Halfway through the war, a new engine upgrade was given to the Orca Gunships, allowing them to carry heavier payloads into the battlefield. With the arrival of the alien Scrin and their powerful stellar navy of Devastator Warships and Planetary Assault Carriers, as well as the nimble and deadly Stormrider fighters, the future of the Orca Gunship looked bleak, as more and more GDI commanders preferred the faster and heavier Firehawk fighters for base incursions and air supremecy. Increasingly advanced Nod anti-aircraft like the robotic Mantis and Laser-armed buggies threatened the Orca's very existence in the battlefield.
Nod Venom craft quickly became the arch nemesis of Orca pilots, as most would often carry a full anti-armour loadout, having no cannon nor air-to-air armaments to defend his or herself. Soon, the Orca Gunship Mk.III had to take on increasingly dangerous roles. Unfortunately, the sensor pods were less well-recieved compared to the "field-modded" Pulse Scans, due to it's high deployment costs, and the relatively low battery life of the sensor pods. Orca Gunships equipped with these devices could deploy sensor pods across the battlefield, attaching to friend or foe alike, and revealing any stealth units in the process. This solution came with the deployment of GDI high-command's new Sensor-pod, an expendable mobile detection device that could be fitted onto the Orca's modular airframe. This field modification quickly became commonplace within many GDI airbases, with the information to do so quickly spreading, until a more permanent solution could be found. This allowed Orcas to continue to raid Nod harvesting operations by detecting the said stealth harvesters. But necessity being the mother of invention, GDI field commanders and Orca maintainance crew quickly came up with a quick fix, by replacing the 30mm cannon from the Orca's nose turret with a Sonar-Pulse scan device, a surplus of which were in GDI inventories. This in turn, led the Brotherhood to develop Stealthed Harvesters, to minimize the effect on these raids to their production and economy. One of the more interesting roles a GDI commander could use for his Orca Gunships were "harvester hunting", crippling local Nod economy in the area with swift Orca strikes onto their Tiberium Harvesters. The Orca Gunship quickly evolved into a sort of tank-hunter, taking out Nod vehicles and walkers with extreme effectiveness. The gunship quickly excelled in air-to-ground duties, especially armour and vehicle suppresion, relegating the role of air-supreriority to the much more advanced and capable Firehawk jets. The start of the Third Tiberium War in 2047 was the trial-by-fire of the Orca Gunship, after a long and rather expensive development process.
It's role became akin with earlier helicopter gunships like the Nod Apache, while her turbofan engines gave her the agility unmatched by any helicopter until the deployment of the GDI Hammerheads. Able to be armed with various weapons for different roles, including Sidearm and Sidewinder missiles for air-to-air duty, Hellfire-Vs for anti-armour, Hydra rocket pods and gun-pods for infantry and light-vehicle suppresion, the Orca Gunship became fast favourites for commanders in the field. While not as nimble and fast as the Orca Fighter of the second war, nor as heavy a bomber as the Orca Bomber, the new Orca Gunship carried the best of both worlds under her pylons, becoming the ultimate utilarian craft of the GDI. While in the Second Tiberium War, where numerous variants of Orca were designed with specialized roles in mind, GDI commanders in the postwar period pushed for a "jack of all trades, master of none" version of the Orca. Following with the highest traditions of the Global Defense Initiative's air-force, the third incarnation of the Orca Gunship served with highest honours in the Third Tiberium War. The Orca line of aircraft used by the Global Defense Initiative has become somewhat a tradition, with every version of the aircraft produced serving proudly in GDI's airforce ever since the dawn of the First Tiberium War. New deviantart is screwing up the "Original Size" feature.