Model: Howard GPU-9 35mm Gun Pod
Type: Projectile Ballistic Weapon
Skill: Aircraft Gunnery/Mecha Gunnery; OR use Starship Gunnery
Scale: Starfighter
Cost:
-Gun Pod (+550 rounds): 5,000 U.N. Spacy credits
-Spare Magazines (550 rounds each): 500 credits each
-Fixed Hardpoint Mounting: 1,000 credits
-Turret Hardpoint Mounting: 3,000 credits
-Internalized Ammo Drums:
   2,000 rounds: 2,000 credits
   5,000 rounds: 4,000 credits
   10,000 rounds: 8,000 credits (usually for capital ships)
   20,000 rounds; 15,000 credits (usually for capital ships)
Fire Control: 2D (If attached fixed); 1D (if attached as a "turret" or handheld by mecha)
Space Range: 1-3/15/25
Atmosphere Range: 100-300/1.5/2.5km
Damage: 5D
Ammo: 550 (spare magazines available)
-Ammo Types: Heavy armor piercing or AHEAD rounds
Rate of Fire: Single round per attack; OR Autofire (see D6 Firearms article on site for Autofire rules)
Game Notes: The GPU-9 35mm Gun pod is the predecessor to the GU-11 55mm three-barrel gatling gun pod that eventually became the standard for the U.N. Spacy's VF-1 Valkyries.  This gun pod was developed for the VF-0 Phoenix while it was undergoing development to test the technologies that would be used in the transformable Valkyrie fighter jets used in Spce War One.  While being the first would imply being weaker than the designs that would follow, the GPU-9 was actually more powerful in many respects, most notably in having more ammunition than the later GU-11.  Eventually, issues of ammunition consumption would crop up and call for a more streamlined version of the gun pod weapon system for the Valkyrie model, but the weapon served well during the Mayan Island conflict between the U.N. and Anti-U.N. forces embattled there for reclamation of an alien artifact.
   The Gun Pod was built for use by either a fixed hardpoint on the VF-0 Phoenix facing forward, or to be held in the hands of an appropriate mecha.  However, it's very nature menas it is modular and could be adapted easily to almost any other craft of the right size and shape.  Though it relies on a limited amount of ammunition (550 rounds internal magazine), it could easily be attached to a larger ammo store if left in a fixed position on a non-transformable fighter craft.  It can either fire single rounds in semi-automatic, which grants it similar firepower to other starfighter weaponry; OR, it can let loose on autofire, unleashing a hail of rounds upon unsuspecting enemy targets, making it much more than a match for any simple laser cannon.
   The GPU-9 has an adjustable rate of fire for 60/1,250/2,500 rounds per minute, driven by a 90-horsepower electric motor.  It carries by itself 550 rounds total, and is capable of utilizing heavy armor-piercing or AHEAD Ammunition.