YMF-X000A Dreadnought Gundam

The YMF-X000A Dreadnought (aka Dreadnought, X Astray) is a Mobile Suit in the manga series Mobile Suit Gundam SEED X Astray.

Combat Abilities
Since it is built from a ZGMF-600 GuAIZ frame, the Dreadnought's weaponry is largely similar to the original suit's armament. This includes the head mounted MMI-GAU2 "Picus" 76mm CIWS, whose numbers however have been doubled and an MA-MV04 composite armed shield system with a beam claw. Besides these weapons, the suit also features a single MA-M22Y beam rifle (an early model of the ZGMF-X13A Providence's MA-M221 "Judicium" beam rifle) but its main armament is the DRAGOON system, which includes two beam reamers and the later included four weapon pods.

DRAGOON System
Since the suit was designed to be used as a test bed for the DRAGOON system, the Dreadnought was armed with two XM1 "Pristis" beam reamers (beam cannon/scissor anchors), which were mounted on the hips of the suit. While these weapons are tethered to the suit by wires, they are completely DRAGOON controlled; the wires are simply to recover the weapons in the event of a malfunction in the still-experimental system.

Later a large backpack mounting four weapon pods is installed on the suit. These pods mount a total of nine GDU-X7 beam guns and, like the beam reamers, are connected with wires to the suit, although they also can function without them.

History
In mid CE 71, ZAFT creates 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. However, an additional technology is incorporated as well: the 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.

The first of these suits is the YMF-X000A Dreadnought. The Dreadnought is separate from the main ZGMF-X series and serves as a testbed for both the N-Jammer Canceller and the DRAGOON system of the ZGMF-X13A Providence. Unlike the other nuclear-powered mobile suits, which are entirely new designs, the Dreadnought is actually built from a heavily modified ZGMF-600 GuAIZ frame.

The Dreadnought Gundam is test piloted by Courtney Heironimus, then acquired by the Junk Guild, and piloted by Prayer Reverie, a Newtype clone whose exact origins are unknown. Shortly before the war's end, it is upgraded by Lowe Guele with a new backpack mounting four large DRAGOON weapon pods, similar to those of the Providence. The configuration of the backpack causes Lowe to nickname the Dreadnought "X Astray". The final use of the Dreadnought is against Prayer's rival Canard Pars and his CAT1-X1/3 Hyperion Unit 1. During this fight, Prayer uses the large DRAGOON pods to create a tetrahedral energy shield. In the end, the Hyperion is destroyed, but Prayer protects Canard from the explosion and seemingly dies shortly thereafter due to flaws in the cloning process. However, it was discovered later on that Prayer had actually faked his own death, in order to convince Canard to move on with his life.

Variant

 * YMF-X000A/H Dreadnought H
 * ZGMF-X13A Providence