RX-107+NRX-005X Rozet TR-4 [Dandelion]

Model number: RX-107+NRX-005X
Code name: Rozet TR-4 [Dandelion]
Unit type: prototype form shifting mobile armor
Manufacturer: Earth Federation Forces
Operator: Titans
First deployment: October UC 0085
Accommodation: pilot only, in panoramic monitor/linear seat cockpit in torso
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
Armor materials: Luna Titanium alloy
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, power output rating unknown
Propulsion: rocket thrusters: total output unknown
Equipment and design features: sensors, range unknown
Fixed armaments: long-range beam rifle, mounted on main body; 2 x claw arm

The RX-107+NRX-005X Rozet TR-4 [Dandelion] was a prototype atmospheric entry module developed for special operations. In recent years, the ballute system was introduced as optional equipment which allowed a mobile suit to enter the atmosphere independently. However, a descent using the ballute system required a sequence of adjustments beforehand and transportation to satellite orbit by a carrier ship. Seeking a smoother method for Earth descent operations, the Titans remodeled the RX-107 Rozet to create the TR-4 [Dandelion], which had thrust and cruising range comparable to those of a mobile armor. This machine could travel to a descent point in satellite orbit under its own power, even while carrying a mobile suit, and because it could function as a sub-flight system after entering the atmosphere, it could engage in combat and change its landing point after entry. Although the Dandelion shifted between an atmospheric entry form, a mobile armor form, and a mobile suit form, this wasn’t a so-called “transformation.” Instead the machine was designed with the concept of a “form shift” adapted to the changing circumstances of atmospheric entry, in which little thought was given to returning to a previous form. Parts which became unnecessary after entering the atmosphere could thus be detached and discarded, and it was possible to purge all these parts, ultimately leaving only the core mobile suit which contained the cockpit block.

When entering the atmosphere, the Dandelion turned around and oriented the heat-resistant Luna Titanium alloy armor on its upper surface toward the entry direction. By deploying a heat-resistant field of coolant gas it could perform an atmospheric entry with a relatively high degree of freedom, keeping the descent sequence of complex attitude control and entry angle adjustments to a minimum. This atmospheric entry form could perform a descent with an additional mobile suit stored inside it, and within the atmosphere it also functioned as a sub-flight system.

The Dandelion’s mobile armor form was used for high mobility fighting in space and in midair, and when it deployed the claw arms used for melee combat and AMBAC maneuvering it closely resembled the MA-05 Bigro used by the former Principality of Zeon. While its atmospheric entry form was little more than a drop pod with flight capabilities, when the machine shifted to its mobile armor form its characteristics underwent a dramatic change, and it became more of a combat-oriented weapon. The Dandelion entered the atmosphere upside down, protected by its Luna Titanium armor and a heat resistant field produced by the three emitters in its central armor section, and then used its protective cover panels and tail binder as air brakes.

The unit’s mobile suit form was actually a hybrid in which the upper body of the core mobile suit was exposed and the Dandelion’s atmospheric entry module became the lower body. This form was intended mainly for ground combat, and the sections which functioned as claw arms in its mobile armor form served as supplemental leg units to support its great weight. This form wasn’t particularly oriented toward walking, but tactics such as using its high thrust for hovering movement or engaging in midair combat via “thruster jumps” proved quite effective. In mobile suit form, the central armor section became a shield, the side armor sections served as skirt armor and high mobility binders, and its claw arms functioned as leg units. Its main weapon was a long-range beam rifle powered by two energy packs.

Pilot: Carl Matsubara
First appearance: Advance of Zeta: The Flag of Titans
Original mechanical designer: Kenki Fujioka

Arm

Feet

Long-range beam rifle

Rear view (Mobile suit mode)