MA5B assault rifle

"Hey, soldier, is that an assault rifle in your hands or are you just happy to see me?"

The MA5B Individual Combat Weapon System, abbreviated MA5B ICWS and commonly known as the MA5B assault rifle, is a standard-issue service rifle for the UNSC Marine Corps and the Navy. It is produced by Misriah Armory as part of its MA5 Series.

Overview

Main article: MA5 Series

The MA5B Assault Rifle is an air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed, fully-automatic bullpup rifle that fires 60 rounds of 7.62x51mm ammunition. It possesses a built-in ammunition indicator and magnetic compass for orientation similar to that of all other MA5 series rifles.

Gameplay

Advantages

The MA5B in both offensive and suppressive situations remains one of the UNSC's most reliable weapon. When fired in short bursts, or even single shots, there is a significant increase in accuracy, and the rifle's armor penetrating ability makes it key for handling even the toughest of infantry, having the ability to kill an Elite in about 45 rounds in close quarters. The MA5B rifle is effective at killing light armored infantry at close-to-medium range, and the high rate of fire combined with the high ammunition capacity allows its user to spray the whole area with suppressing fire. The MA5B also gives the user an ammo count on its digital readout, as well a compass pointing toward the arbitrary magnetic "north" position. In the hands of someone who can control their trigger finger, the MA5B becomes a deadly weapon in CQB situations.

Disadvantages

The MA5B is not without disadvantages, its main disadvantage being its horrible accuracy when fired at a range of more than forty meters. At that range, enemy infantry may be hit by a few bullets, or not be hit by any bullets at all. The MA5B Assault Rifle performs poorly against energy shields unless firing on full automatic at close range without giving a shielded infantry time to cover. In comparison to modern assault rifles it can be more related to an oversized sub-machine gun, as it is underpowered and lacks the ability to select a fire mode.

Trivia

References

The MA5B was heavily inspired by the MA–75B assault rifle from the Marathon series.
Robert McLees at Bungie has compared the basic design of the MA5B to that of the Fabrique-Nationale FN F2000. According to The Art of Halo, McLees did not know of the F2000 until after the game was even finished; "I don't know when the images of the FN F2000 appeared, but I didn't see them until three or four months after the game shipped, and I thought 'Oh great. Now everyone's going to think I swiped the design from Fabrique National.' It was surreal to see how close the Halo assault rifle was to its real-life counterpart... and it was all totally by accident."

Miscellaneous

There is a second melee animation for the MA5B, in which the user holds the weapon vertically and clubs anyone in front of them with the back end of the weapon. This animation is used in a few Halo Custom Edition maps, but was taken out of the official game. This animation is similar, if not identical, to the melee animation used for the M90 CAWS.
In Halo: Combat Evolved and Anniversary, the gas giant Threshold is considered arbitrary north by the MA5B's compass.
In early builds of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, the MA5B used the MA37 assault rifle's model as a placeholder.^[2]^[3] The final game uses the MA5C's model from Halo 3. Although the MA5B and MA5C are largely identical, this means that the MA5B's sloped electronics cowling is conspicuously absent.

Gallery

Schematic of the MA5B.
The MA5B as seen in Halo: Combat Evolved.
In-game side view of the MA5B in Halo: Combat Evolved.
The MA5B viewed in different angles.
First person view of the MA5B.
The MJOLNIR HUD, showing the targeting reticule for the MA5B and ammo readout.
Down the barrel of an MA5B.
Marines on Installation 04 with MA5B's.
John-117 and a Marine with an MA5B.
Marines with MA5B assault rifle during the Skirmish over Threshold in Halo: First Strike
A Spartan-II with an MA5B during Operation: FIRST STRIKE.
Avery Johnson firing an MA5B during the Battle of Installation 04 in Breaking Quarantine.
John-117 with an MA5B in The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor.
A Spartan-II with an MA5B during the Battle of Onyx in Halo: Ghosts of Onyx.
Models for the cinematic appearance of the MA5B in Halo Wars.
The MA5B as in Halo Wars.
The in-game model of the MA5B being wielded by marines in Halo Wars.
1771660-gallery.png

The MA5B in Halo Legends: Homecoming.
Cal-141 with an MA5B during the Raid on Heian in Halo Legends: The Babysitter.
Marines firing their MA5Bs during the Skirmish on Mona Lisa in The Mona Lisa.
Blue Team firing their MA5B assault rifles at a Mgalekgolo during the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV in Halo: Fall of Reach.
AssaultRifle2011.png

Side profile view of the MA5B in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (based on Halo 3's MA5C model).
A first-person view of the MA5B in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.
John-117 using the MA5B in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.
John-117 using an MA5B in Halo Mythos.
UNSC Marines with MA5B assault rifles in Halo: Rise of Atriox.