The business end of a Cobra Assault Cannon.
The Cobra Assault Cannon was an experimental destructive weapon developed by Omni Consumer Products for the military. Capable of obliterating a car, destroying a shop facade or blowing the top off a fire hydrant, the Cobra is a military grade anti-material weapon intended for use against armored targets. The Cobra is fitted with a large electronic sighting aid and is portable and simple enough to be carried and operated by the individual soldier.
The Cobra fires an unidentified type of powerful high incendiary round that explodes upon impact (judging by the lack of substantial recoil, this is likely some form of low-pressure grenade).
History[]
"Clarence, come on man, my insurance doesn't cover this..."
When Clarence Boddicker and his gang are ordered by Dick Jones to kill RoboCop, they are provided with these weapons. Boddicker memorably tests the weapon by firing it at the 6000 SUX sedan leased to Joe Cox by Jones, destroying the vehicle (much to Cox's chagrin).
Officer Lewis uses a Cobra.
Anne Lewis obtains one of these rifles and uses it against Leon Nash during the shootout at the abandoned steel mill.
After RoboCop and Lewis take out Boddicker and his gang, RoboCop takes one of the Cobra Assault Cannons (presumably, the same one used by Lewis) to the OCP office building and uses it to destroy the ED-209 guarding the building.
RoboCop uses a smaller, more compact Cobra in RoboCop 2 to attack RoboCop 2. It is less powerful, but as RoboCop was using it in close proximity to soft, easy-to-puncture civilians, this was probably a tradeoff he had to make.
Behind the scenes[]
A Barrett M82.
The Cobras are actually older-specification Barrett M82 long-range .50 BMG rifles which have been dressed up with extra plastic housing over the receivers and fitted with gigantic scopes.
A good shot of the huge computerized sight that could not be fully implemented.
The large scopes were originally supposed to show computer-generated targeting information, but this idea was scrapped due to budget constraints.
In the script, it was originally described as firing a "twist bullet", striking a target and detonating a second later.
In RoboCop 2, it was based on a Pauza P50 instead of the Barrett, and lacks the original Cobra's large electronic sighting aid.
40mm Armor Piercing Cobra Assault Cannon.
In RoboCop: The Series, the 40mm Armor Piercing Cobra Assault Cannon is very different from its appearance in the movies, being an M16 assault rifle with attached M203 grenade launcher.
Trivia[]
- The RoboCop 1988 video arcade game adaption by Data East features the Cobra Assault Cannon as an available 15 round ammo weapon. It is wielded by various enemies in trench coats in the 1988 arcade game, and can be picked up and used by RoboCop.
- In the 2014 film RoboCop, ED-209 uses twin .50 cal. Cobra Cannons.
- NECA will be releasing a Cobra Assault Cannon accessory with their deluxe RoboCop figure with jetpack.
- The 2013 video game Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon features a parody of the Cobra Assault Cannon, called Kobracon. Although at first its just a high-caliber bolt-action sniper rifle, it can later be upgraded with semi-automatic firing mode and explosive ammunition. It is also very similar in design to the Cobra Assault Cannon.
- In the 2009 video game Borderlands, the Torgue Corporation manufactures the Cobra, a rare semi-automatic sniper rifle that is fitted with a device which allows it to fire explosive rounds with standard ammunition.
- In Mortal Kombat 11, RoboCop uses the Cobra to obliterate his opponent after an ED-209 cuts him/her down in a hail of bullets in one of his Fatalities.
- Coincidentally, a real life experimental variant of the Barrett M82A1, called the Barrett XM109 was designed and produced in the late 1990s, which was chambered to fire high explosive impact grenades, and also had a ballistic computer, unintentionally mimicking the function of the Cobra Assault Cannon from the first movie.
Appearances[]
- RoboCop (1987)
- RoboCop 2
- RoboCop: Rogue City
- RoboCop: The Series
- "The Future of Law Enforcement"
- "The Human Factor" (mentioned)
- RoboCop (2014)