Metal Gear REX

Metal Gear REX is a nuclear-equipped bipedal tank that was jointly developed by DARPA and ArmsTech Inc in the early 2000s.

Background
In the early 1960s, Soviet scientist Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin had created designs for "a REX-like bipedal tank" and a second bipedal tank. However, GRU Colonel Volgin rejected his ideas in 1964 in favor of Dr. Sokolov's Shagohod. Afterwards, a drunk and bitter Granin intended to send the designs to a friend in the United States, which he revealed to CIA operative Naked Snake. However, the Philosophers spy Ocelot stole duplicates of these and delivered them to his superiors. The designs later served as the inspiration for the ICBMG, developed by Sokolov in 1970, and Metal Gear ZEKE, developed by Huey Emmerich and Strangelove in 1974.

Prior to REX's development in 2002, a further attempt to carry out a Metal Gear project within the United States had been planned, but was officially scrapped. However, Solid Snake's encounters with Metal Gear TX-55 in 1995 and Metal Gear D in 1999, convinced the private weapons company ArmsTech that building one for the U.S. Army would be a very profitable venture. ArmsTech had been in a dire state financially, with the possibility of a hostile takeover becoming apparent after failing to obtain the contract for a new line of fighter jet. The DARPA Chief (Donald Anderson) was heavily bribed by the Armstech President (Kenneth Baker) to back the Metal Gear REX project and fund its development covertly.

One of the main goals of developing REX was to overcome a global trend in military downsizing at the time. A weapon such as REX would cause an immediate rift in the global power structure. REX was capable of launching a nuclear warhead without the need for a rocket propulsion system, making it undetectable by radar. It could give any country in the world a first-strike capability that other nations would find hard to counter. This also exploited a specific loophole that existed in anti-nuke treaties, since weapons fired from a rail gun were not technically ballistic, so limitations on ballistic weaponry did not apply.

During REX's development, the Metal Gear engineers became concerned of what would happen if REX, after it was completed and doing solo ops overseas, had to engage in close range combat. They then decided that they could make REX's hull a weapon in itself. Although the program was completed, and had gotten fantastic results from supercomputer simulation, the military shelved the project before they could even install it (as the military viewed it as not being part of their regulations). However, REX's chief engineer (Hal Emmerich) secretly uploaded the data into REX anyway.

In 2005, Baker and Anderson attended a rail gun testing exercise at the nuclear weapons disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island. However, REX's prototype was captured by the special forces group FOXHOUND, which had originally been assigned to oversee the final testing of the secret new weapon. The threat of a nuclear attack was used in an attempt to extort Big Boss's remains from the U.S. Government (The Patriots), and later $1 billion.

Dr. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich was opposed to nuclear weaponry, and it was unlikely he would have assisted in the program if he had known REX's true purpose. He was informed that REX was intended for intercepting nuclear weapons, and REX's armaments were handled by a separate department to keep him in the dark. Their development and integration into the main chassis were out of his control, and as far as he knew, these armaments were intended to defend the REX unit itself, and to provide Theater Missile Defense.

It was only during the Shadow Moses Revolt that Otacon discovered REX's true purpose as a nuclear launch platform, and its revolutionary delivery system – a railgun. As the projectile it fired was not actually a missile, it wasn't covered by current disarmament treaties. Even worse, the combination of the size, speed and nature of the projectile could allow the payload to bypass current missile detection systems, which had always been dependent on the characteristics of missiles – size, speed, and propellant exhaust – to track them.

REX was the ultimate Metal Gear, as it was not only capable of delivering a nuclear weapon both to and from any point on the globe, it could do so "undetectably" and "untraceably". All previous Metal Gears were merely mobile ground-based launch systems for nuclear missiles, little more than the land-based equivalent of ballistic missile submarines. REX utilized a rail gun, which fired much smaller projectiles without chemical propellants – factors which made them virtually invisible to radar. It thus fatally undermined the 'no first strike' principle of Mutually Assured Destruction – whoever controlled it could launch a nuclear attack at any target at any time, with no warning before impact.

It became clear that REX was in fact to be used to make the nuclear strike; Otacon took it as his duty as REX's creator to destroy it. Liquid Snake piloted REX, upon its activation, and attempted to use it to kill Solid Snake. Snake, using Otacon's advice, attempted to destroy REX’s radome using Stinger missiles, and after several successful hits, the machine was temporarily immobilised. However, the missiles caused less damage than Snake expected, and REX became fully operational once more, attempting to crush Snake beneath one of its feet. Before this could happen, Gray Fox (as the Cyborg Ninja) intervened, using his cybernetic-enhanced strength to hold up REX's foot and thwart its attack. Gray Fox then damaged REX's radome further, with several blasts from his exoskeleton's gun and his sword, allowing Snake and Fox a temporary respite. Providing Snake with additional missiles, Fox attempted to halt REX's advance, but his left arm was dismembered from his body by REX's laser, and he was eventually pinned against a wall by its "beak" cockpit. In an act of sacrifice, Fox got off a few more shots from his gun, succeeding in destroying the radome completely, and forcing Liquid to open the cockpit, though he was promptly killed beneath REX's trampling feet.

