M3A1 Diamondback Multi-purpose Air Defence System

"When you see those pillars of fire go off, you know some lazy fucker sat in his fire control centre, drinking a hot cup of brown swill just saved your life."

- Sergeant Malcolm Hadley

The, also known as the MADS, is a UNSC air defence system for engaging fighters, missiles and low flying warships from low altitude threats to orbiting targets.

The Diamondback doesn't refer to one vehicle itself, but to a number of systems. The Diamonback MAD system consists of a retrofitted M874 Buffallo HSV, with a HYPERION LASER in a collapsing turret mounting, where the storage compartment would of been. The HYPERION turret has a folding main array, allowing it to be stowed. Connected to this RADAR is a sky searching cluster of multiple LIDAR/optical/infra-red sensors.

Carried on a second modified Buffalo is a fusion reactor with two extending cables for transferring electrical power and a fibre optic cable for linking to the control suite. The Fusion Reactor is a large scale polywell generator with a 8 year lifespan.

On a third modified Buffalo is the AN/MPQ-778 Active Electronically Scanned Array RADAR. It consists of three flat pane AESA RADARs to provide a 360 view of the sky, with steerable facilities. Attached to this is a collapsing RADAR receiver mast, for counter detection against RADAR and jamming systems.

On a fourth modified Buffalo is a AN/MSQ-887 Fire Control Centre. In here, the fire control officer and the main Operator use a mixture of the RADAR, optical, infra-red and LIDAR sensors and the UNSC War Net to organise and prioritize targets. The Diamondback MADS is cleared to engage enemy aircraft, missiles and warships, even up to an altitude of low orbit. The FCC has full NBC protection, full EMP protection, high power CPUs, fibre optic links, full, 360 holographic display and holographic interface. The FCC is fitted with a metamaterial antennae for long range communications.