Harbinger gunship

The Harbinger gunship was one of FutureTech's additions to the Allied arsenal in Red Alert 3 Uprising. It is a massive 4-engined bomber, mounted with an on-board Collider core and heavy machine guns and cannons for ground attack.

Background
"Hey! They're shooting at us!"

- Harbinger taking hit

The Harbinger needs to continually orbit while trained on a target. Together with the Harbinger's sheer size, also means it is incapable of landing at a standard Allied airbase. To compensate, the Harbinger features FutureTech's proprietary self-diagnostics-and-repair system, which makes up for its inability to touch down for repairs while out in the field. An elaborate array of sensors and communication equipment lets Harbinger crews keep a lock on terrestrial targets during flight.

To make up for the Collider Cannons' inability to strike precisely at a chosen destination, the Harbinger features a nose-mounted 25 mm chain gun linked to targeting systems that track the gunner's eye movements. These extremely accurate weapons can shred lightly-armored surface threats without causing significant damage to the environment. All of the Harbinger's weaponry is directed toward the ground, however and enemy air superiority fighter squadrons could conceivably give it a hard time, if it is deployed en masse as the Harbinger's armor has been shown to suffer barely a scratch from a Soviet MiG Fighter's Matryoshka missile.

Harbinger gunship crews are hand-picked by FutureTech from its private flight schools. Initially, Allied officials were publicly miffed at the idea that their ace airmen might not be qualified to get behind the yoke of a Harbinger, though Pres. Thornley himself quickly smoothed the issue over. Both the Allies and FutureTech Corporation have since denied or dismissed rumors of ongoing tensions between Harbinger crews and the Allies own fighter jocks, even though the latter see the former as "a pack of vultures circling the skies sniffing for blood," according to one Allied pilot who wished to remain anonymous.

At any rate, both camps agree that the Harbinger cannot be successful without Allied fighter escort, and that airmen on both sides must routinely and trustingly put their lives into each other's hands.

History


By the end of the war, the quality of the Allies' air power was not a subject of much dispute. However, FutureTech Corporation quietly continued working on an aircraft model that promised to usher in a new era of air support. That aircraft is the FTAC-X2, better known as the Harbinger gunship. Dwarfing even the Allies' own Century Bomber, the Harbinger's advanced sensors and weapon systems allow it to secure and hold large areas, as well as provide heavy fire support to any surface forces in the vicinity.

Before the collider technology was reluctantly divulged by the Allies, the FutureTech team speculatively came up with an aircraft blueprint more massive than any known turbofan jet to date, whose ability to fly in fact hinged on the need for an on-board Collider fuel cell -- one that was small enough to fit on such a gigantic plane. The Allied top brass (as directed by European Union President Rupert Thornley himself) agreed to disclose that particular secret to FutureTech Corporation in exchange for services tendered, and in order to fulfill the ambitions of the Harbinger international design team.

As FutureTech had mostly deduced how the Proton Collider works, Allied brass reluctantly agreed to partner with the corporation in order to complete a prototype of what later became the Harbinger gunship. The production model of the gunship features not one but two starboard-mounted 120 mm Collider Cannons, each one packing the explosive punch of a howitzer of roughly the same size. Because the fuel cell provides the Collider Cannons with their ammunition and also runs the Harbinger's four redundant turbofan engines, the aircraft can remain airborne for days.

Notes from the Field
• The Collider Cannons -- Packing the power of the Proton Collider, the Collider Cannon can decimate enemy armor divisions and facilities (2 or more can quickly destroy Imperial Giga Fortress sea-form). The first shot from the Collider Cannon is almost always on target, though subsequent rounds tend to stray slightly due to overheating and recoil. Even still, the ensuing explosive blast makes pinpoint accuracy unimportant (and impossible).

• The nose-mounted chain gun -- If and when a Harbinger needs to "mop up" a situation, or is tasked with eliminating high-priority targets on foot, it can switch to the 25 mm Eliminator chain gun to get the job done. What the chain gun lacks in overall firepower, it makes up for with deadly precision and an extreme rate of fire.

