The Mendilii Combat 17 Assault Rifle is the standard close-quarters weapon of the Fourth Republic Army and Marine Corps. Designed sometime in the 4120s, this energy-sheath weapon fires a fully-automatic stream of bullets wrapped in plasma. By the Confederacy-Republic War it was in use as the perfect complement to the open-battlefield MC25 Battle Rifle. The weapon boasts impressive rate of fire and stopping power, but like all energy-sheath weapons, soldiers cannot carry very much ammunition for it. The MC17's accuracy would best be compared to the accuracy of the MA5C Individual Combat Weapons System of Halo 3 fame.