Now having the chance to finish off REX, Snake managed to launch a Stinger at its cockpit. As Liquid proceeded to step on Snake with REX once more, the machine suddenly began to lose its balance, the cockpit having become inoperable from the damage sustained, and the resulting explosion knocking Snake unconscious. Still standing strong, Liquid dragged Snake to the top of REX's head, where the two engaged in a bare handed fight. At the end of the deadly battle between the two, Snake's finishing blow knocks Liquid off the top of the Metal Gear, though he would survive the fall to the ground below.

The Shadow Moses Incident placed the plans for REX's mass production on indefinite hold, and the entire development was scrapped.

Post-Shadow Moses
After 2005, Revolver Ocelot escaped Shadow Moses with the blueprints for REX and (possibly along with Solidus Snake) sold them onto the black market. However, the Patriots made sure that the blueprints did not include the designs for the nuclear-launching railgun, since this would present a potential threat to them.

As a result, REX models spread worldwide. Solid Snake and Otacon therefore formed Philanthropy, and sabotaged as many REX development operations as they could; the USMC's response to the REX threat was to develop a new Metal Gear, a hunter-killer to eliminate REX derivatives, named Metal Gear RAY.

In the meantime, the original prototype lay wasted and abandoned in the underground base where it had been destroyed.

In 2014, Liquid Ocelot returned to Shadow Moses and salvaged the railgun from the remains of the original Metal Gear REX to launch a nuclear strike on the Patriots' master AI. Since it was developed before the introduction of SOP and had laid untouched since 2005, it was the only WMD that could be used to make such a strike. Old Snake had returned to Shadow Moses in an attempt to stop Liquid Ocelot, but was too late. Instead, he encountered Vamp and fought him, until Raiden took over for Snake. Raiden and Vamp fought on top of REX, resulting in Vamp's death. Otacon (via Metal Gear Mk. III) managed to re-power REX; allowing Snake to pilot it out of the base. Upon arriving at the surface, Snake was confronted by Metal Gear RAY who was being piloted by none other than Liquid Ocelot. Despite the fact that RAY had been specifically designed to destroy REX, and the latter was handicapped due to its inoperable radome, Snake (with Otacon's assistance) managed to destroy RAY with REX shutting down soon after.

Information
Metal Gear REX is operated by a single pilot, who has no direct view of the cockpit's exterior; information is instead gathered by a sensor package in a radome on the left shoulder of REX, and passed on.

Radome
The radome is a satellite-shaped object on the left side of Metal Gear REX that provides information about the environment outside of the cockpit while keeping the pilot safe from harm, and increasing the accuracy of all weapons as well.

Destroying the radome is crucial to rendering the virtual reality interface useless and forcing the pilot to manually control REX. The pilot is also forced to expose himself to enemy fire, by opening the cockpit in order to see outside.

Armament
REX differed from earlier Metal Gear models in that its legs were heavily armored and reinforced; not vulnerable like its predecessors. Along with near-impenetrable compound armor and a TMD missile module on its back, REX also had a pair of 30mm Vulcan cannons, knee and back-mounted anti-tank missiles, and a high power free-electron laser, to protect itself from conventional forces. Its feet also possessed retractable metal stake-like protrusions, which were used to find purchase on difficult terrain, and could be employed in "stomp" attacks on an enemy.

The anti-tank missiles on both of REX's knees and back were a laser semi-active homing type that didn't use wires. The launchers used a laser illuminator to bounce a laser beam off a target that the missile would then home in on. The free-electron laser mounted on REX's belly was capable of generating close to 100 megawatts of energy, ten times greater than any other laser at that time.

REX's most fearsome weapon, however, was the magnetic railgun capable of delivering an untraceable nuclear warhead anywhere in the world, without the propellant trail or launch flare that gives away the launch position of a traditional ballistic missile. By perfecting the process of shell acceleration, the railgun is able to fire a projectile with a muzzle velocity of over 100 kilometers per second. It was originally going to be used, as part of SDI, to shoot down enemy ICBMs outside the atmosphere.

During Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection, Solid Snake piloted REX in his return to Shadow Moses, with the help of Otacon through the Mk.III, managing to escape while fighting through hordes of Gekko. Otacon also revealed to Snake that he had installed a 'Street Fighter' program into REX that gave it not only an agility boost, but enabled the Metal Gear to execute kicking and other melee moves, which would be lethal to many military vehicles and other Metal Gears such as Metal Gear RAY. This program was one of REX's most lethal weapons compared to its other conventional warfare weapons, as military vehicles and Metal Gears were designed with countermeasures against convental armaments, but not the raw brute force of these attacks.

