MSA-0011 S Gundam

The MSA-0011 (MSZ-011) S Gundam was a prototype transformable mobile suit that appeared in the Gundam novel Gundam Sentinel.

MSA-0011 S Gundam
The MSA-0011 (MSZ-011) S Gundam (also called Superior Gundam, but original name is Supreme Gundam, codename: "Ι Gundam" (Iota Gundam)), more frequently called the S Gundam, was an incredibly powerful Earth Federation Forces mobile suit. There were 4 units built but only 1 ever made an appearance. The one was sent to the Taskforce Alpha battleship Pegasus III, where it was assigned to pilot Ryu Roots. Although the S Gundam had three separate cockpits, Ryu would be the only person to ever pilot the unit.

But something else was also capable of piloting the S Gundam. The S Gundam featured an incredibly complex artificial intelligence computer that went by the acronym name ALICE, which was developed by Ryu Roots' mother, Meith Roots. ALICE, which stood for Advanced Logistic & Inconsequence Cognizing Equipment, was more than the standard learning computer featured in earlier mobile suits; "she" had the capability to think and to grow. "She" also had a sense of self-preservation, and could assume total control of the S Gundam if "she" felt that the unit was in danger. In "her" early stages of growth ALICE was not yet a full individual, but "her" experiences with Ryu Roots would help "her" to grow. Although 4 S Gundams have been produced, it is known that the other 3 S Gundams do not have the ALICE system installed on it. Also, after the loss of the first S Gundam equipped with ALICE, the S Gundam project had been halted and the other 3 units will never meet combat.

The S Gundam was a very heavily armed and armored mobile suit. Constructed from gundarium γ alloy composite, it was able to take a physical pounding that would destroy a lesser mobile suit, which would come in handy with Ryu Roots' poor piloting skills. In regards to offensive capabilities the S Gundam featured a highly accurate beam smart gun, with 12MW power operating the beam smart gun normally, the unit can connect the beam smart gun to two extra power outlets on both left and right hips to supply extra power that increases the beam smart gun up to 56MW. However, this will have to sacrifice the mounting of the two beam guns that are similar to the ones used in the Zeta Plus mobile suit series. It is highly doubted about the usefulness of the 56MW beam smart gun since the 8.3MW hyper mega launcher of Zeta Gundam from that time can already rip a warship apart. Therefore, 12MW should be over sufficient for the mobile suit. Two beam cannons protruded from the S Gundam's backpack over the shoulders, and it also featured four 60 mm vulcan guns in the head, and another four 60 mm vulcans in the tail stabilizer. It also featured a red circular-shaped wire-guided remote beam weapon called an Incom that was stored in the forehead. And finally, to round out the S Gundam's weaponry, the unit featured two beam sabers stored in recharge racks in the small white protrusions in the unit's knees. The S Gundam was built on a modular design, made up of two separate transformable units that could combine with a core fighter variant called the G Core to create the full S Gundam. The S Gundam was capable of separating into the two high speed fighter crafts which could both be controlled by ALICE if there were no pilots in either of their cockpits. The first fighter craft was called the G Attacker (also referred to as the A Parts), which was made up of the upper torso area of the S Gundam. The second fighter craft was called the G Bomber (also referred to as the B Parts), which were composed of the lower torso and legs of the S Gundam. The G Core core fighter, which were the C Parts of the S Gundam, was flown by Ryu Roots.

MSA-0011[Bst] S Gundam Booster Unit Type
After its first few stories, the S Gundam would be upgraded in the field by the engineers of Taskforce Alpha. In the planning phases for the eventual upgrade of the S Gundam to the MSA-0011[Ext] Ex-S Gundam the mechanics aboard the Pegasus III created several huge booster engine packs. However, when portions of the Federation Fleet were ambushed by New Desides forces they decided to modify the S Gundam by adding two of the boosters in place of the S Gundam's legs. The result was the MSA-0011[Bst] S Gundam Booster Unit Type, and it was immediately sent out to help the beleaguered Federation Forces. The S Gundam Booster Unit Type turned out to be a blazingly fast mobile suit, and it featured two extra beam cannons on the large booster units on its backpack, but with a reduced number of apogee motors and vernier thrusters that are used to control its attitude and maneuver properly the unit suffered severe drawbacks once it got into close range or had to slow down or stop moving. However, the unit is extremely useful in assault missions and had the highest acceleration in all mobile suits losing only to V2 Gundam's 20G suicidal acceleration.

