ZGMF-X09A Justice Gundam

The ZGMF-X09A Justice Gundam is a mobile suit featured in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, piloted by Athrun Zala.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
One of the six Gundam units produced by ZAFT using techology derived from the four captured Alliance's Gundam, the Justice Gundam has Phase Shift Armor and its armament consists of beam sabers, a beam rifle, a shield, beam boomerangs and head-mounted CIWS guns. In addition, the Justice carries a large detachable Fatum-00 sub-flight lifter, which can be remote-controlled and is well-armed with a pair of beam cannons and multiple machine guns. When attached to the Justice, Fatum-00 improves the suit's mobility and grants it full flight capabilities in the atmosphere.

Justice also has a tall sensor spine on the top of its head, similar to that of the GAT-X303 Aegis, and this enhances its ability to collect information in the battlefield. It can dock with a support unit, the METEOR unit, for heavier firepower and greater speed, and has an advanced targeting system which allows it to fire at multiple enemy units simultaneously. The Justice Gundam is designed to be operated alongside the ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam and for this purpose, the warship Eternal is designed specifically to maintain both suits. Like the other five ZAFT gundam units, Justice is equipped with Neutron Jammer Canceller and powered by a nuclear reactor, giving it virtually unlimited combat endurance.

Armaments

 * MA-M01 "Lacerta" Beam Sabers
 * For close combat, the suit is equipped with two hip-mounted MA-M01 "Lacerta" beam sabers, which are of the same type as the ones used on its sister unit, the ZGMF-X10A Freedom. Athrun is usually seen combining both beam sabers into a double-bladed beam saber (reminiscent of the twin beam sword used by the MS-14A Gelgoog).


 * MA-M20 "Lupus" Beam Rifle
 * Like the Freedom, the Justice usually uses a MA-M20 "Lupus" beam rifle, which, besides its two beam cannons on the Fatum-00 backpack, is the only ranged beam weapon of the Justice.


 * MMI-GAU1 "Sagittus" 20mm CIWS
 * As with most other suits, the Justice features two head-mounted CIWS guns of type MMI-GAU1 "Sagittus" 20mm, which are used to shoot down incoming missiles or close enemy units. These guns, foreshadowing what would later become standard practice, are much smaller in caliber than those of contemporary mobile suits.


 * RQM51 "Bassel" Beam Boomerangs
 * Two RQM51 "Bassel" beam boomerangs are stored on the shoulders, they are throwing weapons that emit a short beam blade, and uses the physics of a boomerang to return to the owner, often catching enemy units by surprise.


 * Laminated Anti-beam Shield
 * Unlike the shield used by most mobile suits, Justice's shield is made of laminated armor instead of having an anti-beam coating. Same type of shield is also used by Freedom.


 * MA-4B "Fortis" Beam Cannon
 * A pair of "Fortis" beam cannons are mounted at the front of the Fatum-00. They have rapid-fire capability and are the only ranged beam weapon besides the beam rifle.


 * M9M9 "Cervus" Turret Machine Gun
 * Mounted on the Fatum-00, next to each wing. The "Cervus" turret machine guns can rotate to fire at enemy units at various angles. They are mainly used to shoot down incoming missiles or close enemy units, especially when the Fatum-00 is used as a remote controlled attack unit.


 * GAU5 "Volucris" Machine Gun
 * Four "Volucris" machine guns are mounted on the Fatum-00. They are mainly used to shoot down incoming missiles or close enemy units, especially when the Fatum-00 is used as a remote controlled attack unit.


 * METEOR unit
 * The METEOR unit is equipped with additional weapons and grants the Justice use of 120cm beam cannons,93.7cm high-energy beam cannons, MA-X200 beam swords and "Erinaceus" anti-ship missile launchers.

System Features

 * Fatum-00/Subflight Lifter
 * The most unique feature of the Justice is its Fatum-00 backpack. Besides improving the suit's mobility and serving as a flight pack in the atmosphere, the Fatum-00 is also detachable and can function as a remote controlled attack unit or used as a subflight lifter, like the Guul. The backpack mounts two MA-4B "Fortis" beam cannons, two M9M9 "Cervus" turret machine guns and four GAU5 "Volucris" machine guns.


 * Meteor Support System
 * Like the Freedom, the Justice can dock with the powerful METEOR weapon platform, granting it powerful thrusters and an even more powerful armament of battleship-caliber beam cannons, large beam swords, and dozens of heavy missile launchers.


 * Neutron Jammer Canceller
 * As with the other five Gundam units produced by ZAFT at its time, the Justice is equipped with a Neutron Jammer Canceller, which counters the effects of the ubiquitous Neutron Jammers and allows these suits to be powered by nuclear reactors. This gives them almost limitless combat endurance, even with Phase Shift armor activated.


 * Multi-Lock Weapons System
 * As its name suggest, this system allows Justice to lock on to multiple targets and carry out en masse firing. Athrun uses this system only when Justice is docked with the METEOR unit.


 * Operating System
 * The Justice uses the operating system Generation Unsubdued Nuclear Drive Assault Module complex.


 * Phase Shift Armor
 * Like the other five ZAFT Gundam units, the Justice is equipped with Phase Shift armor. Thanks to its N-Jammer Canceller and nuclear reactor the PS armor is capable of being active for a lot longer than on non-nuclear powered suits such as the Aegis.

History
In mid CE 71, ZAFT created a series of advanced mobile suits based on technology reverse-engineered from the captured Earth Alliance G Project suits. Like their EA predecessors, the ZAFT Gundams are armed with advanced beam weaponry and protected by Phase Shift armor. One of these suits is the Justice, which can be considered the sister unit of the Freedom. Most of the Justice' and Freedom's systems were tested on the YFX-600R GuAIZ Experimental Firearms Type.

Late in CE 71, Athrun Zala, former pilot of the Aegis, is assigned the Justice with the mission to either recapture or destroy its stolen sister unit, the Freedom. Instead, however, Athrun joins forces with his old friend Kira Yamato, in defending neutral Orb from an Earth Alliance attack. Later he met up with the support vessel Eternal which carried both METEOR units. Athrun and Kira used the METEORs' firepower to thwart an Earth Alliance nuclear missile attack on the PLANTs on the final day of the war, and Athrun also destroys the GAT-X131 Calamity with his METEOR's beam sword. Afterward, Athrun flies the Justice inside the gamma ray laser GENESIS and self-destructs it, preventing his father's doomsday weapon from firing on the Earth.

Over two years later, a more close-combat-oriented advanced version of the Justice is built by Terminal based on a design created by ZAFT, called the ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice, which is again piloted by Athrun.

Trivia

 * Justice's head crest displays the text "X-09A NOVE", which means "Nine" in Italian and is a reference to it's model number.
 * The Justice is often confused with the ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice, largely because Athrun Zala refers to the latter as simply "Justice"
 * Justice is considered as a Mobile Armor Mode when it mounts the Fatum-00 in Gundam Battle Assault 3: Featuring Gundam SEED.