JackVibe/Sandbox

This article is about the shoulder-mounted infantry weapon. For the vehicle-mounted weapon, see Fuel rod cannon.

"Those things are scary as hell. Ya hear that weird “whump” sound and even if ya see it comin' you're transfixed, these big green blobs flying at you throwin’ off sparks!"

— Anonymous UNSC E2-BAG/1/7 serviceman^[1]

A Sangheili Warrior wielding the Gespu-pattern fuel rod gun, the latest model engineered by various multi-species workshops on the colony world of Venezia.^[2]

The fuel rod gun is a shoulder-fired explosives launcher,^[3]^[2] formerly used by the Covenant military as a support weapon,^[1] and continued to be in service with its splinter factions.^[4]^[5] It is also sometimes called the flak cannon^[6] or fuel rod cannon^[5]^[7] though the latter term is usually reserved for vehicle-mounted weapons based on the same technology. Other nicknames for the fuel rod gun includes Farg, the Thud Gun, and the Shine Box.^[8]

Overview

Design details

A green flash is emitted from a Chieftain's Korva-pattern fuel rod gun when the weapon is fired.

"They’re pretty tricky to handle—first off you gotta get over the fact that there is this glowing, green explosive whatever right next to your head; and it’s not like you can requisition any more ammo for the damn thing—but you can lay down a whole lotta hurt in a very short amount of time I’ll tell you that."

— Anonymous UNSC E2-BAG/1/7 serviceman^[1]

The shoulder-mounted fuel rod gun is a self-loading^[7] and recoil-operated weapon; it fires 38mm explosive fuel rods.^[1]^[3]^[5] The ammunition is loaded on the top aft section of the fuel rod gun, and can hold up to five ballistic projectiles before needing to be reloaded. Its ammunition is placed one on top of the other to form a clip and then is loaded into the weapon; it is unknown what exactly holds the rods together. When the trigger is pulled, the weapon ejects the projectile with a large flash.^[7] The rods are equipped with an activation delay that protects the wielder from explosions caused by carelessly firing fuel rods into nearby objects, however a fuel rod will detonate if fired into enemies at point-blank range.

The fuel rod gun is extremely powerful, and as such the Covenant went to great lengths to ensure it does not fall into enemy hands. For much of the Human-Covenant War, the prevalent model of the fuel rod gun was equipped with a set of crucial security interlocks that act a fail-safe that activates under certain conditions,^[3]^[8] either by the user dropping the weapon without first engaging a safety, or if the weapon runs out of ammunition and is not reloaded after a certain amount of time.^[9] when the fail-safe activates, any remaining ammunitions within the chamber are detonated.^[3] By late 2552, models without the failsafe became more commonplace, preventing the weapon from being self-destroyed.^[8]^[1]

The weapon's energetic component has been the subject of nearly three decades of intense human study. The Merchants of Qikost, the fuel rod gun's current manufacturer,^[5]^[10] are only able to replicate its manufacture using prehistoric Forerunner machinery that occasionally requires Huragok maintenance and has proved nearly impossible to study. Both Misriah Armory and Materials Group have acquired the aforementioned Forerunner machinery, but are reluctant to produce potentially dangerous feedstock isotopes.^[4]

The design of the fuel rod gun is uniquely ornamental; it is typically covered by thick gold plates that make up the body of the weapon.^[3]

Ammunition

A Class-2 fuel rod projectile in mid-flight.

Main article: Fuel rod

"It’s so weird. I don’t know who first called it a fuel rod gun, but it’s kinda funny. I suppose the projectile is reminiscent of how you might expect to see a nuclear fuel rod depicted in a GA cartoon—all glowing green and throwing off sparks."

— Anonymous UNSC E2-BAG/1/7 serviceman^[1]

The Covenant fuel rod gun fires radioactive projectiles colloquially termed as "fuel rods". These projectiles have devastating effects on their targets. When the fuel rod impacts an area, or target, it is instantly subjected to temperatures as hot as standard plasma weapons. The fuel rod gun's projectiles use a form of incendiary gel similar to a Mgalekgolo's assault cannon, and the weapon itself uses the same technology platform.^[3] Unlike the globs or beams fired by the assault cannon, however, the fuel rods are compressed canisters of the gel approximately 38mm in diameter which fire in a parabolic arc and explode upon impact. Depedning on the quality and instability of the fuel rods being used, the weapon's effective range and blast raius varies widely.^[7]

History

"I catch a glimpse of green out of the corner of my eye and then there’s this huge “whoomf” and the ‘Hog goes end over end burning with Gaz still at the wheel. I was riding shotty with the M41 so I just unlatched and pushed off when we started going up into the air and there went the ‘Hog and Gaz and all our gear cart-wheeling into the ravine."

