Model number: RGM-79[E]
Code name: GM Precession Type
Unit type: prototype general purpose mobile suit
Manufacturer: Earth Federation Forces
Operator: Earth Federation Forces
Rollout: UC 0079
First deployment: UC 0079
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso
Dimensions: head height 18.0 meters
Weight: empty 48.2 metric tons; max gross weight unknown
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, output rated at 1390 kW
Propulsion: rocket thrusters: total output unknown
Performance: maximum thruster acceleration unknown
Fixed armaments: 2 x 60mm vulcan gun, fire-linked, mounted in head; beam saber, stored in recharge rack in backpack, hand-carried in use
Optional hand armaments: 90mm machine gun, clip-fed, 20 rounds per clip

Technical and Historical Notes

The One Year War had reached a stalemate, and the Earth Federation Forces were scrambling to develop and deploy their own mobile suit forces to counter the Principality of Zeon. While the Federation's "Project V" prototype units were creating havoc for Zeon in other parts of the Earth Sphere, the Federation Forces were already hard at work laying the groundwork for their own mass-produced mobile suit. A pre-production model developed in conjunction with the experimental groundpounding RGM-79[G] GM Ground Type, the RGM-79[E] GM Precession Type was designed for space combat and was closely based on the prototype RX-78-2 Gundam mobile suit operating at the time. The GM Precession Type, along with combat data obtained from the Gundam's "learning computer" system, would serve as the basis for the later mass-produced RGM-79C GM Kai.

Only a few units of the GM Precession Type were produced and placed into actual combat for testing. One of these units was operated by Sergeant Terry Sanders, Jr., who became one of the Federation's first ace mobile suit pilots by scoring six enemy kills in his GM. However, his entire team was wiped out on UC 6 October 0079, when the GM Precession Type pilots encountered a new test-model MS-06RD-4 Zaku II mobile suit. Sanders was the only member of his team to survive the encounter, with his own GM left severely damaged and incapable of combat. With his infamous "Death God" nickname insured - due to his curse of being the only member of his own team to walk away alive - the Federation transferred Sanders out of the space unit test team and into groundside combat in Southeast Asia.

Miscellaneous Information

Pilot: Terry Sanders, Jr.
Appearances: Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team
Original mechanical designer: Hajime Katoki

Lineart

90mm machine gun