RGM-89 JEGAN
ABOUT THE MASS PRODUCTION MOBILE SUIT

Let’s compare the battle strength of the Londo Bell Forces and the Neo Zeon before the mechanical exposition of the Jegan.

The number of each warship and mobile suit from the battle of Fifth Luna* to the 1^st battle of Axis is as follows:

*Fifth Luna is one of the asteroids brought in from the asteroid belt and was utilized to obtain soil and mineral resources for colony construction. The Neo Zeon dropped it onto Earth as a prelude to dropping Axis.

LONDO BELL FORCES

FLEET

Battleship Ra Cailum x 1
Cruiser (Ra Chutter, others) x 3

MOBILE SUITS

Nu Gundam x 1
Re-GZ x 1
Jegan x 18

NEO ZEON

WARSHIPS

Battleship Rewloola x 1
Cruisers Musaka-class x 13

MOBILE SUITS

Sazabi x 1
Jagd Doga x 2
Geara Doga x 82
Alpha Azieru x 1

While it is said that the Neo Zeon didn’t launch all of their ships, it is evident that their fighting strength is quite substantial. The Geara Doga’s production numbers is said to exceed 100 units up to Char’s Neo Zeon revolt at Sweetwater (a colony to accommodate space refugees) and there are likely 4-5 Musaka-class. Besides this, it is said that there are quite a few mobile suits belonging to remnants of Haman’s forces who fled to the asteroid belt.

Although it seems impossible for the Londo Bell Forces to fight on equal terms with the Neo Zeon given their battle strength, it shows the magnitude of the expectations the Earth Federation government leaders had towards Amuro and the Nu Gundam.

Now then, while the Jegan is a mass production type mobile suit of the Earth Federation Forces, this unit is a successor model of the GM from the One Year War and GM II from the Gryps War. The Jegan was produced at Anaheim Electronics Von Braun factory and was developed as a successor to the Hi-Zack and the GM II which was already outdated before the Gryps War.

Initially it was designed as a mass production successor that made extensive use of the Gundam Mk-II’s technology. While the backpack on its back possessed inferior output, it was planned to have the same type as the Mk-II. However, due to the drastic reduction of the budget for mobile suit development by the Federation Forces, further cost reduction was required. For this reason, the development team gave up on six prototypes that had been produced and decided to produce a minor version based on this with the number RGM-88X. One unit of the RGM-88X was destroyed during testing, two of them were dismantled and the remaining three were deployed for testing to the Londo Bell forces.

However, when the RGM-89 was deployed in combat, numerous defects were pointed out. The first was the weakness of the armor. So, the RGM-88X was rapidly adopted as the RGM-90 and was deployed as a local type mobile suit at the Earth Federation Forces main bases on Earth. The total production number of the RGM-89 is said to be about 80 and it is said that the actual number of 88X which became the RGM-90 is about 40 units. In addition, it is sad that there are 20 units of the RGM-91S with enhanced armor (partial use of Gundarium) and the main engine of the 89’s that were on the production line but the exact number is not clear as only senior Federation government officials are aware.

[Design & Setting Cooperation by Yutaka Izubuchi]

B-CLUB 29/1988.4