RMS-179 GM II

The RMS-179/RGM-79R GM II is a mass-production general-purpose mobile suit, it is featured in the anime series Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, the design was later updated and featured in the novel and OVA Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. GM II units with the designation RGM-79R are original GM units that have been upgraded while those with the designation RMS-179 are completely new mobile suits. Two of these GM II is piloted by Jack Bayard and Clark.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
The RMS-179/RGM-79R GM II represented little in the way of technological innovation. Its performance was only slightly better than the GM I mobile suit featuring slight improvements in power output, acceleration, and sensor range. The GM II also features improvements in armament as it is usually equipped with a beam rifle which is a more powerful weapon with greater range than the GM's beam spray gun.

One truly new piece of technology featured in the GM II is the 360-degrees panoramic cockpit first used in the RMS-106 Hizack, a mobile suit that has similar performance capabilities as the GM II.

Armaments

 * 60mm Vulcan Gun
 * A standard armament of the mobile suits that are descended from the Earth Federation Forces's RX series. These head mounted shell firing weapons have a high-rate of fire, but have little power and are generally ineffective against mobile suits; however, the vulcan gun can damage lightly armored areas such as the sensors. These weapons are ideal for shooting down small, fast moving, lightly armored targets such as missiles or small vehicles


 * Beam Saber
 * The standard close range armament for most Federation mobile suits. The beam saber is a small cylindrical device held in the mobile suit's hands when operated and is powered by an energy capacitor that is recharged from special racks. The beam saber is capable of cutting through any metal that has not been treated with anti-beam coating. The GM II is equipped with one beam saber, which is stored in recharge rack on its backpack.


 * BOWA·BR-S-85-C2 Beam Rifle
 * The standard ranged armament of the many mobile suits is the beam rifle. The particle beam fired from a beam rifle can penetrate almost any armor that has not been treated with specific counter-measures. The GM II is usually equipped with a beam rifle that has a power rating of 1.9kW; which is powered by a rechargeable energy cap.


 * Bazooka
 * An armament that fires explosive rounds at high velocity that do significant damage on impact. This is the same model used by the Jegan series.


 * Harpoon Gun
 * Designed with amphibious combat in mind, this weapon proved to be very versatile as it can be used while underwater or on land. The disadvantages of this weapon, however are just as great as it only has four harpoons and like most solid round weapons, the harpoons may not be able to pierce deeply into the armor of enemy mobile suits to cause enough damage. This weapon was first seen used by the RAG-79 Aqua GM.
 * Shield
 * A basic optional arm-mounted defense armament for many Federation mobile suits. The shield is a thick sheet of armor designed to take severe punishment that would normally destroy a mobile suit. Since the introduction of beam weaponry, shields have been treated with an anti-beam coating allowing it to withstand several beam shots before the coating wears off. Typically physical shields can only take so much damage before they succumb to the pressure and break. A shield can be equipped to either arm of the GM II in order to increase defense against both beam and physical attacks.
 * A basic optional arm-mounted defense armament for many Federation mobile suits. The shield is a thick sheet of armor designed to take severe punishment that would normally destroy a mobile suit. Since the introduction of beam weaponry, shields have been treated with an anti-beam coating allowing it to withstand several beam shots before the coating wears off. Typically physical shields can only take so much damage before they succumb to the pressure and break. A shield can be equipped to either arm of the GM II in order to increase defense against both beam and physical attacks.

Special Equipment & Features

 * Ballute System

History
An update to the Earth Federation Forces' original mass production mobile suit, the RGM-79 GM, the RMS-179/RGM-79R GM II went into service in the early UC 0080s, replacing the older GM as the mainstay front line mobile suit. Operated by the Earth Federation and the upstart Anti-Earth Union Group, the GM II was commonly used during the early days of the Gryps Conflict in UC 0087. However during the conflict both sides continually fielded newer mobile suit models that possessed greater performance ratings and new technology, like the RMS-108 Marasai.

Many of these machines would be favored by pilots over the GM I because of the superior performance, but only the AEUG would completely replace the GM II as a mainstay mobile suit with their MSA-003 Nemo which was closely based off the GM II. The Earth Federation Forces produced many new mobile suits but most never made it past the prototype/limited production stage due to high cost, while those that did make it to mass production were never produced in enough numbers to completely replace the GM II. It is also possible that some units, such as the RMS-108 Marasai were discontinued due to their association with the Titans.

Eventually after the Gryps Conflict and during the First Neo Zeon War the Earth Federation Forces and the AEUG would both use a new mainstay mobile suit, the RGM-86R GM III a descendant of the GM II that featured vast improvements over other Federation mass produced mobile suits.

In UC 0096, many GM II units were deployed to combat the the Zeon remnant forces during their assault of Dakar and Torrington Base, some of them equipped with a Harpoon Gun or a Bazooka. However the outdated GM II performed poorly against the Zeon remnant mobile suits. The GM II was deployed alongside the more advanced RGM-86R GM III.

Variants

 * RMS-179 GM II Semi-Striker
 * RS-82B-R GM II Custom