GNN: Viziam corporation testing a plasma flamethrower

This image supposedly captured from a hologram recording playback at a Vyziam testing center shows explosive plasma discharge from what appears to be the plasma flamethrower.

The Amarr heavy dropsuit is currently the only dropsuit powerful enough for wielding a heavy weapon, however the Amarr forces have yet to develop their own heavy weapon to take advantage of their suit's unique capabilities. Sources within the Amarr Empire indicate he Viziam corporation has put their R&D team on the job of developing an anti-infantry heavy weapon that will rival the power of the HMG.

Details on the plasma flamethrower are scarce, but our sources have leaked this data to about its intended purpose:

"This heavy weapon fires in a tighter cone than Gallente shotgun, and is designed to deal massive damage to infantry within a 50 meter range. It deals a less damage than the Minmatar HMG, and has less range than the HMG, but the real beauty of the weapon comes from its ability to set things ablaze. The 9,000 degree Celsius plasma funneled from the weapon does continuous burning damage for several seconds after the initial hit. This sort of residual heat damage is not only useful for killing enemies, but also for burning parts the ground as well as other objects for area denial."

These rumors have yet to to substantiated, but many Amarr mercenaries specializing in heavy dropsuit operation are dissatisfied with handling Minmatar heavy weapons technology; when questioned about the subject, a racist Amarr redneck replied "I ain't touching no heretic slave's rust cannon, its about damn time God gave us our own heavy doohickey!"

We reached the Vyziam representatives for comment on the rumors, but they did not wish to comment. The documents did shed light on the plausible stats of the weapon:

Standard Plasma Flamethrower

Damage: 420 (estimate) per second (more than AR, less than HMG)

Persistent burning damage: 30 per second

Persistent burning duration on shielded/armored objects: 5 seconds

Persistent burning damage on non-shielded/armored objects: 15 seconds (burning objects inflict the persistent burning damage to anyone touching it)

Range: 50 meters

Magazine size: enough for 7 seconds of continuous fire

Capacity: 3 magazines worth