Project V
Encyclopedia
The Project V was a fictional weapon development program in the mecha
anime
Mobile Suit Gundam
government initially dismissed the significance of such inventions. Although Federation intelligence agents even managed to acquire the design blueprints of Zeon mobile suit programs, requests to start Federation's own mobile suit research was rejected. The Federation military officials, anticipating a full-scale conventional line of battle
warfare, decided to concentrate on strengthening its space armada, and believed that war would never break out because any potential Zeon hostility would be deterred in front of an overwhelmingly superior Earth Federation Space Forces fleet.
After suffering heavy defeats in the hands of Zeon Zaku
s in the early phase of the One Year War
, the Earth Federation finally learned its bitter lesson of ignorance in the hard way. A top-secret military project, codenamed "Project V" (short for "Project Victory") was initiated, while at the same time the EFSF fleet was being rebuilt in Jaburo under Vinson Plan. Using technology information captured by Federal agents within Zeon (e.g. the design details of AMBAC system), and taking advantages of its own technology and manufacturing superiorities, the Federation began to develop a series of more versatile and powerful mobile suits.
The Project V was carried out in secret for months, under the supervision of chief engineer Tem Ray. The result was three prototype mobile suit models, the RX-75 Guntank
, RX-77 Guncannon
and RX-78 Gundam
, and a revolutionary new warship specifically designed to support mobile suits, the Pegasus-class assault carrier.
Project V was finally discovered by Zeon forces on September 18, U.C.0079, when the carrier White Base
was followed by a Musai-class cruiser on its way to pick up the prototype mobile suits from the research facility in Side 7. The Musais commander, Char Aznable
, sent out a reconnaissance squad to infiltrate the colony and investigate the rumored Project V, which Zeon previously obtained traces of intelligence. One of the squad members decided to violate orders and started attacking the dock, destroying multiple Federal prototype modules and killing most of the Federation crews in the process. In the ensuing chaos, a desperate civilian Amuro Ray
(Tem's son) managed to start up the RX-78-2 Gundam and destroyed the two Zakus attacking the colony (at the cost of blowing a large hole in the colony's hull), marking the first recorded battle between mobile suits. Although a significant proportion of Project V's research data was lost due to the missing of Tem Ray and death of the senior crews, the result of Project V was proven — the Gundam's performance was overwhelmingly superior to any Zeon mobile suits until the introduction of MS-14 Gelgoog
at the final weeks of the war.
RX-78-2 Gundam: Became the RGM-79 GM
(GM for Gundam Mass-production type) and the mass-produced RX-79[G] Gundam Ground Type.
RX-77-2 Guncannon: Became the RX-77D Guncannon Mass Production Type.
RX-75-4 Guntank: Became the Guntank Mass Production Type.
The high cost beam rifle, although very powerful, it is too expensive to mass-equip, so many mass-produced mobile suits are equipped with scaled-down beam spray gun or cheaper conventional projectile weapons such as rifles, machine guns, bazookas or rocket launchers.
The simplification of the learning computer system. The cheaper computer systems were not as advanced as the ones in the Core Fighter, thus the mass-produced mobile suits lacked the active learning/analysis capabilities that their prototypes had. However, they do retain the accumulated combat data from the White Bases prototype mobile suits.
The elimination of the Core Block System. Each of the prototypes had the ability to eject the Core Fighter, which was carefully protected to preserve the pilot and the combat data. The Core Fighter was a type of escape system, and was lacked by all mass-produced suits.
The simplifying of the Armor materials. The Luna Titanium was replaced by cheaper titanium alloy.
Mecha
A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...
anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
Mobile Suit Gundam
Mobile Suit Gundam
is a televised anime series, created by Sunrise. Created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, it premiered in Japan on Nagoya Broadcasting Network on April 7, 1979, and lasted until January 26, 1980, spanning 43 episodes...
Background History
Upon receiving intelligence of Principality of Zeon's development of a new class of weapon called the mobile suits, the Earth FederationEarth Federation
The is a fictional organization in the Universal Century timeline of the Gundam anime series. The name also made a reappearance outside of the Gundam series in following media.* Godzilla vs...
government initially dismissed the significance of such inventions. Although Federation intelligence agents even managed to acquire the design blueprints of Zeon mobile suit programs, requests to start Federation's own mobile suit research was rejected. The Federation military officials, anticipating a full-scale conventional line of battle
Line of battle
In naval warfare, the line of battle is a tactic in which the ships of the fleet form a line end to end. A primitive form had been used by the Portuguese under Vasco Da Gama in 1502 near Malabar against a Muslim fleet.,Maarten Tromp used it in the Action of 18 September 1639 while its first use in...
warfare, decided to concentrate on strengthening its space armada, and believed that war would never break out because any potential Zeon hostility would be deterred in front of an overwhelmingly superior Earth Federation Space Forces fleet.
After suffering heavy defeats in the hands of Zeon Zaku
MS-06 Zaku II
The MS-06 Zaku II is a mobile suit from the Mobile Suit Gundam metaverse. It is redesigned by Kunio Okawara based upon the earlier draft by the series director Yoshiyuki Tomino, in which only the name was kept. The Zaku II has seen various redesigns and variants for hundreds of pieces of...
s in the early phase of the One Year War
One Year War
The is a fictional conflict from the Universal Century timeline of the anime Mobile Suit Gundam metaseries. The One Year War is very similar to World War II, the major difference being that The One Year War is in a science fiction setting and some major battles occurred in space...
