Shock Cannon

The Shock Cannon is an energy weapon featured in Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception. Manufactured by the Democratic Republic of Leasath with captured Aurelia technology, it is arguably the most prominent superweapon of the Leasath armed forces.

Design
The Shock Cannon, contrary to what its name may suggest, is not actually a cannon, but an fuel-type weapon. The weapon uses seized Aurelian-made meson technology for its functions, a trait shared with the Shock Wave Ballistic Missile, its "solid" counterpart. The Shock Cannon mounted on the Gleipnir, portrayed as a disc-like mounting on its underbelly, spreads a highly flammable, fuel-like substance over the target area, while a small-sized particle accelerator within the Gleipnir itself channels the energy required to fire the weapon, using extensive amounts of electricity to ignite the beam. This causes an explosive reaction with the meson energy, thus igniting it. The disc structure then fires a beam of meson energy towards the target area, igniting the previously spread substance, causing a massive explosion.

One flaw with this design is that the amount of energy required to fire the Shock Cannon is so great that sustained fire (be it constant or in a beam) is impossible, thus requiring single pulse shots to conserve energy. This is most likely averted with the Archelon Shock Cannon, which may use a larger energy source within the fortress itself, thus being capable of repeated fire.

Trivia

 * The Spiridus, an airship featured in Ace Combat: Joint Assault which features many similarities with the Gleipnir, uses a railgun named Balaur, which can be considered a direct analog to the Shock Cannon. As well, a ground-based version of the Balaur is faced by the player in mission #14, not unlike the Shock Cannon mounted on Archelon Fortress in mission #15A.