The S Gundam Booster Unit Type was only deployed once. Soon afterwards the S Gundam was able to be fully upgraded into the Ex-S Gundam.

MSA-0011[Ext] Ex-S Gundam
The MSA-0011[Ext] Ex-S Gundam (Extraordinary-Superior Gundam) was an Earth Federation Forces prototype transformable mobile suit that appeared in the Gundam photo-novel Gundam Sentinel.

By adding several new armor, weapons, and engine modules the engineers of Taskforce Alpha's Pegasus III were able to upgrade the basic MSA-0011 S Gundam into the super powerful Ex-S Gundam. The Ex-S Gundam has almost double the power of the original S Gundam, making it a fearsome unit indeed. The Ex-S Gundam still had three cockpits, but Ryu Roots was the only person who piloted the mobile suit, and due to Ryu's poor piloting skills it was up to ALICE, the Ex-S Gundam's highly advanced artificial intelligence combat computer, to do most of the fighting against more skilled opponents.

With ALICE functioning as the co-pilot of the Ex-S Gundam "she" was constantly getting more advanced. ALICE was constantly growing in comprehension and depth, and was swiftly evolving into something more akin to a fully rationalizing and thinking creature than a simple machine. ALICE could still take full control of the Ex-S Gundam, or any of its various components or weapons, at any time, and would begin to do so constantly at times when "she" felt the Ex-S or Ryu were threatened. ALICE proved to be a useful co-pilot of the Ex-S Gundam, and "she" was more than capable of compensating for Ryu's lack of skill.

For defensive purposes the Ex-S Gundam featured additional armor on the front of the chest which afforded extra protection for the first two cockpits. This extra chest armor also featured an I-Field generator which created an invisible barrier of Minovsky Particles around the Ex-S Gundam's cockpit block which could nullify ranged beam attacks made against the mobile suit. Additional armor added onto the front of the torso also protected the third cockpit, while extra armor on both sides of the legs featured more after burners, additional propellant tanks, and thrusters.

Two new large thruster units were mounted on the Ex-S Gundam's back, giving the unit incredible thrust power and speed. Two large caliber beam cannons were mounted on both of the thruster units, giving the Ex-S Gundam two more back beam cannons than the S Gundam. The Ex-S Gundam's beam smart rifle was now attached to the front torso of the mobile suit instead of the hips, making room for the two large hip beam cannons that were optional to the S Gundam to be attached to the sides of the Ex-S Gundam's waist permanently. The Ex-S Gundam's head featured four 60 mm vulcan guns, while four additional 60 mm vulcans were mounted on the tail stabilizer attached to the back. The Ex-S Gundam also had remote weaponry in the form of an incom, which was a small wire-guided red disc stored in the Ex-S Gundam's forehead that could fire beams when deployed. But the Ex-S Gundam also featured two reflector incoms, stored in brackets in the large knee armor, which could be deployed and guided by wire like a standard incom. Reflector incoms could not fire their own beams but instead were able to reflect incoming beam fire from the Ex-S Gundam or another unit, and redirect it in another direction. Lastly, for use in melee combat situations, the Ex-S Gundam featured two beam sabers, also stored in the knee armor. Like its predecessor, the Ex-S Gundam was also capable of undergoing a transformation into a waverider mode of sorts, but unlike the S Gundam, which divided into three separate components, the Ex-S Gundam re-combined into one large unit called the G-Cruiser. For its size, the G-Cruiser was incredibly fast and the Ex-S Gundam would travel in this mode whenever it needed to travel over a great distance in a short amount of time. To conserve the fuel of the Ex-S Gundam for use in actual combat situations the G-Cruiser had two large propellant tanks mounted in the front over the Ex-S Gundam's shoulders. These extra fuel tanks would be jettisoned when the G-Cruiser would reach the battlefield and transform into the Ex-S Gundam.

