A class of mech from the game series of the same name. Typically around 20m tall and equipped with nuclear weapons. The idea is that the giant walking tank can get to anywhere on the planet and launch a nuke using its RailGun. This would prevent the target nation from knowing who launched and would not set off the early warning systems that can detect missile launches, effectively getting around the doctrine of MutuallyAssuredDestruction? that prevents two nuclear-armed nations from using nuclear weapons out of fear of being annihliated themselves.
Also the name of the original MetalGear game for the NES, which was a prototype for the later, better MetalGear games.