RX-105 Ξ Gundam

The RX-105 Ξ Gundam (aka Xi Gundam, Xi, Ξ, RX-105, pronounced "Ksee") is an advanced fifth-generation mobile suit that appears in Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash. It is piloted by Mafty Navilles Erin.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
After completion of the RX-104FF Penelope, Anaheim Electronics secretly developed and built an improved variant, the RX-105 Ξ Gundam, and sold it to the terrorist group of Mafty Navilles Erin. The Ξ Gundam features a Minovsky Craft unit similar to the Penelope but integrates it into its main frame, resulting in a sleeker design and lighter mass. Unlike Penelope, the Ξ Gundam doesn't transform but deploys a Beam Barrier by flipping its chest armor up. The Beam Barrier is a device that creates a conical barrier in front of the Ξ Gundam as it flies through the air, making it more aerodynamic, and allowing it to achieve supersonic speeds in flight exceeding Mach 2. These minor changes give the Ξ Gundam an edge against Penelope in term of performance. Its armaments are similar to the Penelope but it has a larger shield without the built-in particle cannon that provided the Penelope better protection.

Armaments

 * 60mm Vulcan Guns
 * A standard armament of many Federation mobile suits is a pair of head mounted 60mm vulcan guns. These shell firing weapons have a high-rate of fire but have little power. The vulcan guns are an offensive weapon designed to be used against small lightly-armored targets such as ground combat vehicles or attack helicopters.


 * Beam Sabers
 * The Ξ Gundam is equipped with a pair of beam sabers for close combat. However, unlike the Penelope, the Ξ Gundam's beam sabers are stored on its backpack instead. 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.


 * Mega Beam Cannon
 * Similar to the RX-104FF Penelope, the Ξ Gundam features a pair of mega beam cannons housed in the front shoulder armor, which flip up when the cannons are fired (just as they do when the Minovsky Craft system is active). They are quite powerful, with an output equal or greater than the MSZ-010 ZZ Gundam's High Mega Cannon.


 * Missile Launcher
 * In order to fight against heavy armored enemies, Ξ Gundam has a pair of missile launchers. The missiles are moderately powerful self-propelling explosives that can deal significant damage to a mobile suit or battleship, but are particularly effective against machines with heavy defenses against beam weapons. They are mounted in the movable elbow segments.


 * Large Missile Launcher
 * In order to fight against heavy armored enemies, Ξ Gundam has a pair of large missile launchers. The missiles are larger and more powerful self-propelling explosives that can deal significant damage to a mobile suit or battleship, but are particularly effective against machines with heavy defenses against beam weapons. They are mounted in the movable knee segments.


 * Funnel Missiles
 * The Ξ Gundam's remote weapons, similar to RX-104FF Penelope. These funnels are accurately controlled by the pilot with Newtype abilities. Unlike the standard funnels, they explode upon impact, giving the weapons their name, Funnel Missiles. They are stored in the rear skirt armor.


 * Beam Rifle
 * The standard ranged armament of 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.


 * Shield
 * A basic optional arm-mounted defense armament for many 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.

Special Equipment & Features

 * Minovsky Craft Emitters
 * When scattered in open space or in the air, the repulsive forces between charged Minovsky particles cause them to spontaneously align into a regular cubic lattice structure called an I-field. An I-field lattice will slowly expand and scatter into space, however, if used correctly, the Ξ Gundam can obtain low altitude flight under gravity without refueling. The Minovsky Craft units are located on the rear shoulder units and lower legs.


 * Psycommu System
 * The Psycommu System is a device connected directly into the user's (usually a Newtype) thoughts, through which the user can manipulate it by using his/her mind. The name derives from psychic and communicator. In essence, a psycommu system works by passively scanning the brainwaves of newtypes, amplifying them in order to send the brainwave signal out long distances, and then translating these brainwaves into raw machine codes upon being received by the selected object with limitations. Since brainwaves are not affected by the radio interference property of Minovsky particles, at first it was mainly used to mentally control remote weapons via Minovsky Communication, usually mounted with a single beam gun. This enabled the resurrection of BVR engagements, with bits and funnels being the first weapons able to engage targets without visual contact since the development of the minovsky particle.

History
In U.C. 105, The RX-105 is received by the terrorist group Mafty while being transported from Anaheim Electronics' factory on the Moon to Halmahera, Indonesia on Earth. Mafty used the Ξ Gundam in an attempt to attack a meeting of Earth Federation leaders in Australia. Not only did the Ξ Gundam have slightly superior performance to the Penelope, but Rein Eim's recklessness and lack of experience contributed to his loss against Mafty as well. However, Rein eventually got over his pride and lured the Ξ Gundam into beam barrier traps. The traps knocked Mafty unconscious and allowed the Circe unit to arrest him. Its wreckage is later retrieved by the Federation Forces.

Notes & Trivia

 * The original novel design was done by Yasuhiro Moriki. When Hathaway's Flash appeared in the video game called SD Gundam G Generation, also reappear in the game Gundam Battle Universe, all MS were redesigned by Kazumi Fujita.