RGM-109 Heavygun

The RGM-109 Heavygun is a mass production combat mobile suit, which appears in the theatrical movie Mobile Suit Gundam F91. One of these units is piloted by Birgit Pirjo.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
The RGM-109 Heavygun represents the Federation's age of peace. It is smaller than previous general purpose mobile suits, lightly armed, and could be more cheaply produced than older mobile suit models.

The Heavygun is a design descendant of the GM and Jegan line of mobile suits possessing design features that gives the suit a similar physical appearance to its predecessors. The mobile suit's simple design also made it easy to use and repair. However the Heavygun represents a new age of mobile suits being the first miniature mobile suit to reach mass production. Its smaller size and reduced weight made the Heavygun highly efficient as well as faster and more maneuverable than previous mobile suits

Like the Jegan, the Heavygun is lightly armed with its only beam weapons being a beam rifle and a pair of beam sabers though. A weapon feature the Heavygun received from its predecessor are a pair of hand grenade racks, with four grenades per rack, mounted on the waist. Its final standard weapon is a pair of vulcan guns mounted in the head, a standard weapon to the RGM line of mobile suits.

Since the Heavygun remained in service with the Federation for an extended number of years it would see combat with the mobile suits of the Crossbone Vanguard which were more technologically advanced and had much greater performance. However in the hands of a skilled pilot a Heavygun could perform adequately against the newer mobile suits.

Armaments

 * Vulcan Gun
 * A standard armament of the mobile suits that are descended from the Earth Federation Forces's RX series is a pair of head mounted 60mm vulcan guns. These shell firing weapons have a high-rate of fire but have little power and can't damage the thick armor of a mobile suit, though it can damage lightly armored areas such as the sensors. The weapons are ideal for shooting down small, fast moving, lightly armored targets such as missiles, small land vehicles, and attack helicopters.


 * 4-slot Hand Grenade Rack
 * The RGM-109 Heavygun is equipped with a pair of waist mounted 4-slot hand grenade racks, one mounted on each side. The grenades are rocket propelled explosive weapons used in mid-range combat, although they can be used at close-range if the user disregards the potential of an explosion occurring too close to the mobile suit.


 * Beam Rifle
 * A standard hand carried ranged beam weapon is the beam rifle. Capable of firing concentrated mega particles, attacks from a beam rifle can damage any ordinary armor that has not been specially treated to resist it. One of the more effective methods of blocking a beam rifle is to use a beam shield.


 * Shield
 * Shields are defensive equipment, essentially large slabs of stylized metal, designed to protect the equipped mobile suit from attacks that cannot be dodged that would otherwise damage or destroy the mobile suit. Shields are typically strong enough to take several explosions from light to medium sized explosives, and are treated with an anti-beam coating to block beam attacks. However as is the nature of physical objects, the shield takes a large amount of stress from the attacks and will only withstand so much punishment before breaking.


 * Beam Saber
 * The RGM-109 Heavygun is equipped with two beam sabers for melee combat. The beam sabers are stored in recharge racks when not in use.

Special Equipment & Features

 * Weapon Mount

History
First introduced in the year 0109 U.C. the Heavygun was the first successful mass-produced next generation mobile suit created by Anaheim Electronics and then sold to the Earth Federation Forces. The suit was intended to replace the aging RGM-89J Jegan Normal Type and quickly proved to be a popular model among the pilots. This caused the Heavygun to remain in service for upwards of two decades, well into the UC 0130 years. Though the first decade of its deployment would be a relatively peaceful era the following years would be see periods of intense conflict between the Earth Federation and several space-born revolutionary/invasion forces including Mars Zeon, the Crossbone Vanguard, and the Jupiter Empire.

The light-weight Heavygun would prove to be highly effective against the mobile suits of Mars Zeon, who had yet to introduce miniaturized mobile suits. However it would prove less effective against the mobile suits of the Crossbone Vanguard and the Jupiter Empire. Both independent factions possessed mobile suits that were comparable in size, weight, speed, and maneuverability to the Heavygun, if not surpassing it in the latter two categories. However these mobile suits possess more advanced and powerful Minovsky ultracompact fusion reactors, allowing them to more effectively use advanced beam technology. More importantly these machines would be equipped with beam shield technology, giving them a significant defensive advantage over the Heavygun which still used a physical shield that had an anti-beam coated surface.

Eventually the RGM-109 Heavygun would be phased out of regular military service in favor of the newer and more advanced RGM-119 Jamesgun and RGM-122 Javelin models of mobile suits. However Heavygun mobile suits would continue to serve as a part of civilian defense militias into the early years of the UC 0150 decade as the upgraded RGM-109M-5 Heavygun. However despite upgrades it received, which were relatively minor, this new version of the Heavygun would be woefully outmatched by the mobile suits of the Zanscare Empire.

Variants

 * RGM-109 Heavygun Full Equipment Type
 * RGM-109M-5 Heavygun

Trivia

 * The RGM-109 Heavygun was introduced 30 years after its ancestor the RGM-79 GM was introduced.