Metal Gear REX was a truly impressive weapon. From its defensive capabilities to its nuclear ones, it was a true revolution in military weaponry.

Trivia

 * REX's name was derived from the Japanese Kawanishi N1K floatplane during World War II. "REX" was the Allied codename for the plane during WWII. REX was also named after the Tyrannosaurus rex, which influenced REX's design; the cockpit resembles a gaping "mouth" when opened, and has the ability to "roar".
 * Liquid Snake was the "superior" clone of Big Boss while Solid Snake being the "inferior" clone, but despite Liquid's supposed genetic advantage, Snake was able to defeat him. In a similar manner, Metal Gear REX was considered the "inferior" Metal Gear model and Metal Gear RAY the "superior" model. Despite this advantage, REX (with Old Snake as its pilot) managed to overcome RAY (being manned by Liquid Ocelot).
 * One of REX's development team's main rivals was the Arsenal Ship Project, and it was implied in In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth that the leading overseer of the project, Admiral Boorda, was assassinated in a manner that made it seem as though he committed suicide, allowing the REX project to continue undelayed.

Behind the scenes

 * The first Metal Gear to appear in 3D, REX's appearance (with numerous flat surfaces and little exposed wiring) was tailored with the graphical limitations of the PlayStation console in mind.
 * The Official Metal Gear Solid Handbook gave a list of specifications regarding Metal Gear REX. However, details regarding the machine guns and air ordinance are incorrect, putting the canonicity of this information in question:


 * Crew: 1 (nose cockpit) [Armament] Machine-guns: 2xg12.7mm in the nose (covering 60° arc to the front) Air ordinance: 3xPhalanga-F (AT-3 "Rain from Heaven") Radio-guided anti-troop missiles Rail Gun: 18.5m Rail Gun (Special Ops Optimum Bombardment 422 "Widowmaker"), launch tube: Standard (conventional, nuclear) Laser: ArmsTech International V17 Vulcan Cannon, Searing LaserStorm High Energy Cutter "Slice n' Dice" (covering 90° arc) Ammunition: 10,000x12.7mm, 72xPhalanga-F Reds, Laser Pro Pack, 1xCruise AGM-129 ACM Length (gun forward): 18.9m Length (hull): 7.455m Width: 5.760m Height (gun forward): 12m Height (gun up): 13m Weight (combat): 505,450kg Power-to-weight Ratio: 450hp/ton Engine: ArmsTech AGM 4000 "Behemoth" Maximum Road Speed: 140.777km/h Maximum Range: 1,505km Fuel Capacity: 5,550lit Armor (type): Laminate/Steel NBS System: Yes Night Vision Equipment: Yes


 * In Metal Gear Solid 4, the anti-tank missiles are described as being radio-guided in REX's "AT missile" weapon description, despite Otacon mentioning that they were laser-guided in Metal Gear Solid.
 * REX is the first Metal Gear to be playable in the series (not counting the Metal Gear Mk. II and Mk. III).
 * REX is the only Metal Gear to not be completely destroyed in the series (or remain mainly operable, though the Metal Gear RAY prototype is debatable). All other Metal Gears are destroyed mostly around the end of each game. Metal Gear KODOQUE is the only other Metal Gear to survive one title (along with Metal Gear RAY) but both are destroyed later (RAY in Metal Gear Solid 4 – though it is unclear as to whether or not the model destroyed was the original – and KODOQUE in Metal Gear Acid 2).
 * While piloting REX in Metal Gear Solid 4, pressing the Triangle button will cause REX to "roar".
 * Though it was REX's left foot that killed Gray Fox, taking a picture of its right foot will cause the ghost of Gray Fox to appear.
 * Metal Gear REX appears alongside Metal Gear RAY and Metal Gear Gekko on the Shadow Moses Island stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * It also appears as a sticker and trophy with the following description:

"A war machine of ruinous power. Metal Gear REX was developed at the weapons company ArmsTech under the eye of Hal 'Otacon' Emmerich. It had the ability to launch nuclear warheads from a mounted rail gun. During testing, REX was captured by FOXHOUND, a rogue special-forces unit headed by Liquid Snake, but Solid Snake managed to destroy the machine before calamity ensued."


 * In Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, a secret boss can be encountered on Monster Island called "Gear Rex", which has several striking similarities to Metal Gear REX, such as bone ridges that make its face look like the Metal Gear, and a limb over its right shoulder representing the railgun, which shoots a highly acidic mucous instead. Its roar also sounds similar to the 'roar' Metal Gear REX makes.
 * Though Otacon talks about the railgun being minitiarized by Armstech and Livermore National Labs for REX, it appears on Metal Gear ZEKE in minitiarized form despite this.