RGM-79 (GM)
RGM-79 (GM)
RGM-79 (GM)
Code name: GM
Weight: empty 41.2 metric tons; max gross 58.8 metric tons
Performance: 180-degree turn time 1.6 seconds; maximum ground running speed 192 km/h
Fixed armaments: 2 x 60mm vulcan gun, mounted in head; beam saber, power rated at 0.38 MW,
stored in recharge rack in backpack, hand-carried in use
Optional fixed armaments: beam saber, power rated at 0.38 MW, stored in recharge rack in
backpack, hand-carried in use; shield, mounts on left arm
Optional hand armaments: BR-M-79C-1 beam spray gun, powered by rechargeable energy cap;
100mm machine gun, clip-fed; bazooka, stored in bazooka rack behind right shoulder; HFW-
GR·MR82-90mm machine gun, clip-fed, 20 rounds per clip, 2 spare clips stored in shield
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The Earth Federation Forces were caught flat-footed when the Principality of Zeon deployed
mobile suits at the start of the One Year War in UC 0079, thus changing the face of warfare
forever. The EFF scrambled to catch up its own lagging mobile suit development and initiated
Operation V, which led to the creation of the RX-78-2 Gundam. Combat data from the Gundam's
learning computer, combined with the pre-production RGM-79(E) GM Early Type, contributed
to the development of the mass production RGM-79 GM. To mass produce the Gundam, several
compromises were made, such as removing the Core Block System, removing a beam saber and
replacing the powerful beam rifle with a simpler beam spray gun or machine gun. As the EFF
ramped up its production lines, the standard GM made its wide scale debut following the Battle
of Odessa in November. Multiple variants of the GM were deployed as the EFF pushed the Zeon
off Earth. In space, GMs were used in large numbers during Operation Cembalo and Operation
Star One. After the war, the EFF continued to produce GM variants and upgrades, and its
successors in the RGM series saw wide use as late as UC 0223.
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The One Year War reached a stalemate, and the Earth Federation Forces scrambled to develop
and deploy their own mobile suit forces to counter the Principality of Zeon. While the EFF's
Operation V prototype units were creating havoc for Zeon in other parts of the Earth Sphere, the
EFF were already hard at work laying the groundwork for their own mass-produced mobile suit.
A pre-production model developed in conjunction with the experimental groundpounding RGM-
79(G) GM Ground Type, the RGM-79(E) GM Early Type was designed for space combat and is
closely based on the prototype RX-78-2 Gundam mobile suit operating at the time. The Early
Type, along with combat data obtained from the Gundam's "learning computer" system, served
as the basis of the later mass-produced RGM-79C GM Type C.
Only a few units of the Early Type were produced and placed into actual combat for testing. One
of these units was operated by Terry Sanders, Jr., who became one of the Federation's first ace
mobile suit pilots by scoring six enemy kills in his GM. However, his entire team was wiped out
on October 6, UC 0079, when they encountered a new test-model MS-06RD-4 Zaku II RD-4
Type. Sanders was the only member of his team to survive the encounter, with his own GM left
severely damaged and incapable of combat. With his infamous "Death God" nickname ensured -
due to his curse of being the only member of his own team to walk away alive - the EFF
transferred Sanders out of the space unit test team and into groundside combat in Southeast Asia.