M650 Mastodon

"Fuel tanks check, Marines check."

- A Mastodon pilot during the Banished occupation of Installation 00

The M650 Armored Personnel Carrier (APC), commonly known as the Mastodon, is an armored personnel carrier of the United Nations Space Command, primarily utilized by the UNSC Army and colonial defense forces.

Design details
The Mastodon is heavily-armoured and considered the cutting edge of expeditionary and troop transportation, though is lightly-armed. The vehicle is comprised of a heavily-armoured and bulky main chassis with a large interior compartment capable of holding up to twenty infantry, including even heavy infantry such as Spartans in MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor. The interior compartments see the crew cockpit in the fore of the vehicle, nestled above the drive containing the forward two pairs of wheels. The vehicle's driver is situated in the front, facing forward, with storage lockers mounted on either side of them. Behind the driver is the vehicle's joint commander-gunner, who is seated facing toward the vehicle's rear with their back to the driver. The commander-gunner can operate the vehicle's sole turret via a remote weapon link.

Inside the main bay of the Mastodon are a total of twelve seats, six in the vehicle's rear and four in the middle, with a further two fold-down chairs, and space for a further eight standing personnel.The chairs are evenly dispersed on the vehicle's port and starboard sides, and are situated next to the Mastodon's firing ports to allow the infantry inside to shoot out of the vehicle and assist in its defence. The aft of the vehicle contains the remotely-operated mount for the turret, alongside three exterior hatches that allow for a rapid disembarking of the infantry inside - with one on the back, and one on the port/starboard sides.

The Mastodon is served with six extremely large wheels, resulting in the vehicle being easily able to navigate cluttered battlefields. They are considered extremely fast and manoeuvrable vehicles for their size, though their overall lack of agility combined with their sheer size makes them difficult to deploy. As such, they are not as common sights on the battlefield as as the far-less protected M831 Troop Transport Warthog or M15 Razorback.

Armaments
By default, Mastodons are equipped with a single M41 Vulcan in a remotely operated weapon station. However, they are compatible with all standard weapons of that mounting style shared with the Warthog platform, thus enabling them to employ other Vulcan models such as the M46 or M49, Gauss cannons such as the M68 Gauss cannon or rocket/missile turrets akin to the M39 and M79. This means that the Mastodon only carries a single relatively light armament, when compared to its contemporaries such as the M35 Cougar. Rather than relying on the single turret as the main source of firepower, the Mastodon's primary offensive utility instead comes from the troops it can carry. Passengers can fire their weapons through the APC's firing ports.

Operational history
"Frontline express let's go."

- A Mastodon pilot on Installation 00

M650 Mastodon APCs have historically been the preferred frontrunners of the UNSC Army and various colonial defence forces, considered the cutting-edge in expeditionary transport capability.

During the conflict on Installation 00 between the Banished and the crew of, Jerome-092 sought to initiate the production of Mastodons to minimize infantry casualties, as troops were in short supply and reinforcements were unlikely. At least one Mastodon was present at Fort Jordan, and served to provide transport for a small group of marines, ODSTs and a Hellbringer following the base's destruction by the Warlord Ristyx.

Halo Wars 2
Mastodon Upgrade: Infantry Capacity Mastodons are exclusive to Jerome-092 and can be made at the Firebase once the leader power has unlocked them. They perform okay against infantry but poorly against vehicles, aircraft, and structures. Due to their low offensive power, Mastodons benefit greatly from a complement of Marines. The survivability of the infantry depended on their remaining health when they were on board Mastodon. If the Mastodon is destroyed with the passengers in full health, they will survive and take damage. But, if the Mastodon is destroyed with a heavily wounded infantry, the infantry will also be killed. With proper upgrades from Marines, the Mastodon can become one of the most effective all-rounder units on the battlefield. In Blitz, Mastodons cost 60 energy.
 * Info: Mobile Garrison, Can carry infantry, The infantry being transported provide supporting fire, Equipped with light machine gun
 * Tier: 1
 * Cost:, ,
 * Info: Increases unit capacity from 3 infantry squads to 4.
 * Tier: 3
 * Cost: ,

Trivia

 * Following the UNSC tradition of naming ground vehicles after animals the M650 is named after the Mastodon, an extinct relative to the Elephant.
 * The Mastodon is seemingly based on the cut Cougar from Halo Wars, and the Kodiak from Halo: Reach.

List of appearances

 * Halo Wars 2