M274 Mongoose

M274 Mongoose

The Mongoose, officially known as the M247 Ultra-Light All-Terrain Vehicle, is a United Nations Space Command ground reconnaisance vehicle.

Summary
The Marines' fastest ground vehicle is the M274 Ultra-Light All-Terrain Vehicle, or the Mongoose. Essentially four wheels and an engine, this ATV can travel very fast over nearly all types of terrain.

Because it possesses no defensive or offensive capabilities whatsoever, Human troops have been known to seat weapon specialists on the rear seat to provide firepower during combat.

It serves a similar purpose to the Covenant Ghost.

Note: This vehicle has been reported to be very difficult to control, and the passenger's role of defending the vehicle is no easier due to a 360-degree field of fire. Though it is described as a very fast vehicle, it lacks the defensive capabilities of most vehicles.

It has been described as '...the most Buddhist land-based motive system in the UNSC’s arsenal…'.

Strategy
Due to the speed of the Mongoose, it is said to be a very good vehicle for objective based games, such as CTF and Assault. Although passengers are very exposed to small arms fire, it is usually moving too fast to hit, unless the enemy gets a lucky shot or the driver makes an error. It is not made for an aggressive strike against your enemy, but rather a quick recon run or flag snatch. Do not try to attack people head-on with this vehicle. If combined with a gunner using a M41 it may become a potent anti tank vehicle but only on wraiths because of their limited aim for their main gun, making it easy to run rings around it. However the Scorpion is more difficult because of its turret which can track the Mongoose while the vehicle moves in another direction. If the passenger is utilizing a sniper rifle then it can become a useful tool for quickly moving and relocating. Close combat weapons can be particularly useful when moving up close to enemy troops. The SPARTAN laser could be used in a similar method to the sniper or rocket launcher but leaves the passenger, driver and mongoose exposed to enemy fire. It works well when utilizing equipment like the radar jammer to aid in a flag escape; a trip mine to deter enemies following in ghosts, warthogs or other mongooses; or the power drainer to wreak havoc with the enemy forces.

Involvment in Halo 2
This vehicle was one of the vehicles that was going to be put into Halo 2. However, it did not make it into the final version of Halo 2 because the prototype version did not behave as well as Bungie wanted, but it will appear in Halo 3 as a vehicle for both singleplayer campaign and multiplayer.

Modded in Halo 2


Several modders managed to put the Mongoose into Halo 2 as seen in this video. 

Trivia

 * The Mongoose also has a very similar physical appearance to the Peugeot Quark.
 * It is said to be very similar in control to the Warthog.
 * During an Electronic Monthly interview with Bungie, riding the rear of a Mongoose was termed "Riding Brokeback."