| rdfs:comment | - The Type-53 Gunship, better known as the Phantom Gunship is the successor the unsuccessful Phantom Gunboat. To tell the history of the Phantom Gunship, the history of its predecessor must first be explored. The Phantom Gunboat was the despised replacement for the Tarasque Heavy Fighter. This replacement was contested by many Sangheili, who viewed the last true Sangheili war machine as a potent display of their individual power, and the Prophets attempting to slight them. With no viable craft capable of replacing them, the Prophets turned to a recently recovered relic, a Phantom modified with heavier weapons and shielding. The Phantom Gunboat was launched as the slow moving but well defended replacement for the powerful Tarasque, and proved to be utterly useless in this regard. It was simpl
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| abstract | - The Type-53 Gunship, better known as the Phantom Gunship is the successor the unsuccessful Phantom Gunboat. To tell the history of the Phantom Gunship, the history of its predecessor must first be explored. The Phantom Gunboat was the despised replacement for the Tarasque Heavy Fighter. This replacement was contested by many Sangheili, who viewed the last true Sangheili war machine as a potent display of their individual power, and the Prophets attempting to slight them. With no viable craft capable of replacing them, the Prophets turned to a recently recovered relic, a Phantom modified with heavier weapons and shielding. The Phantom Gunboat was launched as the slow moving but well defended replacement for the powerful Tarasque, and proved to be utterly useless in this regard. It was simply weapon bait for UNSC Longswords and point defences, and the few shots they did get off were often ineffectual except against the lightest ships. However, members of the Special Forces recognised the power of these, and covertly re-purposed a few for use as dropships, were they preformed superbly, being capable of disposing of most UNSC defences at close range, usually without a hitch. As the war progressed, more were deployed in this fashion, and a great many were used by the allied factions during the war, to great effect. When the USR began to rearm, and the Gunboat was replaced by the I-113 Archangel, they also began to look into replacing the Gunboat with a more specialised unit. The Gunship is equipped with a heavy plasma cannon on the nose, being capable of flattening a medium vehicle in one shot, and heavy vehicles in enough time. On the side, the side doors and sealed, each with two rapid fire plasma cannons equipped for deadly fire on the flanks, and drop zone suppression. Only the middle section of the entire side door opens, allowing only one soldier to leave at a time, but they can still egress from the back door or the gravity lift. The Gunship still carries a underslung gravity lift for vehicles, allowing it to transport vehicles with ease, and includes a shield generator, allowing it to survive even more harm than the already tough Phantom. This comes from a large and more powerful pair of reactors, that allow it to power all these additional systems without fear of power loss. It also carries a number of upgrades seen on the upgraded T-52B Phantom, such as new sensors, counter measures and ECM systems.
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