M49 Vulcan

The M49 Vulcan, formerly the M343A2 Minigun, is a heavy machine gun in use by the United Nations Space Command after the Human-Covenant War. It is a successor to the M41 and M46 machine guns, with which it shares the erroneous "chaingun" moniker. Despite seeing a high initial production run in early 2558 the debilitation of a number of key manufacturing sites led Misriah Armory to ramp production back up on the M46.

The M49 may alternatively be referred to as the M250 heavy machine gun, though the differences between the two conflicting designations are currently unknown.

Design details
The M49 succeeds its predecessors in the Vulcan line of weapons, albeit heavily redesigned compared to the M46 and M49 models. Unlike the early tri-barrelled models, the M49 is an electrically driven, five-barreled Gatling-style machine gun that is compatible with all standard UNSC heavy weapon mounts. The M49 is often installed on a pneumatic full-rotation turret as the primary armament of the M12B Warthog, and is also available in a semi-portable tripod configuration for site defense. The latter configuration has a much shorter barrel assembly.

The M49's lethality is comparable to that of its predecessors. Barrel wear is considerably diminished in comparison, though the weapon will overheat after periods of sustained fire. This is aided by the inclusion of an augmented cowling to protect the barrels from external wear and tear. Although the M49 is designed to use the latest polymer-cased and energetic propellant 12.7×99mm M255 HVE rounds, UNSC units have been ordered to deplete existing stocks of older 12.7×99mm M340 HVE ammunition before transitioning to newer cartridges. As opposed to its predecessors, the M49 ejects its spent casings from the left side.

Variants

 * ONI Chaingun Turret: A variant used by the Office of Naval Intelligence. Fires explosive rounds with increased damage and does not overheat. Kills Spartans in 5 rounds in War Games. It is ranked an Ultra Rare REQ in Warzone simulations, and is available at Level 5 energy while giving 150 REQ points if sold.
 * Needle turret: A variant that fires blamite. Kills Spartans in 6 rounds in War Games.

Development history
The weapon was developed and produced by Misriah Armory as the latest in the long line of "Vulcan" rotary cannons - intended to succeed the long-serving M46 and M49 models. During field-testing, the weapon was given the temporary designation of the M343A2, before being renamed to the M49 once it entered mainline service. Misriah underwent a large initial production run of M49s in the early months of 2558, though the onset of the Created uprising meant that a number of key production sites were debilitated - consequently leading Misriah to fall back on its more established M46 model for mass-scale deployment in the new crisis.

Halo 5: Guardians
The M49 replaces the M41 and M46 Vulcan turrets previously seen in prior Halo titles as the armament on the Warthog, and as a detachable turret replacing the M247H machine gun. Carrying the turret decreases the player's speed and maneuverability as in previous titles. However, it should be noted that this actually renders the player invisible on the motion tracker unless the weapon is fired, making the M343A2 useful for catching the enemy off-guard while on defense. The M343A2 kills Spartans in 12 rounds in War Games. It is ranked a Common REQ in Warzone simulations, and is available at while giving  if sold.

Production note
The weapon's Halo 5: Guardians-era designation of M343A2 is an obvious reference to 343 Industries.

In the Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), the weapon is conflictingly referred to by two separate designations. In the weapon's infobox on page 174, the weapon is repeatedly referred to as the M250 heavy machine gun (seemingly keeping consistency with the M247 machine gun and its various derivatives), while in the section on the Vulcan series of chainguns on pages 136 and 180, it is referred to as the M49. It is unclear whether this is an unintentional contradiction, or an indication that the M49 Vulcan designation refers to the weapon system as a whole on the Warthog, while the gun itself is the M250 HMG.

For consistency with the Vulcan series of cannons, Halopedia has chosen to preference the M49 designation until such a time as a clarification can be provided on the matter from 343 industries.

List of appearances

 * Halo 5: Guardians