RX-93 ν Gundam – MechaBay | Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack

The RX-93 ν Gundam was a Newtype-use ultrahigh efficiency mobile suit developed by Anaheim Electronics for the Earth Federation Forces’ special task force Londo Bell during the Second Neo Zeon War.

The “R” in the model code meant it was a Federation model¹ and the “X” indicated that it was an experimental mobile suit. The “93” in the model code denoted that it was developed in UC 0093. The “ν” (nu) designation came from the Greek letter nu (ν), the 13th letter of the Greek alphabet.

History

In response to the rise of Char Aznable’s second Neo Zeon movement in the early UC 0090s, the Earth Federation Forces created a special task force called Londo Bell to investigate and stop the new rebellion. One of Londo Bell’s mobile suit pilots was famed One Year War ace Amuro Ray, whose Newtype abilities were essential to stopping Char’s forces. Londo Bell commissioned Anaheim Electronics to build a new Gundam-type mobile suit for Amuro’s use, incorporating the latest in psychic communication technology.

Anaheim’s result was the RX-93 ν Gundam (ν being the Greek symbol “nu”). The ν Gundam’s basic design was created by Amuro himself, but construction and final modifications were supervised by Anaheim engineer October Saran. Data from Anaheim’s experimental RX-9 Narrative Gundam contributed to the development of the ν Gundam. October incorporated the latest piece of psychic communication technology – supposedly leaked to Anaheim by Char’s Neo Zeon – called the psychoframe.

The ν Gundam was completed prior to the incorporation of psychoframe technology in its initial “First Lot” rollout version, but Char’s forces began to move quickly, and the final rollout date for the ν Gundam was moved up. Amuro took possession of the ν Gundam and returned to the Londo Bell task force to prepare his new mobile suit for the coming fight with Char.

During the climactic battle at Axis, Amuro attempted to use the ν Gundam to single-handedly stop half of the asteroid base Axis from falling on Earth. When other mobile suit pilots joined in the effort to push the giant rock from its decaying orbit, the concentration of so many minds on a single task caused the ν Gundam’s psychoframe cockpit to overload, resulting in the mobile suit’s destruction and Earth’s salvation as Axis was pushed away by the overwhelming psychic force, an event later known as the Axis Shock.

Design

The ν Gundam’s design is based on the average specification values of each successive generation of Gundam-type units from the original RX-78-2 Gundam to the MSZ-010 ΖΖ Gundam, and updated with state-of-the-art technologies introduced at the time. Various test data collected from the ARX-014P Silver Bullet (Funnel Test Type), the YRA-90A μ Gundam, and the RX-9 Narrative Gundam were also used in its development.

The ν Gundam’s design focuses on versatility and operational aspects, as well as emphasizes on reliability and durability for protracted battles. The mobile suit featured a distinctive design with a triple face vent as opposed to the standard double face vent found on other Gundam-type units.

The ν Gundam had an ultracompact Minovsky power plant that generated an output of 2,980 kW. It was equipped with rocket thrusters that generated 97,800 kg of total thrust: four thrusters rated at 18,300 kg each and two at 12,300 kg each, plus 26 vernier thrusters and apogee motors.

The mobile suit featured an ejectable panoramic monitor/linear seat cockpit in the torso with a cockpit composed of microscopic Psycommu receptors that allow a Newtype pilot to control the suit as if it is their own body as well as to have better command over remote weaponry.

Psychoframe technology

The Psycho-Frame technology, which was secretly provided to Anaheim Electronics by Char Aznable of Neo Zeon, was used around the mobile suit’s cockpit and joints, improving its flexibility and follow-up capabilities. The Psycho-Frame also enabled ν Gundam to utilize Psycommu weapons and channel the emotions and mental energies of a Newtype pilot.

Composed of microscopic-sized psycommu receptor chips, October incorporated the new psychoframe technology into the ν Gundam’s cockpit frame, not only reducing its total weight but giving the pilot an edge in being able to more easily read an enemy’s thoughts and movements.

Armaments

The ν Gundam’s standard weapons were its beam rifle for ranged attacks, beam sabers for melee combat, and six revolutionary fin funnels for all-range attacks.

