The Medea was a transport plane produced by the Earth Federation.
History
The Earth Federation used the Medea to transport supplies during the One Year War. When the Federation started rolling out mass-produced mobile suits, the transport plane was converted to a mobile suit carrier with a capacity for up to three suits.

Medea from The 08th MS Team

Rear view of Medea from The 08th MS Team
The Medea supply corps was headed by Lieutenant Matilda Ajan. The Medea she piloted supplied White Base. During Operation Odessa, White Base was attacked by the Principality of Zeon elite squad, the Black Tri-Stars. Matilda tried to protect the assault carrier by ramming her plane into the Zeon MS-09 Dom. However, the Dom armour protected it and the pilot responded by smashing the Medea’s cockpit.
The Federation produced a variant of the Medea, the C-88 Medea, in UC 0083. The original Medea remained in service in the Federation forces up to UC 0087. It was mainly used to transport supplies. The larger Garuda-class transport plane was preferred for mobile suit transportation.

Medea piloted by Matilda Ajan

Production overview
Code name: Medea
Type: Transport plane
Completed: Unknown
First deployment: Unknown
Manufacturer: Earth Federation
Operator: Earth Federation
Developed from: None
Developed into: None
Variants: C-88 Medea
General characteristics
Crew: 2 pilots only
Cockpit: Standard canopy-style cockpit
Total length: 45.0 m
Total height: 15.9 m
Empty weight: 67.7 m
Gross weight: 245.0 t
Cargo capacity: 160.0 t
Mobile suits: 3
Armour: Unknown
Sensors: Standard
Sensor range: Unknown
Performance
Power plant: Unknown
Power output: Unknown
Propulsion:
‣ 6 x jet engine
‣ 5 x VTOL rotor
Max speed: Unknown
180° turn time: Unknown
Thrust-to-weight ratio: Unknown
Armaments
Fixed
‣ 2 x twin anti-air machine gun
Design
The Medea was initially designed as a cargo aircraft. It was faster and had a greater operating range compared to the Gunperry. It had five vertical take-off and landing rotors that allowed it to land and take-off without a runway. The transport plane had four large jet engines on the top and two smaller ones on the wings.

Medea cockpit

Medea cockpit from The 08th MS Team
When the Earth Federation started deploying mass-produced mobile suits in the battlefields, the Medea was converted to carry mobile suits. Its cargo hold was able to carry up to three suits. It could transport new mobile suits between Federation bases or drop manned mobile suits into conflict zones. The plane had a maximum cargo capacity of 160 metric tons.
Armaments
The Medea was armed with a pair of twin anti-air machine guns. These were used to defend itself against lightly-armoured aircraft. The machine guns were unable to penetrate the thick armour of mobile suits, and were only used as a last resort as the transport ship was usually under an armed escort.

Medea landing
Known pilots
- Matilda Ajan
- Edward Lee
- Maureen Kitamura
Behind the scenes
Kunio Okawara was the original mechanical designer. Kimitoshi Yamane designed the version seen in Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team. Yasuo Ohtagaki designed the version seen in Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt manga.
Appearances
Anime
Manga
- Mobile Suit Gundam MS Generation
- Gundam Legacy
- Mobile Suit Gundam: We’re Federation Hooligans!!
- Mobile Suit Gundam Katana: Bond of the Battlefield UC 0084
- Mobile Suit Gundam MSV-R: The Return of Johnny Ridden
- Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt (manga)
- Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story: The Blue Destiny
- Mobile Suit Gundam Ground Zero: Rise from the Ashes
- Mobile Suit Gundam Saigon 0081
- Mobile Suit Gundam Battlefield Record 0081: The Wrath of Varuna
Games
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Ex Revue
- Mobile Suit Gundam 0079: Zeonic Front
- Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story: The Blue Destiny
- Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story 0079: Rise from the Ashes
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Federation vs Zeon DX
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Lost War Chronicles
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Pilot’s Locus
- Mobile Suit Gundam Battlefield Record UC 0081
- Mobile Suit Gundam Battle Operation
- Mobile Suit Gundam Side Stories