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RGM-90 Double Zeta Gundam Platoon Leader Mobile Suit (RGM-90B, -010E)

I. Dimensions

II. Type

• (RGM-90B, -90E) One man, all weather, standard production mobile suit. One man, all weather, platoon leader mobile suit.
• (RGM-90FA) GBP-12 external booster, armor, and weapons pack optimized for heavy assault outfitted onto a conventional Enhanced Double Zeta Gundam.

III. Service Use

• RGM-90B: Served with the RDF Space Marines and Marines from 2060 until replaced by the RGM-90E.
• RGM-90E: Served with the RDF Space Marines and Marines from 2064 until replaced by the RGM-99.
• RGM-90FA: Served with the RDF Space Marines from 2066 until replaced by the RGM-99.

IV. Propulsion

Engines:

(RGM-90B)

• 2 x Icarus Aerospace AST-39 thrusters on the back, total thrust 213 kN each.
• 4 x Icarus Aerospace AST-38, thrusters on the back in pairs, total thrust 142 kN each.
• Assorted small reaction thrusters and gyroscopes for all-environment maneuvers, attitude adjustment, and stability.

(RGM-90E, -90FA)

• 4 x Icarus Aerospace AST-55 thrusters on the back, total thrust 306 kN each.
• Assorted small reaction thrusters and gyroscopes for all-environment maneuvers, attitude adjustment, and stability.

Powerplant:

(RGM-90B)

• 2 x RRD-5 Miniaturized Fusion-cell energizer providing electrical power to the mecha. Maximum output, 5000 kW each.

(RGM-90E, -90FA)

• 2 x RRD-8 Miniaturized Fusion-cell energizer providing electrical power to the mecha. Maximum output, 6800 kW each.

Fuel Capacity:

(RGM-90B)

• 24 Standard Canisters of Reaction Mass
• 2 dedicated canister for each tachyon rifle
• 374.4 liters D2O reactant for fusion engines.

(RGM-90E, -90FA)

• 24 Standard Canisters of Reaction Mass
• 2 dedicated canister for each tachyon rifle
• 356.9 liters D2O reactant for fusion engines.

V. Performance

VI. Electronics

Radar tracking:

(RGM-90B)

• Hughes AN/APG-187 X-Band, spherical pulse-Doppler, providing long-range detection and tracking of targets at all altitudes.
• General Electric GN/TPG-262 medium range UWB phased array pulse-Doppler, for detection and tracking of targets, and with battlefield surveillance modes.
• Westinghouse AN/APX-20 IFF friend or foe interrogator.

(RGM-90E, -90FA)

• General Electric AN/APG-192 X-Band, pulse Doppler, providing long range detection and tracking of targets at all altitudes.
• Westinghouse GN/TPG-310 medium range UWB phased array pulse-Doppler, for detection and tracking of targets, and with battlefield surveillance modes.
• Westinghouse AN/APX-20 IFF friend or foe interrogator.

Optical tracking:

(RGM-90B)

• Phillips AN/DOS-4700 multi-band digital camera system, for medium range, traversable, UV, infrared imaging and optical band detection and tracking.
• Thomson AN/LT-10 multi-frequency laser ranger and designator.

(RGM-90E, -90FA)

• Phillips AN/DOS-5700 multi-band digital camera system, for medium range, traversable, UV, infrared imaging and optical band detection and tracking.
• Thomson AN/LT-12 multi-frequency laser ranger and designator.

Tactical Electronic Warfare System (TEWS):

(RGM-90B)

• Loral AN/ALR-40 Radar Warning Receiver (RWR)
• Loral AN/AIR-28 Infra-red Warning Receiver (IRWR)
• General Electric AN/ALQ-293(V) active sensor jammer
• Westinghouse AN/AMJ-8 active missile jammers
• Tracor AN/ALE-16 Chaff and flare dispenser
• Multiple VHF and UHF antennas
• Bose Loudspeakers producing sound up to 90 decibels.

(RGM-90E, -90FA)

• Westinghouse AN/ALR-48 Radar Warning Receiver (RWR)
• General Electric AN/AIR-34 Infra-red Warning Receiver (IRWR)
• Kowalczyk AN/ALQ-300(V) active sensor jammer
• Westinghouse AN/AMJ-12 active missile jammers
• Tracor AN/ALE-16 Chaff and flare dispenser
• Multiple VHF and UHF antennas
• Bose Loudspeakers producing sound up to 90 decibels.

