Armadillo AA

The Armadillo AA is a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) variant of the Armadillo and is used by the Venezuelan Army in Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

Overview
This APC is the most powerful of the Armadillos. With the replacement of the .50cal with a minigun to facilitate the shooting down of helicopters and the destruction of just about everything else that's not bulletproof. This APC boasts a much higher rate of fire than the original Armadillo. This makes it generally more effective (except for the damage per shot which is lower on a minigun) against infantry, light vehicles and especially helicopters.

During early game, this AA will be very effective against all types of light helicopters such as the various Rogues, Castros, Kestrels and Gunneys especially due to the fact that that they have low armor and a large window through which the pilot and crew can be shot through. In later game, more heavily armored helicopters, such as the Anaconda, Ambassador Gunship and Warsong Attack Helicopter, become more common. These helicopters have thicker armor and the cockpits are partially bulletproof to protect the pilots more efficiently, reducing the effectiveness of this anti-aircraft APC. The Armadillo AA becomes less useful since most attack helicopters are able to take it out before it does any serious damage to them.

The Armadillo AA can be purchased from the Pirates at a price of $60k if neutral or $40k if friendly.

Tactics
As mentioned in the section above, it is much more time and ammo efficient to try to shoot the pilot out of his cockpit. As driver, it is a good idea to reduce exposure of the rear of the APC to incoming fire of 20-25mm (armor penetrating) or greater because it is a weak point. When engaging this vehicle from the ground, the AI driver will try to face incoming fire so that their rear remains out of reach. This vehicle will not pose a big threat when the player is a helicopter, it is quite harmless because of the lack of SAMs. On the other hand, if the player is on foot, this vehicle will take their health down very fast.

It is a bad idea to face any attack gunship type helicopter with this APC, attacking an attack helicopter will most likely get the APC destroyed within a few seconds. It is affected by grenades and is very vulnerable to rockets and anti-tank weapons of all sorts.

Real Life
The Armadillo AA is based on the M163 which actually fires 20mm shells.