Armored Personnel Unit

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An APU (Armored Personnel Unit) is a fictional vehicle in the Matrix series of films. The APUs are charged with the greater part of the defense of Zion.

Captain Mifune is the leader of the APU unit, as well as the most experienced pilot (though he never completed its basic training).

[edit] Usage

An APU is a bipedal robotic tank similar in design and function to some types of mecha. The pilot sits in a rollcage-like cockpit and controls the APU with foot pedals and flexible control arms which move the APU's arms and aim and fire its weapons. Movement appears to be based on not only the movements of the APU caused by the pilot, but also the pilots own sense of balance.

The APU is armed with two belt-feed 30mm^{[citation needed]} cannons mounted on its arms; the guns are effective against the Sentinels, as it commonly requires only one direct hit to disable a "squiddie." An APU actually acts as a team with two parts, the APU itself (in constant combat conditions) and a reloading crew. When the APU's ammunition is exhausted, the pilot calls for a reload; the reloading crew brings the ammo to the APU on a motorized rack and feeds the ammo into the back of the APU. As shown during the combat in The Matrix Revolutions, the reloading crews are highly vulnerable to Sentinel attacks; thus, the crews are a two-man operation, one person to carry the ammo and another covering using a plasma gun.