Technology

1 Mobile Suits 1.1 OMNI GAT-06 Arndam General Description

The GAT-06 Arndam is OMNI's next generation of production mobile suits. The body has the same lanky appearance as the GAT-04 Windam, but has a permanently attached flight pack that looks similar to the wings of the GAT-X105E+AQM/E-X09S Strike Noir. The main characterization of this mobile suit is its cutting-edge weaponry (including the new Beam Missile technology) and the variable hardpoint on the forearms.

While in theory the Arndam can support different weaponry on its forearm hardpoint, in practice the mobile suit already has the pilot's preferred weapon attached. This allows carriers without a dedicated attaching system to operate effectively with the Arndams.

Detailed Description

Flight Pack

- Variable Beam Boomerang Saber

- Many Missiles

Composite Assault Shield

- Anti-beam coating

- Beam Shield Emitter

- Missiles

M9409L Beam Rifle

Mk315 "Stiletto" rocket-propelled anti-armor penetrator x 2

Forearm Hard points

- Beam Shield

- Beam Gatling Gun

- Long Range Beam Cannon (hand-carried in use)

1.2 Orb MBF-E01 Strike Angel Gundam General Description

A hybrid of the original G-Project's GAT-X105 Strike design and collected combat data on ZAFT's ZGMF-X56S Impulse, Orb's new Strike Angel is intended to be the all-purpose elite mobile suit. Much like the original Strike and the Impulse, the Strike Angel has Phase Shift armor and hardpoints for docking a Striker Pack. Furthermore, in order to minimize costs and production time, this mobile suit utilizes much of the same weaponry as other existing mobile suits.

The major difference from the Strike Angel and its predecessors is that the Striker Pack itself has been upgraded to a Subflight Lifter. The Subflight Lifter provides many new abilities: additional firepower in all modes, additional energy replenishment, increased maneuverability, and can be used as a separate fighter or as a stabilizer when shooting. Motivated by the same principle as the FX-550 Skygrasper and ZGMF-X56S Impulse's Silhouette packs, the Subflight Lifters can be independently catapulted from a launching carrier vessel or facility, remote controlled by the Strike Angel, and swapped during combat, providing adaptability and extra energy to the mobile suit. The launching vessel or facility would continuously recharge and recycle the Striker Packs in a battle, providing an "endless" supply of energy as long as the Strike Angel remains near. The Subflight Lifters themselves also have Phase Shift armor, providing some measure of protection during the swapping process or when used as a separate fighting unit.

So far, Orb has produced 5 units of Strike Angels. All units are currently assigned to the Archangel, which needed slight modification to support launching the Striker Subflight Lifter Packs. Plans are in place for the following:

Mass-produce this suit

Upgrade the somewhat outdated weaponry

Construct carriers with launching capabilities

Construct land-based launchers at military facilities

The Strike Angel is the first mass-produced mobile suit with Phase Shift armor.

Detailed Description

The core Strike Angel has a number of enhancements over and above its predecessors (the original Strike and Impulse):

Improvements in mobile suit energy storage and battery usage have put the Strike Angel's battery life a bit longer than ZAFT's ZGMF-X56S Impulse, despite its extra firepower.

The mobile suit has its own core supply of energy in addition to what is available in the Striker Pack. The Strike Angel energy consumption is designed as a two-stage pipeline, where the mobile suit operations draw energy from the core supply, while the core supply draws energy from the Striker Pack. In this way, when the Pack becomes unattached, the Strike Angel still has energy to maintain Phase Shift armor (described below).

By default, the mobile suit comes equipped with two beam sabers and a high-energy beam rifle. The latter is attached to the posterior, like ZGMF-X56S Impulse and several other mobile suits. This addresses the long range combat weakness of the Sword Striker Pack and the close combat weakness of the Buster Striker Pack. Both of these weapons are the same models that the mass produced MVF-M11C Murasame uses.

