MBF-02+AQM/E-X01 Aile Strike Rouge

The MBF-02+AQM/E-X01 Aile Strike Rouge is the MBF-02 Strike Rouge equipped with the AQM/E-X01 Aile Striker that was in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and its sequel Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. Its primary pilot is the Princess of Orb Cagalli Yula Athha.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
Weapons wise, the Strike Rouge features the exact same weaponry as the original GAT-X105 Strike. This includes the two head-mounted CIWS guns, two combat knifes and a beam rifle.

Like the Strike, the Strike Rouge was always equipped with a Striker Pack. The most commonly used was the Aile Striker, which added additional two beam sabers to the armament.

System Features

 * Hardpoints for Striker Packs


 * Phase Shift armor
 * Like the Strike, the Strike Rouge was equipped with Phase Shift armor, although the active colours were red and pink (due to minor improvements in the efficiency of the Phase Shift armor system, which would later developed into Variable Phase Shift) rather than the blue, red and white of the first Strike.


 * Power Extender
 * The suit features a "power extender" system to increase battery life.


 * Natural-OS


 * Pilot-assisting Computer AI System

History
After the first Strike was destroyed outside the territory of the Orb Union, a different Strike model was built, using spare parts of the originial suit. This Strike variant, called the Strike Rouge, was built on the Kusanagi during the last days of the first Bloody Valentine War and piloted by Cagalli Yula Athha, who used the suit for a short time during the Second Battle of Jachin Due on 26 September, CE 71. Among her actions was the rescue of Athrun Zala, who detonated his suit inside ZAFT's superweapon GENESIS to prevent it from firing on Earth.

The Strike Rouge remained operational until mid CE 74, and was used as Cagalli's personal mobile suit after she and the crew of the Archangel left Orb. She launched in her suit several times to convince the Orb forces not to fight against the ZAFT ship Minerva, although with little success. When the Archangel returned to Orb, after modifying it to his specifications (by configuring the suit's Variable Phase Shift armor to reflect the original Strike's colors) Kira Yamato launched into space with the Strike Rouge (equipped with a booster) and used it briefly to protect the Eternal. The Strike Rouge however was no match against ZAFT's newer and more powerful mobile suits and was heavily damaged in this battle. With both of its pilots equipped with newer and more powerful mobile suits, the Strike Rouge did not see battle again and it remains questionable if it was ever repaired or simply decommissioned.

Technical Improvements
Though never stated in the series, it is obvious that the Aile Striker Pack for the Strike Rouge was upgraded by the Orb Union between the end of the First Bloody Valentine War and the Second Bloody Valentine War. The original Aile Striker Pack did not have full flight capability in the atmosphere, however in Gundam SEED Destiny the Aile Strike Rouge is shown on several occasions flying in Earth's atmosphere along side the ZGMF-X10A Freedom.

Triva

 * After the events of Gundam SEED, Strike Rouge is the only mobile suit seen to be operational.