The Sodon was a space tugboat mass produced by the Principality of Zeon.
History
The Principality of Zeon developed the Sodon was developed to tow spaceships.
It was also often used to transport mobile suits to extend their operating range. This role led to the development of sub-flight systems such as the Flying Armour and the Base Jabber during the Gryps Conflict.
The emergence of sub-flight systems, external mobile suit fuel tanks, and advances in mobile suit operating range rendered the Sodon obsolete and it was eventually phased out.
Design
The Sodon was designed to tow spaceships. It was about the same size as a mobile suit and could tow three MS-06F Zaku II mobile suits.
Although it had six round external fuel tanks, the Sodon’s operating range was still very limited.
Armaments
The Sodon was armed with machine guns for anti-spacefighter defence.
Machine guns
The tugboat was mounted with three twin machine gun turrets. One was mounted below the cockpit, and it had one on each side mounted on each landing leg.
Behind the scenes
Kunio Okawara was the original mechanical designer.