Metal Gear (weapon)

The Metal Gears are powerful bipedal tanks, usually possessing powerful nuclear weapons.

What is a Metal Gear?
There is quite a lot of debate over what counts as a Metal Gear. This is because a lot of weapons have been designed to fill the role that a Metal Gear usually fills or uses the same technology. The general definition is that a Metal Gear is a mobile nuclear launch platform similar in purpose to ballistic missile submarines. The individual units have varied greatly in image and size, but their purpose has always been the same—to destabilize the global balance of power via the threat of covert long-range nuclear attack.

The term was coined by Granin as a "missing link" between infantry and artillery: infantry could roam the battlefield at will, but were both vulnerable and lacking in firepower. Artillery could inflict immense damage upon an opponent while resisting similar damage, but was at the mercy of the terrain. Granin envisioned a tank with legs, enabling it to quickly traverse the battlefield, dealing and repelling force on a scale never before seen.

Following his first encounter with a Gekko, Otacon explained to Snake that what makes a "Metal Gear" is specifically its nuclear launch capability. Taking in Granin's original coinage of the term, it can be therefore assumed that a Metal Gear can be defined as a bipedal nuclear weapon. Not only does this negate the Gekkos and the Mk. II/Mk. III from being true Metal Gears, but it also discounts Metal Gear RAY.

Shagohod
The Shagohod, or "Treading Behemoth" was the first tank designed to fire nuclear missiles. It was not, at least by Granin's definition, a Metal Gear. Volgin rejected Granin's visions of bipedal tanks in favor of forcing Sokolov to combine existing technologies to perform the same function - tanks, ground effect craft, and rockets. The result was a system that could extend the range of Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles from 2500 kilometers to 6000 kilometers - the difference between the need to place said missiles in a neighboring country and the ability to launch trans-oceanic attacks.

The ICBMG
The ICBMG (Intercontinental Balistic Metal Gear) was developed by Sokolov for the United States. Sokolov was heavily influenced by Granin's designs when creating this Metal Gear. The idea for this version of Metal Gear was to use a large rocket to launch the actual Metal Gear unit itself into near-orbit before releasing it, allowing it to parachute back down to the target location where it would then launch its payload of nuclear weapons. Although considered to be the first Metal Gear, neither RAXA nor the ICBMG truly lived up to Granin's original vision of a bipedal walking tank.

Metal Gear RAXA
Pronounced "rasha" (/ræʃæ/), Metal Gear RAXA was a prototype of the ICBMG.

TX-55 Metal Gear
TX-55 Metal Gear was the first actual bipedal tank designed at Outer Heaven by the Eastern scientist Dr. Drago Petrovich Madnar, based off the technology designed by Granin. TX-55 proved Granin's vision to be a potent weapon—a mobile nuclear launch system that made stationary missile silos obsolete. It should be noted however, that the Metal Gear was never properly put into action, and was destroyed before it could be properly tested.

Metal Gear VRC-4
VRC-4 is from the non-canon game Snake's Revenge.

Metal Gear D
Metal Gear D was a re-designed version of TX-55 and was very similar in appearance. It was also developed by Dr. Madnar, and was built for Zanzibar Land. This Metal Gear was also the first to feature additional weapons for close range combat.

Metal Gear REX
Metal Gear REX was developed by Dr. Hal Emmerich in a joint venture between ArmsTech and DARPA at the Nuclear Disposal Facility on Shadow Moses Island. It was revolutionary - unlike all previous iterations of Metal Gear, not only could REX deliver a nuclear weapon both to and from any point on the globe, it was undetectable and untraceable. 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 railgun, which fired much smaller projectiles without chemical propellants - factors which made them virtually invisible to RADAR. It thus completely negated the theory of Mutual Assured Destruction - whoever controlled it could launch a nuclear attack at any target at any time without fear of reprisal.

Metal Gear Gander
Metal Gear Gander is from the non-canon game Metal Gear: Ghost Babel. Gander is armed with machine guns, missiles, rail guns, flame thrower, and nuclear missiles

Metal Gear RAY
Metal Gear RAY is only a Metal Gear by Granin's initial definition - although RAY is a bipedal weapon, it lacks any form of nuclear armament. However, it did serve as part of a true Metal Gear's "conventional" armament - Arsenal Gear. RAY was designed and developed by the United States Marine Corps as a countermeasure to the abundance of Metal Gear REX derivatives being developed following the Shadow Moses incident (due to REX's plans being leaked onto the black market). For this reason, it was, until the creation of the Gekko, the only Metal Gear designed for close-range battle.

RAY is notable for being the first attempt at Metal Gear mass-production. The Patriots produced at least twenty-five Metal Gear RAYs to serve as guards for Arsenal Gear. They differed from the original RAY in that they were unmanned (the original intention of the Marine Corps), had no tail and were slightly smaller.

Arsenal Gear
Arsenal Gear is an evolutionary step ahead of all previous Metal Gears. While capable of the same covert long-range nuclear attacks that define Metal Gears, this was merely a layer of its numerous defenses. Its true threat lay in its ability to conduct information warfare through the use of its onboard artificial intelligence, GW.

Arsenal Gear was also not bipedal, it was more similar to a submarine, similar in size to Shadow Moses Island.

Gekko
Gekko were the second attempt at mass producing Metal Gear models, and the most successful. Given the codename IRVING by the U.S. Military, this model was designed for short-range combat, and by 2014 Gekko were rapidly replacing tanks. They were equipped with assault weaponry, a near sentient A.I. system and near impregnable armour on the body. Their powerful legs were inspired by that of RAY, built with artificial, self-repairing muscle tissue, making it more agile then previous Metal Gear variants.

Although not technically Metal Gears due to their lack of nuclear launching capability, the Gekko more than fulfil Granin's vision of bipedalism, indeed overcoming the limitations faced by both infantry and artillery.

Metal Gear Mk.II and Mk.III
The Mk.II (later superseded by the Mk.III) was a robotic companion. The Metal Gear Mk. II served as a recon device but could also shock enemies (knocking them unconscious) and was equipped with Stealth camouflage. The Mk.III replaced the Mk.II, following the Mk.II's destruction. The Mk.III served the exact same purpose and functioned the exact same way, the only difference being its red exterior.

Although it was not actually a Metal Gear, the Mk.II was named as such by Otacon so that he "would never forget that [he] was the one who built REX".

Metal Gear KODOQUE
Metal Gear KODOQUE, codenamed Pythagoras, is from the non-canon games Metal Gear Acid and Metal Gear Acid 2. Armed with remote control missile launchers, beam cannon, and a plasma gun on its head.

Metal Gear Universe

 * Shagohod - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
 * Metal Gear RAXA - Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
 * ICBMG (Intercontinental Ballistic Metal Gear) - Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
 * Metal Gear TX-55 - Metal Gear
 * Metal Gear D - Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
 * Metal Gear REX - Metal Gear Solid
 * Metal Gear RAY - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
 * Arsenal Gear - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
 * GEKKO - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots
 * Metal Gear Mk. II - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
 * Outer Haven (An Arsenal Gear variant) - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Other Metal Gear Games

 * Metal Gear VRC-4 - Snake's Revenge
 * Metal Gear GANDER - Metal Gear: Ghost Babel
 * Pythagoras/KODOQUE - Metal Gear Acid
 * Metal Gear Chaioth Ha Qadesh - Metal Gear Acid 2