RX-75-4 Guntank

RX-75-4 Guntank

General and Technical Data

Model number: RX-75-4

Code name: Guntank

Unit type: prototype artillery mobile suit

Manufacturer: Earth Federal Forces "Project V"

Operator: Earth Federal Forces

Rollout: UC 0075

First deployment: September UC 0079

Accomodation: pilot/driver in standard cockpit in torso with Core Block System using FF-X7 Core Fighter; co-pilot/gunner in canopy-style cockpit in head

Dimensions: overall height 15.6 meters; head height 15.0 meters

Weight: empty 56.0 metric tons; max gross 80.0 metric tons

Construction: lunar titanium alloy on semi-monocoque frame

Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, output rated at 878 kW

Propulsion: engine-driven caterpillar treads: 2; rocket thrusters: 88000 kg total

Performance: maximum thruster acceleration 1.10 G; maximum ground driving speed 70 km/h

Equipment and design features: sensors, range 6000 meters

Fixed armaments: 2 x 180 mm cannon, fire-linked, 30 round magazine each, mounted over shoulders; 2 x 4-tube 40 mm rocket launcher, mounted on arms

Technical and Historical Notes

"Here we go, Hayato! Take the cannons' safeties off once we clear the ship!" - Ryu Jose

The first Earth Federation mobile suit developed under their top-secret "Project V", the RX-75 Guntank was hardly a mobile suit at all. Developed four years prior to the outbreak of the One Year War, the Guntank was nothing more than a fusion of a tank with the upper torso and arms of a mobile suit, and was originally intended to serve as an anti-MS unit when rumors of Zeon's first mobile suits reached the Federation. Despite this apparently faltering first step, the Guntank packed a serious punch as a heavy fire support and artillery unit. The Guntank was also somewhat unique in that its piloting and gunnery requirements were originally split up between two cockpits: a gunner's station in the head, and a standard cockpit in the torso. The Guntank, like its Project V brethren RX-77-2 Guncannon and RX-78-2 Gundam, featured the core block system, which allowed the Guntank's upper torso to be ejected to continue operating as a fixed gun emplacement while the torso pilot ejected the core block to keep fighting in a FF-X7 Core Fighter.

The first RX-75s were deployed for testing and trials at the Federation's research base on the Side 6 colony. However, only one unit - the RX-75-4 - survived an attack when Project V was discovered by Zeon forces in September UC 0079. This last unit was transferred to the assault carrier White Base, where it operated as a support/defensive unit until it was decommissioned at the Federation's Jaburo military headquarters in November UC 0079. During its service aboard White Base, the Guntank was upgraded so that one pilot could handle both piloting and gunnery functions from the head cockpit.