M343A3 Heavy Machine Gun

The is a UNSC belt fed rotary machine gun.
==Description==
An updated version of the AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun, there have been many significant changes in order to facilitate its continued use on 27th century battlefields. 
The barrel assembly is now made of cold forged carbonized metal, with chrome alloy elements and carbon fibre coating. This reduces thermal distortion of the barrel so as to retain accuracy. The barrels have a shroud designed to obscure some of the muzzle flash, mostly for the gunner. The main body of the weapon is made from a hardened polymer, that is resistant to both impacts and heat. The breech is made from titanium alloys with heat resistant components, keeping down the weight and ensuring long service life. The bolt carrier retreats down into the receiver when fired, reducing recoil and allowing for a more stable firing platform. To aid in stability, it has computer controlled stabilizers to ensure the gun is always on target. 
The gun has a standardized shove grip with two 'spade' grips with triggers on the inside of the grip, with only one requiring to be depressed to fire. On top of the each of the grips under a plastic flip cover, that is used to spool up the gun. Along the receiver of the gun is a short Misriah Rail for the application of optical sights, allowing the gunner enhanced vision against targets. Forward of this is the main carrying handle, which folds flat to avoid interrupting the sight. Underneath the barrel is the secondary carrying handle. Placed directly beside the grips is the fire control system, which can be used to monitor barrel and breech temperature, adjust rate of fire and controls the cooling and stability systems. 
The AIE is fed by a disintegrating belt feed and has the capacity to fit a two hundred or four hundred round drum on the gun itself, and can fit large ammunition belts. For use on aircraft, it can also be augmented to fit a dual ammunition feed, allowing for ammunition selections. 
The cooling system is made up of three Doppler Shift cooling banks, controlled by a central computer unit. These capture heat coming from the barrel and bolt and cool it via the doppler shift, allowing the gun to stay cool, even under constant operation. There is a cooling bank on each side of the barrel and one on the breech. The Doppler Cooling banks are made up of an array of tiny LASERs that are arranged in opposite directions. As excited atoms and molecules enter the cooling bank, they gain photons from the laser they are moving away from, via the doppler effect. These atoms then slow to a crawl, due to the cancelling effects of the gained photons and are subsequently chilled. As the barrel continues to heat up, due to thermodynamics, the heat will move from a place of high temperature to a place of low temperature, constantly cooling the weapon until equilibrium is made. As the weapon cools down, the opposite becomes true, with the molecules within the bank moving to warm up the weapon as it drifts below equilibrium. The banks are powered by the anti-recoil systems, by thermal absorbing energy circuits and in the case of extreme colds, an external battery pack, about the size of a chatter pad. These cooling systems are controlled by a central CPU, which observes the warmest or coldest elements of the weapon and attempts to regulate this. 
==UNSC Remarks==
Category:UNSC Weapons