UMF/SSO-3 ASH

The UMF/SSO-3 ASH was ZAFT’s latest model transformable amphibious mobile suit in C.E. 73. It was more powerfully armed than the older UMF-4A GOOhN and UMF-5 ZnO and was capable of operating on land. The ASH featured the same phonon maser cannon used by most underwater ZAFT mobile suits. It was also armed with four shoulder-mounted beam cannons and two back-mounted missile launchers. Its arms were equipped with machine guns in place of hands and also feature beam claws instead of beam sabers. In late C.E. 73, a group of military-trained Coordinators used ASH suits in an attempt to assassinate Lacus Clyne in Orb. Although the attackers’ machines were all disabled by Kira Yamato’s ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam, the pilots all self-detonated their units before they could be captured and interrogated. However, it was discovered much later that the assassins acted on orders from ZAFT Supreme Council Chairman Gilbert Durandal.