Anvil-II air-to-surface missile

A ANVIL-II ASM missile pod mounted on a D77-TC Pelican.

The Anvil-II Air-to-Surface Missiles, sometimes referred to as ASM's, are normally mounted via rocket pods on Pelican dropships or SkyHawk atmospheric jump-jets for clearing ground targets and drop zones of enemies.

This missile is used multiple times in the Halo games, used by pelican dropships to attack the Scarab at the end of Metropolis. It is used again by Pelicans in the Quarantine Zone, when a Flood-controlled Pelican flies past and shoots down some Sentinel Majors and hits the one Enforcer that is there. It is also on the second Pelican that shows up at the start of the level Delta Halo, though this dropship only fires very rarely. It is also used at the end of Sierra 117 in Halo 3, to clear out the ending area and allow the Pelican to land and give the player evac to the next level.

Trivia

• The ANVIL-II Missile is equipped on Pelicans and was the weapon used by the Spartan-IIs when they attacked the Covenant Destroyer around Chi Ceti IV. SPARTANs 087, 117, and 034 infiltrated and set off three ANVIL-II warheads around a source of radiation, destroying the ship.
• The player can be killed by Anvil-II missiles at the end of Sierra 117 if the player starts killing the surviving marines and Arbiter when a Pelican is present.
• The ANVIL-II shows that it can be used against stationary or slow-moving air targets as well as its intended ground ones at the end of Sierra 117 (Level), where a Pelican uses ANVIL II missiles to shoot down two hovering Phantom dropships.
• The missiles fired by the Pelican at the end of Sierra 117 are actually HEAT missiles used by the Rocket Launcher.