VII. Armament

Cannons

• 2 x Smith & Wesson tri-barrel 60mm autocannons:  Mounted on either side of the head of the mobile suit, the 60mm cannons provide anti-personnel firepower as well as a close range alternative to its other more powerful weapons.  Each cannon can fire at 600 rounds per minute with a 400 round belt feed.  Ammunition is the standard mix of of Tungsten-coated depleted Uranium Armor Piercing Spin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot (APSSDS), High Explosive Armor Piercing (HEAP) and tracer rounds.
• 2 x Smith & Wesson tri-barrel 90mm autocannons: Mounted on side of the head below the 60mm autocannons, the 90mm cannons provide excellent anti-armor capabilities against lightly to medium armored targets such as troop carriers.  Each cannon can fire at 350 rounds per minute with a 400 round belt feed. Ammunition is a mix of Tungsten-coated depleted Uranium Armor Piercing Spin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot (APSSDS), High Explosive Armor Piercing (HEAP) and tracer rounds.
• 1 x Hughes TC-10 tachyon cannon: This cannon is almost a full size version of the cannon seen on most capital ships.  The cannon is mounted on the forehead of the mobile suit in-between the distinctive 'V Fin'.  This powerful cannon can threaten most smaller capital ships as it fires a 15 GJ(!) burst at ranges of up to 500 km.  Of course this powerful of a cannon does have its drawbacks.  The refire rate is only once every 30 seconds with only enough energy stored for 5 bursts before needing to be recharged at an RDF facility.

(RGM-90FA)

• 2 x Smith & Wesson tri-barrel 60mm autocannons:  Mounted on either side of the head of the mobile suit, the 60mm cannons provide anti-personnel firepower as well as a close range alternative to its other more powerful weapons.  Each cannon can fire at 600 rounds per minute with a 400 round belt feed.  Ammunition is the standard mix of of Tungsten-coated depleted Uranium Armor Piercing Spin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot (APSSDS), High Explosive Armor Piercing (HEAP) and tracer rounds.
• 2 x Smith & Wesson tri-barrel 90mm autocannons: Mounted on side of the head below the 60mm autocannons, the 90mm cannons provide excellent anti-armor capabilities against lightly to medium armored targets such as troop carriers.  Each cannon can fire at 350 rounds per minute with a 400 round belt feed. Ammunition is a mix of Tungsten-coated depleted Uranium Armor Piercing Spin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot (APSSDS), High Explosive Armor Piercing (HEAP) and tracer rounds.
• 1 x Hughes TC-10 tachyon cannon: This cannon is almost a full size version of the cannon seen on most capital ships.  The cannon is mounted on the forehead of the mobile suit in-between the distinctive 'V Fin'.  This powerful cannon can threaten most smaller capital ships as it fires a 15 GJ(!) burst at ranges of up to 500 km.  Of course this powerful of a cannon does have its drawbacks.  The refire rate is only once every 30 seconds with only enough energy stored for 5 bursts before needing to be recharged at an RDF facility.
• 1 x Hughes TC-11 tachyon cannon: This cannon are almost a full size version of the cannon seen on most capital ships.  As such it is quite large and packs a powerful punch.  The weapon can fire once every fifteen seconds with a force of 10GJ(!).  The largest drawback of this weapon is its limited ammo.  Only enough energy for five bursts can be stored at one time and the Full Armor Double Zeta does not have the energy to recharge the cannon in the field.  However, this cannon is capable of severely damaging small capital ships and even damaging larger ones.  These devastating weapons are mounted in the lower torso of the RGM-90FA.

