M8 Wolf Spider

The M8 Automated Defense System (M8 ADS), nicknamed the Wolf Spider, is an automated defence turret manufactured by Misriah Armory and utilised by the United Nations Space Command.

Design details
The Wolf Spider is one of the many automated turrets used by the UNSC for site defence, though it is a fairly rare sight when compared to others such as the M5 Talos, M3045, and M3063. The turret is housed inside a white cylindrical housing with a diameter of 13.1 ft and a height of 12.1 ft, with a hatch located on the top of the mounting from which the gun itself emerges. The Wolf Spider's armament is a machine gun firing 12.7×99mm Armor-Piercing ammunition, fed into the weapon via a 10,000-round drum. To sight and calculate targets, an optical sensor is mounted under the barrel.

As with most human automated defences, Wolf Spiders can be deployed with multiple units networked together to act as a single machine. In these scenarios, the turrets are generally deployed with overlapping fields of fire with which they can be used to their best effect. Defensive networks like this generally rely on an optical or laser sensor and an IFF interrogator for target acquisition, which can then be shared across the network to best facilitate effective firing.

After being seriously damaged, the Wolf Spider trips a killswitch which drops the weapon back into the pod and closes the hatch for protection, requiring a manual reactivation. They can be linked to a heads-up display to display vital information to an operator such as their structural integrity.

Usage
Wolf Spiders are exclusively used by the Office of Naval Intelligence and deployed at sites they deem critical. During the Fall of Reach, four Wolf Spiders were deployed around Dr. Catherine Halsey's lab at the Forerunner artifact beneath SWORD Base. These turrets were used by NOBLE Team to assist in their defence of the lab from invading Covenant forces.

In 2553, two Wolf Spiders were used by Dr. Chen Bax to defend the crash site of from attackers. During her mission to the Dawn's crash site on Sephune III, Linda-058 was beset upon by the two turrets, and proceeded to destroy them.

Trivia
In Halo Mash-Up: Minecraft Evolved, the Shulker mob is retextured to look like the Wolf Spider turret.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Reach
 * Halo: Ground Command
 * Halo: Lone Wolf