By default, the mobile suit comes equipped with a left arm shield attachment. This attachment is actually a modified version of the original G-Project's GAT-X105 Strike's arm shield attachment, allowing the Strike Angel more dexterous arm movements. The shield attachment has a beam boomerang and rocket anchor equipped. The suit can further equip an anti-beam shield if desired. With such an armament, use of the anchor is hindered, but it would still be possible to use the beam boomerang.

These changes allow the Strike Angel to can perform competently in most situations, regardless of its attached Striker pack. At any given moment, the Strike Angel has a pair of beam sabers, a pair of combat knives, a beam rifle, a composite arm shield (with associated weaponry), and a Striker Pack with atmospheric-capable mobility and extra firepower.

As before, the Strike Angel has three main Striker Packs that play similar roles as the predecessors, but each have further enhancements. In all modes, the Striker Packs can be attached onto the back, used as a Subflight Lifter, or used as an independent fighting unit. The Packs also feature two over-the-shoulder guns, similar in function and design as the ones on the ZGMF-X09A Justice. The Subflight Lifter carries its equipment at various locations, optimized for quick arming.

The Aile Striker Pack is used for all-purpose combat and speed missions, and has very high aerial capability. The red and black maneuver fins on this Pack resemble the original Strike's Aile Striker Pack. In conjunction with the thrusters already in place on the Lifter, this attachment actually allows the Strike Angel to achieve HiMAT (High Mobility Aerial Tactics) mode. In practice, the Strike Angel does not utilize this attachment as a Subflight Lifter. Additionally, the Aile Striker Pack has an anti-beam shield (identical to the original Strike's shield), and two over-the-shoulder beam cannons which give this mode more firepower than the predecessors. Based on previous combat experience, the Orb military expects this Pack to be used most often. Fortunately, it is also the least expensive to produce.

The Sword Striker Pack is intended for heavy close combat. It contains two of the newly produced Klingelicht anti-ship beam swords. The blade end has the ability to fire off a beam boomerang using the momentum of the weapon's swing. Each weapon is sized to be wielded comfortably with either one or two hands each. This Pack has two over-the-shoulder beam cannons which give it a much-needed increase in ranged attack support. The Subflight Lifter provides this mode with atmospheric flight capability; when attached onto the back, the Strike Angel has aerial maneuverability comparable to the MVF-M11C Murasame, but not on par with the Aile Striker Pack.

The Launcher Striker Pack arms the Strike Angel with the new Atar Impulse cannon; this gun features a combinable design based on the GAT-X103 Buster's primary weapon and a more powerful output than the original Agni. The Atar cannon is in its separated form when attached to the Pack. The Pack has two over-the-shoulder railguns which can operate underwater, as well as a combination weapon pod. The weapon pod includes a 120mm anti-ship vulcan gun and two 350mm gun launchers. The Subflight Lifter provides this mode with atmospheric flight capability; when attached onto the back, the Strike Angel has aerial maneuverability comparable to the MVF-M11C Murasame, but not on par with the Aile Striker Pack.

The Aile and Sword Striker Packs have Type 72 high-energy beam cannons for the over-the-shoulder weapons. These cannons have the same output as the centerline gun that the MVF-M11C Murasame uses in its mobile armor mode. They are less powerful and less expensive than the Type-73F Kai high energy beam cannons on the ORB-01 Akatsuki. From a technological standpoint, there is nothing limiting Orb military from upgrading these cannons. But Orb decided to use the same specifications as the mass-produced Murasame in order to achieve a quicker and less costly yield.

The Strike Angel can draw power from the Striker Packs in both forms of attachment (attached to the back, or as a Subflight Lifter). Typically, when swapping Striker Packs, the Strike Angel attaches the new one before removing the old one. Since there are two hardpoints, this solution allows the mobile suit to have at least one Pack attached at all times. Training exercises and statistics have determined that the pilot should swap Striker Packs before the energy source has been depleted into the red zone. This provides three benefits: (1) the Subflight Lifter still has enough energy to maintain Phase Shift armor while flying back to be recharged, (2) the mobile suit will still have energy to maintain Phase Shift armor for a short duration, and (3) the pilot has an extra amount of energy in case circumstances interrupt the swapping process.