Hand Held Weapons:

• 1 x Rheinmetall BR-15 twin-barreled tachyon rifle: This hand-held tachyon rifle is the main weapon for the RGM-90 Double Zeta Gundam, and is easily as powerful as the point defense cannons mounted on many warships.  A unique feature of the Double Zeta's rifle is that it has two barrels.  This gives a dramatically increased rate of fire of 120 rounds per minute in full automatic mode.  Each barrel fires at 250 MJ with enough ammo for 18 dual bursts, or 36 single bursts with its own dedicated cell and capacitor banks in the 'magazine' with two spare magazines mounted behind the projectile shield
• (RGM-90FA only)  1 x Rheinmetall ML-05 tachyon cannon: This oversized weapon is approximately twice as large as the standard tachyon rifle and is very cumbersome to work with and can only be used in the vacuum of space.  However, this weapon is able to deliver a devastating blow to multiple targets at once.  This tachyon cannon differs in that it can fire for a sustained period of up to fifteen seconds before the internal capacitor overheats and shuts down for a 5 minute cooling period.  This gives the RGM-90 the ability to wipe a large area clean of enemy resistance as the beam generated is approximately 15 meters across and over a range of 10,000 km.  The cannon can reach a maximum output of 100 GJ(!).  It poses a serious threat to even the largest of capital ships.  The major downside to this weapon is again the refire rate.  Once fired the cannon must enter a five minute cooling period.  For this reason it is often used in defensive situations when large groups of mecha are swarming the target and when the RGM-90 has adequate cover fire to allow the weapon to recharge.

Beam Saber

• 2 x Shinara 1.1 MW tachyon saber / cannon: A unique weapon which serves a dual function as both tachyon cannon and tachyon saber.  The tachyon saber only contains enough energy and tachyons for about 60 seconds of continuous use. When not in use, the beam sabers are stored in the backpack of the mecha, where they are recharged by the reactor. The tachyon cannon is therefore hooked into the reactor as well and can draw its energy from there giving it infinite ammunition.  The cannons are quite powerful able to fire a 200 MJ at ranges of up to 30 km away with excellent accuracy.  However they suffer from a limited arc of fire as they are mounted in the backpack.

Missiles

(RGM-90B)

• 1 x DZIDMMS-1 Double Zeta Integral Dagger Multi-Missile System: 42 inboard variable warhead, MPM-23 Dagger combined infra-red imager and active radar homing. Launch ports are six tubes on the backpack each with one ready six reloads.  Various warhead options.

(RGM-90E)

• 1 x DZIDMMS-2 Double Zeta Integral Dagger Multi-Missile System: 72 inboard variable warhead, MPM-23 Dagger combined infra-red imager and active radar homing. Launch ports are 36 tubes on the backpack each with one ready and one reload.  Various warhead options.

(RGM-90FA)

• 1 x DZIDMMS-2 Double Zeta Integral Dagger Multi-Missile System: 72 inboard variable warhead, MPM-23 Dagger combined infra-red imager and active radar homing. Launch ports are 36 tubes on the backpack each with one ready and one reload.  Various warhead options.
• 1 x FADZIPMMS Full Armor Double Zeta Integral Pike Multi-Missile System: 28 inboard variable warhead, MPM-20 Pike combined infra-red imager and active radar homing. Launch ports two eight tube launchers on either side of the torso below the Scimitar launchers and a six tube launcher in each shoulder.  Various warhead options.
• 1 x FADZISMMS Full Armor Double Zeta Integral Scimitar Multi-Missile System: 2 inboard variable warhead, MPM-17 Scimitar combined infra-red imager and active radar homing. Launch ports are two launchers in the chest with no reloads. Various warhead options.

Other Military Cargoes available include:

• GBP-12: Heavy armor and weapons package for the RGM-90E Enhanced Double Zeta Gundam. Onboard weapons include (see above for details):
  • 1 x TC-11 tachyon cannon
  • 1 x ML-05 tachyon cannon
  • 1 x FADZIPMMS Full Armor Double Zeta Integral Pike Multi-Missile System
  • 1 x FADZISMMS Full Armor Double Zeta Integral Scimitar Multi-Missile System

VIII. Armor

The armor on the RGM-90 is a low-mass lunarium titanium composite plating that is the standard for command mobile suits known as Gundarium. Aside from the superb protection provided against projectiles, missiles, and other kinetic weapons, this armor is also fairly resistant to plasma globes (annihilation discs), lasers, and to a lesser extent, particle guns too, owing to the fact that the armor can flake off and evaporate in layers under fire from such high-energy weapons, taking much of the weapon's energy and converting it into the latent heat of sublimation in the armor. The armor stops all small arms fire, and has good resistance to all weapons commonly mounted on combat mecha. This new armor is also much lighter than most armors weighing a full two thirds less than the traditional armor's mounted on mecha but is almost twice as expensive to make.

