MS-05B Zaku I

Model number: MS-05B
Code name: Zaku I
Unit type: mass production general purpose mobile suit
Manufacturer: Zeonic Company
Operator(s): Principality of Zeon/Zeon remnants; Earth Federation Forces; civilians
Rollout: October UC 0077
First deployment: UC 0077
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso
Dimensions: head height 17.5 meters
Weight: empty 50.3 metric tons; max gross 65.0 metric tons
Armor materials: super hard steel alloy
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, output rated at 899 kW
Propulsion: rocket thrusters: 40,700 kg total (2 x 19,500 kg, 2 x 850 kg)
Performance: 180-degree turn time 2.9 seconds; maximum ground running speed 120 km/h
Equipment and design features: sensors, range 2,900 meters
Fixed armaments: none
Optional hand armaments: 105mm machine gun, drum-fed, 100 rounds per drum, spare drums can be stored on waist armor racks; 120mm machine gun, drum-fed, 100 rounds per drum, spare drums can be stored on waist armor racks; Zaku bazooka, 4 round magazine, can be stored on rack on rear waist armor; heat hawk, battery powered, can be stored on waist armor racks; G-3 nerve gas grenade launcher

Introduced in UC 0077, the MS-05B Zaku I was the Principality of Zeon’s first true mass production mobile suit. Although designed as a front line combat unit, the Zaku I was soon replaced by the improved MS-06F Zaku II as the mainstay of Zeon’s mobile suit forces. Early during the One Year War of UC 0079, most Zaku Is were relegated to menial construction and supply duties, although a few continued to serve in combat roles. During the war’s opening days, Zaku Is were also used in other combat-related work roles, such gassing of colony populations, attaching booster engines to space colonies to hurtle them towards Earth, and so on. It wasn’t until the last months of the war that Zeon, desperate after facing losses in Operation Odessa and Operation Star One, moved the old Zaku Is back to the front lines to reinforce their faltering main forces. Several units even saw combat on Earth when the Midnight Fenrir team fought in defense of the California Base. After the war, Zeon remnants short on mobile suits and supplies continued to use the Zaku I as late as UC 0081.

Pilot(s): Gadem, Topp, Gabby Hazard, Matt Austin, Lee Swagar, Manning, Gaia, Ortega, Mash, Erik Blanke, Hilde Nietzsche, Greenberger, Mia Brinkman
First appearance: Mobile Suit Gundam
Original mechanical designer(s): Kunio Okawara (Mobile Suit Gundam and MSV versions), Kimitoshi Yamane (08th M.S. Team versions)

G-3 nerve gas grenade launcher (Version 2)

Rear view (Version 1)

Rear view (Version 2)

Rear view (Version 3)

Zaku bazooka (Version 1)