Technical Specification

The technical specification of the MBF-E01 Strike Angel is summarized in the following table:

MBF-E01 Strike Angel

Armament

M2M5D 12.5mm head-mounted CIWS x 2

Type 72 Kai "Ikazuchi" beam rifle x 1 (green beam)

Type 70J Kai beam saber x 2

"Armor Schneider" combat knife x 2

Arm shield attachment x 1

"Midas Messer" beam boomerang x 1 (red)

"Panzer Eisen" rocket anchor x 1

Special Equipment

Phase Shift armor

Hardpoints for mounting Striker Subflight Lifter Packs

Aile Striker Pack

Over-the-shoulder Type 72 beam cannon x 2 (green beam)

HiMAT-capable, high velocity thrusters

HiMAT-capable, non-detachable maneuver fins (red and black fins)

Anti-beam shield

Sword Striker Pack

Over-the-shoulder Type 72 beam cannon x 2 (green beam)

"Klingelicht" 12.4m anti-ship variable beam sword / boomerang launcher x 2

Atmospheric flight-capable thrusters

Launcher Striker Pack

Over-the-shoulder 115mm railgun x 2 (yellow shots)

"Atar" combinable high-energy impulse beam cannon x 1 (greater ranges and power when combined)

Mode 1: 380mm super-hyper impulse beam cannon (red/blue beam)

Mode 2: 350mm anti-armor shotgun (yellow shots)

Combination weapon pod (not detachable from Pack)

120mm anti-ship vulcan gun

350 mm gun launcher x 2

Atmospheric flight-capable thrusters

Table 1: MBF-E01 Strike Angel Gundam

Performance & Comparisons Aile Strike Angel

With the addition of the over-the-shoulder beam cannons and HiMAT capability, the Aile Strike Angel surpasses the abilities of the original GAT-X105 Strike and ZGMF-X56S Impulse.

It is slightly greater in performance level with the ORB-01 Akatsuki with the Oowashi Pack. Disregarding the debate of Phase Shift Armor vs. Beam-Reflective Armor, the equipment on the Aile Strike Angel are comparable in function to the Akatsuki, but not as high-end because of Orb's intention to quickly mass produce this mobile suit. The exception is the Strike Angel's ability to achieve HiMAT mode, for which the Oowashi Akatsuki has no comparable feature. As a result, simulations and analysis indicate the two suits are almost, but not quite equal, with the Aile Strike Angel eeking out a win.

The Aile Strike Angel will have the highest production rate as it is the least expensive amongst the three Packs, and the most general purpose.

Sword Strike Angel

The Sword Strike Angel beats the ZGMF-X56S Sword Impulse, hands down. Improved swords, improved aerial maneuverability, and additional over-the-shoulder beam cannons give the Sword Strike Angel a great advantage.

Aside from its obvious usage for heavy close combat, the Sword Strike Angel can also serve as as a frontal shock trooper. It approaches enemies firing its cannons, rifle, and beam boomerangs, and then utilizes its anti-ship sword against the enemy forces.

Launcher Strike Angel

The Launcher Strike Angel received the most improvement amongst the three Striker Packs. The Atar super-hyper impulse cannon exceeds the original Angi cannon and additionally has the capabilities of the combinable rifle of the GAT-X103 Buster. The over-the-shoulder railguns furthers the suit's underwater effectiveness.

