Pave Low

116 (Elite)

158 (Heroic)

288 (Heroic)

## Introduction

The **Pave Low** is General Malcolm "Ace" Granger's tier 2 helicopter artillery unit.

## Overview

The Pave Low may appear to be a large, sluggish transport helicopter, but it actually serves a similar role to the F-16XL. The helicopter is armed with tow cruise missiles similar to the ones carried by the B-4 Chimera, strapped to where the external fuel tanks were usually carried.

Like the F-16XL, the Pave Low's attack range by itself is pretty short, no longer than other attack helicopters. However, the range of the Pave Low's cruise missiles can be greatly boosted with the help of an Eye Designator, thus allowing the Pave Low to easily outrange anti-air base defenses and destroy them from a safe distance away. Being an airborne unit is also a bonus in situations like these, as it makes the Pave Low a lot more flexible and maneuverable than other tier 2 siege units.

The main drawbacks of the Pave Low include that like most of General Granger's units, it's far more micromanagement intensive than other traditional siege units, and it's one of the handful of units in *Contra* that relies on another unit to achieve maximum efficiency. The Pave Low is also tided with the Helix for being the second slowest helicopter unit, making it rather vulnerable to interceptors.

## Upgrades

**Countermeasures**

* The Pave Low gains a 20% resistance to AA weapons and a chance to evade enemy missiles. Available at the Levitation Pad at Rank 1.

## Assessment

Pros:

* Heavily armored, durable for a helicopter.
* Can fire on the move.
* Highly effective against structures.
* Range can be boosted by Eye Designator.

Cons:

* Very slow and sluggish for an air unit.
* Missiles are slow and have limited guidance and will most likely miss when trying to hit moving targets.
* Missiles can be diverted by ECM.
* Range is quite short without support of the Eye Designator.
* Vulnerable to fast AA units like interceptors.
* Expensive (1800$).

## Quotes

### When Selected

* Helicopter reporting in!
* Heavy ordinance aircraft.
* We got tomahawks for those S.O.Bs.
* United States military spending at its finest!
* Got a target sir?

### When Ordered to Move

* Send flight coordinates.
* Moving to mark zone.
* Rollers are rolling.
* Making our move.
* Pave Low en route.

### When Ordered to Attack

* Here comes 5 million dollars of explosive ass-kickin!
* You've got a few seconds to live!
* Send out tomahawk missile!
* Bombardment commence!
* Locking on that target!
* Missile firing!

### When Crashing

* Mayday! Mayday!
* Oh, God have mercy!
* \*Screaming\*.
* Pave Low going down!
* Pave Low going down, I repeat...

## Trivia

* Prior to Patch 3, the Pave Low reuses the voice lines of the Avatar from *Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars*, just like the F-35 JSF.
* The Pave Low shown in the game is actually not the Sikorsky MH-53 Pave Low, instead it's the CH-53E Super Stallion from the same manufacturer.
* In the *Shockwave* mod, General Granger also utilizes the Pave Low, albeit as a supply gather/transport in place of the Chinook.
* Prior to the introduction of the Combat Puma, the Pave Low served as the replacement for General Granger's Combat Chinook.

## Gallery

The Pave Low jettisoning its external fuel tanks.Wait... THOSE AREN'T FUEL TANKS!The Pave Low in real-life, note the different nose section.The Super Stallion, which the in-game Pave Low is actually based off.