The Goliath heavy tank was the main battle tank (MBT) of the Zanzibar Land Tactical Army's Heavy Tank Division. 50 were ready for deployment at all times.
History
The Goliath was developed in a joint effort by Chrysler, General Water, and Omni Corporation for the U.S. Army in 1993. It was considered by many weapons designers to be the tank of the future, even by the standards of other tanks of that time.
In December 1999, Zanzibar Land intended to install Stinger missiles onto some of its Goliaths to give them more firepower.
Design
Despite its size, the Goliath is equipped with a 2000hp gas engine and maintains high maneuverability even when reaching its top speed of 75 km/h.
Its form and design utilized the best aspects of the M1 Abrams, the T-72, the T80, the Leopard2, the Japanese Defense Force's Type 99, and other tanks.
The main gun is capable of firing 30 rounds per minute via an auto-reload and supply system installed on the tank. Due to its utilization of thermal imaging, the direction of the barrel can be quickly adjusted to correct for artillery shelling.
Equipment
- Artillery control mechanism
- YG radar distance-locater
- Thermal sensors
- Air-pressure sensors
- Wind direction sensors
- High digital computer
- Muzzle brake (to prevent gunshot backfires)
- Omni Corporation SAT2000 2000hp gas turbine engine
- Auto reload and supply system
Behind the scenes
A Goliath (ゴリアテ Goriate?) tank was originally going to be fought as a boss in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, but this was scrapped just prior to the game's initial release on the MSX2 system. Hideo Kojima and Monkey Oka implied in the linear notes for the game's soundtrack that this was because Shoulder Nishio, the main programmer of the game, had neglected to pay attention to the game's ROM size.[1] However, it still remains as part of the background in the Zanzibar Building 1F hangar. In the Japanese manual, it is spelled "Goriate", which is a mistransliteration of "Goliath."
The developers of the Goliath are references of both fictional and real life companies. Omni Corporation refers to Omni Consumer Products (OCP), the corporation responsible for the creation of RoboCop and ED-209 in the RoboCop series, while Chrysler is a famous American automobile manufacturer.
The name "Goliath" is derived from that of the giant from "David and Goliath" in the Old Testament of the Bible. Similarly, Solid Snake's real name was later revealed to be David.
Sources
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake - User's Manual, Konami Corporation (1990) (Japanese version found here: [1]).