, the Earth Federation finally learned its bitter lesson of ignorance in the hard way. A top-secret military project, codenamed "Project V" (short for "Project Victory") was initiated, while at the same time the EFSF fleet was being rebuilt in Jaburo under Vinson Plan. Using technology information captured by Federal agents within Zeon (e.g. the design details of AMBAC system), and taking advantages of its own technology and manufacturing superiorities, the Federation began to develop a series of more versatile and powerful mobile suits.
The Project V was carried out in secret for months, under the supervision of chief engineer Tem Ray. The result was three prototype mobile suit models, the RX-75 Guntank
RX-75 Guntank
The RX-75 Guntank is a fictional weapon from the mecha anime Mobile Suit Gundam. The real life Type 87 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun of the Japan Self-Defense Forces was unofficially nicknamed as Guntank after the fictional weapon by troopers....
, RX-77 Guncannon
RX-77 Guncannon
The RX-77 Guncannon is a fictional mobile suit from Mobile Suit Gundam anime series, originally designed and illustrated by Kunio Okawara. One of earliest mecha designs in the Real Robot genre, Guncannon's concept of a heavily armored humanoid machine with dual shoulder cannon became the...
and RX-78 Gundam
RX-78 Gundam
The RX-78 Gundam is a fictional manned robot, introduced in 1979 in Yoshiyuki Tomino's and Sunrise's anime series Mobile Suit Gundam. In the series, it is a testbed weapon for the Earth Federation when it falls into the hands of Amuro Ray, the son of a weapons designer, who goes on to pilot it in...
, and a revolutionary new warship specifically designed to support mobile suits, the Pegasus-class assault carrier.
Project V was finally discovered by Zeon forces on September 18, U.C.0079, when the carrier White Base
White Base
The White Base is a fictional spaceship from the Japanese science fiction anime series Mobile Suit Gundam. It serves as the mothership of the protagonist crew members and the famous mobile suit Gundam...
was followed by a Musai-class cruiser on its way to pick up the prototype mobile suits from the research facility in Side 7. The Musais commander, Char Aznable
Char Aznable
, born is a fictional character from the Gundam franchise. He is originally one of the main antagonists in Mobile Suit Gundam and later becomes one of the protagonists of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. In his final appearance in Char's Counterattack, he assumes leadership of the Neo Zeon movement,...
, sent out a reconnaissance squad to infiltrate the colony and investigate the rumored Project V, which Zeon previously obtained traces of intelligence. One of the squad members decided to violate orders and started attacking the dock, destroying multiple Federal prototype modules and killing most of the Federation crews in the process. In the ensuing chaos, a desperate civilian Amuro Ray
Amuro Ray
is a fictional character from the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam and its sequels, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and Char's Counterattack, voiced by Tōru Furuya , Brad Swaile , Michael Lindsay and Matthew Erickson is a fictional character from the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam and its sequels, Mobile...
(Tem's son) managed to start up the RX-78-2 Gundam and destroyed the two Zakus attacking the colony (at the cost of blowing a large hole in the colony's hull), marking the first recorded battle between mobile suits. Although a significant proportion of Project V's research data was lost due to the missing of Tem Ray and death of the senior crews, the result of Project V was proven — the Gundam's performance was overwhelmingly superior to any Zeon mobile suits until the introduction of MS-14 Gelgoog
MS-14 Gelgoog
The MS-14A Gelgoog is a fictional machine from the Universal Century timeline of the anime Gundam metaseries.-History:The Principality canceled the original MS-11 design, citing the need for beam weapons in the unit. The model number would be reassigned to the Pezun Project's Act Zaku...
at the final weeks of the war.
Integration into Mass-Production
Each of the three mobile suit models, although all prototypes, saw intense action throughout the war. After witnessing their success, the Federation created several mass-produced variants of each prototype.RX-78-2 Gundam: Became the RGM-79 GM
RGM-79 GM
The , supposedly an acronym of Gundam Mass-production type, is the mass-produced version of the RX-78 Gundam. Though many variants were produced over the years, the RGM-79 GM was the Federation's first true mass-produced mobile suit...
(GM for Gundam Mass-production type) and the mass-produced RX-79[G] Gundam Ground Type.
RX-77-2 Guncannon: Became the RX-77D Guncannon Mass Production Type.
RX-75-4 Guntank: Became the Guntank Mass Production Type.
Principal Differences between Prototypes and Mass-Production Type
The main differences of the prototype models from their mass-produced counterparts are many.The high cost beam rifle, although very powerful, it is too expensive to mass-equip, so many mass-produced mobile suits are equipped with scaled-down beam spray gun or cheaper conventional projectile weapons such as rifles, machine guns, bazookas or rocket launchers.
The simplification of the learning computer system. The cheaper computer systems were not as advanced as the ones in the Core Fighter, thus the mass-produced mobile suits lacked the active learning/analysis capabilities that their prototypes had. However, they do retain the accumulated combat data from the White Bases prototype mobile suits.
The elimination of the Core Block System. Each of the prototypes had the ability to eject the Core Fighter, which was carefully protected to preserve the pilot and the combat data. The Core Fighter was a type of escape system, and was lacked by all mass-produced suits.
The simplifying of the Armor materials. The Luna Titanium was replaced by cheaper titanium alloy.