IUK-3

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IUK-3
The IUK-3 in Gamera 2000
Subtitle(s) IUK-UF-3, HARRIER
Height 7.9 meters
Length 24.4 meters
Wingspan 13.6 meters
Weight 15,100 kilograms (empty),
53,300 kilograms (max takeoff)
Targets Bio-Mecha, M-Machine-Dread VII, Quicksilver (Dolphind), St. Millennium, Neo-Gyaos, Gyaos, Gyaos-3, Dragon Fortress, Bionic Gyaos, Bio-Mecha Mothership
Piloted by Jack Morton, Lisa Mukunoki
First appearance Gamera 2000

The IUK-3 is an aerial vehicle used by the United Nations Science Academy in the 1997 video game Gamera 2000.

Name

The full designation for the aircraft in the manual is the IUK-UF-3, though oddly it is also known as simply HARRIER.

Design

The IUK-3 resembles a large fighter jet with a two-tone color scheme: blue on its top half and silver on its bottom half. The engine exhaust ports and canopy are neon green and the front anti-collision lights are orange, while the back anti-collision lights are hot pink. There are two large directed-energy cannons on the front half of the engines flanking the canopy with orange tips on their barrels.

Video games

Gamera 2000

The morning after the Bio-Mecha attacked a U.N. headquarters and stole Super Gyaos's body, Jack Morton and Lisa Mukunoki were summoned to the headquarters in Tokyo and remained on standby as Gamera was locked in combat with the Bio-Mecha. When Bio-Mecha reinforcements arrived and attacked Tokyo, Jack and Lisa were given the orders to help Gamera repel the invaders and retrieve the stolen Gyaos DNA in the IUK-3. With their combined power, the monster and machine destroyed many of the invaders. A powerful enemy weapon, M-Machine-Dread VII, confronted them, but was also ultimately unable to defeat the duo.

With Japan saved, Gamera and the IUK-3 flew over Hawaii to destroy the Bio-Mecha forces there, including a large aerial battleship and Quicksilver (Dolphind), who battled them inside a caldera, the volcano erupting in the middle of their battle, before it too succumbed to the heroes. With the Hawaiian region safe, Gamera flew to a forest just outside of San Francisco with the IUK-3 following his lead. Jack and Lisa noticed Gamera was flying circles around that area, sensing something was off. They landed the IUK-3 and deployed a hoverbike, the BC-22, to investigate the area more closely. Before driving off, they received a disturbing message from Harry Rinback that the Bio-Mecha's language was similar to that of the language found on the atoll that was on Gamera's back before he woke up. Fearing what they could do with Gyaos DNA knowing the creature's origins and nature, Lisa and Jack set off on the BC-22, but encountered resistance from the Bio-Mecha. During the high-speed chase, Gamera blew up a hill, revealing their secret underground base. Lisa and Jack ventured in, fighting off several of the Bio-Mecha's insane experiments, including Gyaos Man. The duo retrieved some samples of Gyaos DNA and destroyed the base, but not before Neo-Gyaos was set free to attack San Fransisco.

Jack ordered Lisa to stay behind to send the data back to headquarters as he flew off in the IUK-3 to help Gamera confront the Gyaos clone. Alcatraz was destroyed in the ensuing battle as evening turned to dusk. The Neo-Gyaos fought furiously but was crippled as its wings were burned to tatters and it lost one of its heads. The creature finally lost when its remaining head was decapitated. Its body spasmed, sending one last supersonic scalpel into the night sky as its final scream even in death. San Francisco was saved; Neo-Gyaos had been completely silenced.

The victory was short-lived as the Bio-Mecha mothership burst out of the ground, kidnapped Lisa, and opened a wormhole to escape. Jack flew the IUK-3 into the wormhole before it could close while Gamera took off, his instincts telling him where the last of their enemy was. Jack was spit out of portal hours later in Neo Hong Kong with Gamera already in the middle of combat. The city was overrun with Gyaos. Now reunited with Gamera, Jack went to work immediately to destroy as many of the monsters as possible, while also encountering strange tentacles that burst out of the ground to attack the IUK-3 and Gamera. The Gyaos swarm was ultimately defeated when the three largest specimens, the leaders, were destroyed, and the remaining Gyaos fled, presumably back to the Bio-Mecha.

Neo Hong Kong was not safe yet, as a titanic alien structure - the Dragon Fortress - erupted out of the ground, with Lisa trapped inside it. Harry informed Jack that the scans indicated there was a powerful lifeform within, made not just with Gyaos DNA and cybernetics, but also from Gamera DNA. A battle broke out between man and monster against the alien weapon. When the heavily armed and armored fortress was destroyed, a new monster larger than any before showed itself: Bionic-Gyaos. It became clear this creature was the source of the tentacles that attacked them earlier. With no time to rest, Gamera and the IUK-3 fought the creature. When its wings were burned to tatters it fell to the ground and released the gem in its forehead that held Lisa captive.

Now no longer having to hold back, Gamera summoned Mana and opened the plastron of his shell, firing his Ultimate Plasma and destroying Bionic-Gyaos. The capsule holding Lisa fell slowly and safely to the ground. With Lisa safe, and Bionic-Gyaos destroyed, Gamera roared in victory. Realizing Gamera was too powerful to defeat, the Bio-Mecha mothership erupted out of the ground and attempted to retreat from the Earth. Gamera and the IUK-3 tore the invaders' spaceship apart and despite its best efforts with all of its weapons, it was ultimately destroyed, a flaming wreck falling into the ocean below before it got the chance to reach outer space. Gamera roared in victory and flew off, with Jack speculating Gamera might be going back to sleep to prevent his DNA from being misused by invaders ever again. Jack and Lisa flew off in the IUK-3 to return to base, their mission accomplished. The planet was safe once again.

Capabilities

Energy cannons

The IUK-3 has two large energy pulse cannons attached to the front and top of its engines, capable of rotating 360 degrees to fire at targets in front, to the side, and behind the aircraft as well as above and, to a limited degree, below. These cannons fire large, powerful 30mm pink energy bolts that obliterated the standard Bio-Mecha enemy fighter and reduced small Gyaos to a bloody mess while tearing through the more powerful Bio-Mecha weapons and even harming the larger Gyaos clones. These energy bolts were even powerful enough to increase Gamera's spinning speed when they hit his shell, allowing him to do even more damage to enemy kaiju.

Supersonic flight

The IUK-3 has a maximum velocity of Mach 2.2, allowing it to keep up with both Gamera and the Gyaos.

Vertical takeoff and landing

The IUK-3 is a VTOL aircraft, allowing it to take off and land vertically. This also allowed it to hover in place or fly to the side without flying forward if it needed to, such as against a ground target, much like a helicopter. This, combined with its speed, allowed it great mobility and agility. During its battle with Quicksilver, it circled around the bio-mecha while facing it.

Durability and stamina

The IUK-3 is able to fly for long periods of time and for great distances, traveling from Japan to Hawaii to San Fransisco in a day. It was also very durable, able to fight alongside Gamera against Bio-Mecha weapons and Gyaos clones all without getting repairs in between battles. Perhaps its most impressive feat was being shot down by the Bio-Mecha's mothership, only to get back up moments later to resume the battle (in one optional path the player can take if they fail to destroy the mothership in their first attempt).

Carry weight capacity and cargo bay

The IUK-3 had a maximum takeoff weight of 53,300 kilograms, which allowed it to carry important equipment such as the BC-22 and the Pulse Gun, should the need to deploy a land assault or investigation arise.

Trivia

  • Early footage of Gamera 2000 in commercials shows a vastly different design for the IUK-3, looking more like a typical Harrier Jump-Jet.
  • Excluding alien spaceships like Zanon and Virian UFO, the IUK-3 is one of the very few man-made anti-kaiju weapons in the Gamera franchise, along with the Giant Parabolic Mirror and the superweapons in Gamera: Gyaos Destruction Strategy.

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