RX-178 Gundam Mark II
Code Name: Gundam Mark II
Unit Type: prototype general purpose mobile suit
Suit Organizational Type: Federation Type
Manufacturer: Earth Federation Forces (Titans)
Operators: Nocturne Alliance, Earth Federation, Order of the Light, Russian Federation, Intercolonial Unified Coalition
First Deployment: UC 0087
Accommodation: pilot only, in panoramic monitor/linear seat cockpit in torso
Dimensions: overall height 19.6 meters; head height 18.5 meters
Weight: empty 33.4 metric tons; max gross 54.1 metric tons; mass ratio 1.44
Construction: titanium alloy/ceramic composite on moveable frame
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, output rated at 1930 kW
Propulsion: rocket thrusters: 4 x 20300 kg; vernier thrusters/apogee motors: 10
Performance: maximum thruster acceleration 1.50 G
Equipment and Design Features: sensors, range 11300 meters
Fixed Armaments: 2 x beam saber, power rated at 0.45 MW, stored in recharge racks on backpack, hand-carried in use
Optional Fixed Armaments: 60mm 2-barrel vulcan pod, 1400 rounds total, mounted on head; shield, mounted on either forearm
Optional Hand Armaments: beam rifle, power rated at 2.6 MW, powered by replaceable e-pac, 2 spare e-pacs stored in shield; 360mm hyper bazooka, clip-fed, 7 rounds per clip plus 1 round in chamber, can be stored on rear skirt armor storage rack; clay bazooka, clip-fed, 7 rounds per clip plus 1 round in chamber, can be stored on rear skirt armor storage rack
Technical and Historical Notes: Shortly before the outbreak of the Gryps War, the Earth Federation Forces' Titans branch was hard at work developing its own mobile weapons in secret as part of its goal of subjugating the Earth Sphere. One of their earliest and more revolutionary designs was the RX-178 Gundam Mark II, based loosely on the well-known RX-78-2 Gundam from the One Year War. Although designed as a general purpose mobile suit, the Gundam Mark II was intended to be a highly capable unit under gravity and atmosphere - specifically, when fighting inside space colonies. Three prototype units were constructed at the Titans' base at the Gryps colonies, with plans to mass-produce the Mark II already in the works. The main technical advancement introduced with the Mark II was the "movable frame" construction concept. Up until that point, almost all mobile suits were built on the "monocoque" construction concept - with the external armor serving as a "shell" that supported all of the thrusters, joints, hydraulics, fuel tanks, et cetera, that were stored inside. The movable frame concept turned this design philosophy around; the Gundam Mark II was built around a skeleton-like frame, with all thrusters, fuel tanks, weapons and so forth mounted on the frame, and minimal amounts of armor applied to those critical areas that needed protection. With the advent of portable beam weaponry, a mobile suit was typically destroyed with one or two well-placed shots regardless of its armor; therefore, it was decided that otherwise useless armor would be sacrificed for lighter weight - and thus greater speed and maneuverability. When word of the Mark II's development reached the underground Anti-Earth Union Group movement, its leaders decided to move openly to capture one of the prototype mobile suits. Not only would this serve to give the AEUG access to the movable frame technology, but it would allow them to openly prove to the entire Earth Sphere that the Titans - now developing new war technologies - had other plans for the otherwise independent-minded space colonists. On March 2, UC 0087, AEUG Captain Quattro Bajeena (the incognito Zeon ace pilot Char Aznable of the One Year War) led a team of Rick Dias mobile suits into the Gryps II space colony to gather reconnaissance data and - if possible - capture one of the "black Gundams". Luck would be with Captain Quattro, as a young boy named Camille Bidan would find himself in dire straights with the Titans... and being a mobile suit construction hobbyist, soon at the controls of one of the Gundams. With a newfound ally in the boy, Quattro would manage to capture all three Mark II prototypes. However, the Titans were not so willing to give up their prototypes, and the first days of the Gryps War would focus on who would own the three mobile suits. In the end, the AEUG would come out the winner of the prizes: Unit 02 was heavily damaged in combat; Units 01 and 02 were disassembled and shipped off to the AEUG-supporting Anaheim Electronics Company's lunar factory for study; and Unit 03 would be repainted in a more traditional midnight-blue-on-white color scheme and remain in the hands of new AEUG recruit Kamille Bidan. However, the AEUG soon found its newly-acquired Gundam Mark II to be outclassed by newer and more powerful variable-form mobile suits/mobile armor being developed and fielded by the Titans. One serious design flaw in the Mark II was its older-style titanium alloy/ceramic composite armor; this factor, combined with its rather unremarkable armament of 2 beam sabers, an optional head-mounted vulcan gun pod, and beam rifle, made the Mark II little more than a remake of the original RX-78-2 Gundam. As Anaheim Electronics continued its "Z Project" of next-generation mobile suit development for the AEUG, new items were needed to help boost the Mark II's performance. The first of these was the Flying Armor, a sub-flight system based on the new "waverider" technology being developed for the MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam. The Flying Armor unit - built exclusively for the Mark II - allowed the Mark II to safely enter the Earth's atmosphere, and then act as a sub-flight unit, giving the Mark II unprecedented mobility in atmospheric combat. Later on, as Kamille moved on to pilot the new MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam and the Mark II was passed off to former Titans member-turned-AEUG pilot Emma Sheen, a second support system for the Mark II was developed: the FXA-05D G-Defensor, a space fighter-like vehicle that could combine with the Mark II into the Super Gundam, putting the Mark II on a more equal footing with the Titans' high-performance variable mobile suits/mobile armor. At the end of the Gryps War in early UC 0088, the Mark II was heavily damaged. After being repaired on the Anaheim Electronics ship La Vie en Rose, the Mark II was put back into service until it was critically damaged almost a year later in Axis during the final battle of the First Neo Zeon War.