— Anonymous UNSC E2-BAG/1/7 serviceman^[1]

With a design lineage that originated in ancient Sangheili flak cannons used during the War of Beginnings. the fuel rod gun has been a fixture of Covenant infantry since its earliest years. A shoulder-fired explosives launcher that lobs volatile fuel rod projectiles, their impact triggers a violent detonation capable of punching holes into enemy armor and fortifications. while turning enemy infantry into a smoldering crater.

A Jiralhanae War Chieftain with a Pez'tk-pattern fuel rod gun, alongside a Ogab'd-pattern anti-aircraft Wraith, which is armed with heavy fuel rod cannons.

Originally mass-produced in many and diverse patterns by the assembly forges^[3] on High Charity and Enduring Service, the traditional fuel rod gun has most recently been adopted by the Merchants of Oikost. granting their weapon architects access to a litany of older forms that surfaced during the Covenant's war with the humans and the ages which preceded it. The weapon has seen remarkable superficial changes and design modifications, though very little has changed functionally between pattern types, which is proof of the weapon's steadfast performance in the field.^[3]

The fuel rod gun was first encountered by UNSC personnel in 2531.^[3]^[1] The weapon is considered a major threat by the UNSC, with its power almost enough to make any marine ignore the weapon's operator and solely focus on the weapon instead.^[8] UNSC personnel are also warned that fuel rods are both radioactive and extremely toxic; as such, Spartan are advised to handle fuel rod components only when wearing the Mjolnir armor.^[7] Due to its success, it was integrated to various vehicles as the similarly named fuel rod cannon.^[5]

Dominant in current arms circulation, the Gepsu-pattern is the most eccentric of all fuel rod gun designs, engineered by cross-species workshops on the human outlaw colony of Venezia. The pattern's main utility is its remarkably compact size and shape, allowing it to be used by a diversity of species.^{[citation needed]} The Banished created the Fuel Rod SPNKr, which is a heavily modified variant of the standard M41 SPNKr that fires Venezian-repackaged fuel rod munitions; as such, it is functionally a fuel rod gun despite retaining the M41 SPNKr’s chassis and firing mechanism.

Usage

An Unggoy Major with a Pez'tk-pattern fuel rod gun supported by a Heavy on a plasma cannon.

"No sooner had I put the Grunt down than Fisk has got a hold of that bad boy and dumps the whole clip into the column—stickies and everything just cooking off—secondaries like mad! Fisk was a crazy bastard he was—wish he was still with us."

— Anonymous UNSC E2-BAG/1/7 serviceman^[1]

While designed for anti-armor and anti-materiel purposes,^[3]^[5] the fuel rod gun is commonly employed in both anti-personnel and anti-vehicle roles.^[1]^[7] Typically used by heavy wepaon specialists, the fuel rod gun was used by multiple species in the Covenant and its remnants; the Unggoy were commonly seen wielding fuel rod guns due to the weapon's stability,^[8] and more rarely, higher ranking Sangheili and Jiralhanae are seen wielding them.^[2]

Due to the weapon's visibility, it is just as effective as a psychological weapon; it is often the case that soldiers will ignore closer, more obvious targets in order to eliminate a fuel rod gun's operator.^{[citation needed]}

Variants

"The Type-33s have more in common with the ballistic weapon on the Banshee than it does with the weapon that the Hunters carry around—well, not carry around, but you know what I mean."

— Anonymous UNSC E2-BAG/1/7 serviceman^[1]

The fuel rod gun has a number of variants and offshoots.

Gespu-pattern fuel rod gun - The model of fuel rod gun featured in Halo 5: Guardians.
Korva-pattern fuel rod gun - The pattern of fuel rod gun introduced in Halo: Reach and Halo 4.
Pez'tk-pattern fuel rod gun - The type of fuel rod gun first introduced in Halo 2 and Halo 3.
Zasqi-pattern fuel rod gun - The fuel rod gun featured in Halo: Combat Evolved.

Other similar weapons include:

Fuel rod cannon: A variant of the fuel rod gun typically mounted on vehicles.
Assault cannon: The assault cannon applies the same machine architecture and power systems, as well as utilizing a variant of the same ammunition, though it is cateogorically distinct from the fuel rod gun.^[2]
Fuel rod SPNKr: A modified M41D SPNKr that fires fuel rod ammunitions, thus functions similarly to a fuel rod gun despite its different chassis and firing mechanism.

