RB-79K Ball Type K

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

As the Earth Federation Forces' "Project V" scrambles to get their first mobile suit prototypes operational and begin mass-production, a stopgap is 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 Mobile Pod space construction pods are converted into RB-79 Ball combat units, armed with a 180mm recoilless cannon. Although this is the standard armament for the Ball, several weapons variations appear in different fronts of the war. One variant is the RB-79K Ball Type K, which is armed with a pair of cannons in place of the single one. The Type K is also equipped with larger manipulator arms and a rocket-guided cable wench for grappling objects and targets. One Ball pilot, Shiro Amada, becomes 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.

Pilot: Shiro Amada
Appearances: Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team; Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: Apocalypse 0079
Original mechanical designer: Hajime Katoki

Cockpit
Wench