In terms of firepower and armament, the Buster Strike Angel does not have a clear lead when compared to the ZGMF-X56S Blast Impulse. The Blast Impulse features two M2000F "Kerberos" high-energy long-range beam cannons. Individually, these cannons are comparable to the Atar separated cannons. When fired at the same target, again the Kerberos cannons are have similar damage potential as the Atar in its combined form. While the Buster Strike Angel uses two beam sabers, the Blast Impulse possesses two beam javelins.

The main advantage of the Launcher Strike Angel is its aerial maneuverability due to the Striker Pack. This, combined with the Pack's ability to operate as a separate fighting unit gives the Launcher Strike Angel a definite win over Blast Impulse.

The Buster Strike Angel can be used for both long range assault and long range defense. In this mode, the pilot typically utilizes the Striker Pack as a Subflight Lifter, allowing the suit to be a mobile sniper. Also, the Buster Strike Angel can easily "sling" the Atar on its back, giving it freedom to use its beam sabers when necessary.

Strike Angel vs. Impulse

The Strike Angel lacks two of Impulse's major characteristics. The first is the Deuterion beam system, which the Strike Angel using the more cumbersome alternative of constantly swapping of Striker Packs. The other is Impulse's ability to swap out damaged parts. Because this latter feature requires a complex, dedicated launching system, the architects of Strike Angel decided to use a more traditional mobile suit frame.

Nonetheless, the enhancements upon the Aile and Sword Striker Packs exceed Impulse's performance (when equipped with the corresponding Silhouette Packs), and in all modes, the Striker Packs can function as a separate fighting unit under the pilot's control.

Upgraded Strike Angel

Some of the equipment on the Strike Angel (main body and Packs) have been upgraded.

Beam Rifle (green beam)

Over-the-shoulder beam guns (red beam)

Beam sabers (combinable)

Two more Striker Packs have been developed by Orb that can attach to the Strike Angel.

The Freedom Striker Pack

10 folding maneuver fins (like original Freedom)

2 over-the-shoulder plasma beam cannons (red / blue beam)

2 under-the-arm rail cannons

HiMat capable

The Justice Striker Pack

2 combinable beam boomerang / sabers.

2 over-the-shoulder beam guns

2 anti-ship vulcan cannons

Combo Shield

Anti-beam coating

Beam shield emitter with backup energy supply.

Rocket Anchor

A special version of the Justice Striker Pack has been developed by Orb that can attach to the ORB-01 Akatsuki mobile suit. In addition to the normal armaments of this Striker Pack, it also utilizes the Yata-no-Kagami anti-beam defensive reflection system of the Akatsuki instead of Phase Shift armor. The Akatsuki cannot use this Striker Pack as a Subflight Lifter, though it can still be used as a separate fighting unit.

1.3 ZAFT ZGMF-X2001S Phantom Knight General Description

During the Second Bloody Valentine War, the Phantom Knight mobile suit design came to a halt as ZGMF-X42S Destiny and ZGMF-X666S Legend became higher priority projects. After the war, peace treaty negotiations settled on allowing each military power to have a limited number of nuclear powered mobile suits. As a result, ZAFT resumed construction of the Phantom Knight and assigned it to Commander Yzak Joule.

While ZGMF-X42S Destiny was designed based on combining all the Silhouette Packs of ZGMF-X56S Impulse, the Phantom Knight utilizes the arsenal of the ZGMF-1001 ZAKU Phantom series with the most popular of the Wizard Packs. The resulting mobile suit contains enough weaponry and equipment to be ready for any situation.

At first glance, the Phantom Knight appears similar to the sky blue Blaze Zaku Phantom, but with hip-mounted gatling beam guns. Each shoulder mounts a spiked shield, and a pair of thruster pods adorn the unit's back. On the side of the unit's right thruster pod hangs the Chimera cannon. On the other thruster hangs the folded Kusari-Ono beam chain axe.

