RGM-79 GM

The RGM-79 GM was the first mass-produced mobile suit of the Earth Federation Forces. It was a simplified version of the RX-78-2 Gundam, with more complex and costly features removed to enable mass production. The GM established the base for Federation mobile suit development for over fifteen years.

The “R” in the type code meant it was a Federation model¹ and the “GM” indicated that it was a mass production Gundam mobile suit. The “79” in the model number denoted it was developed in UC 0079.

History

At the beginning of the One Year War with the Principality of Zeon, the Federation lacked any sort of mobile suits. The Zeon forces held the upper hand in the war with their mobile suits, the MS-05B Zaku I and the MS-06F Zaku II.

The Federation scrambled to develop mobile weapons to counter the Zeon supremacy. They produced a prototype mobile suit, the RX-78-2 Gundam, but it was too costly to be mass produced. The RGM-79[E] GM Early Type was developed as a prototype that would serve as the design foundation for the GM. The first GM units were only rolled out in November UC 0079.

The Federation’s manufacturing superiority and access to raw materials helped to speed up production. They fielded enough units to retake contested territories on Earth and to participate in the Operation Star One offensive on Zeon’s space front.

Design

The design of the RGM-79 GM was based on the RX-78-2 Gundam. Expensive and complex features of the Gundam were stripped for mass production. The base frame of the GM was built for fairly high mobility on Earth and in space. It also allowed easy modifications to provide specialised units for specific missions.

The GM used titanium alloy instead of the Gundam’s Luna Titanium alloy. This alloy was easier and faster to refine. It was lighter than Luna Titanium, thus reducing the overall mass of the GM. However, it was also less durable.

The mobile suit had a standard cockpit in its torso.

Armaments

The GM’s standard weapons were two beam sabers for melee combat and a beam spray gun for ranged attacks. However, certain missions might have special requirements that led to variations in the armaments used.

Beam spray gun

The GM’s main weapon was a BR-M-79C-1 beam spray gun, a less powerful version of the Gundam’s beam rifle. The beam spray gun was the first mass-produced beam weapon, a technology that surpassed that of Zeon.

While less powerful than the beam rifle, the beam spray gun still packed enough punch to destroy a mobile weapon in a single shot. Records showed that it could penetrate the armor of a MS-09R Rick Dom, one of the most heavily armored mobile suits during the One Year War.

Early GM models were equipped with machine guns due to the slow production of beam spray guns. By Operation Star One and the Battle of Solomon, the beam spray gun had become standard issue.

Machine guns

The GM could be equipped with either the HFW-GR·MR82 90 mm machine gun or the NF·GMG-Type.37/100 mm machine gun. The 90 mm machine gun had 20 rounds per clip. The 100 mm machine gun had better armor penetration but lower a mmunition capacity.

Hyper bazooka

The GM used the BLASH·XHB-L-03/N-STD 380 mm hyper bazooka in situations that required heavy firepower. The bazooka was stored on a rack behind the right shoulder when not in use.

Vulcan guns

A pair of fire-linked 60mm gatling vulcan guns were mounted on either side of the GM’s head. Each vulcan gun was loaded with 400 rounds of ammunition and fired at a rate of 1,600 rounds per minute.

The vulcan guns were used primarily against light-armored support units. Sustained fire from the guns could damage mobile suits and were often used in close distance combat.

Beam saber

The GM had a single beam saber for melee combat, unlike the Gundam which had two. The beam saber was stored in the recharge rack of the mobile suit’s backpack.

Earlier GM models were equipped with two beam sabers. The backpack was later converted to a single saber version to reduce manufacturing costs and power consumption. Power rating of the GM’s saber was 0.38 MW.

Known pilots

• Shin
• Master Pierce Rayer
• Leung Lee-Fai
• Adam Stingray
• Yu Kajima
• Philip Hughes
• Summona Fulis

Variants

• RGM-79D GM Cold Districts Type
• RGM-79F Land Combat Type GM
• RGM-79SC GM Sniper Custom

Behind the scenes

Okawara Kunio was the original mechanical designer. Akitaka Mika designed the version seen in Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom, while Yamane Kimitoshi designed the version seen in Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance.

Appearances

Anime

• Mobile Suit Gundam
• Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
• Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: The Hidden One Year War
• Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: Apocalypse 0079

Manga

• Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin
• Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam: Skull Heart
• Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO 603

Games

• Mobile Suit Gundam: Federation vs Zeon DX
• Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space
• Dynasty Warriors: Gundam

External links

• RGM-79 GM on Gundam Wiki
• RGM-79 GM on MAHQ

Footnotes

1. Federation in Japanese is renpou, hence the use of “R”. ↩