| Unit FOX-HOUND | A special forces unit formed to deal with local insurgencies, regional conflicts and counter-terrorism. They're a shadow unit employed secretively in politically sensitive operations where the overt introdution of military assets would be otherwise impossible. All members of the unit are masters of airborne, underwater and survival operations as well as experts in infiltration missions. the first commander of the unit was a legendary soldier, Big Boss. Already aware of the importance of standard soldiers in guerrilla warfare, he decided to form an elite unit of high-tech soldiers after viewing the power and effciency of high-tech weapns in the Gulf War. After the "Outer Heaven Revolt", Campbell, who had been second in command, became the commander of the unit and did away with the codename system. He begane to put his own personal stamp on Unit FOX-HOUND, adopting even more high-tech equipment such as spy satellites and the like. |
| Metal Gear | A nuclear-equipped walking battle tank. It's main selling point was its ability to launch a variety of nuclear warheads toward anywhere on earth from any location. It had the ability to move independently and instead of using a standard nuclear launch module, it was equipped with a weapon which allowed it to launch a nuclear weapon with no external support. Since it could operate from regions which were, up to that, not on the world's nuclear stratagy map, it was a weapon that destroyed the sensitive balance of nuclear deterrence and represented an enormous threat to the entire world. |
| Big Boss | An extraordinary man who worked a mercenary for numerous countries during the 1960's. He achieved near mythic status during his lifetime as the famous "Legenday Soldier". In the 1990's, he secretly created "Outer Heaven" while officially serving as Commander of Unit FOX-HOUND, but he was defeated by Solid Snake. Later, he formed the nation of Zanzibar, but hes plans were once again foiled by Solid Snake. His remains were preserved by the military as a genetic sample of the "Greatest soldier that ever lived". |
| Grey Fox | Real name: Frank Jaeger. The only man with the honor of receiving Fox Hound's highest codename, "Fox". During the "Outer Heaven Revolt", he was the first member of FOX-HOUND sent to infiltrate Outer Heaven. He was captured while gathering information about Metal Gear TX-55, but was rescued by Solid Snake. After Big Boss left the military, Grey Fox mysteriously disapeared as well. Later in Zanzibar, he fought against FOX-HOUND, alongside Big Boss, as he declared war against the rest of the world. Acting on orders, Snake was forced to defeat him. |
| DARPA | Defence Advanced Reasearch Projects Agency. A government agency formed to research vaarious new technologies for use in military applications. |
| ArmsTech Inc | A military weapons manufacturing company with its main office in Seattle, Washington. It achieved rapid growth during the Cold War, in what was a boom time for the arms industry, and became the 2nd largest arms manufacturer in the world. It was involved in the development of SDI and the rail gun, but when those projects were terminated they suffered an enormous financial loss. Although they led the world in the devlopment of stealth technology, they have rcently experienced tremendous economic difficulty as a result of their failure in their bid to manufacture the USAF's next line of high-tech fighter planes. |
| Nanomachines | Tiny machines created by means of MEMS (MicroElectro Mechanical Systems) technology. Used in ultra small transmitters and medical DDSs. Although the size is on a micrometer scale, they are referred to as nanomachines because their single electronic transistor and synergy ceramics employ nanoscale technology. Snake begins this operation after having received an injection of nanomachines which include a transmitter, radar and anti-NBC difense systems. |
| Gene Therapy | The process by which a person's genomic information is analyzed and a copy of the useful genes are inserted into a subject cell. Using this prcess, advantageous genes were inserted into soldiers to create Genome Soldier with strong battle skills. These became the Next Generation Special Forces. |
| Stealth Camouflage | After years of refining stealth technology, ArmsTech created this new type of camouflage. It makes the object blend into the background by performing real-time optic refraction processing in order to render the object as invisible as possible. |