Garuda class (Garuda)

Class: Garuda
Name: Melord
Ships of the line: Audhumla, Garuda, Melord, Sudori
Unit type: large transport plane
Manufacturer: Earth Federation Forces
Operator: Titans
First deployment: unknown
Dimensions: overall length 317.0 meters; wingspan 524.0 meters
Weight: max gross 9,800.0 metric tons
Propulsion: 10 x jet engine
Equipment and design features: sensors, range unknown
Fixed armaments: 10 x 2-barrel laser gun turret, mounted across main body
Mobile suits: 20

The Garuda class was a stratospheric mobile suit transport plane constructed by the Earth Federation Forces as part of its Garuda Initiative. Six Garudas were assigned to Earth’s air defense zones to act as an emergency preparedness initiative for mobile suit deployment. The massive plane’s design bore a similarity to the Principality of Zeon’s Gaw planes from the One Year War. The Garuda class could carry up to 20 mobile suits, as well as multiple sub-flight systems. The Garuda class was lightly armed with 10 laser gun turrets and thus relied on the mobile suits it carried for its primary defense. In UC 0096, the original Garuda was still in service and was upgraded multiple times over the years. The plane was deployed as part of a joint operation between the EFF and the private Vist Foundation to transport Mineva Lao Zabi and the captured RX-0 Unicorn Gundam. However, the Neo Zeon ship Garencieres launched an attack on the Garuda, allowing Banagher Links to rescue Mineva. The Garuda was damaged during the battle but managed to stay airborne.

First appearance: Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (anime)
Original mechanical designer: Kazumi Fujita

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