Detailed Description

The Phantom Knight combines the features of the Blaze, Slash, and Gunner Wizard Packs into one unit:

Blaze Wizard Features – Two upgraded thruster pods attached to the back provide the mobile suit with admirable mobility. The original Blaze Phantom also has 14-round missile launchers in each pod, but the engineers removed these in order to enhance the thruster system. As a result, the Phantom Knight now has good atmospheric maneuverability, on par with ZGMF-X666S Legend.

Gunner Wizard Features – The M1600 Chimera composite cannon features greater output and range than the M1500 Orthros cannon, and has a slightly shorter firing latency (trigger-to-firing time). In addition, the weapon contains a 500mm recoilless rocket launcher underneath the cannon.

Slash Wizard Features – The two-handed MA-MR Kusari-Ono G10 beam chain axe is an upgrade to the Slash ZAKU's MA-MR Falx G7 beam axe. The axe head on this weapon can extend from the main staff via an ultra-hard cable, becoming a significantly longer weapon. The axe head still retains its beam edge capability when detached in such a fashion. Much like it's predecessor, it can fold and be stored on the backpack (thruster pods). The unit furthermore has two MMI-M826 Hydra gatling beam guns; these weapons are the same model as the original Slash ZAKU. However, instead of sitting above the shoulders, the guns are hip-mounted and, interesting enough, detachable so that the mobile suit can utilize them as hand-held firearms.

In addition to the Wizard equipment, the Phantom Knight also features Phase Shift armor, beam shield emitters identical to Destiny and Legend, and an ultracompact hyper-deuterion nuclear reactor. Attached to the posterior is a beam assault rifle, and along its "belt" hangs 4 hand grenades. Unlike the beam rifle of the traditional ZAKU, this weapon draws energy from the nuclear core of the mobile suit. As a more unusual aspect, on each forearm is a dual beam claw, much like the ZGMF-600 GuAIZ series.

As opposed to most other mobile suits with Phase Shift armor, the head of this unit has only one "eye."

Technical Specification

The technical specification of the ZGMF-X2001S Phantom Knight is summarized in the following table:

ZGMF-X2001S Phantom Knight

Armament

CIWS x 2

MMI-M733 beam assault rifle x 1 (green beam)

M1600 "Chimera" composite high-energy long-range beam cannon (red / blue beam) x 1

500mm recoilless rocket launcher

MA-MR "Kusari-Ono" G10 large chain beam axe x 1

Detachable, hip-mounted MMI-M826 "Hydra" gatling beam gun x 2 (green beam shots)

Dual beam claw x 2 (Pink)

Hand grenade x 4

MX2351 "Solidus Fulgor" beam shield x 2

Upper-arm mounted composite shield x 2

MA-M9 beam tomahawk x 1 (for each shield)

Special Equipment

Phase Shift armor

Ultracompact hyper-deuterion nuclear reactor

Table 2: ZGMF-X2001S Phantom Knight

Performance & Comparisons

The ZGMF-X2001S Phantom Knight is almost comparable to the ZGMF-X42S Destiny. Both have general-purpose designs, allowing the units to function in most situations. The primary difference lay in the intended pilot. The Destiny specifications tailor to Shinn Asuka's strengths of mobility and speed, and furthermore enhance his ability to fight other ace pilots (namely, Kira Yamato). The Phantom Knight design aims to encourage Yzak Joule's primary strength: wading into the thick of battle and laying waste to large number of enemy units within close vicinity.

In the end though, the Phantom Knight loses out to Destiny's awesome mobility and maneuverability. And the Chimera cannon is a bit cumbersome compared to Destiny's M2000GX long-range cannon, as it requires two hands to use. Still, this mobile suit stands as one of the best ZAFT has ever produced.

2 Mobile Armor 3 Warships and Spacecraft 4 Superweapons 5 Miscellaneous Warfare Technologies 5.1 OMNI Beam Missiles

These new beam missiles takes on qualities from conventional missile science as well as concepts from the difficult-to-use DRAGOON technology. In short, these missiles fire off beam shots a distance away prior to impact. This increases the effective threat range of the missiles by a significant margin. These weapons can be viewed as less maneuverable, one-time use DRAGOON pods and are meant to be fired off in a salvo of four to six at a time. Even Coordinators have difficulty avoiding beam shots from this many missiles coming from various directions.

