Type-26 Wraith (Earth-5875)

The Type-26 Assault Gun Carriage, better known as the Type-26 Wraith, is the main armored infantry assault vehicle of the dissolved Covenant and its remnants.

Design
The Type-26 Assault Gun Carriage is the primary armored ground vehicle used by the Covenant. The Covenant deployed Wraiths in tactical ground engagements, where they serve in both anti-infantry and anti-armor roles. The Wraith's firepower also makes it ideal for destroying structures in the way of ground forces attempting to advance in an area.

Like all Covenant ground vehicles, the Wraith is sleek, bulbous and more reminiscent of an aircraft than a traditional ground vehicle. The Wraith is divided into four main sections: chassis, fins, rudders, and plasma mortar. The chassis houses the cockpit, which includes movement, targeting and firing controls. Holographic control surfaces and displays show the pilot a 360-degree view outside the Wraith. Underneath the cockpit is a boosted gravity propulsion drive, which propels the Wraith and keeps it suspended a short distance above the ground. The Wraith's engine vents excess heat and plasma through an exhaust port at the rear of the vehicle; this port is one of the more vulnerable spots on the Wraith. The wide, sweeping fins at the front of the vehicle stabilize the vehicle on uneven terrain, as well as provide extra thrust during a boost. At the rear of the Wraith are two rudders, which control the turning of the vehicle using independent propulsion drives. The fourth major component is the Wraith's main weapon, a heavy plasma mortar, which rests above and behind the cockpit and can be retracted within the main body. The entirety of the Wraith is covered by nearly two feet of armor plating, which is composed of a polymer that is still poorly understood by human physicists.

Armaments
The main weapon of the Wraith is its 35cm plasma mortar. The Wraith's mortar is attached to a fixed mounting, meaning that a Wraith must be facing its target in order to hit it. The plasma mortar works by creating a magnetically encapsulated blob of superheated plasma and firing it at a relatively low velocity. Once fired, the bolt is magnetically guided in a ballistic trajectory until it strikes the ground or target. When the bolt hits, the magnetic bubble collapses and the plasma rapidly expands from its compressed state, creating a superheated explosion that will vaporize everything within twenty meters of impact. Titanium battleplate, concrete, or flesh is instantly obliterated by the blast. Anything just outside of the kill zone is at risk of injury or death — after the initial impact, the plasma begins to cool and thermal expansion takes over, creating a wave of fire traveling outward that can travel away from the initial blast zone. Infantry within range can sustain burns and heat trauma. The explosion also generates a large amount of concussive force, which can splinter bones and destroy vital organs. Flammable materials are especially at risk of igniting due to the intense heat release and can cause further damage. Once the heat from the explosion dissipates, the blast zone will have been converted into a glass-smooth surface - much like the swaths of vitrified soil created by glassing.

The Wraith is also equipped with an anti-infantry plasma turret. All Wraiths in service up to 2549 were equipped with two automated plasma cannons, while later models swapped these for extra-passenger space and a Type-52 DESW ring mount. Both varieties of turret are able to burn through armor and flesh, with predictably gruesome results. Against infantry, the cannon's plasma causes severe fourth-degree burns.

Advantages
With the exception of the Type-47B Scarab, the Wraith is the Covenant's most destructive mobile armor. Its huge bulk is well shielded from small arms fire, and it is resistant to medium explosive weapons. Its ability to be deployed with the aid of dropships makes insertions into battlefield fairly easy. Its plasma mortar can easily decimate infantry and vehicles alike, and its destructive powers are so well known to UNSC forces that the mere sight of one on the battlefield can induce psychological effects.

Disadvantages
The Wraith's main disadvantage is its slow speed, due to the vehicle's massive weight. While the boost drive can propel the vehicle to moderately high speeds, the maneuverability of the vehicle is compromised — turning becomes difficult during a boost, and the momentum that is built from it makes it is possible for the vehicle to inadvertently plow through friendly forces, crash into and get lodged between stationary objects, or overshoot its mark and skate off of a cliff or into a body of water. The Wraith is also poorly suited for scaling inclines.

Like most tanks, the Wraith has a "dead area", a zone in which the plasma mortar cannot fire without risking damage to itself. The slow speed and cumbersome nature of the Wraith makes it prone to boarding action — while the front of the tank is harder to board because of the plasma turret(s), the rear is highly susceptible to boarding. A small rotating cylinder exhaust port in the back is a vulnerable spot that, if hit with a medium explosive device or anti-materiél weapons fire, can damage the tank severely. The exposed gunner operating the Type-52 DESW is also an easy target for marksman and sniper fire.

Since its weaponry is designed to be used against non-mobile or low-mobility targets, and its weight and wide profile prevent it from maneuvering with any deal of speed and accuracy, the Wraith is a very soft target for high mobility vehicles, such as a M12 Warthog or a Type-32 Ghost, and is at a high risk of destruction against a vehicle with a much more accurate heavy weapon (such as the M808 Scorpion with its direct-firing 90mm cannon).

The Plasma Mortar is also ill-suited for long range combat, as it moves so slowly that even units with low mobility-such as the Scorpion tank-can dodge it.

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