AC-220 Vulture

"The Vulture is one of the UNSC's most powerful units. Basically a highly armed flying assault tank packed to the brim with weapons, the Vulture is the largest aircraft fielded by the UNSC. It is designed to deliver massive damage to enemy ground troops after air superiority has been achieved. It is slow moving but carries an impressive armament of two twin-autocannons and rocket silos that can be used to deliver a devastating barrage to enemies in a wide area. Crewed by highly trained UNSC pilot and gunners, the Vulture is an expensive unit and is usually reserved for difficult or lengthy battles. Being slow, it is vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire and enemy aircraft, but it is surprisingly resilient."

- Official Halo Wars website

The AC-220 Vulture is a heavy gunship used by the United Nations Space Command during the Human-Covenant War. It is the preferred aerial combat vehicle during prolonged air-and-ground engagements, particularly against heavily fortified enemy strongholds.

The Vulture is a successor of the older AC-47, AC-119, AC-130, and AC-163 gunships. It was designed in 2498 to combat the Insurrection in the Outer Colonies.

Description
Unlike most smaller UNSC craft, the Vulture is suspended in the air by a series of ducted fans visible near the rear of the aircraft, housing jet engines like the D77-TC Pelican. Due it its much larger mass and cross-section, it is slower than other UNSC aircraft, such as the AV-14 Hornet and the AV-22 Sparrowhawk, but is armed with a number of missile pods for us against air and ground units, as well as a pair of hull-mounted autocannons.

The Vulture requires a large number highly trained UNSC pilots and gunners to operate, making them expensive to deploy in terms of personnel (as opposed to the Sparrowhawk and Hornet, which require a single pilot and possibly a copilot). It lacks radiation shielding, preventing it from traveling in space. These factors, coupled with the amount of time it takes to build one, means that the Vulture is usually only reserved for difficult and lengthy battle situations and eliminating dug-in enemy forces.

Operational history
The AC-220 Vulture was used during both the Insurrection and Human-Covenant War. In 2531 the crew of the used several Vultures during the Battle of Shield World 0459 against the Covenant, Flood, and Sentinels. Following the Human-Covenant War, few Vulture gunships remained in service with the UNSC Defense Force due to irreplaceable combat losses by 2545. However, by 2557, the Office of Naval Intelligence's Materials Group began considering the possibility of restarting production of the Vulture with the benefit of incorporating new technologies and applying improved materials. By April 2553, the Insurrectionists on Venezia had acquired several Vultures and hid them in the old sandstone quarry next to Mount Longdon Road for use by the Venezian militia. On March 11, 2558 several AC-220 Vultures belonging to the Spirit of Fire, alongside multiple AV-22 Sparrowhawks, attacked the when the Pilgrims Pride was pulled into the Infinity's docking bay.

Combat
A slow unit which can take massive amounts of damage before destruction, the Vulture is the largest ground-based aircraft fielded by the UNSC. It is able to fight against both air and ground units due to its weapon configuration,: Argent V Missile pods are used against enemy aircraft, while GUA-23 autocannons are designed for engaging ground targets. It can use its A-74 missile launcher to deliver massive damage to slow and/or static units. The Vulture's main drawbacks are its cost and the large amount of time it takes to build one; it is also vulnerable to fast counter-attacks and takes a great deal of time to repair. The Vulture should be reserved for buildings and ground units for the greatest effect. Although Vultures possess adequate anti-aircraft ordnance, they should be escorted by Wolverines to lessen the threat of aerial attacks.

In-game, the Vulture is considered an "über unit", and is constructed at the airpad, and requires six population, 900 resources, and a tech level of four. It can be upgraded with the Mega Barrage upgrade, potentially doubling its barrages' power; this upgrade is purchased at the air pad and costs 800 resource points and requires a minimum tech level of 4.

Behind the scenes

 * For balance, the Vulture is one of only two vehicle units in Halo Wars that cannot be commandeered by Spartans, the other being the Covenant Scarab.
 * The Vulture is the only UNSC unit in Halo Wars that does not come out of the firebase upon deployment. Instead, it seems to descend from the, decelerating just before touching the ground.
 * The Vulture is the only air unit that is not immobilized by a single Vampire's stasis drain, though it is still damaged and can be immobilized by multiple synchronous drains.
 * The generic in-game Vulture pilot is voiced by, who later voiced Anthony Madsen in Halo 4's Spartan Ops.

List of appearances

 * Halo Wars
 * Halo: Escalation
 * Halo: Mortal Dictata