RGC-80 Prototype GM Cannon

As the Earth Federation Forces began mass production of its RGM-79 GM mobile suits in the last months of the One Year War, it became obvious that they needed a mid-range fire support unit to complement its close combat GMs. Rather than straining their resources by designing a new mobile suit and setting up new assembly lines, the EFF decided instead to develop a GM variant to fill the roll. Their first attempt in this venture was the RGC-80 Prototype GM Cannon, which was a standard GM that had a modified back structure to mount a pair 240mm shoulder cannons. The prototype units also mounted the head of the RX-77-2 Guncannon prototype. The first unit was rolled out in October UC 0079 at Jaburo and underwent firing tests. It was discovered that mounting the heavy cannons on top of a light mobile suit frame created balance and recoil problems when the cannons were fired. The unit went back to the drawing board, evolving into the final, standard RGC-80 GM Cannon model.