FA-78-1 Gundam Full Armor Type

The FA-78-1 Gundam Full Armor Type is an Earth Federation Forces mobile suit from the Gundam anime series.

FA-78-1 Gundam Full Armor Type

The FA-78-1 Gundam Full Armor Type never appeared in any actual animated form, but it is an official Mobile Suit Variation.

As the RX-78-2 Gundam continued to score victory after victory against the Zeon forces in the One Year War, the Earth Federation Forces engineers began to devise several different upgrades to supplement and further increase the combat capabilities of the Gundam. The upgrade program, called the Full-Armor System and Weapon System (FSWS), developed several options packs to increase the Gundam's already considerable power. One of these designs was the Gundam Full Armor Type, which vastly increased the Gundam's firepower and armor.

New weaponry consists of a large rocket-firing cannon mounted over the Full Armor Gundam's right shoulder, four missile launchers, two mounted in the upper torso and two more in the knees, and a new twin-barreled beam gun secured to the right arm. The Gundam Full Armor Type also had several removable armor modules that could be placed over the Gundam's existing armor. These new armor modules also incorporated several additional thrusters and maneuvering verniers.

However, due to the Full Armor Gundam's massive increase in weight, it suffered a sharp drop in mobility which the new thrusters could not sufficiently compensate for. It was deemed that the loss in speed and maneuverability would be unacceptable and the Gundam Full Armor Type never left the development stages. The Gundam Full Armor Type would never be built, and only existed on paper. However the plans for the unit would later be used as the basis of creating the FA-78-2 Heavy Gundam. However, this is contradicted in the game Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters In Space, as the Gundam Full Armor Type is piloted at A Boa Qu by Lieutenant Heinz Baer, and is destroyed after a heated battle against Shin Matsunaga's MS-14Jg Gelgoog Jager.

FA-78-2 Heavy Gundam

The FA-78-2 Heavy Gundam, like the FA-78-1 Gundam Full Armor Type, never appeared in any actual animated form, but it is an official MS-X mobile suit variation.

Although the FA-78-1 Gundam Full Armor Type was deemed to be a design failure while it was still in the planning phases, the Earth Federation continued to design new upgrades to for the RX-78-2 Gundam under Full-Armor System and Weapon System (FSWS) program. The most successful concept to come out of the project was the design of the Heavy Gundam. Instead of adding supplemental external armor and weapons modules to a pre-existing mobile suit as the Gundam Full Armor Type did, the Heavy Gundam was an entirely new mobile suit built from the ground up. This reduced some of the weight issues the original design suffered, and allowed for the unit to have thicker and sturdier armor as well.

The Heavy Gundam also borrowed the shoulder-mounted rocket cannon from the Gundam Full Armor Type, but also added in a beam saber over the opposite shoulder for use in close combat situations. The concept of rocket launchers in the shoulders and knees was removed all together, and the Heavy Gundam was instead given a special gun that mounted over the right fore-arm called a "heavy launcher." The Heavy Gundam's heavy launcher incorporated both a large Gatling gun and a four-tube missile launcher, making it a useful long-range weapon.

Only one prototype Heavy Gundam would be built, as development of new Gundam upgrades was ended in November of Universal Century 0079. But the Heavy Gundam's design was still successful as it had overcome all of the weight and mobility problems that had plagued the Gundam Full Armor Type. The lone Heavy Gundam prototype would see action at least once, piloted by Colonel Den Berserk when the Earth Federation Forces captured the Zeon asteroid fortress of Pezun.

Specifications

FA-78-1 Gundam Full Armor Type

Manufacturer: Earth Federation Forces
Operator: Earth Federation Forces
Unit type: FSWS (Full-Armor System and Weapon System) prototype general purpose mobile suit
Dimensions: overall height 19.5 meters; head height 18.5 meters
Weight: empty 62.5 metric tons; max gross 93.1 metric tons
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, output rated at 1380 kW
Fixed armament: 2 x 60 mm vulcan gun, fire-linked, mounted in head; cannon, mounted on torso over right shoulder; 4 x missile launcher, mounted in shoulders and knees
Optional hand armament: 2-barrel hand beam gun, powered by rechargeable energy cap
Pilot: Heinz Baer

FA-78-2 Heavy Gundam

Manufacturer: Earth Federation Forces
Operator: Earth Federation Forces
Unit type: prototype general purpose mobile suit
Dimensions: overall height 18.4 meters; head height 18.0 meters
Weight: empty 52.2 metric tons
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, output rating unknown
Fixed armament: cannon, mounted on torso over right shoulder; beam saber, stored in recharge rack in backpack, hand-carried in use
Optional hand armament: heavy launcher (mounts Gatling gun and 4-tube missile launcher)
Pilot: Den Berserk

See also

* RX-78 mobile suit series