Model number:
RB-79K
Code name: Ball Type K
Unit type: mobile pod
Manufacturer: Earth Federation Forces
Operator: Earth Federation Forces
Rollout: UC 0079
First deployment: UC 0079
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in body
Dimensions: overall height 12.8 meters
Weight: empty 17.2 metric tons; max gross 25.0 metric tons
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor,
output rated at 400 kW
Propulsion: rocket thrusters: 24000 kg total
Performance: maximum thruster acceleration 0.96 G
Equipment and design features: sensors, range 4000 meters;
rocket-guided grappling wench, mounted on body
Fixed armaments: 2 x 180mm cannon, mounted on body
|
Technical
and Historical Notes |
As the Earth
Federation Forces' "Project V" scrambled to get their first mobile
suit prototypes operational and begin mass-production, a stopgap
was needed to counter the Principality of Zeon's mobile suit
forces. During the stalemate of the middle months of the One
Year War, civilian-model SP-W03
space construction pods were converted into RB-79
Ball combat units, armed with a 180mm recoilless cannon.
Although this was the standard armament for the Ball,
different weapons variations appeared in different fronts of
the war. One variant was the RB-79K Ball Type K, which was armed with a
pair of cannons in place of the single one. The Ball Type K was also
equipped with larger manipulator arms and a rocket-guided cable
wench for grappling objects and targets. One Ball pilot, Ensign
Shiro Amada, became famous for using the normally-hopelessly-outclassed
Ball to defeat a high-performance MS-06RD-4
Zaku II Test Type prototype operating in Earth orbit on
6 October UC 0079.
|
Miscellaneous
Information |
Pilot:
Shiro Amada
Appearances: Mobile Suit Gundam:
The 08th MS Team; Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: Apocalypse 0079
Original mechanical designer: Hajime Katoki