| This article is about the unmanned aerial vehicle. You may be looking for Cipher, an alias of both the Patriots and its leader, Zero. |
The Cypher is a saucer-type unmanned aerial vehicle used for surveillance and communication support of land and marine operations.
Information[]
The Cypher is capable of vertical take-offs and landings in tight areas measuring as small as 3.5 meters. It uses a ducted airstream from its rotors and the surrounding shroud to fly and can stay airborne for approximately three hours. The Cypher also features a fully autonomous system that allows for tracking and analysis of man-sized targets, with its flight pattern and output controlled from a nearby Integrated Mobile Ground Station. The Cypher transmits its status and mission data to its controller via data-link.
An armed variant known as the Gun Cypher, is equipped with a machinegun for use as an unmanned weapon.
History[]
The Manhattan Incident[]
- See also: Tanker Incident and the Big Shell Incident
In 2007, a United States Army Cypher was used to photograph Solid Snake aboard the USS Discovery. The photographs were later used by the Patriots to frame Snake and Philanthropy for the tanker's destruction. After initially mistaking it for a Marine Cypher-T, Otacon speculated that the reason the Army had sent the craft was because they had an interest in the Marines' Metal Gear RAY project, similar to the Gurlukovich Mercenaries.[1]
In 2009, both surveillance and armed Cypher variants were used by the terrorist group Sons of Liberty to guard areas of the Big Shell, many of which were evaded by FOXHOUND operative Raiden. Upon discovering an intruder, the Cyphers would alert any nearby patrols via data transmission to its controller. One of the control boxes for the Infrared sensors hooked up to Semtex on the Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge was installed on top of a Cypher. A Cypher was responsible for alerting the Tengu commandos of Raiden's and Solid Snake's presence within Arsenal Gear's Ileum section.
Behind the scenes[]
In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, the Cypher's sensors can be temporarily confused by using chaff to set up an electronic interference field, which also blocks its movement. The Cypher itself can be destroyed in one hit from a rifle or handgun by damaging its camera, or in the case of Gun Cyphers, its gun.
Gun Cyphers appear as enemies in Metal Gear Acid and its sequel, Metal Gear Acid 2.
Solid Snake uses a Cypher for vertical recovery in Super Smash Bros. Brawl (despite nothing like this happening in Metal Gear Solid 2). Although the Cypher retains its design from the original game, it has been slightly scaled down, and is also a darker shade of grey. An unlockable trophy describes the Cypher thusly:
An unmanned aerial surveillance vehicle used by the U.S. Army. It uses a fan in the center of its body to hover and a camera on its upper fuselage to monitor from the skies. It has a number of models, including the armed Gun Cypher and the remodeled Cypher II. Its small size and continuous flight ability make it extremely effective in guarding against intruders.
While it is most likely a coincidence, the term "Cipher" (with a "i" instead of a "y") would later be used in the Metal Gear series to refer to the early incarnation of The Patriots, which first appear in Metal Gear Solid 2 along with the drone.
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
- Metal Gear Acid
- Metal Gear Acid 2
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Notes and references[]
- ^ Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2001).
This is mentioned in a Codec call to Otacon during the Tanker Chapter.