Vulcan guns

2 x vulcan gun, mounted in head provided the ν Gundam with rapid-fire capability against lightly armoured targets and served as anti-missile defence.

Beam rifle

beam rifle, power rated at 3.8 MW, powered by rechargeable energy cap, with attached grenade launcher, 1 round served as the ν Gundam’s primary ranged weapon. The rifle drew its power from energy caps and featured a built-in grenade launcher above the rifle’s barrel in early model kit documentation, though later sources described this as a sensor.

Beam sabers

The ν Gundam carried two beam sabers for melee combat: large beam saber, power rated at 0.85 MW, stored in recharge rack on backpack, hand-carried in use; beam saber, stored in recharge rack in left forearm, hand-carried in use. The beam sabers used an I-field to contain Minovsky particles within the shape of a blade, allowing them to cut through almost any material.

New hyper bazooka

new hyper bazooka, clip-fed, 4 rounds per clip plus 1 round in chamber, can be stored on backpack storage rack provided heavy firepower for destroying heavily armoured targets.

Shield

shield, mounted on left forearm, mounts beam cannon (power rated at 7.8 MW) and 4 x small missile provided defensive capabilities whilst also serving as an offensive weapons platform. The shield featured Amuro Ray’s personal emblem.

Fin funnels

The first Bit weapon used by a Gundam-type mobile suit. The ν Gundam is equipped with 6 Fin Funnels on a turret on the left side of its backpack. Each Fin Funnel features an open-type mega-particle acceleration strip and a small generator. The Fin Funnel itself, made up of three blocks, also serves as a AMBAC unit.

Although they were technically bits and not funnels (since the fin funnels had their own onboard reactors for power), they were far more advanced than normal bits or funnels in that, in addition to serving as remote beam weapons, they could also be used in geometric formations to create a beam barrier, offering a target 360 degrees of protection against most weapons fire.

Since mega particle compression systems and I-field generators share the same basic principles, the Fin Funnels can deploy a large beam barrier at will. Additionally, the positioning of the Funnels allowed for arbitrary changes in the effective coverage of the barrier. By placing a minimum of four funnels, it becomes possible to provide perfect defense in the shape of a regular tetrahedron around the mobile suit.

Because the ν Gundam was rushed into production, the Fin Funnels could not be reattached once launched, essentially making them disposable weapons.

Special equipment

The ν Gundam featured several unique systems:

Launchers on the hands that fire an adhesive substance which can be used to repair small cracks in colony walls or restrain soldiers on foot. The ν Gundam used them to immobilize the escape pod of the Sazabi.
Stored in the fingers, these launchers deploy mobile suit sized dummy balloons which can be used as decoys or to disorient enemies.

Known pilots

Amuro Ray

Variants

RX-93 ν Gundam Double Fin Funnel Type

The RX-93 ν Gundam Double Fin Funnel Type featured the ν Gundam’s backpack beam saber slot was replaced with a joint to mount an additional rack of remote-controlled fin funnels, thus doubling their number to 12 fin funnels total.

RX-93-ν2 Hi-ν Gundam

The RX-93-ν2 Hi-ν Gundam was an alternate interpretation of the ν Gundam that appeared in the novel Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack - Beltorchika’s Children.

FA-93HWS ν Gundam Heavy Weapons System Type

The FA-93HWS ν Gundam Heavy Weapons System Type was an additional armament package that could be mounted on the ν Gundam variants.

Behind the scenes

Yutaka Izubuchi was the original mechanical designer for the ν Gundam’s appearance in Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack. During the planning stages of the movie, the ν Gundam was originally named the “HS Gundam”, or “Hi-S Gundam”. According to Yoshiyuki Tomino, it was meant to mean “Higher than Char”, thought he admitted he forgot how Char’s name was spelled at the time, thus the “S”.

The ν Gundam was the first Gundam-type machine to be equipped with Funnels, and a newly developed MS control program is installed to account for the mobile suit’s center of mass during separation and movement of the Funnels.

Appearances

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack
Gundam Evolve (episode 5)

External links

RX-93 ν Gundam on the Gundam Wiki
RX-93 ν Gundam (anime) on MAHQ

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