OMNI has developed several incarnations of the beam missiles.

Mk3516 "Siren" Beam Missiles

The simplest of the beam missile technology, the Siren series contain small twin beam barrels in addition to its explosive power. The beam barrels can each fire straight forward three times, and do so in quick succession. This allows a staccato burst of six shots for a single missile. Due to the addition of this capability, this weapon has less explosive power than a traditional missile.

This series requires the launching unit to acquire a lock upon the target to be effective.

The main advantage of this missile is that it is backwards compatible with existing missile launchers. OMNI has begun retrofitting its GAT-04+AQM/E-A4E1 Jet Windam forces with these missiles as an answer to the ZGMF-2000 GOUF Ignited mobile suit.

Mk3616 "Banshee" Beam Missiles

Similar to the Siren series of missiles, the Banshee series contain twin beam barrels in addition to some explosive power. However, the energy output of these barrels is comparable to the output of a beam rifle. Additionally, the barrels are not fixed to fire forward, but have a small margin of movement for aiming. Like the Siren series, each barrel can fire three times each, and do so in quick succession.

Both self-targeting and manual locking versions of this missile have been constructed. Mobile suits will generally use the manual locking versions.

OMNI has begun construction of new Jet Striker packs that can both (1) equip these missiles and (2) fit the current series of Windam mobile suits.

RE834 "Starfish" Missiles

Much larger than the Siren and Banshee series, the Starfish series fragment into four individual self-targeting Banshee beam missiles. Because of the self-targeting nature, these weapons can be fired almost blindly into the thick of enemy mobile suits.

This series functions as anti-mobile suit weapons for carriers and assault ships.

5.2 ZAFT Electrical Discharge

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6 Appendix 6.1 Glossary of Initials

Initials

Description

E01

The 'E' stands for Elite.

GAT

Gressorial Armament Tactical. OMNI designation. Example: GAT-04 Windam.

HiMAT

High Mobility Aerial Tactics

MBF

Main Battle Figure. Orb designation. Example: MBF-M1 Astray.

ZGMF

Zero-Gravity Maneuver Fighter. ZAFT designation. Example: ZGMF-X56S Impulse

YMF

PrototYpe Maneuver Fighter. ZAFT designation. Example: YMF-X000A Dreadnought

6.2 Etymology

Term

Definition / Origin

Atar

Atar is the upgraded version of the Agni cannon used by GAT-X105.

"Agni" is a deity in Hinduism, as well as the Sanskrit word for "fire." "Atar" is the Zoroastrianism (Sassanid Persian religion) version of "Agni," and also means "fire."

Chimera

Chimera is the upgraded version of the Orthros cannon used by ZGMF-1000/A1 Gunner ZAKU Warrior.

"Orthros" is a two-headed dog in Greek mythology. "Kerberos" - which is the name of the cannons on Impulse's Blast Silhouette - is the three-headed dog in Greek mythology which resides in the Underworld. "Chimera" is a beast in Greek mythology made from multiple animal parts. All three of these creatures are siblings.

Klingelicht

Klingelicht is the upgraded version of the Schwert Gewehr anti-ship sword used by GAT-X105 Strike.

"Schwert Gewehr" is German for "Sword Rifle." The GAT-X133 Sword Calamity uses a version of the Schwert Gewehr that is actually a sword that contains a rifle. "Klingelicht" is German for "Sword Light."

Kusari-Ono

Kusari-Ono is the upgraded version of the Falx beam axe used by ZGMF-1001/K Slash ZAKU Phantom.

"Falx" is Latin for scythe. "Kusari" is Japanese for chain. "Ono" is Japanese for axe.