The RX-75 Guntank Mass Production Type was an artillery mobile suit used by the Earth Federation Forces. It was introduced in the OVA series Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team.
Technology & Combat Characteristics[]
A ground-use only early mass production variant of the RX-75 Guntank, the Guntank Mass Production Type omitted the Core Block System and space-use equipment of the prototype to improve ease of production.[1] The lack of the Core Block System reduced pilot survivability, but allowed the Guntank MP Type's upper body to rotate, fixing a problem plaguing its predecessor.[2] Unlike the original Guntank, which was able to carry out missions such as air-defense, the Guntank Mass Production Type was purely intended for fire support.[3]
Compared to the prototype Guntank, the Guntank MP Type's cannons featured improved range and ammo capacity, as well as a more efficient reloading system.[1][4] A large ammo storage was stored in its backpack. When firing, its backpack would deploy and reveal a pair of mechanical arms that would automatically reload its 120mm cannons.[5] In addition to the combat variant, a field modified recovery variant called the Berge Guntank also existed.[1]
Armaments[]
- 120mm Low-Recoil Cannon
- The primary weapons of the RX-75 Guntank Mass Production Type are a pair of 120mm cannons based upon the cannons used by the RX-75-4 Guntank. The cannons are fire-linked and mounted on the backpack, which contains an auto-loading system for continuous firing.
- Quadruple Gun Launcher
- For mid-range combat the mass production Guntank is equipped with a pair of 40mm 4-barrel Bop Missile Launchers mounted in place of standard mobile suit forearms.
History[]
The RX-75 Guntank Mass Production Type was introduced in the final months of the war as a heavy artillery base assault and fire-support unit. Production of the mass production Guntank was limited with only a handful of units serving in the Earth Federation army throughout Earth, mainly in base defense or long range artillery support. One notable action that the Mass Production Guntank saw was with the Kojima Battalion in South-East Asia where three units were used to bombard Zeon's mountain fortress, preventing any attempts at mass-escape through the use of a shuttle. These units were targeted by Norris Packard in his MS-07B-3 Gouf Custom, successfully destroying all three units despite the effort of the 08th MS Team to stop him. Without the Guntanks providing heavy artillery fire-support the Zeon forces were able to safely launch their Apsalus III mobile armor.
After the war production of the RX-75 Guntank Mass Production Type was halted in favor of the newly designed RMV-1 Guntank II that was more heavily armed and had better firing arcs for its cannons. The Guntank Mass Production Type would continue service in U.C. 0081, where they would be used for defense of Federation bases or operations against Zeon remnants. It is unknown if they served any longer than that, however.
Gallery[]
Lineart[]
Anime[]
Games[]
Notes and Trivia[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Master Grade RX-75 Guntank (2009) instruction manual
- ↑ Dengeki Data Collection - One Year War Side Story 2 (1999), p.18
- ↑ Mobile Suit Gundam MS Encyclopedia Part.11 - One Year War Side Stories (2005), p.126
- ↑ Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team Official Archive (2014), p.44
- ↑ Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team Official Archive (2014), p.101
External links[]