HL-99 Rex 2500

Model number: HL-99
Code name: Rex 2500
Unit type: construction labor
Manufacturer: Hishii Heavy Industries
Operator: civilians
Rollout: December 1998 AD
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in head
Dimensions: overall height 7.50 meters; overall width 4.37 meters
Weight: standard 7.92 metric tons; full 8.30 metric tons
Armor materials: fiber reinforced plastic; fiber reinforced material
Powerplant: unknown
Maximum weight lifting capacity: 3.40 metric tons
Minimum revolving radius: 5.0 meters
Equipment and design features: sensors, range unknown; precision manipulator
Fixed armaments: none
Optional hand armaments: none

The HL-99 Rex 2500 was a construction labor produced by Hishii Heavy Industries. Unlike many other construction labors, the Rex was equipped with a precision manipulator for delicate work. The Rex’s design also differed from other labors in that its lower legs split into two parts: the main leg and a support strut. In late 1998, SV2 AV-98 Ingram pilot Isao Ota rescued a Rex pilot trapped in rubble following a tunnel collapse. In 1999, the terrorist group Earth Defense Army used a Rex to plant a bomb inside an ice sculpture with the intent of sabotaging the Sapporo Winter Festival in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido.

Pilot: Takaaki Ichihara
First appearance: Mobile Police Patlabor
Original mechanical designer: Yutaka Izubuchi

Cockpit

Rear view