RGM-89D Jegan Type D – MechaBay

The RGM-89D Jegan Type D was an improved mass production mobile suit developed by Anaheim Electronics for the Earth Federation Forces and Londo Bell.

The “R” in the model code meant it was a Federation model¹ and the “GM” indicated that it was a Gundam mass production mobile suit. The “89” in the model code denoted that it was developed from the RGM-89 Jegan, and the “D” suffix indicated that it was the D-type variant.

History

Several years after the introduction of the RGM-89 Jegan, Anaheim Electronics overhauled its design and gave it a package of basic upgrades to bring its technology up-to-date and relevant when compared to the newer high-performance machines being issued to special forces such as the RGZ-95 ReZEL. This upgraded model became known as the RGM-89D Jegan Type D.

UC 0094 was the earliest recorded deployment of the Jegan Type D by the Earth Federation Forces. These early units were assigned to two Clop-class cruisers, the Unkai and Ra Dels, to protect important cargo carried inside the Unkai. Unknown to the crew of Ra Dels and Unkai, the Jegan operating systems had been sabotaged to prevent any intrusion during the cargo transfer arranged by Anaheim Electronics and the Sleeves.

The early deployment type of Jegan Type D sported a red and white colour scheme, akin to those used by the RGM-79 GM during the One Year War era. In UC 0096, the colour scheme was switched to colours similar to the standard Jegan.

By UC 0096, the Jegan Type D had become the standard model of the Earth Federation Space Forces, replacing the ageing RGM-86R GM III. These units were mainly used by the Londo Bell special forces during the Laplace Incident. During the Garencieres interception, two Jegan Type D units were deployed to escort an RGM-89S Stark Jegan, but their interception was cut short when the Garencieres deployed the NZ-666 Kshatriya, which managed to destroy the two Jegans with relative ease using its funnels.

Design

The RGM-89D Jegan Type D was an improved version of the RGM-89 Jegan that featured upgrades in performance whilst maintaining compatibility with existing weapons and equipment. The most significant improvement was the addition of mount latches on the shoulder armour and front of the waist, allowing the Type D to mount additional equipment on its body.

These mount latches allowed the Type D to serve as a base for specialised variants such as the RGM-89S Stark Jegan or RGM-89DEW EWAC Jegan. Typically, teams of Jegan Type D units would work in concert with more advanced Federation mobile suits such as the Stark Jegan, the RGZ-95 ReZEL, and the RGZ-95C ReZEL Commander Type.

The Type D maintained the same basic specifications as the original Jegan, with a head height of 19.0 metres and utilising titanium alloy ceramic composite armour. The mobile suit had an ultracompact Minovsky power plant that generated an output of 1,870 kW. Its propulsion system generated 62,000 kg of total thrust.

The mobile suit featured a standard cockpit in its torso with a panoramic monitor and linear seat. Its sensor suite provided a detection range of 16,800 metres.

Armaments

The Jegan Type D’s standard weapons were a beam saber for melee combat and a beam rifle for ranged attacks, inherited from the base Jegan design.

Vulcan pod system

As with the original Jegan, the Jegan Type D could mount a vulcan pod system on the left side of its head as a close-range defensive armament. Unlike the original, it utilised 60 mm rounds stored in a removable magazine located in the right side of the head, but these rounds were not caseless like the original Jegan’s vulcan system.

The vulcan pod system provided relatively low firepower but was effective at keeping enemies at bay. It could destroy cameras, sensors, and joints at very close range and also served as missile defence.

Beam saber

Like the original Jegan, the Jegan Type D stored a beam saber in a rack on the right side of the waist, and its output could be adjusted as it had two beam emitters. Via selecting the output and emitter, this close combat weapon could emit a flat beam blade for slashing, or a slim beam blade with high penetration ability. Its output could also be concentrated into a knife-like beam blade for penetrating the tough armour of allied units without causing lethal damage. The beam saber rack contained an accelerator equipped capacitor system for rapid recharge of the weapon.

The beam saber used an I-field to contain Minovsky particles within the shape of a blade. Minovsky particles broke down matter at a molecular level, allowing the beam saber to cut through almost any material.

Hand grenades

Inherited from the original Jegan, three hand grenades were stored in the grenade rack mounted on the left side of the waist. They could be thrown and timed to explode after several seconds as set by the pilot, or set to detonate when its sensors detected the metallic signal of extremely nearby enemy machines.

Beam rifle

The standard ranged armament of many mobile suits was the beam rifle. The Jegan Type D used the same beam rifle as the original Jegan, powered by rechargeable energy caps. The rifle fired particle beams that could penetrate almost any armour that had not been treated with specific counter-measures.

Bazooka

A portable, physical projectile-type firearm, this general purpose bazooka was used by the Jegan and other Earth Federation Forces’ mobile suits in the mid UC 0090s. A spare ammunition cartridge was mounted in front of the bazooka’s grip, and the weapon was compatible with various types of warhead.

Shield

The Jegan Type D used the same basic shield design as the original Jegan, mounting 2 x 2-tube missile launchers for additional firepower. The shield was used to protect against physical attacks and had anti-beam coating on its surface for defending against beam attacks.

Known pilots

Galom Gorga
Piko Altidore
Carlos Craig

Behind the scenes

Katoki Hajime was the original mechanical designer for the Jegan Type D, continuing his work on the Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn series. The Type D was based on the RGM-89D Jegan Type D from the Gundam Unicorn novels, with some modifications for the anime adaptation.

The mount latches were a key design feature that allowed the Type D to serve as a basis for multiple specialised variants, demonstrating the Earth Federation’s approach of modifying existing designs rather than developing entirely new mobile suits.

Appearances

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn novels

External links

RGM-89D Jegan D Type on the Gundam Wiki
RGM-89D Jegan Type D on MAHQ

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