking tanks) made in the near future like Metal Gear REX and Metal Gear RAY, the Shagohod is mainly a hovercraft with the rear section forming the bulk of the vehicle and carrying the ballistic missile acting as a hovercraft without a skirt. The forward section which is attached and articulated uses Archimedes screws on hydraulic legs to move (the legs set to a horizontal position so the screws can be used for propulsion when the rocket engines are engaged). The machine weighs 152.5 tons, is 22.8 m long by 8.2 m high and 6.4 m wide, has a maximum road speed (without the rocket engines being activated) of 80 km/h and a range of 650 km. A crew complement of 2 is usual, though one can pilot it.

The Shagohod is armed with two 12.7 mm DShKM heavy machineguns (300 rounds) and one additional turret mount for anti-aircraft work with 360 rounds, six 9K112 Kobra Surface-to-Air-guided Missiles, and a 100 barrel volley gun. Combined with heavy armor, the Shagohod is basically a mobile fortress.

Though the Shagohod may appear to be a precursor to the Metal Gear line, the development of Shagohod is in fact distinctly separate from the development of the initial Metal Gear design - both were developed independently of one another at approximately the same time, with the simpler Shagohod design reaching fruition before the more complex and technologically advanced Metal Gear.

Interrogate a guard in the Shagohod hangar and he tells you it translates into "The Treading Behemoth". Sokolov also tells you this when you first get to see the Shagohod.

Though originally meant to be a theater-to-intermediate range nuclear weapons platform operable from any type of terrain, the final "Phase 2" design of the Shagohod uses rocket boosters to propel the behemoth to a speed of over 480 km/h (300 mi/h) before firing off its nuclear warhead, essentially acting as an additional stage, increasing the range to ICBM levels. The tradeoff from the original design is that Shagohod requires 4,8 km (3 mi) of flat, even land (preferably runway) to make effective use of the rocket boost.

The perceived advantage of Shagohod over traditional silos is its mobility and thus relative stealth. As a mobile weapon, it is also suited to more aggressive posturing, leading to the threat of a nuclear first strike with the new system. In reality, the use of rail and multiple axle off-road carriers is the closest to the Shagohod we have gotten.

According to Sokolov the Shagohod cannot be detected by spyplanes or satellites.

The Shagohod does have weaknesses; Its treads are susceptible to damage by explosives, immobilizing it, and its rear armor, once its back-section is disconnected, is thin enough to be penetrated by rocket propelled grenades.

The first and only Shagohod model was destroyed by Naked Snake during Operation Snake Eater.