RTX-440 Ground Assault Type Guntank

RTX-440 Ground Assault Type Guntank is a ground heavy assault mobile suit, and is a descendant of the RX-75-4 Guntank. The unit is featured in the CGI anime Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO 2: The Gravity Front.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
As the name implies, RTX-440 is a modification of a anti-MS tank RX-44. The left arm cannon and cannons are an improved 2-tube model which has longer range than the older 4-tube model on the original Guntank. In addition to the pop gun and 220 mm cannon, RTX-440 can be armed with numerous optional weapons including MLRS, rocket launchers and a flamethrower.

Similar to Guntank, RTX-440 can't turn its torso which make it hard to shoot a moving target with its main cannon. However, the RTX-440 has a crude transformation mechanism that allow it to deploy the secondary caterpillar treads and "crouch" down in similar fashion to a conventional tank. This assault mode allows the RTX-440 to approach its target with greater speed.

Armaments

 * 220mm Cannon


 * 4-tube Pop Gun


 * 2-tube Improved Pop Gun


 * 30mm Machine Gun


 * Rocket Launcher


 * MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System)


 * Flamethrower

History
Development of the RTX-440 Ground Assault Type Guntank was one of the many mobile suit projects that the Earth Federation started during the One Year War. Like all of the projects it was descended from the Federation's Project V, specifically from the data of the RX-75-4 Guntank. However the project to develop the RTX-440 was scrapped after Federation officer and lover to Arleen Nazon, a technical officer on the project, Clyde Bettany defected to Zeon with information regarding the RTX-440 Guntank.

Despite its data being in the hands of the Zeon, the three RTX-440 Guntanks that had been produced before the project was canceled were fielded by the Federation. The pilots were three convicts who had been promised amnesty from their crimes, including Arleen Nazon who technically hadn't committed any crimes except for being lover to a traitor.

The Guntanks were assigned to penetrate enemy lines and destroy a Dabude-Class Land Battleship that was causing severe losses amongst the 44th Hybrid Brigade. The pilots of the Guntanks managed to succeed in their mission, at cost of two of the machines and their pilots. The surviving machine was piloted by Arleen Nazon who saw a second Dabude-class land battleship. She was ordered not to attack it, however she had a premonition that told her that Clyde Bettany was on the ship. Recklessly she charges the Guntank into enemy lines, destroying several enemy mobile suits in the process. However because of her recklessness her Guntank was ruined by the time it reached the Dabude-class battleship. In a last ditch effort to get revenge she activated the self-destruct. The resulting explosion destroyed both the Guntank and the Dabude.