M6C/SOCOM

The M6 Personal Defense Weapon System is the standard sidearm family of the UNSC. The M6 family is designed primarily for ruggedness and reliability. Certain models have been ‘up-sized’ to be used by Spartan’s in Mjolnir armor. Even though the ‘Spartan” issue pistols are larger than the standard-issue variants (~117%) they can still share magazines.

The M6 series are recoil-operated and magazine-fed. It fires 12.7mm x 30 semi-armor-piercing high-explosive ammunition (standard issue). M6 series handguns are issued in three different finishes: hard chrome, black polymer, and electroless nickel.

M7 SUBMACHINE GUN

The M7 submachine gun is gas-operated and magazine-fed. It fires 5mm x 23 caseless ammunition. Recoil from all but sustained fire is very controllable. Although the M7 submachine-gun is primarily issued to vehicle crews, it is also a favorite of commando teams in its sound suppressed version – the M7S.

Sustained automatic fire tends to cause the muzzle to “walk” upwards as recoil compounds. Submachine guns, while not accurate over long distances, are particularly effective in close quarters.

The Type-25 DER is a battery-powered directed energy weapon capable of fully automatic fire. The exact mechanism by which it functions is currently under investigation.

Observations: Up until just recently the Plasma Rifle had been the primary weapon of the Covenant’s officer core. The weapon has a power output of 100~150 Kv@2~3 dA.

It has been widely noted that the disparity in the effective combat range between Covenant short and long arms are much greater than those of the UNSC—this is also reflected in the Covenant’s combat doctrine: destroy enemy morale with harassing fire from distant or hidden snipers and intimate exposure to the alien-ness of their infantry.

In addition to the standard issue “blue-purple” DER there is also a “red” variant that has a much higher rate of fire, and thus a greater likelihood of overheating. So far this variant has only been found in the hands of the brutes, and even then, only since they have seen a return as front-line combatants.