M117 Light-Weight Field Howitzer

The is a UNSC crew-served Howitzer, used for long range, indirect fire support.

Description
The M117 LFH is a commonly used Howitzer, designed to be towed or air dropped into combat theatres. The M117 is used in batteries to provide supporting fire, most often for infantry units. The M117 is grouped into batteries of four, with a battery commander and associated vehicle. On the ground, the gen is operated by five crewmen, including a commander, responsible for directing the crew and emplacement of the gun, the gunner, who designates and engages targets, the assistant gunner, who physically operates the gun, the loader, who organises the next round, including fusing and bleed and the assistant loader, who actually loads the next round.

The gun is usually towed by a M12A4 Warthog Knight Light Recon Vehicle, with three crewmen, and a following M597 Warthog Ammunition Carrier with two crewmen and the majority of the ammunition. It can alternately be carried inside or outside a Pelican, or air lifted by a Merlin.

The gun itself is constructed from high strength titanium and related alloys, creating a strong, stable weapon, with a relatively low weight. The gun is relatively standard in design, with two wheeled struts that can deploy to dig in, along with two back facing spades. The gun itself is on a motorised turntable, linked directily to the fire control system. The cannon is designed to collapse in half for easy transport, reducing the over all length. It does this by unscrewing the forward element of the cannon and using motors to fold this over to fit flat against the top of the cannon. The gun barrel is made from carbonized metal, designed to reduce thermal distortion caused by frequent firing. The gun has a number of large, anti-recoil systems, allowing it to survive firing, while in turn turning the force of the recoil into energy to power the on-board system.

The gun is linked to a dataslate, which is linked to the War Net, allowing the gunner and commander to target enemy positions. Through this dataslate they can observe ground, aerial or satellite reconnaissance, along with the computerised firing sight on the gun. they can designate targets, change munition properties such as range and fusing and can arrange for Multiple Rounds, Simultaneous Impact. Through this dataslate, the battery commander can designate fire zones for all the cannons, and his commanding officer can similarly designate targets. Fire mission requests are sent through to the dataslate for the battery commander to approve or deny.

The M117 can fire all kinds of regular munitions, such as explosive, bomblet dispersing, smoke dispersing, flare shells and others. It can also fire more exotic GPS guided rounds, anti-armour and LASER guided munitions.