The Support Unit was a backup unit in the private military company Diamond Dogs. The unit's primary task was to provide support to Diamond Dogs operatives in the area of operations, most notably Venom Snake during the 1980s. It was one of three units to have originated within Diamond Dogs itself and not originate previously from its predecessor group, the Militaires Sans Frontières, the others being the Security Team and Base Development Unit. However, the Intel Team for the latter group did have functions that were similar to what the Support Unit would later undergo.
Unit Functions[]
Rear Echelon[]
Allowed for extraction of enemy combatants, prisoners of war, wild animals, emplaced weaponry, cargo containers and even main battle tanks like the TT77 NOSOROG. Fulton balloons would lift the object they were attached to in preparation for being retrieved via recovery plane. With time, the Support Unit became skilled at receiving fulton balloons in hazardous weather; the higher this function's rank, the more likely recovery in bad weather was to succeed.
- Supply Drops
Delivered requested personal and assets to the area of operations. The options included a single weapon or piece of equipment, buddies, vehicles and entire mission load outs or resupplies.
Fire Support[]
As the Support unit rose in skilled members their methods of and effectiveness at providing support had improved. Around the start of Venom Snake's leadership in Diamond Dogs the Support Unit's typical time to process a fire support request and commence the strike was nineteen seconds for an E rank strike; later on they had brought the request process time down to four seconds for an S rank strike. Eventually they had an arsenal of lethal, non-lethal, EWAR and environmental weapons to manipulate the battlefield with.
| Strike rank | Time to process request |
|---|---|
| E | 19 seconds |
| D | 16 seconds |
| C | 13 seconds |
| B | 10 seconds |
| A | 7 seconds |
| S | 4 seconds |
- Bombardment
Launched lethal, high-explosive artillery rounds at the target area, with the first round hitting at the designated marker and subsequent rounds impacting within a twenty-five meter radius. These rounds were just as deadly to armored vehicles as they were to infantry.
| Strike rank | Number of rounds | Strike cost | Round cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| E | 2 | 9,000 GMP | 4,500 GMP |
| D | 4 | 23,000 GMP | 5,750 GMP |
| C | 6 | 43,000 GMP | 7,167 GMP |
| B | 8 | 51,000 GMP | 6,375 GMP |
| A | 10 | 73,000 GMP | 7,300 GMP |
| S |
- Smoke Dispersal
Sent a single non-lethal, smoke-filled artillery round that consistently covered a ten meter radius at the impact zone and spread four columns of smoke in differing directions for thirty meters, changing the direction at random. This was mainly useful for covering troop movements but could also be used aggressively against the enemy. If a soldier were to call the round on an enemy's position then the smoke would both obscure their vision and temporarily disable the combatant, presumably due to the effects of smoke inhalation.
| Strike rank | Duration | Strike cost | Cost per second |
|---|---|---|---|
| D | 30 seconds | 14,000 GMP | 467 GMP |
| C | 33 seconds | 25,000 GMP | 758 GMP |
| B | 43 seconds | 41,000 GMP | 953 GMP |
| A | 54 seconds | 61,000 GMP | 1,130 GMP |
| S | 64 seconds | 85,000 GMP | 1,328 GMP |
- Sleeping Gas Dispersal
- Chaff Dispersal
An advanced EWAR artillery round that dispersed aluminum strips over the combat area to disrupt vulnerable enemy equipment, such as guided missiles and base-to-base networks. Unlike traditional chaff that is limited to disrupting radar, Diamond Dogs' chaff dispersal could also disrupt certain electronics such as security cameras. A disrupted camera would quickly and continually track and spot the aluminum strips as if it had seen an enemy but would do so without creating a combat alert.
| Strike rank | Duration | Strike Cost | Cost per second |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | 21 seconds | 25,000 GMP | 1,190 GMP |
| B | 27 seconds | 41,000 GMP | 1,519 GMP |
| A | 33 seconds | 61,000 GMP | 1,848 GMP |
| S | 39 seconds | 85,000 GMP | 2,179 GMP |
- Weather Modification
At a use cost of 33,000 GMP the local weather could be modified into clear sky, rain and sandstorm conditions even in geographic locations that would ordinarily not experience such events.
Comms Support[]
Depending on whether Snake had extracted soldiers with the Interpreter skill, the Support Unit was able to provide simultaneous translation of four non-English languages in the field via Comms Support. The languages that were translated included Russian, Pashto, Afrikaans and Kikongo.
[]
Interestingly despite what the skill description says, interpreters can be fired the instant they join your ranks and the support unit will retain the ability to translate the language.
| Icon | Skill | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Interpreter (Afrikaans) | When assigned to Support Unit, enables the simultaneous interpretation of Afrikaans. |
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Interpreter (Kikongo) | When assigned to Support Unit, enables the simultaneous interpretation of Kikongo. |
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Interpreter (Pashto) | When assigned to Support Unit, enables the simultaneous interpretation of Pashto. |
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Interpreter (Russian) | When assigned to Support Unit, enables the simultaneous interpretation of Russian. |
Behind the scenes[]
Despite the Support Unit never existing under MSF in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, the opening cutscene for Metal Gear Survive has the character of Panzer Rat being listed as a former member of the Support Unit on the casualty list.
Gallery[]
