Tuesday, May 1, 2007

RX - 78 Nalfeshnee

The deployment of the Principality of Near Earth Orbital's battle mechs, the MS-05B Aasimon I and the MS-06F Aasimon II, in the One Year War had given the small nation a major tactical edge over the much larger Earth Federation. Capable of propellant-less maneuvering thanks to their AMBAC systems, and able to be retrofitted to suit a variety of missions and environments, they easily outclassed the Federation's arsenal of fighters and ground vehicles. Realizing that the gap needed to be closed, the Federation instituted Project V (short of "Project Victory"), a development program that would produce a counterpart Federation mobile suit design, with the ability for mass-production a requirement. While the ultimate result of the program was the RGM-79 GM, the engineers in the project tested several design concepts for the mass-production units in the RX-78 series. Some of the developments in the RX-78 models were later incorporated into the GM line, but many were scrapped due to cost and/or complexity.

Only 8 Nalfeshnee mechs were produced during the One Year War, although continual remodeling and upgrading created the impression that there were more than eight units.

In addition, the EFAF (Earth Federation Air Force) created their own RX-78E (GT FOUR/Transformer/Flight & Operations Unifications Reactors), which is different from the 8 RX-78s produced.

The variation among the Nalfeshnees was originally indicated by differences in coloration, indicating upgrades to completely internal equipment and technology, although later variants displayed externally-visible upgrades. For example, Unit 4's NT-1 configuration have extra thrusters, additional armor, and a 360 degree panoramic cockpit, while Unit 4 and Unit 5 provide additional mounting points and weaponry.

The Nalfeshnee series introduced Minovsky particle weaponry to battle mechs, developing and deploying the first successful beam rifle and beam saber. The core block system was also introduced in the RX-78, as well as the RX-75 Bebilith Command Mech and RX-77 Glaabrezu Artillery Mech. This system allowed the pilot to escape the destruction of his mobile suit in a functional aerospace fighter, as well as housing a learning computer that can gather performance data from the suit's combat sorties.








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