The Ex-S Gundam would first be fielded by Taskforce Alpha during the few battles over Ayers City on the surface of the moon. The Ex-S Gundam would continue to see use mopping up New Desides forces. On April 5th, Universal Century 0088 the Ex-S Gundam would engage the Axis Zeon's massive AMA-100 Zodiac mobile armour. When the Zodiac entered Earth's atmosphere the mission to stop the New Desides seemed lost. But in a final act of self-sacrifice ALICE ejected the Ex-S Gundam's G-Core core fighter, which contained Ryu Roots, and took full control of the mobile suit, plunging the Ex-S Gundam into Earth's atmospher after the Zodiac. ALICE was able to destroy the Zodiac during re-entry, but "her" sacrifice was the ultimate one, and with "her" selfless actions "she" surpassed the normal bounds of humanity, becoming a Valkyrie in "her" final blaze of glory. The Ex-S Gundam, and ALICE with it, was destroyed when it burned up in Earth's atmosphere. Because of ALICE's actions, ejecting the re-entry capable G-Core, Ryu Roots survived. The New Desides were soundly defeated, and Taskforce Alpha's mission was successfully completed.

Variant
MSA-0011 S Gundam's equipment is numbered by the three different types.


 * equipment for the normal S is 1XX
 * equipment for Ex-S is 2XX
 * equipment for S[Bst] is 3XX
 * rest is 4XX

Although there is no actual numbering for any equipment in the story, there is but one equipment that appears in Model Graphix Gundam WARS III: Gundam Sentinel (aka Sentinel Variations) that have a number attach to it.

MSA-0011[Bst] S Gundam Booster Unit Type Plan 303E "Deep Striker"
The MSA-0011[Bst] Plan 303E "Deep Striker" is one of the configuration of MSA-0011[Bst] S Gundam Booster Unit Type.

The Plan 303E Deep Striker equipment is never used, however, it would be one of the most powerful equipment ever installed on a mobile suit. Designed to allow the S Gundam to strike deep inside enemy's territory with minimal support, it was thus equipped with four large booster backpacks: two of them replace the original's smaller backpack, like the Ex-S configuration, while its legs are replaced by six more thrusters (basically a normal booster pack with an extra thruster nozzle attachment, each containing 3 thrusters nozzles, a large thermo-nuclear generator and numerous propellant tanks), like the S[Bst] configuration. As well, it was equipped with the following equipments


 * I-Field generator, provide full protection by covering all sides of the unit. Its position was placed further ahead as to allow full coverage
 * A mega particle cannon which is striped from an Irish Class Battle Cruiser's Main Gun; supplemented by a radome on the cannon's left; both mounted on the back over shoulder.
 * A 56MW output power Beam Smartgun (already employed in S Gundam and EX-S Gundam) reinforced by a special cooling unit for rapid firing.
 * 2 improved beam cannon, mounted in the hardpoints of leg boosters, allowing mid to close range defense
 * long range multi-sensor, capable of detecting many hidden enemies as it cruise forward

Because of the heavy equipments the Plan 303E Deep Striker needs to carry with is a lot of propellant to increase the available combat time, thus decreasing its acceleration by 30% as compare to MSA-0011[Bst] S Gundam Booster Unit Type.

