YMF-X000A Dreadnought Gundam

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

Technology & Combat Characteristics
The Dreadnought Gundam is developed as a testbed for the DRAGOON system (which is later utilized by ZGMF-X13A Providence) and the N-Jammer Canceller technology, making it the first nuclear powered mobile suit in CE. Produced around the same time as the ZGMF-600 GuAIZ, both suits share many common parts and all of the Dreadnought's weapons are derived from GuAIZ's, except those on the backpack. Dreadnought is armed with four head-mounted "Picus" 76mm CIWS, an MA-MV04 composite armed shield system that is capable of emitting a beam saber, a single MA-M22Y beam rifle and two beam reamers and four weapon pods on the backpack that are controlled through the DRAGOON System.

Armaments

 * MA-M22Y Beam Rifle
 * An improved model of the beam rifle used by GuAIZ. This rifle also serve as an early model of the Providence Gundam's MA-M221 "Judicium" beam rifle.


 * MA-MV04 Composite Armed Shield System
 * Mounted on the left arm, it is an improved model of the composite armed shield system used by GuAIZ, it is longer and emits a beam saber rather than dual beam claws.


 * MMI-GAU2 "Picus" 76mm CIWS
 * Four head-mounted, fire-linked weapons used for supression fire or intercepting missiles.


 * XM1 "Pristis" beam reamers
 * Developed from the GuAIZ's extensional arrestors, a pair of them are mounted on the hips of the Dreadnought. The beam reamers can function as beam guns or scissor anchors and are controlled through the DRAGOON System. While these weapons are tethered to the suit by wires, the wires are simply to recover the weapons in the event of a malfunction in the still-experimental system.


 * Large DRAGOON pods
 * Four DRAGOON System controlled pods are mounted on the specialized backpack. Each pod is armed with 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. A tetrahedral beam shield can also be emitted from these DRAGOON pods. The way the pods are mounted is the reason why Dreadnought is called X Astray.

Special Equipment & Features

 * Neutron Jammer Canceller
 * As with the other five Gundam units produced by ZAFT later, the Dreadnought 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. Dreadnought and its variant is the only MS to have the NJC installed in the head.


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


 * Phase Shift Armor
 * Like the other Gundam units produced by ZAFT later, the Dreadnought 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.

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 Gundam. Unlike the other nuclear-powered Gundams built by ZAFT afterwards, 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, but for unknown reasons ZAFT did not manufacture its specialized backpack and the suit is dismantled after the tests are completed. The full set of parts are then transferred over to Prayer Reverie so that he can bring it back to Earth to Reverend Malchio, who wants to use its N-Jammer Canceller technology to end the energy crisis on Earth. Due to a series of events, the parts are then acquired and assembled by the Junk Guild and the completed suit is piloted by Prayer to fend off attacks from Eurasian Federation. Shortly before the war's end, Lowe Guele fits it with the specialized backpack mounting four large DRAGOON weapon pods (similar to those of the Providence) based on blueprints handed to him by Andrew Waltfeld who is safeguarding the data on behalf of Siegel Clyne. 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 Gundam 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.