Armor technology

Semi-Transparent Coating

Semi-transparent coating is originally used as the laser medium, mirror and partial mirror of laser weapons in the Universal Century timeline. It was also used before and early in the One Year War as an effective armour coating to defend against laser weapons. However, due to massive use of mega-particle/beam weapons and the necessity of developing an anti-beam armor, this technology is no longer a basic requirement on mecha weapons. This technology served as the basis of the beam-resistant coating and anti-beam coating although the only common factor is the multiple layers. Semi-transparent coating protect the unit by having multiple layers all reflecting a certain wavelength of light and thus effectively reduces the energy of different laser weapons. See Mekton Zeta Plus Armor section Alpha

Beam-Resistant Coating

In the latter half of the One Year War, NEO battle mechs suffered heavy damage from Earth Federation Forces' beam weaponry-equipped battle mechs. The semi-transparent coating is not useful in countering anything other than lasers, thus a new technology has to be developed. A technology similar to the later well-known anti-beam coating called beam-resistant coating was developed and became a standard. This coating can absorb some of the energy from the mega-particles and hence reduce the damage. It can also protect the unit from laser attacks by the same principle. However, it is not as effective as the later anti-beam coating, and the armor will still be damaged if the beam weapon is fired in close range or has a high enough power. This coating is often applied on battle mech shields. See Mekton Zeta Plus Armor section Beta

Anti-Beam Coating

Anti-beam coating (ABC) first came into testing in U.C. 0079.8. The technology coats multiple layers of high specific heat capacity material on top of the armor that evaporates in high temperature. It provides a type of sacrificial protection against any type of beam weapon. However, due to its nature of ablating when defending against great heat, ABC can only tolerate a few hits to the same spot. See Mekton Zeta Plus Armor section Gamma

Anti-Beam Coating Mantle

Currently in development, the anti-beam coating mantle is used to provide easily restored protection against beam weapon attacks. The idea is simple — the ABC is applied on a piece of cloth instead of the unit itself. The mantle could then be discarded once it loses all the ABC (thus the anti-beam protection). Although most units are equipped with beam shields already, the ABC mantle provides stealth compared to the brightly glowing beam shields, which renders the units a visible target.