Metal Gear REX



Metal Gear REX is the fifth Metal Gear developed as a joint venture between DARPA and ArmsTech Inc.

History
In 1964, a Soviet scientist named Granin created designs for a very REX-like "walking tank", and intended to send them to his friend in America, who (according to Sigint) also wrote a highly-criticized paper on the topic of walking tanks. However, it would be another forty years before REX would progress past the design stage, as the technology of the 1960's was insufficient for its complicated hydraulic system.

When REX began development, weapons company ArmsTech were in a dire state financially. With talk of a hostile takeover after the failure to obtain the contract for a new line of fighter jet, the chief of DARPA (then Donald Anderson) was bribed heavily to back the Metal Gear REX program and fund its development covertly. During rail gun testing at a nuclear weapons disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island, REX's prototype was captured by the FOXHOUND special forces group which had been assigned to protect it. The threat of a nuclear attack was used in an attempt to extort $1 billion and Big Boss's remains from the US government.

REX's chief engineer, 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 Theatre Missile Defense.

It was only during the Shadow Moses Incident that Otacon discovered REX's true purpose as a nuclear launch platform, and its revolutionary delivery system – a rail gun. As the projectile it fired was not actually a missile, it wasn't covered by current disarmament treaties. Even worse, the size, speed and nature of the projectile were anathema to 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. It was subsequently disabled with Liquid Snake as its pilot by Solid Snake with the assistance of Gray Fox and Otacon's information.

Revolver Ocelot escaped Shadow Moses with the blueprints for REX, however, and soon sold them onto the black market.

As a result, REX models spread worldwide. 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's descendants. It was named Metal Gear RAY.

In 2014, Liquid Ocelot had salvaged the rail gun from the remains of Metal Gear REX to launch a nuclear strike on the Patriot AI, JD. Snake returned to Shadow Moses in an attempt to stop Liquid, but was too late. Instead, he encountered Vamp and fought him, until Raiden took over for Snake. They fought on top of REX, resulting in Vamp's eventual defeat. Using the Metal Gear Mk. III, Otacon managed to re-power Rex; allowing Snake to pilot it out of the base. Upon arriving at the surface, Snake was soon confronted by Metal Gear RAY who was being piloted by none other than Liquid Ocelot himself. Despite the facts that RAY had been specifically designed to destroy REX, and REX was handicapped (missing both its rail gun and radome), REX managed to destroy RAY (which Otacon credits to his assistance), shutting down permanently soon after.

Information
REX is shown to be operable by one individual, as Liquid Snake is able to use it quite effectively in battle against Solid Snake and Gray Fox. It is not clear if it is intended to have additional crew. The pilot has no direct view of the world outside of the cockpit; instead information is gathered by a sensor package in a radome on the left shoulder of REX, and passed on. Snake pilots the REX in his return to Shadow Moses with the help of Otacon through the MKIII, managing to escape while fighting hordes of Gekko.

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

Specifications

 * Crew: 1 (Beak cockpit)
 * (Armament) Machine Guns: 2xGAU-8/A Avenger 30mm rotary cannon in the beak (Covering 60° arc to the front)
 * Other Ordinance: 14x AGM-114P "Hellfire" AT Missiles
 * Rail Gun: 18.5mm 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: 10,000x 30mm, 72x AGM-114P "Hellfire" missiles, Laser Pro Pack, 1x Cruise AGM-129 ACM Nuclear Warhead
 * Length (Gun Forward): 18.9m
 * Length (Hull): 7.455m
 * Width: 5.70m
 * 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

Trivia
"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."
 * The first Metal Gear to appear in 3D, its appearance (with numerous flat surfaces and little exposed wiring) was tailored with the graphical limitations of the PlayStation console in mind.
 * REX is the first and only 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 completely be 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).
 * Revolver Ocelot reveals during the end of Metal Gear Solid that Liquid Snake was wrong in believing that he was the "inferior" son of Big Boss and that Solid Snake was the "superior" brother; all along Liquid was in fact the brother with the superior genes. Despite his genetic advantage, Snake the inferior clone of Big Boss managed to beat Liquid. In a similar manner REX is considered the "inferior" Metal Gear and RAY the "superior" Metal Gear, which mirrors Liquid and Snake's relationship. Despite this advantage, REX, with Snake as its pilot, manages to overcome RAY, being manned by Liquid Ocelot.
 * 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: