Macross Zero (マクロス ゼロ Makurosu Zero) is an anime prequel OVA to The Super Dimension Fortress Macross (1982), a classic mecha series actually used in the west as the first part of the Robotech TV anime from 1985, that was released for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Macross franchise during 2002 in Japan. It was created and directed by Shoji Kawamori (original creator of Macross) and produced by Satelight.
Macross Zero is set in an alternate 2008 A.D., one year before the events of the original Macross series, depicting the final battles of the "U.N. Wars" between the U.N. Spacy (a fictional global armed organization derived from the UN) and the Anti-UN forces (a militia opposed to the worldwide goverment), and is also set in the South Pacific, where a gigantic alien spaceship crash landed 9 years earlier (the event that prompted the creation of a united world government).
Amidst the violence, a U.N. Spacy F-14 KAI pilot named Shin Kudo is attacked by a strange enemy aircraft that can transform itself into a robot. Crash landing on Mayan Island he learns that this remote island and its peaceful native inhabitants hold a great secret linking them to the alien space ship and would become the focus of the war, whether they like it or not. Shin eventually returns to his carrier fleet and joins the Skull Squadron, who also operate brand new transforming fighters, the VF-0 Phoenix. He trains and engages Anti-UN forces operating from a converted ballistic missile submarine as both sides fight to locate and control alien artifacts, with the peaceful and agrarian Mayan caught in the middle of the war.
Anti-UN fighters use rifles that are a mix of various AK variants as their main weapon, first seen in "Jungle". While they have the characteristics of an AKS-74U (or an AKMSU), their barrels appear to be based from the AK-47.
A Barrett M82A1 is used by an anti-UN fighter in "Jungle". Nora also uses it to shoot down the rock Birdman in the same episode, having a AN/PVS-4 night vision scope.
A Browning M2HB is seen used by UN Army Abrams MBTs in a flashback when Shin Kudo narrates about how the UN Wars started in "The Ocean, The Wind and...".
M61 Vulcans are used by UN Air Force F-14A Kai fighters as its main machine gun. They are also inside Phalanxes, serving as machine guns for the UN Navy's Asuka II and Arleigh Burke class destroyers.
In a flashback in in "The Ocean, The Wind and...", a giant widescreen in Japan shows a news report with a Bell AH-1 SuperCobra armed with a M197 Vulcan.
The M240 machine gun is used by UN Army Abrams MBTs as secondary weapons in "The Ocean, The Wind and...". They consist of a M240C mounted coaxially next to the main gun and an M240D mounted at the Loader's hatch fitted with a gun shield. It's also seen in a flashback in the hands of a US Army soldier.
