ZGMF-103HD Lightning Buster Gundam

Model number: ZGMF-103HD
Code name: Lightning Buster Gundam
Unit type: long-distance artillery mobile suit
Manufacturer: ZAFT (based on a design by Morgenroete, Inc.)
Operator: ZAFT (Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty)
First deployment: C.E. 75
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso
Dimensions: overall height 18.86 meters
Weight: max gross weight 99.77 metric tons
Armor materials: unknown
Powerplant: ultracompact nuclear fission reactor, power output rating unknown
Propulsion: unknown
Equipment and design features: sensors, range unknown; PS (Phase Shift) armor
Fixed armaments: 2 x MMI-KX815 high-energy beam gun, mounted on waist; 2 x MA-X60S/D MBMPG long-range beam cannon, swing over shoulder or under arms in use; 2 x Type 77 MPGML 6-tube missile launcher, mounted on backpack
Optional fixed armaments (docked with METEOR): 2 x 120cm high-energy beam cannon; 2 x 93.7cm high-energy beam cannon; 2 x MA-X200 beam sword; 77 x 60cm “Erinaceus” anti-ship missile launchers (22 per pod, 12 per arm unit, 9 on tail fin)
Optional hand armaments: none

The ZGMF-103HD Lightning Buster Gundam was an upgraded version of the original GAT-X103 Buster Gundam that ZAFT stole from the Earth Alliance during the First Bloody Valentine War in C.E. 71. The aging suit was slated to be scrapped until it was secretly acquired by politician Eileen Canaver and sent to the asteroid base Boaz for modernization. Upgrades included replacing the Earth Alliance-style cockpit with one from the ZGMF-1000 ZAKU Warrior, as well as replacing the battery with a nuclear reactor. Its armaments were also overhauled and included high-energy beam guns, long-range beam cannons and 6-tube missile launchers. As a result of its overhaul, the newly renamed Lightning Buster Gundam was assigned a new ZAFT model number. In C.E. 75, original Buster Gundam pilot Dearka Elsman reclaimed the Lightning Buster Gundam and used it to combat an extremist ZAFT faction that carried out a coup d’etat to side with the Kingdom of Foundation’s plot to again impose the Destiny Plan on the world.

Pilot: Dearka Elsman
First appearance: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM

MA-X60S/DMBMPG long-range beam cannon

MMI-KX815 high-energy beam gun

Rear view

Type 77 MPGML 6-tube missile launcher