RGM-89R Jegan A-Type

The RGM-89R Jegan A-Type is a mobile suit from the Mobile Suit Gundam F91 movie.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
The  RGM-89R Jegan A-Type is an upgraded version, and one of several subtypes, of the RGM-89 Jegan. Of all of the Jegan's descendants the A-Type features the greatest improvement in speed and maneuverability by its possession of several additional rocket thrusters and vernier thrusters. Also, sections of the armor have been removed to give it a slight decrease in the mobile suit's empty weight. Finally the A-Type features the most powerful nuclear fusion reactor of any other member of the Jegan line.

A noticeable feature about the Jegan A-Type is its modified set of armaments from the original or other subtypes of the Jegan. The main difference is the removal of the hip-mounted grenade rack and its replacement with a second beam saber recharge rack. To compensate for the removed grenades the Jegan A-Type's left forearm is equipped with a 2-tube grenade launcher, not unlike what was found on the MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam and its descendants.

Armaments

 * Vulcan Gun
 * A standard armament of the mobile suits that are descended from the Earth Federation Forces's RX series is a pair of head mounted 60mm vulcan guns. These shell firing weapons have a high-rate of fire but have little power and can't damage the thick armor of a mobile suit, though it can damage lightly armored areas such as the sensors. The weapons are ideal for shooting down small, fast moving, lightly armored targets such as missiles, small land vehicles, and attack helicopters. The particular vulcan gun system used by the Jegan series is the head mounted vulcan pod that was developed with the RX-178 Gundam Mk-II.


 * 2-Tube Grenade Launcher
 * The A-Type Jegan mounts a 2-tube grenade launcher on its left arm.


 * Beam Saber
 * The name "beam saber" is somewhat of a misnomer as, unlike other weapons with the word beam, the beam saber does not use mega-particles. Instead, it emits high-energy Minovsky particles to form a blade-shaped I-field (via manipulation of electromagnetic fields), and then fills this I-field shell with superheated Minovsky particle plasma to produce an effective cutting blade. The Minovsky particles are stored by E-cap in the hilt of the beam saber, which is recharged from the mobile suit's reactor when the saber is returned to its socket. Once activated, beam sabers do not rely on the mobile suit's reactor and can be thrown or discarded as decoys.


 * The termination of the I-field along a solid contact surface allows the plasma to eat away at the offending material until the I-field reestablishes itself, allowing the weapon to "cut" through almost any target. Likewise, as the beam saber's I-field enclosure repels plasma, it not only keeps the blade's plasma in but also keeps plasma from another blade out allowing one beam saber to be used to block another. Since the containing fields can be formed into a variety of simple shapes, it is trivial to create exotic variants like the beam tomahawk, beam axe, beam naginata etc, even beam flag as a signaling device.


 * The A-Type Jegan is equipped with two beam sabers that are stored in hip mounted recharge racks, one on each hip.


 * Shield
 * Shields are simple in their design, being essentially thick slabs of metal that the equipped mobile suit can use to absorb the impact from attacks that, for whatever reason, cannot be dodged. However shields can only withstand so much pressure before becoming damaged themselves. As technology progressed it became necessary for shields to be treated with an anti-beam coating as a measure of defense against beam weapons which can normally penetrate any physical barrier, however the coating gets gradually burned away each time a beam strikes it until it is rendered useless. The A-Type Jegan's shield can be mounted onto either arm and mounts additional weapons in the form of a pair of 4-tube rocket launchers.


 * Despite the general effectiveness standard shields have proved to be ever since mobile suits were first developed, the models employed by the Federation in the UC 0120s proved unable to withstand the electromagnetically accelerated spear fired from the shot lancer used by the Crossbone Vanguard mobile suits.


 * 4-Tube Rocket Launcher
 * The standard shield of the A-Type Jegan mounts two 4-tube rocket launchers that fires rocket propelled low-yield explosives designed to destroy mobile suits.


 * Beam Rifle
 * A standard hand carried ranged beam weapon is the beam rifle. Capable of firing concentrated mega particles, attacks from a beam rifle are can damage any ordinary armor that has not be specially treated to resist it. One of the more effective methods of blocking a beam rifle is to use a beam shield. When the technology became available it became standard for beam rifles to be powered by rechargeable e-pac that can be replaced mid-battle if they run out of power.

History
Introduced in the early UC 0090's the base form of the RGM-89 Jegan would be upgraded over the three decades of its service life, producing several subtypes. Of the three subtypes that existed during the year 0123 UC the A-Type was the fastest and most maneuverable, making it a favorite for squadron commanders. However by that year even the A-Type, arguably the Jegan with the best performance rating, was horribly out-of-date as the Federation had already developed and put into mass production two newer, smaller, more efficient models of mobile suits that had superior performance ratings to any Jegan model mobile suit.

Despite the new mobile suits the Earth Federation seemed to be oblivious to its need to replace the aging Jegan line of mobile suits until the invasion of the Crossbone Vanguard, whose newer and more efficient mobile suits handily defeated any Jegan they battled against.