Manta

The Manta is a military aircraft used by the Kingdom of Atlas, found mostly in their Argus operations.

History
The Manta airships are first seen in "Stealing from the Elderly", in an airfield adjacent to the Argus Military Base. Weiss Schnee was allowed to fly home to Atlas in one by Caroline Cordovin. However, Weiss and Maria Calavera, who stowed away in her baggage, had plans to also take the rest of their group, and threw the two guards set to pilot the Manta, callsign 5-1, off the ship. The hijacking eventually led to a battle between the huntsmen and Cordovin riding a Colossus, where the giant robot was stopped, but not before electrocuting the Manta with a lightning Dust shot that forced co-pilot Oscar Pine to do a crash landing in a nearby forest.

Afterwards, as seen in "Our Way", a swarm of Grimm led by a Leviathan approached Argus. The other Mantas took off from the base to fight the beasts. Maria suggested the party to use Grimm attack as cover to take the stolen airship to Atlas, but the others refuse out of hand. They proceeded to go for the Leviathan, which Ruby Rose managed to temporarily petrify with her silver eyes before Cordovin returned and used the Colossus drill arm to kill the giant Grimm. Ruby thanks her and apologizes, and Cordovin allows her and her co-conspirators to leave, stating that her superiors will not notice one more missing aircraft in the eventual report to be written on the incident. The Manta was then flown all the way to Atlas, where it was waved in.

Neopolitan used her Semblance to disguise a sailship she and Cinder Fall would fly to Atlas as a Manta to throw off the authorities.

Description
The Manta is a light fighter aircraft, resembling a smaller, more streamlined combination of the Bullhead and the Atlesian Dropship. It is used for both transport missions and to fight attacking Grimm. Along with being able to fly at both high speeds and long distances, the Manta is very durable, managing to fly again after Seen from the above, the airship resembles a manta ray, with a protruding cockpit prior to a broad pair of wings that get thinner prior to the tail. It is a high wing vessel, with the wings above the fuselage, which is itself round and in an oval shape aside from the tail. The propellers are located at the tip of the wings. On both sides of the fuselage there are sliding doors with retracting ramps at the bottom. Four legs serve as its landing gear. The Manta are equipped with six missile batteries, located in two triangles located near the plane's nose.



Inside the ship, there is the cockpit with seats for two pilots, and a passenger hold. In that compartment, there is a bench with three seatbelts and on the opposite wall, three parachutes, meaning the ship was seemingly planned to carry five people at most.