RB-79K Ball

Technical Data and General Information

Model number: RB-79K Code name: Ball Unit type: mobile pod Manufacturer: Earth Federal Forces Operator: Earth Federal Forces Rollout: UC 0079 First deployment: UC 0079 Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in body Dimensions: overall height 12.8 meters Weight: empty 17.2 metric tons; max gross 25.0 metric tons Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, output rated at 400 kW Propulsion: rocket thrusters: 24000 kg total Performance: maximum thruster acceleration 0.96 G Equipment and design features: sensors, range 4000 meters; rocket-guided grappling wench, mounted on body Fixed armaments: 2 x 180 mm cannon, mounted on body

Technical and Historical Notes

As the Earth Federal Forces' "Project V" scrambled to get their first mobile suit prototypes operational and begin mass-production, a stopgap was needed to counter the Principality of Zeon's mobile suit forces. During the stalemate of the middle months of the One Year War, civilian-model SP-W03 space construction pods were converted into RB-79 Ball combat units, armed with a 180 mm recoilless cannon. Although this was the standard armament for the Ball, different weapons variations appeared in different fronts of the war. One variant was the RB-79K, which was armed with a pair of cannons in place of the single one. The RB-79K was also equipped with larger manipulator arms and a rocket-guided cable wench for grappling objects and targets. One Ball pilot, Ensign Shiro Amada, became famous for using the normally-hopelessly-outclassed Ball to defeat a high-performance MS-06RD-4 Zaku II Test Type prototype operating in Earth orbit on 6 October UC 0079.