ZGMF-X56S/β Sword Impulse Gundam

The Sword Impulse is a Mobile Suit in the series Gundam SEED Destiny.

Combat Abilities
Besides being equipped with the standard armament of the ZGMF-X56S Impulse (head-mounted CIWS guns, anti-armor knifes, mobile shield, beam rifle), the Sword Impulse uses the β Sword Silhouette pack, which grants the suit access to two large anti-ship swords and two beam boomerangs.

Anti-ship swords
The Sword Silhouette mounts two large MMI-710 "Excalibur" anti-ship swords, which are similar to the sword used on the GAT-X133 Sword Calamity. As the name implies, these swords are mainly used to attack ships in space and naval ships on Earth, although they can also be used against mobile suits and even used as a throwing weapon. The swords can also can also combine to create a large dual-bladed ambidextrous form.

Beam boomerangs
Similar to the old ZGMF-X09A Justice, the Sword Silhouette also mounts two RQM60 "Flash-Edge" beam boomerangs for added ranged combat.

System Features
Since the Impulse is equipped with Variable Phase Shift armor, the strength and energy consumption can be adjusted for different modes. When using the Sword Silhouette pack, the armor automatically takes a red, white, and black color scheme, which is the strongest variation of the Variable Phase Shift armor. This is due to the fact that the Sword Impulse mainly uses weapons with few energy requirements while at the same time fighting enemies at close range.

Besides this fact, the Sword Impulse can use the standard Deuterion Beam Energy Transfer System or the YFX-M56 Core Splendor cockpit system.

History
In CE 73, ZAFT created the Impulse as part of the Second Generation of Gundam-type mobile suits. The Impulse is similar to the old GAT-X105 Strike, created by the Earth Alliance during the Bloody Valentine War. Like the Strike, the Impulse can be equipped with exchangeable Silhouette packs, an advanced variation of the old Striker Packs, granting the suit the ability to adapt to different combat situations. One such pack is the β Sword Silhouette, which is analogus to the AQM/E-X02 Sword Striker, although far more advanced.

The Sword Impulse was used in battle first on October 2nd, CE 73, when the ZAFT military colony Armory One was infiltrated by three Extended humans working for the EA Phantom Pain special forces unit. The Extendeds stole three Gundams of the Second Generation series and caused serious damage to the interior of the colony while fighting ZAFT mobile suits. Shinn Asuka eventually launched in the Sword Impulse to fight the three Gundams. He was capable of holding himself against the three suit for awhile, until the three eventually planed to escape to outside the colony. Before leaving the colony, the Sword Impulse weaponry was destroyed by the enemy suits, forcing Shinn to switch to the Force Silhouette.

Some times later, when the Minerva left the Orb Union after declaration of the Second Bloody Valentine War, the ship was attacked by a taskforce of Alliance ships. During the battle, the EA first used the prototype YMAF-X6BD Zamza-Zah mobile armor, which inflicted damage to the Force Impulse, causing Shinn to enter SEED mode for the first time. After defeating the Zamza-Zah, Shinn switched to the Sword Silhouette to attack the EA fleet, causing massive damage to it and forcing the remaining ships to retreat.

The Sword Impulse configuration is lastly used in the second battle between the Minerva and a joint EA/Orb fleet near Crete. At the end of the battle, Shinn again used the Sword Impulse to attack the Orb fleet, destroying several ships of the fleet until eventually sinking the flagship Takemikazuchi. In this process, Shinn unknowingly killed his former caretaker Captain Todaka.

Although the Sword Impulse configuration isn't used during the remained of the war anymore, the Sword Silhouette itself is used again to times by the Force Impulse. The first use was during Operation Angel Down, a ZAFT operation to the destroy the Archangel. In this operation, Shinn fougth against Kira Yamato in his ZGMF-X10A Freedom and eventually defeated him by impaling the suit on one of the anti-ship swords, which he used with the Force Impulse. During the ZAFT attack on the Logos-controlled Heaven's Base, Shinn in his new ZGMF-X42S Destiny urged the new Impulse pilot Lunamaria Hawke to use the Sword pack together with Rey Za Burrel to destroy the massive GFAS-X1 Destroy suits used in the battle, which she eventually did.