MA-05 Bigro

Model number: MA-05
Code name: Bigro
Unit type: mass production space combat mobile armor
Manufacturer: MIP Company
Operator(s): Principality of Zeon; Earth Federation Forces
First deployment: 10 November UC 0079
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in main body
Dimensions: overall length 45.5 meters; overall height 23.6 meters
Weight: empty 125.5 metric tons; max gross 229.8 metric tons
Armor materials: super hard steel alloy
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, output rated at 17,800 kW
Propulsion: rocket thrusters: 136,100 kg total
Equipment and design features: sensors, range 111,000 meters; Minovsky particle scattering system for ECM (electronic countermeasures)
Fixed armaments: mega particle cannon, mounted in main body; 2 x 4-tube missile launcher, 3 round magazine per tube, mounted on main body; 2 x large claw arm, mounted on main body

In the years building up to the One Year War, several companies took part in a new conceptual weapons competition. MIP Company’s entry to the competition was the experimental MIP-X1 mobile armor; however, MIP lost out to Zeonic Company’s more agile and versatile mobile suit concept. As the One Year War opened and Zeon began taking a serious second look at the mobile armor concept, the MIP-X1 was taken back to the drawing board and remodeled into the mobile armor MA-05 Bigro. Mounting a pair of large claw-laden arms for limited AMBAC (Active Mass Balance AutoControl) ability, the Bigro incorporated the same monoeye sensor system used on all Zeon military mobile suits. Driven by a pair of large nuclear rocket engines, mounting a large mega particle gun and a pair of 4-tube missile launchers, and equipped with a Minovsky particle scattering system to make it difficult to detect with sensors, the Bigro was well-proven as a high-speed anti-warship unit. However, only a handful of the costly Bigros were produced during the war, including two variants: the MA-05R Big Ruf and MA-05Ad Big Rang. At least one unit was captured by the Earth Federation Forces after the war’s end and used in combat during the Delaz Conflict of UC 0083.

Pilot(s): Tokwan, Ewen Bader, Glennis Escot
First appearance: Mobile Suit Gundam
Original mechanical designer: Kunio Okawara (Mobile Suit Gundam version)

Rear view (Version 1)