MS-06V Zaku Tank (MSV)

Model number: MS-06V
Code name: Zaku Tank
Unit type: artillery mobile suit
Manufacturer: Zeonic Company/Principality of Zeon field engineers
Operator(s): Principality of Zeon; Earth Federation Forces
First deployment: UC 0079
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso
Dimensions: overall height 14.7 meters
Weight: empty 53.6 metric tons; max gross weight unknown
Armor materials: super hard steel alloy
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, power output rating unknown
Propulsion: 2 x engine-driven caterpillar tread: maximum speed unknown
Equipment and design features: sensors, range unknown; bulldozer blade, attached to front of tank body (Southeast Asia version); 2 x manipulator arms, mounted on torso (Southeast Asia version)
Fixed armaments: 3-barrel machine gun, mounted on lower tank body (standard version); 2 x shield, mounted on shoulders
Optional hand armaments: none

As the One Year War raged on, the Zeon military found itself desperately in short supply of replacement parts for mobile suits and other combat weapons. Zeon was forced to salvage what parts and supplies they could from existing damaged units, often cobbling together makeshift designs to get more operational units to the field. One product of this situation was the MS-06V Zaku Tank, which fused a MS-06F Zaku II mobile suit’s upper body, head and arms with the Magella Base drive base of an HT-01B Magella Attack tank. Zaku Tanks were prized commodities for Zeon field commanders who were starved for replacement mobile suits, and the machines were often employed as construction units for building bases and moving supplies. One such variation was a construction unit used by Zeon forces stationed in Southeast Asia, which used the upper body of a MS-05B Zaku I and mounted a bulldozer blade and a pair of long manipulator arms for heavy lifting. Zaku Tanks could also, if necessary, be outfitted with weapons and fielded as combat units. Several Zaku Tank variations were produced, including the Cannon Type, the MS-06V-6 “Green Macaque” and the MS-06V-8 “Wild Boar”. Following the end of the One Year War, many captured Zaku Tanks were deployed at Earth Federation Forces bases across Earth, particularly at the Jaburo military headquarters in South America. Zeon remnants in Africa continued to make use of the Zaku Tank as late as UC 0096.

Pilot: Eledor Massis
First appearance: MSV
Original mechanical designer(s): Kunio Okawara (MSV version), Kimitoshi Yamane (08th M.S. Team version), Yasuo Ohtagaki (Gundam Thunderbolt manga version)

Rear view (Version 1)