It could be identified as the improvement unit of RX-78 GP-03 Dendrobium's concept or the RX-121-1 & FF-X29A Gundam TR-1 "Hazel Rah" Second Form with Booster. The next of the line would be V2 Gundam Assault Buster Type, although it did not follow the Mobile Armour concept. These designs were equippped with a Battle Cruiser class mega particle cannon and overwhelming fire power along with I-Field Barrier Generators. These concepts were created by Katoki Hajime Although vaguely similar designs were produced by Kunio Okawara in M-MSV as the RX-78-7, FA-78-3 and FHA-78-3, these weapons lack the Mobile Armour concept and did not resemble the anti-fortress theme of Katoki's designs, which left little to defend Okawara. As for the V2, it was technologically feasible during its time to place anti-fortress armaments on a mobile suit.

This unit first appeared in Model Graphix Gundam WARS III: Gundam Sentinel (aka Sentinel Variations) A 1/100 garage kit was built for the picture in this version. Later, a 1/144 version was produced within the Gundam Fix Figuration #0013.

Beam Smart Gun
The Beam Smart Gun is equipped on the B-parts(G-Bomber) when S Gundam is separated into three parts. With an extended booster unit installed on the G-core, it can also equip the Beam Smart Gun as well.

Trivia
An alternate name of S Gundam given by Anaheim Electronics is Ι (Iota) Gundam

MSA-0011 S Gundam
Unit type: assault/defense heavy transformable mobile suit

Overall height: 25.18 m

Head height: 21.73 m

Base weight: 38.4 t

Full weight: 73.0 t

Power output: 7180 kW

Acceleration: 1.97 G

Vernier thrusters/apogee motors: 15

Sensor radius: 18800 meters

Armor: gundarium γ alloy composite

Armament: 60 mm vulcan gun x 4, backpack beam cannon x 2 (12 MW), large hip beam cannon x 2 (14 MW), beam saber x 2 (0.9 MW), incom x 1 (3.8 MW), tail stabilator 60 mm vulcan gun x 4

Optional armament: beam smartgun x 1 (56 MW)

MSA-0011[Bst] S Gundam Booster Unit Type
Unit type: booster-equipped heavy mobile suit

Overall height: 19.16 m

Head height: 15.81 m

Base weight: 82.18 t

Full weight: 220.13 t

Power output: 12250 kW

Acceleration: 9.72 G

Vernier thrusters/apogee motors: 16

Sensor radius: 18800 meters

Armor: gundarium γ alloy composite

Armament: 60 mm vulcan gun x 4, beam cannon x 4 (12 MW), beam saber x 2 (0.9 MW), incom x 1 (3.8 MW), tail stabilator 60 mm vulcan gun x 4

Optional armament: beam smartgun x 1 (56 MW)

MSA-0011[Ext] Ex-S Gundam
Unit type: high-improved assault/defense heavy transformable mobile suit

Overall height: 25.9 m

Head height: 21.73 m

Base weight: 69.24 t

Full weight: 162.5 t

Power output: 7180 kW

Acceleration: 7.27 G

Vernier thrusters/apogee motors: 15

Sensor radius: 18800 meters

Armor: gundarium γ alloy composite

Armament: 60 mm vulcan gun x 4, backpack beam cannon x 4 (12 MW), large hip beam cannon x 2 (14 MW), beam saber x 2 (0.9 MW), incom x 1 (3.8 MW) (3 rounds), tail stabilator 60 mm vulcan x 4, I-field barrier generator x 1, reflector incom x 2

Optional armament: beam smartgun x 1 (56 MW)

MSA-0011[Bst] S Gundam Booster Unit Type Plan 303E "Deep Striker"
Unit type: high-speed high-mobility attack use mobile suit

Power generator output: 14500 kW

Thermo-nuclear thrusters: 267500 kg x 10

Sensor Large disc radome, Multisensor

Armor: gundarium γ alloy composite

Armament: 60 mm vulcan gun x 4, mounted in head; incom x 1 (3.8 MW), mounted in head; I-field barrier generator x 1, battleship use mega particle beam gun x 1, beam smartgun (56 MW), beam cannon x 2, mounted at left leg booster pod