Radiant Wave Technology

Radiant Wave Technology was developed by Rakshata Chawla. It is initially employed as a weapon by the Guren Mk-II as the Radiant Wave Surger. It causes a chain reaction in Knightmare Frames which usually results in the parts expanding and eventually exploding, likely due to liquids or materials present within a Knightmare Frame. With the Guren Flight-Enabled Version, it receives a new Armor Piercing Bombardment-type Radiation Wave Unit which has the effect of internally damaging systems by shooting energy into a focused beam or spreading the energy into wide-area blast to neutralize and disable enemy Knightmares; this weapon was used to great effect during Operation Pacific Ocean Ambush, disabling the Tristan and the Mordred and destroying 3 KMFs, including a Vincent Commander Model, in one blast.

Uses
The only known way of halting the Radiant Wave Surger's chain reaction is to eject the damaged parts before other parts are affected. Initially, its range was suitable only for close-quarters combat, but it was soon upgraded to have a longer range (either taking the form of a straight beam or a widespread beam). It was further improved when the Guren Flight-Enabled Version was captured and refurbished by Camelot into the Guren S.E.I.T.E.N. Eight Elements. Its Radiant Wave technology was also reverse-engineered by Camelot, with its Surger being upgraded to fire disk-shaped radiation blades. Eventually, this technology was developed into a shield system known as Radiant Wave Shielding, capable of naturally dissolving bullets and even stopping heavy weaponry like the VARIS. It was integrated into the Black Knights' Knightmares, including the Zangetsu, Akatsuki, and Akatsuki Command Model Zikisan. Airships like the Ikaruga were also equipped with Radiant Wave Shielding; these airship-mounted versions were capable of stopping stronger weaponry and even falling rocks. Radiant Wave Technology was even incorporated into missile warheads; these were usually used by the Akatsuki Command Model Zikisan, resulting in the same chain reaction effect as the Radiant Wave Surger upon contact with a Knightmare Frame.

Weaknesses
Although Radiant Wave technology has many capable usages, it is not without faults. Due to the dangerous chain reaction in Radiant Wave technology, a Radiant Wave Surger requires ammo to be used in an offensive manner. Without any ammo, further usage of a Radiant Wave Surger would potentially result in severe damage or even destruction of the Knightmare utilizing it. Akatsuki Command Models bypassed this flaw with missile-based Wave Surgers in order to avoid this problem.

Another is the durability of the Radiant Wave Shielding. While capable of blocking almost any attack, in most cases, continuous and/or strong enough energy or physical-based weapons are capable of disabling shields. An example of this is first seen when the Ikaruga was under attack at the Mausoleum of Eighty-Eight Emperors. The constant weapons fire from Chinese Federation forces and debris from the collapsing mountain caused two of the Radiant shield generators to fail, leaving the top section of the Ikaruga open to attack. Another was during the conflict between Schneizel and the Black Knights against Lelouch's Britannian forces. The Mt. Fuji Sakuradite explosion downed several ships, including the Ikaruga; though, it is unknown if the Ikaruga had its shield up prior to the explosion. The Zangetsu, using its own Radiant shield, survived the explosion, but was still heavily damaged, leading to its destruction against the Lancelot Albion. It is also unknown if Radiant Wave shield generators suffer from the same drawbacks as the Radiant Wave Surger.