The Double Zeta Gundam provides full protection from nuclear, biological, and chemical hazards, using an overpressure cockpit environment activated by radiation and hazardous chemical sensors, or manually when biological warfare conditions are anticipated. The internal consumables supplies can provide atmosphere for three days maximum.

IX. Development

Following the successful deployment of the RGM-84 Gundam Zeta, engineers at Anaheim once again went back to the drawing board in attempt to provide more robust versions of the RGM-84.  After four years of design, they arrived at the early concept for the RGM-90 Double Zeta Gundam.  This mobile suit would be based on the Gundam Zeta and feature far superior fire power than its predecessor.  One of the limitations of the Gundam Zeta was its short battlefield endurance in terms of missile combat.  The Double Zeta attempted to solve this problem by adding yet more missiles for a total of 42 scattered across the mobile suit.  The biggest upgrade for the Double Zeta Gundam however was in terms of the cannon firepower.  The suit uses a double barrel beam rifle which, while delivering a smaller blast, can fire more rapidly allowing the suit to lay down tachyon suppressive fire pinning enemies to the ground.  The suit also refined the large tachyon cannon used by the MSZ-006.  The end result of the study yielded the TC-10 tachyon cannon.  This cannon, while delivering less firepower than its cousin, was carried internally so as to be more flexible in combat and can fire at an increased rate of fire making more than just a stand off defensive weapon. 

These features were coupled with a superior thrusters and generators which allowed the RGM-90 to achieve much greater space combat performance as well as improved atmospheric combat capacity.  In 2060 the RDF Marines and Space Marines approved production to replace all of the RGM-84C units in use and designated for platoon leader use.  The first RGM-90 Double Zeta Gundam reached the front lines in late 2060.  Do the delight of both the pilots and Anaheim, the mobile suit performed beyond expectations leading to increased production beginning in 2061. 

The mobile suit first saw heavy combat during the 4th Robotech War where it proved its value being able to take on both mecha and capital ships being able to effectively defeat both, limited only by the fact that nine times out of ten, they were outnumbered.  In 2064, Anaheim issued field upgrades to all Double Zeta Gundams.  These upgrades replaced the thrusters with more powerful models boosting performance even higher, this helped to offset the additional armor at key vital areas as well as increased missile payload from 42, to 72.  The Enhanced ZZ Gundam as it became known also was compatible with the new GBP-12 system as described below.

The final version of the Double Zeta was a return to the Full Armor systems as seen on the original RGM-78.  These full armor packs increased the damage capacity tremendously allowing the suit to take a full volley of Dagger missiles (48) and survive(!).  The Full Armor ZZ Gundam is a behemoth in combat.  Carrying over 100 missiles of varying sizes and an additional large tachyon cannon, the FAZZ as its lovingly called by its pilots, can inflict massive damage against even well equipped numerous foes.  The final piece of the FAZZ's frightening weapon systems is the ML-05.  A refined version of the ML-03 used on the Zeta Gundam the ML-05 isn't quite as large, but packs an even larger punch.  Carrying its own independent RRD-5 onboard reactor gives the cannon the ability to recharge in the field and be used continuously throughout a battle.  The refiring rate is still very slow, but with the weapon now able to be carried easily this is no longer a drawback, simply store the weapon while recharging and use any of the FAZZ's already present weapons.  The mobile suit did however suffer from a decrease in mobility and speed as the armor system added little in the way of engines relegating the suit to defensive sorties.  This was a serious drawback during the 4th Robotech War and plague the suit throughout its life.  It began limited deployment due to these features and an enormous cost, almost as much as an entire platoon of mobile suits.  It first entered service in 2065 with the RDF Space Marines.

Throughout the remainder of the war, the RGM-90 saw service in all roles and on all fronts and performed above and beyond the call of duty an many occasions.  The RGM-90 was withdrawn from service in the years following the war in favor of the RGM-99 series Gundam.

Layout adapted from Robotech Reference Guide

Content by Jeffrey R. Spillner and Ron Ferrara
Copyright © 1998-2001 Jeffrey R. Spillner, Ron Ferrara

Page Last Updated on December 14, 2001 @ 00:00 GMT