A giant laser shaped like a mortar cannon emerges from a tunnel.
TEXT:“Automated Model 12 Self-Propelled Mortar”
PapalMercenary: Gainax has used tokusatsu references before and since Eva, so it makes me wonder if this scene here with the self-propelled mortar was inspired by a similar scene from the second film in the Gamera series, Giant Monster Duel: Gamera vs. Barugon (1966). In the film, the monster Barugon attacks Osaka with a freezing mist it sprays from its tongue. The JSDF can't get close enough to attack Barugon, since they'll just get frozen by his mist, so they prepare to fire a bunch of missiles at him from the opposite side of a lake. Unfortunately for them, Barugon also has a long-distance rainbow beam that shoots out of his back, which he uses to completely destroy the missiles before they even fire.
UrsusArctos: What kind of real-life applications would such a thing have in the 21st century? Rail-mounted siege weapons have been built before, but they've never really been worth the trouble because of their limitations. Furthermore, this is a laser, so it can't arc its shots. The only logical explanation is that this was a rejected Evangelion weapon of some sort, rebuilt into an automated laser for situations like this.
