- "My favorite part of the year was getting to sit in the flight deck of a gunship at the military show."
- —Titan Elementary School student[1]
The EarthGov Gunship is a large manned aerial vehicle type developed to provide EarthGov security and military personnel extensive firepower, support in field, and of course transportation.
Summary[]
EarthGov Gunships appear frequently throughout the course of Dead Space 2, used by Director Tiedemann to pursue Isaac Clarke over the Sprawl and later by Ellie Langford to rescue Isaac from Marker Site 12. The gunship's technical and tactical capabilities make it a formidable assault craft able to hunt and pursue specific targets and engage them with superior firepower in a variety of combat theaters. The gunship, while not a dedicated starship, can function effectively in space and airless environments due to a sealed and pressurized cabin, thus making it a suitable choice for law enforcement operations on the Sprawl.
Armament[]
A side view of the gunship.
As a rough comparison to Isaac, the ship is at least 10 meters or 33 feet in length from the cockpit to the tip of the thrusters and close to 3-4 meters or 10-13 feet in height.
The EarthGov Gunship boasts a wide array of weaponry and technical hardware in its role as a support and assault craft. The armament includes a pair of fully rotateable tri-barrel gatling cannons under the nose, six homing missiles used for dog-fights in ship-to-ship encounters, sensor and communication jamming devices as well as fin-stabilized napalm bombs suspended behind swing doors on the belly of the ship, presumably used for atmospheric ground bombardment on enemy bases. At the front are a pair of swivel-arm mounts, occupied by high-powered searchlights to detect and illuminate targets hidden from view. There is a third headlight on top of the ship that most likely serves as a vertical light source. One variant that pursued Isaac Clarke featured a retractable slat armor assembly, presumably meant to protect the front of the vehicle from incoming fire or debris. The windscreen appears to be polarized, which is useful in space combat where the sun will block out the pilot's view. By the looks of it, this can be adjusted so that the windscreen acts as a normal window, making the ship more ideal on planets or other areas where there is no need for polarized screens.
The gunship's engine control nozzles are made out of three large, independently guiding thrusters, enabling the ship to execute sophisticated and highly flexible maneuvers and to quickly compensate against side winds and turbulence. This would give it an edge over Wai Lao-class shuttles such as the USG Kellion with their more conventional, fixed engine thrusters.
Together, this diverse equipment allows the gunship to function within times of peace as a patrol craft and in hostile situations as a dedicated gunship.
Inside, the ship has two seats in the cockpit, together with holo-displays, thruster switch and other key functions of the ship. The ship most likely has a storage for emergency EVA suits such as the one Ellie Langford used. The ship has two doors, allowing quick and easy entries and exits from combat situations.
Death Scene[]
During the final moments of Dead Space 2, Isaac has to reach the gunship piloted by Ellie as he maneuvers his way past the debris field. A quick time event will initiate as soon as he reaches the ship's rear engines.
- Should the event be completed successfully, Ellie will pull Isaac into the ship before the game ends.
- If the player fails to complete the QTE, Isaac's thrusters will suddenly malfunction as the gunship flies ahead of him, sucking him into its thruster. Isaac struggles to move himself forward but is pulled back into the engine fire and incinerated. Ellie's screams can be heard in the background.
Trivia[]
Gunship model from a toy shop.
- During Isaac's first encounter with the Pack near The Concourse, there is a toy shop with a picture of an EA model gunship available for purchase, exactly the same as the one seen in-game.
- It is likely that the gunship possesses some form of auto-pilot, as Ellie is seen reaching for Isaac at the doorway as the gunship pilots itself out of the Government Sector. Gabe Weller is also shown standing at the cabin door while the gunship is descending to a landing platform in Dead Space 2: Severed.
- There are two vertical lines of Marker symbols written in orange on the front hull of the ship. The symbols say "DEAD SPACE I BELIEVE" (http://deadspace.ea.com/ibelieve/), which was an easter egg for the first game.
- The homing missiles and bombs are never seen in use of combat in the series, aside from the QTE scene in Dead Space 2 where the bomb launcher platforms break from the impact of the Tormentor hitting the ship, causing the bombs to leak into the vacuum.
Gallery[]
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