Name: Air-to-Surface Missile Pod
Cost: $4,000
Weight: 3 Tons
Function: Heavy Air-to-Ground Support
Mounts On: All Aerial Zoids(*2), Raynos(*3)
Mount Location:
--On the Raynos, one pod will mount to the underbelly of the aircraft. Two pods mount to the underside of either wing. Three pods mount with one on the underside of each wing and one on the underbelly of the Raynos. This modification cannot be used with AAM pods or Rain of Chaos.
--On the Dragonfly Stinger, one pod will mount to the underbelly of the aircraft. Two pods will mount with one on either side of the aircraft.. This modification cannot be used with AAM pods or Rain of Chaos.
--On all other Zoids, a single pack mounts to the underbelly of the aircraft. Two pods mount to the underside of either wing. This modification cannot be used with AAM pods or Rain of Chaos.
In Brief: The Air-to-Surface Missile Pod is a small missile pack, carrying two AGMs. Most Zoids that can mount this modification can mount multiple Pods, but each must be purchased separately.

Weapon Type: IR-Guided Air-to-Surface Missile (ASM) Launcher
Ammunition: 2 Anti-Zoid Missiles/Pod
Rate of Fire: Pilot's Discretion

Description: Just as with the standard Anti-Ground Missile, the standard Air-to-Surface Missile predates the colonization of Zi by humankind. After all, airplanes were not at all new to the human race. If you want to be extremely broad, there are three types of aircraft (or at least, loadouts for aircraft). Bombers are generally slower and less maneuverable aircraft that carry large amounts of unguided ordnance and are tasked with destroying large numbers of stationary targets (facilities) or slow-moving targets. Saturation bombing is another common function of bombers: just destroy everything you fly over. To counter the threat of bombers, humankind invented fighters. Fighters are smaller, faster, more agile aircraft generally tasked with destroying bombers or defending bombers: tasks that often result in also destroying other fighters. They generally carry only one or two people and are equipped with guns and missiles, but not bombs. The idea of a third kind of aircraft, a strike fighter, is a fighter design carrying the weapons necessary to perform fast, surgical strikes against enemy targets. In the days of yore, the same guns that tear apart enemy fighters and bombers would be sufficient for strike missions. However, in this modern age of missiles, even with the boom in advances in ECM technology, it is dubious that a strike fighter will be able to down a target with guns alone.

The missiles themselves, not the pod, warrant discussion. The standard ASM missile pod contains two IR-Guided AZ missiles, and the tracking system that the missiles utilize can make or break a battle. Infrared guidance and tracking allows the ASMs to lock onto powerful heat sources, such as a Zoid. In standard conditions, this takes 3 seconds -- usually no fewer than 2 seconds in optimal conditions or 4 seconds in terrible conditions. More good news about the missile pod is that its design allows it to lock onto any target within 45 degree to either side of the front of the launching Zoid. However, despite impressive coverage, this still means that an enemy behind or to the sides of the launching Zoid is unthreatened.

However, other powerful heat sources, such as a bonfire, or a Zoid equipped with coolant can badly muddle with the tracking system, and may reduce the missile's tracking ability. Also, some Zoids possess IR Suppression, which is made specifically to fool IR sensors, such as those on the missile. AGMs can only rarely track IR suppressed targets. Also, be it noted that ASM simply track heat, and cannot lock onto a specific part of a Zoid. Lastly, maximum-lock range tends to be around 1500 meters -- more than enough to seek most targets. However, this is not always the case. Remember that this is an aerial Zoid mounting the missiles, and it must keep the terrestrial Zoid it's targetting within its arc during the entire locking procedure to obtain a lock. The good news is that if you want to destroy a location rather than a moving target, you can dial in the coordinates and the missiles will simply hit it. Even if the missiles can only lock onto a source 1500 meters or less away, they can go many kilometers farther before running out of fuel.

Once fired, a missile that has locked onto a target will pursue it relentlessly, using in-flight trajectory corrections to hunt down the target. Either the missile hits the target, misses it and explodes, or is shot down. (Missiles have almost never been known to run out of fuel before one of those three occurs.) However, a pilot need not use a missile as a guided weapon. Dumbfiring is a possible and commonly used tactic. Either way, a missile is armed the moment the pilot presses the trigger, but not necessarily before it leaves the pack. An armed missile tends to have slightly more explosive power than a rocket. An unarmed missile, such as that found before the pilot presses the trigger, has considerably less explosive force, but the volatile fuel mixture the weapon uses may detonate. (Not petroleum, for the record.) The number of missiles that fire at a single given time is completely up to the pilot, and can be changed by means of a dial next to the pack trigger. As one final side note, if you happen to be in Hybrid Zoid, you do need to be in the air to obtain a lock with these.

In both ancient and more modern times, the ASM Missile Pack has found itself strapped to strike fighters and even bombers all across Zi. Bombs will get the job done, but when precision is an issue, it's ASMs that you should depend on. Today, it's dubious that any military in the world would have a complete airforce without them. They're popular inside the sanctioned Zoid Battling circuit as well. If you want them, just buy them. They're not even that expensive.