FA-78 Full Armor Gundam (anime)

Model number: FA-78
Code name: Full Armor Gundam
Unit type: full armor heavy assault mobile suit
Manufacturer: Earth Federation Forces
Operator: Earth Federation Forces/Moore Brotherhood
Rollout: UC 0079
First deployment: December UC 0079
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso using Core Block System
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
Armor materials: unknown
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, power output rating unknown
Propulsion: rocket thrusters: total output unknown
Performance: unknown
Equipment and design features: sensors, range unknown; optional ejectable external armor; space backpack, features hardpoints for mounting weapons; 2 x sub-arm, mounted on backpack
Fixed armaments: 2 x beam saber, stored in recharge racks on back, hand-carried in use; 2 x vulcan gun, mounted in head; many x small missile, mounted on shoulder and waist armor
Optional fixed armaments: large beam cannon, mounted on right side of backpack; 6-tube missile pod, mounted on left side of backpack; 5-tube rocket launcher, mounted on left forearm, features shield; 2 x shield, mounted on backpack sub arms
Optional hand armaments: twin beam rifle, can equip short or long shield with forearm latch, carried in right hand

The Earth Federation Forces experimented with the “full armor” concept during the One Year War, which led to the creation of mobile suits like the FA-78 Full Armor Gundam, the similarly named FA-78-1 Full Armor Gundam and the RX-78NT-1 Gundam NT-1 Alex. Compared to the RX-78-2 Gundam, the FA-78’s base unit featured additional thrusters on the shoulders, calves and legs, plus hardpoints for mounting external weapons. It also featured hardpoints for mounting external armor on its legs, torso and arms, plus a large space backpack with additional thrusters that compensate for the added weight. The Full Armor Gundam’s weapons included a twin beam rifle with shield carried by the right hand, plus a 5-tube rocket launcher with shield on the left forearm. The backpack mounted a large beam cannon and 6-tube missile pod, and it also featured two sub-arms that could mount a pair of shields. Small missile launchers were built into the waist and shoulder armor. In the event of damage or ammo depletion, all the external weapons and armor could be purged.

Late in the war, the Full Armor Gundam was assigned to Io Fleming, a pilot in the Moore Brotherhood volunteer force that was fighting the Zeon in the ruins of Side 4, known as the Thunderbolt Sector. Io faced off against Daryl Lorenz’s MS-06R High Mobility Type “Psycho Zaku” and was ultimately bested in combat. Io and his damaged Gundam were taken to the space fortress A Baoa Qu on the eve of the EFF’s Operation Star One. Io managed to escape following a brutal interrogation and freed his comrades from their former mothership, the Beehive. As the Battle of A Baoa Qu ended in the EFF’s favor, Zeon forces retreated with the damaged Full Armor Gundam in tow. After the war, Io was assigned a new, state-of-the-art mobile suit: the RX-78AL Atlas Gundam.

Pilot: Io Fleming
First appearance: Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt (anime)
Original mechanical designer: Hajime Katoki
Note: Based on the FA-78 Full Armor Gundam from the Gundam Thunderbolt manga

Cockpit

Hand

Head

Missile pod

Missiles

Rear view (Equipped with external armor)

Rear view (Base mobile suit)

Rocket launcher

Shield

Twin beam rifle