MV-29 Wyvern

The MV-29 Gunship, commonly known as the Wyvern, is a heavily armed, combination ground-attack gunship and troop carrier aircraft employed by the Colonial Military Authority, the United Nations Space Command, and the Gao Republic's Ministry of War.

Design details
Wyverns are dark, delta-winged aircraft designed for use as combination ground-attack and troop carrier craft optimised for usage on the colonial frontier. They utilise both jet engines and wing-mounted rotors to provide lift and travel at high speeds, though are nonetheless considered slow and ungainly by the standards of UNSC aircraft.

The belly of the craft is equipped with several drop hatches capable of deploying Gao battle-jumpers via drop lines. Twenty such passengers can be carried by the ship, alongside its single pilot and four gunnery crew.

Armaments
MV-29s are heavily-armed; four weapon hardpoints are present on each wing capable of loading a mix of anti-tank missiles and guided rockets. A further two M328 LMGs and two M413 HMGs manned by a total of four gunners are built into the craft's belly.. An additional GAU-23/AW/Linkless Feed Autocannon is mounted on the nose for heavy-duty use.

Wyverns are equipped with forward-looking, infrared, augmented imaging systems that allows the occupants manning the turrets to find and track targets on the ground.

Operational history
The MV-29 entered service with Colonial Military Authority air cavalry units shortly before the CMA's dissolution in 2525. After this point, most Wyverns were transferred to UNSC Army units or other local planetary security forces on troubled worlds.

On July 6, 2553, President of Gao Arlo Casille issued the order to launch Wyverns against the UNSC forces looking for an ancilla on Gao. Blue Team and Special Inspector Veta Lopis fled the pursuing Wyverns in M12 Warthogs with the ancilla down the Road of Wonders, occasionally firing shoulder-mounted missile launchers to discourage the aircraft. The Spartans eventually managed to destroy two of the aircraft. Hoping to cause a distraction, Lopis mislead Casille into recalling most of the Wyverns to the Singing Grottos while the Warthogs continued towards the Well of Echoes to use a HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon to blow up the Forerunner installation beneath Gao's surface. Blue Team and Lopis dropped the HAVOK into the Well of Echoes and escaped on D102 Owl Silent Claw with the ancilla; as a dozen Wyverns attempted to pursue, the nuke detonated and destroyed the aircraft.

Trivia
A wyvern is an older, more serpentine style of dragon with two wings and two legs.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Last Light