Raid on Junon

The Raid on Junon is an event that takes place in Final Fantasy VII when the Sapphire Weapon attacks Junon and the Shinra army makes a futile attempt to hold it back through heavy firepower. The raid nearly led to the destruction of Junon, but the Shinra ultimately succeeded in averting this at the very last minute.

Before the Battle
One week had passed since Sephiroth summoned Meteor and the Planet summoned the Weapons to protect it against external threats. The Weapons has been wreacking havoc upon the planet ever since, and the Shinra company has been unable to stop them.

In order to divert the public attention away from the company's inability to deal with the Weapons, Rufus Shinra plans to have Tifa Lockhart and Barret Wallace publicly executed by gas chamber. The executions was supposed to be live broadcasted from Juno, but were interupted by alarms warning that the Sapphire Weapon was approaching Junon.

Battle
Heidegger ordered the Junon Cannon to fire against the Weapon. The impact causes a huge explosion, but proves inefficient against a target such a distance away. Rufus orders the cannon reloaded and tells Heidegger to use regular firepower in the meantime.

The whole Shinra garrison in Junon immediately rush into action and fire towards approaching Weapon with all avilable weapons, including heavy artillery. However, their fire power had no effect, and troops starts deserting from their positions as the Weapon comes closer. It eventually crashes into Junon and fires a beam of energy towards the town, blasting a hole in the roof of the execution chamber and thus providing Tifa with an escape route. The Weapon starts reloading for another blast, but the Junon Cannon has just finished reloading and fires on the Weapon's head on close range, destroying it on the very last minute before the impending destruction of Junon. It is unknown whether or not the company suffered any casualties during the confrontation, but it is likely that some fatalities took place either due to the flood wave or the impact.

Aftermath
The death of the Sapphire Weapon was a decisive victory for the Shinra Company, who could now focus on dealing with Sephiroth and Meteor. The Junon Cannon is soon moved to Midgar from where it will be fired against Sephiroth's energy barrier at North Crater using the power of the Mako Reactors of the city, which would be the first step in "The Great Sephiroth Plan" (a plan to deploy the entire Shinra army to North Crater to fight Sephiroth ). However, it soon becomes clear that the fight against the Weapons is far from finished, and the company eventually falls apart when the Diamond Weapon attacks Midgar.