Spitfire Sub-Machine Gun

The COGSSMG23, usually referred to as the "Spitfire" by Gears, is a sub-machine gun that first came into widespread use during the Human-Locust Wars. A robust firearm, the Spitfire serves as an effective anti-personnel sidearm and a welcome improvement over the Snub pistol that Gears currently use. Although the weapon is comparatively young, the COG military expect the weapon to become the standard sidearm of the Gears within the next year, although now many are doubtful that the COG will even last that long in the face of repeated Locust attacks.

History
The Spitfire was first conceptualized towards the climax of the Pendulum Wars by the COG Military, who realized that their Gears needed a sidearm that would grant them a distinctive combat advantage over the military forces of the Union of Independent Republics. Thus, the Spitfire was born. Tasked with creating a versatile sidearm that sported high stopping power and versatility, a group of COG scientists set themselves to work. After a great deal of tests and prototypes, the scientists finally created a firearm that met the COG's requirements. However, by the time it was finally ready to be presented, the war had ended. As soon as the COG seized their victory over UIR forces, the project was put finished.

For a while, it looked as though the years of work the scientists had put into their project had been all for naught. However, six weeks later, Emergence Day happened, and the COG scrambled to get their forces marshaled. As soon as they could, the COG got the project up and running. By that time, the scientists saw that their current model would not serve to fight back the Locust soldiers with their swarm tactics. They took the prototype they had and drastically worked it over. By the time they were done, they had created a sub-machine gun for use by the COG with high stopping power, selective fire settings, and a rugged and versatile design. The Spitfire was born.

Strengths and Weaknesses
The Spitfire is a fairly strong COG sidearm that serves as a viable counterpart to the Locust's Gorgon pistol. The Spitfire is chambered to use the tried-and-true 5.56 NATO round, although it's shortened barrel means that it doesn't provide the same kind of firepower that a rifle chambered for 5.56 would. However, this is not to say that it is a weak weapon: it is actually a fairly deadly weapon in the COG's arsenal. The Spitfire's main strength is, without a doubt, its fully automatic setting, which allows a COG user to spray high amounts of bullets towards a target in a relatively short amount of time, although the weapon's recoil makes firing somewhat difficult. Out of all sidearms used in the Human-Locust Wars the Spitfire has the largest ammo capacity out of all of them, although this is offset by the limited amount of magazines that the average COG can carry on them. Although the weapon may be used with either one or two hands, users have found two-handed use to be slightly easier in order to compensate for recoil.

The Spitfire should not serve as a replacement for the COG's assault rifle. Although it can provide a high rate of fire, like the Lancer can, the Lancer's higher damage and magazine capacity outclasses the weapon. Unlike the Lancer, the Spitfire also has a large problem with recoil, which is multiplied exponentially by the fully automatic setting, meaning that inexperienced marksmen would find it difficult to maintain a constant stream of fire upon their target. Finally, as a whole, the weapon is not nearly as accurate as the Snub pistol. While it packs stopping power and its shots aren't ridiculously inaccurate, the Spitfire is still much less accurate than the Snub, even when using the former's single-shot setting.