• Remaining in orbit -- One quirk of the Harbinger gunship is that it must remain perpetually in motion, even while attacking. And because its Collider Cannons are mounted on the starboard side, it specifically tends to fly clockwise during firing runs. Consequently, the Harbinger may expose itself to considerable anti-aircraft fire when used in an assault.

• Worth its weight in ore -- The Harbinger gunship is far and away the most expensive element in the Allied arsenal, with a ticket price greater than even that of an and even the Future Tank X-1. Further, this aircraft is available only to battlefield commanders with the highest clearance levels, and FutureTech Corporation requires performance data to be collected via a Defense Bureau facility in every deployment area.

Usage
The Habringer Gunship serves as the Allies' heavy bomber, similar to the Soviet Kirov and the Imperial Giga Fortress. Its firepower allows it to make short work of anything on the ground. It's extremely durable, more so then the Kirov and less so then the Giga Fortress, and is faster then the other two heavy bombers, though aside from them it is the slowest aircraft.

Its armor and firepower allow a Harbinger to even defeat a Giga Fortress in a one-on-one face off. Large groups of them are nearly unstoppable; only considerable anti-air defenses can stop them. However, it does have it's drawbacks, cheif among them being that it is the the 2nd most expensive peice of military hardware in the game, it's asking price only surpassed by MCVs and Giga Fortresses (The Ultimate weapons were more expensive as well but a recent patch cut their prices in half). Also, its collider cannons have difficulty hitting fast moving targets and infantry, and while it doesn't need to reload, it does have a fairly long cooldown period in between salvos.

It somewhat compensates for this vulnerability against the latter by switching to its chaingun, which is very effective against infantry, and in addition, most anti air vehicles are lightly armored, allowing the chaingun to pick them off with ease. However, the chaingun useless against heavily armored vehicles. Being that it is a specialiazed support bomber it can't attack other air units, making it extremely vulnerable to enemy air superiority fighters and should always be escorted by fellow Apollo Fighters. But overall, its ability to annihilate infantry, vehicles, and structures in short order as well as simply negating the effectiveness of most ground based air defences due to it's armor and firepower make the Harbinger Gunship an extremely useful and debatably overpowered fixture of the Allied Air Force.

Pros

 * Devastating against everything on the ground and sea
 * As heavily armored as Kirov and much faster
 * Secondary weapons are effective against infantry
 * No need to land to rearm
 * Not limited to the number of empty slots on an airfiled
 * Self-repairing
 * Can be upgraded with advanced Aeronautics and High-technology upgrades to make it even more powerful
 * Fierce attack power both as solo or in large numbers
 * Collider cannons are particularly good against slow moving targets like Apocalypse tank or King Oni
 * Cheaper than the Giga-Fortress

Cons

 * The Allies' most expensive unit
 * Very long build time (0:40)
 * Vulnerable to anti-air, especially fighters
 * Collider cannons have a hard time targeting fast moving targets
 * Secondary weapons are useless against heavier vehicles
 * Long cooldown time between shots
 * Could harm allies if used carelessly

Quotes

 * Punching pie!


 * Want to give em the bad news?


 * Yup!


 * Gunships taking heat!


 * Were out to close!
 * We're gonna make it!
 * That one still moving!
 * Heheheh! look at that one!
 * Yep, we're headin' over!
 * You're alright back there?
 * I'll take that one!
 * Hehe, spill on aisle twelve!
 * Harbinger
 * Harbinger, all set!
 * Ever wonder what they're thinking down there?
 * Whooa, you see that?!
 * Gunship all checked out.
 * Woah, we're hit!
 * Almost finished!
 * Get that skeeter...
 * Want some pepper on that?
 * Watch em' scatter
 * Got something fun for me?
 * Got anything good?

Trivia
A Harbinger Gunship tends to use bullets for tanks and base defences and Collider cannons at buildings when used by an enemy AI.

Behind the Scenes
The Harbinger is loosely based on real-world USAF Lockheed AC-130 "Spectre" gunship, due to both it's visual, and weapon designs, but at first glance it might look like A C-5A Galaxy transport plane.