RMS-179 GM II

The RMS-179 GM II (aka RGM-79R GM II) is a mass-production general-purpose mobile suit, it is featured in the anime series Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, the design was later updated and featured in the novel and OVA Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. GM II units with the designation RGM-79R are original GM units that have been upgraded while those with the designation RMS-179 are completely new mobile suits. Two of these GM II are piloted by Jack Bayard and Clark.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
The RMS-179/RGM-79R GM II represented little in the way of technological innovation. Its performance was only slightly better than the GM I mobile suit featuring slight improvements in power output, acceleration, and sensor range. The GM II also features improvements in armament as it is usually equipped with a beam rifle which is a more powerful weapon with greater range than the GM's beam spray gun.

One truly new piece of technology featured in the GM II is the 360-degrees panoramic cockpit first used in the RMS-106 Hizack, a mobile suit that has similar performance capabilities as the GM II.

Armaments

 * 60mm Vulcan Gun
 * A standard armament of the mobile suits that are descended from the Earth Federation Forces's RX series. These head mounted shell firing weapons have a high-rate of fire, but have little power and are generally ineffective against mobile suits; however, the vulcan gun can damage lightly armored areas such as the sensors. These weapons are ideal for shooting down small, fast moving, lightly armored targets such as missiles or small vehicles.


 * Beam Saber
 * The standard close range armament for most Federation mobile suits. The beam saber is a small cylindrical device held in the mobile suit's hands when operated and is powered by an energy capacitor that is recharged from special racks. The beam saber is capable of cutting through any metal that has not been treated with anti-beam coating. The GM II is equipped with one beam saber, which is stored in recharge rack on its backpack.


 * BOWA·BR-S-85-C2 Beam Rifle
 * The standard ranged armament of the many mobile suits is the beam rifle. The particle beam fired from a beam rifle can penetrate almost any armor that has not been treated with specific counter-measures. The GM II is usually equipped with a beam rifle that has a power rating of 1.9 MW and powered by a rechargeable energy cap.


 * BLASH HB-L-07/N-STD Hyper Bazooka
 * Similar to the Zaku's bazooka, the Hyper Bazooka was a heavy weapon used by the GM. Technically a large rocket launcher it could fire several 360mm missiles to attack targets at long range. No mass-production MS's armor is able to stop this weapon. While very powerful, it has a slow rate of fire and a fairly little amount of ammunition. Most oftenly used to take out slow, heavily armored targets.


 * HWF GMG·MG79-90mm Bullpup Machine
 * The bullpup machine gun is an open-bolt, gas-operated, magazine-fed, mobile suit handheld sub-machine gun. It does not require energy to be used, however it is ineffective against heavy armor. When the magazine is empty, it can be discarded and replaced with a new one.


 * Bazooka
 * As with its human-sized counterpart the bazooka fires explosive physical rounds at a high velocity that do significant damage on impact. Although it does not have the same penetrative power as a beam rifle, the bazooka does more extensive damage and is easily capable of destroying a mobile suit in one shot or break through the armor of a battleship. This is the same model used by the RGM-89 Jegan.


 * Harpoon Gun
 * Designed with amphibious combat in mind, this weapon proved to be very versatile as it can be used while underwater or on land. The disadvantages of this weapon, however are just as great as it only has four harpoons and like most solid round weapons, the harpoons may not be able to pierce deeply into the armor of enemy mobile suits to cause enough damage. This weapon was first seen used by the RAG-79 Aqua GM.


 * NFHI*EPHB-type.Doc-04/380mm Hyper Bazooka
 * The ground-type hyper bazooka fires a 380x1900 millimeter HEDP rocket at ranges up to 2.5 kilometers. It is loaded with a 5-round box magazine with one round pre-loaded into the chamber.


 * Railcannon
 * A weapon which uses electromagnetic forces, rather than gunpowder, to fire solid projectiles at very high velocities. This weapon was first seen used by the RGM-79F Land Combat Type GM.


 * 170mm Cannon
 * A 170mm shell-firing cannon. While the weapon has a similar appearance to that of the NNFHI·GMCa-type.09/180mm Cannon used by the RX-79［G］ Gundam Ground Type, there are some clear differences in the design of the two weapons which set them apart from one another.


 * Shield
 * A basic optional arm-mounted defense armament for many Federation mobile suits. The shield is a thick sheet of armor designed to take severe punishment that would normally destroy a mobile suit. Since the introduction of beam weaponry, shields have been treated with an anti-beam coating allowing it to withstand several beam shots before the coating wears off. Typically physical shields can only take so much damage before they succumb to the pressure and break. A shield can be equipped to either arm of the GM II in order to increase defense against both beam and physical attacks.


 * RGM*S-Sh-WF/S-00109 Shield
 * Beside the standard model, the GM II is capable of mounting on either of its forearms a smaller RGM*S-Sh-WF/S-00109 Shield. It is capable of deflecting most incoming ballistic projectiles and some explosive warheads. Mount latch and joint/pivot mount position retracted for protection or extended for slashing or punching attacks. Can be thrust into the ground and used as an elevated weapon firing position. Features include top carrying handle and shield claw. Some pilots would use this shield model when using the Bazooka.

Special Equipment & Features

 * Ballute System
 * An atmospheric entry device designed to be used by a Mobile Suit. As the mobile suit enters the atmosphere, a bowl-shaped ballute (balloon parachute) deploys to protect it from the friction heat of atmospheric entry. The balloon then detaches, leaving the mobile suit with chest and leg hover units which ease its descent to the ground. If the mobile suit reaches the ground without expending all the fuel in the leg units, these devices can also be used for hovering and high-speed strike missions. The equipment was designed and mass produced between the years UC 0083 and 0087 and is designed to be used by a multitude of different mobile suit models.

History
An update to the Earth Federation Forces' original mass production mobile suit, the RGM-79 GM, the RMS-179/RGM-79R GM II went into service in the early UC 0080s, replacing the older GM as the mainstay front line mobile suit. Operated by the Earth Federation and the upstart Anti-Earth Union Group, the GM II was commonly used during the early days of the Gryps Conflict in UC 0087. However during the conflict both sides continually fielded newer mobile suit models that possessed greater performance ratings and new technology, like the RMS-108 Marasai. GM II is also one of the main mobile suits used by the Republic of Zeon along with the Hi-Zack before and during the Gryps Conflict featuring in the Ecole Du Ciel.

 Many of these machines would be favored by pilots over the GM I because of the superior performance, but only the AEUG would completely replace the GM II as a mainstay mobile suit with their MSA-003 Nemo which was closely based off the GM II. The Earth Federation Forces produced many new mobile suits but most never made it past the prototype/limited production stage due to high cost, while those that did make it to mass production were never produced in enough numbers to completely replace the GM II. It is also possible that some units, such as the RMS-108 Marasai were discontinued due to their association with the Titans.

Eventually after the Gryps Conflict and during the First Neo Zeon War the Earth Federation Forces and the AEUG would both use a new mainstay mobile suit, the RGM-86R GM III a descendant of the GM II that featured vast improvements over other Federation mass-produced mobile suits.

In UC 0096, many GM II units were deployed to combat the Zeon remnant forces during their assault of Dakar and Torrington Base, some of them equipped with a Harpoon Gun or a Bazooka. However the outdated GM II performed poorly against the Zeon remnant mobile suits. The GM II was deployed alongside the more advanced RGM-86R GM III.

Variants

 * RMS-179 GM II Semi-Striker
 * RS-82B-R GM II Custom