M270 Surface-to-Surface missile launcher
From Command and Conquer Wiki
| M270 SSM Launcher | |
|---|---|
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| Weaponry | Two "Honest John" Napalm warhead missiles |
| Armour | Light |
| Type | Artillery |
| Faction | Nod |
The M270 Surface-to-Surface Missile (SSM) Launcher was a medium range rocket launcher deployed by Nod during the First Tiberium War, using the succesful M270 MLRS frame, replacing the rocket pods with two large Honest John missiles. It was a rocket artillery vehicle supporting the M110 artillery that could do massive damage against infantry and structures, and in this regard, it mainly succeeded. Unfortunately, the technology that went into the "Honest John" Missiles was quite advanced - the missiles required sophisticated guidance and electronics, so Nod would only deliver them to bases guarded by an Obelisk of Light. Furthermore, Nod Scientists often had problems getting all of the components to work, and so, the weapons were only available late in the First Tiberium War.
The launcher carried two rockets with napalm warheads capable of doing large amounts of damage to structures and infantry, but ineffective against armor. When hitting an enemy target, the rocket exploded and unleashed a firey inferno. However, the most important quality of these launchers was range. It's missiles had significantly more range than both an Obelisk of Light and an advanced guard tower, and so could be used to slowly wear down an enemy's defenses.
Although the vehicle had great firepower, it was slow and unarmored, allowing infantry to take it out with small arms fire. Furthermore, the launcher was too slow to get away from such an attacker. Second, and more importantly, the M270 suffered from a very slow reload time, which allowed enemy troops to locate the surface-to-surface missile launcher fire after it's fired it's volley. Finally, although napalm is highly effective against infantry and structures, tanks, particularly the extremely heavily armored Mammoth tanks, were largely immune to its effects.
With the introduction of the more precise and deadly advanced artillery units, the M270 was slowly phased out of use.
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