GN-007/AL Arios Gundam Ascalon

GN-007/AL Arios Gundam Ascalon (aka Arios Gundam Ascalon, Arios Ascalon), is the proposed upgrade design for the GN-007 Arios Gundam that was never completed in 2312; its design is featured in Mobile Suit Gundam 00V. The design is later put to use in Mobile Suit Gundam 00I 2314 and the unit is piloted by Leonard Fiennes on Earth.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
The Ascalon upgrade is focused on its fighter mode, adding three new sets of weapons to Arios, which are based on weapons from the third generation Gundams. a large GN Sword improved from the Exia, a GN Beam Cannon improved from Virtue, and dual missile launcher packs on its back, improved from Dynames. Although the additional weapons are extremely powerful, the GN beam cannon has firepower comparable to GN-005 Gundam Virtue's GN Beam Bazooka and is only usable in MA mode. Only the missile launchers are capable of being used in MS mode. Furthermore, the shoulder GN Beam Shield has to be removed in order to install the GN Beam Cannon. They are two main downgrades to the Ascalon, the first is it's dramatically higher weight relative to the basic Arios due to the new equipment. The second downgrade is the difficulty of physically attaching the GN Archer to the Arios Ascalon due to the equipment additions and as a result the GN Archer is either incompatible or very hard to use with the Arios Ascalon.

Like its predecessor, it carries a twin beam rifle as it's primary weapon and a pair of beam sabers for melee combat. Arios' forearms contains sub-machine guns for rapid fire to spray a hail of beam fire against enemy units and can attack at greater speeds. For the Ascalon, the shield emitters were removed to make room for a GN Cannon.

The Ascalon plan was eventually scrapped with only GN missile containers and the GN Cannon carried onto the Gundam as GN-007GNHW/M Arios Gundam GNHW/M in the final battle against the Innovators, however the design will be realized and deployed physically in 2314. After it was deployed for real, some of the balancing problems that appeared in data were fixed. Unfortunately, the performance of the suit overall was lowered as a result of the heavy damage that Arios suffered during the final battle against the Innovators.

Armaments

 * GN Missile Container
 * A new power-up component added onto Arios by Celestial Being engineers, it duals as thrusters and a missile launcher pack. The two missile containers rest at the forward section of Arios in fighter mode and transforms as a missile launcher backpack in MS mode. The booster unit is similar to Kyrios' GN Tail Booster, but can be used in between fighter and MS forms. The component overall adds speed, firepower, and maneuverability for Arios.


 * GN Submachine Guns
 * Twin-barrelled beam sub-machine guns mounted within the forearms of Arios. The sub-machine guns are usually hidden under the forearm armor of Arios and pops out for rapid firing. While not a powerful weapon, it's capable of causing serious damage when used in conjunction with Trans-Am.


 * GN Twin Beam Rifle
 * The GN twin beam rifle is the main weapon of Gundam Arios. It is composed of 2 barrels so it can be fired rapidly for a higher hitting rate. One of the barrels is movable, so Arios can attack the ground when in flight mode. Compared to Kyrios' weaker sub-machine rifle, this beam rifle can severely damage, if not destroy a standard mobile suit such as the Ahead.

System Features

 * Trans-Am System

History
Sherilyn Hyde of Gundam 00F appears. She is the one who continued the upload of the test data of the new arms used in the final battle. And then now, when the Ascalon is being tested for data, Robert Spacey greeted her saying, "Could I have a minute with you?" Robert came to Lagrange 3, and seemingly is an acquaintance of Ian's. He came to this absolutely secret establishment with the pretext of assisting in development. He personally tampered with the data for simulation of Ascalon, and removed almost all of the armaments except for the container. Sherilyn was angry, but when she saw the data, Arios showed a high performance in cooperation with GN Archer that is by far the best it ever had. Even Sherilyn said "Isn't this cool..." and acknowledged Robert's suggestion. Finally, the updated machine with this equipment is called "Arios Gundam GNHW/M".

In 2314, the repaired Arios was then refitted with the Ascalon equipment, which only existed in data previously. It was to be used mainly within the atmosphere, while the Cherudim SAGA was to be used in space and the GRM Gundam was to be used within the Orbital Elevators. One of the missions it participated in was the combat intervention in Africa of a facility disguised as an civilian enterprise broadcasting facility. In reality was that it was an energy facility using their own microwave receiver in order to harness solar energy to build up s group's military capabilities. Arios Ascalon destroyed the antenna tower of the facility and the government had an excuse to check out the facility due to the destruction.