MS-18E Kämpfer

Model number: MS-18E
Code name: Kämpfer
Unit type: heavy assault mobile suit
Manufacturer: Zeonic Company
Operator: Principality of Zeon
First deployment: UC 0079
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso
Dimensions: head height 17.7 meters
Weight: empty 43.5 metric tons; max gross 78.5 metric tons
Armor materials: titanium ceramic composite
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, output rated at 1,550 kW
Propulsion: rocket thrusters: 159,000 kg total (2 x 28,500 kg, 2 x 27,000 kg, 4 x 12,000 kg); vernier thrusters/apogee motors: 16
Performance: 180-degree turn time: 1.2 seconds; maximum ground running speed 215 km/h
Equipment and design features: sensors, range 6,100 meters
Fixed armaments: 2 x 60mm vulcan gun, mounted in head; 2 x beam saber, stored in recharge racks in hip armor, hand-carried in use
Optional hand armaments: 2 x shotgun, pump-action magazine and breech, can be stored on backpack storage racks; 2 x giant bazooka, clip-fed, can be stored on backpack storage racks; 2 x panzer faust, rocket-propelled warhead, can be stored in racks on legs; chain mine

In the last days of the One Year War, the Principality of Zeon developed the MS-18E Kämpfer, a fast assault unit. Based on the YMS-18 Prototype Kämpfer (“käempfer” being German for “fighter” or “champion”), the suit sacrificed armor protection in exchange for many thrusters and verniers, making it quite fast and maneuverable. Armed with an array of giant bazookas, shotguns and panzer fausts, the Kämpfer could approach a target at high speed, make a fast strike, and quickly escape. This hit-and-run concept made the Kämpfer a powerful and deadly mobile suit; however, its speed and high number of thrusters resulted in high fuel consumption and a limited operational time. Despite this minor drawback, the Kämpfer was an excellent mobile suit. Unfortunately for Zeon, it was another case of “too little, too late,” as the One Year War came to an end and the Kämpfer never saw mass production. A Kämpfer unit was deployed on December 20, UC 0079, attacking an Earth Federation Forces research base in the neutral Side 6 Libot Colony during a failed attempt to destroy the RX-78NT-1 Gundam NT-1 Alex prototype mobile suit. On Earth, a recovered MS-18 frame was modified by North American Zeon forces into a different configuration, the MS-18 Titania. After the war, another Kämpfer served as the personal mobile suit of Fabian Frischknecht, a pilot at Zeon’s Axis asteroid base.

Pilot(s): Mikhail Kaminsky, Fabian Frischknecht, Lilia Flaubert
First appearance: Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket
Original mechanical designer: Yutaka Izubuchi

Chain mine

Giant bazooka

Panzer faust

Rear view

Shotgun