Kelos'vaarda-pattern storm rifle

The Type-55 Directed Energy Rifle/Advanced (T55 DER/A), commonly known as the Storm rifle, is a Sangheili directed energy weapon.

History
Designed by Lodam Armory in the wake of the Great Schism, the T55 was in use by 2553 and saw use during Sangheili civil conflicts following the Human-Covenant War's conclusion. The T55 DER/A is considered to be a successor to and direct evolution of the widely used Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle; however, it is more similar to the Type-51 Directed Energy Rifle/Improved, itself an upgrade of the T25, in both form and function. The weapon features such modifications as a modular coil set, a high-mounted cooling shroud, and an extended barrel, which improve upon the features of the standard Plasma Rifle it replaced.

Speculation
The "storm" in the weapon's name may refer to the weapon's function: "sturmgewehr", the German word for assault rifle, literally means "storm rifle". This may allude to the weapon's role as an analog to the human MA5D assault rifle.

It is interesting to note that despite being the successor to the Plasma Rifle, the Storm Rifle is actually less effective at removing shields. It takes the Plasma Rifle approximately 6 plasma bolts to take down shields. The Storm Rifle takes approximately 10 plasma bolts.

It is also odd that the Covenant remnant would be able to obtain such technology to produce something as advanced as the Storm Rifle, as most of the Storm's other weapons and vehicles in their arsenal are much older, dating back as far as the fall of Reach. One would think that a more widely used weapon among the Sangheili such as the Plasma Rifle would be much more easily obtained than new technology for a weapon like the Storm Rifle. However, it is possible Jul 'Mdama brought the blueprints for the Storm Rifle when he joined the Remnant.

Trivia

 * The Storm Rifle is the only loadout weapon in Halo 4 with no customizable skin.
 * Strangely, when attempting to complete challenges in the War Games that require the use of automatic weapons, the Storm Rifle is not considered as one (unlike the Human equivalent, the Assault Rifle).
 * The weapon's reticle is similar in both appearance and bloom behavior to the Plasma Repeater from Halo: Reach.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Thursday War
 * Halo 4