Metal Gear RAY is a fictional amphibious mecha in the videogame Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

History

RAY's prototype was developed by the USMC to locate and eliminate Metal Gear REX units and their derivatives. However, while being transported for testing by the "oil tanker" Discovery, it was captured by Revolver Ocelot. He was in fact delivering it to the Patriots, an Illuminati-esque organisation running the US. The unit was subsequently redesigned, losing its tail and cockpit, for control by the AI known as "GW" in defense of Arsenal Gear.

Drive system

RAY uses artificial muscle tissue to provide actuation, giving it great flexibility and startlingly organic motion. When underwater, openings on RAY's two "wings" provide propulsion at high speed through some unknown means (possibly similar to the silent drive in The Hunt for Red October).

Crew

There are two different kinds of RAY units; the prototype, which is manned, and the production model, which is operated by remote control by an AI. Like previous Metal Gears, the prototype RAY has only a single pilot. They are seated in a "VR" cockpit which projects an image of the outside world all around, giving the impression that the cockpit walls have become transparent. Unlike Metal Gear REX, there are no obvious sensor vulnerabilities.

Weaponry and defenses

RAY has two large-calibre machine guns, one on the end of each "wing". Mounted on the back are 6 vertical missile launch tubes which are shown releasing surface-to-surface missiles as well as some sort of cluster bomb. The production models also exhibit missile launchers in the "knees" of the legs much like those found in Metal Gear REX. However, RAY's defining weapon is its hydro cannon, mounted behind heavy armour plating on the "head", just below the cockpit which opens as a three-segmented mechanism. Based on existing hydro cutters (which work by firing a jet of extremely high-pressure water at significant velocity to cut dense materials), but many orders of magnitude more powerful, it is no doubt included to provide a way of effectively attacking REX units; it makes short work of the hull of the Discovery when stolen, slicing the ship in two with impunity. However, with the defensive armour open, RAY is vulnerable to attacks at the cannon. The Prototype design also has a tail for balance (and possibly to destroy tanks and infantry approaching its flanks).

Design Information

Mechanical designer Yoji Shinkawa has compared predecessor Metal Gear REX's design to that of a dinosaur; he considers RAY to be an evolution into a more abstract, absolute "monster". While early designs bore a close resemblance to REX, the final design is far more organic and fluid; during the early stages Shinkawa had considered giving RAY armour made out of scales, which would overlap and flow around eachother to accommodate movement (this proved to be technically infeasible, but hints of how it might have looked appear in the MGS2 art book, as close-ups of joints). It has been noted that RAY's slender feet would be somewhat impractical. These bear a resemblance to the feet of the hovering "Orbital Frames" in Zone of the Enders, which Shinkawa was also a mechanical designer on; he has himself described the similarity as a "cross-pollination" of ideas.