Production notes

The design of the Zasqi-pattern and the Pez'tk-pattern fuel rod guns were derived from two distinct weapons in Pre-Xbox Halo: the fuel rod gun and the flak cannon.
In Halo 2, Halo 4, Halo 2: Anniversary, and Halo 5: Guardians, fuel rod guns are erroneously called fuel rod cannons. Similarly, the Phoenix Log entry for Heavy Grunt in Halo Wars 2 also mistakes the Korva-pattern fuel rod gun for a fuel rod cannon. The inconsistency persisted in supplementary media like the Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide and the Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual;^[5]^[7] the Halo Waypoint article for the fuel rod gun also incorrectly identified the weapon as the fuel rod cannon,^[4], though the article on Wraiths correctly stated that the anti-air Wraith employs fuel rod cannons.^[11] The distinction between the two fuel rod weapons was deliberately clarified in Halo: The Essential Visual Guide and the Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition).
In Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST, in a similar case to the fuel rod cannon, fuel rods fired from an NPC’s fuel rod gun have an enhanced lock-on ability, which players are unable to access.

In-game information

Main article: Fuel Rod Gun (gameplay)

Advantages

The fuel rod gun is an extremely devastating weapon in the hands of a skilled infantry unit. The destructive power of the fuel rod gun is so effective that human forces often focus all of their attention on infantry wielding the fuel rod gun. Unsurprisingly, one strike from a fuel rod will instantly kill any light organic target, even one that is heavily armored. Infantry outside of the initial blast zone will be affected by the concussive force of the impact, which is strong enough to send them flying, and the radiation the rods release. Against light-armored vehicles the fuel rod gun is extremely effective as well, with the ability to flip small vehicles in only a few hits if it doesn't destroy them outright. The gun also takes less time to reload than the rocket launcher, can hold more ammo in both the magazine and reserve, has a very slight tracking ability, and a faster rate of fire. In the context of the Halo games, the fuel rods' strength and lethality are compensated for both the sake of gameplay and ratings.

Disadvantages

Rods from the fuel rod gun have a smaller explosive radius than the M41 rocket launcher. In addition, the fuel rods will arc once in flight and lose their accuracy over long distances. The large size of the weapon obscures the wielder's peripheral vision, and it reduces the speed of weaker infantry holding it, because of its significant weight, unless it is a Spartan carrying the weapon, due to their superior strength. The bright color of the weapon makes the wielder easy to spot, even when the weapon is backpacked; the green flash that occurs when the weapon is fired, can also give away the users position. The fuel rods are also extremely slow in flight. As a result, Fuel Rods are particularly weak against most reconnaissance vehicles (Ghosts, Warthogs, Banshees, Brute Choppers, Mongooses) at long range. This is because the intended target will easily dodge the fuel rod. It also lacks the lock-on and destructive capabilities of the Halo 2 rocket launcher or Halo 3 missile pod. Also, in Halo 3, the fuel rods usually bounce off the ground, missing their intended targets, unless it is a direct hit or you are directly facing the surface, such as walls and even the Scarab's exterior, although very rarely would it ricochet off vehicles and infantry.

Gallery

An in-game profile view of the fuel rod gun from Halo 2.
First-person view of the fuel rod gun in Halo 2.
The 2× zoom of the fuel rod gun in Halo 2.
A Sangheili Ultra takes cover while holding a fuel rod gun in Halo 2.
A render of a fuel rod gun in Halo 3 from Bungie.net.
An in-game profile view of the Fuel Rod Gun from Halo 3.
A Sangheili with a fuel rod gun.
First-person view of the fuel rod gun in Halo 3.
The 2× zoom of the fuel rod gun in Halo 3.
Marines carrying fuel rod guns on an M831 Troop Transport Warthog in Halo 3.
A Sangheili firing a fuel rod guns at Yanme'e during the Battle of Installation 00.
A fuel rod that has not yet been activated.
Another close up of a non-activated fuel rod.
A fuel rod in mid-flight.
Three Unggoy armed with fuel rod guns in Halo 3: ODST.
A blueprint of the fuel rod gun in Halo: Reach.
Concept art for the fuel rod gun in Halo Legends: Homecoming.
Concept art for the fuel rod gun in Halo Legends: Prototype.