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GNX-707T GN Cannon
Model number: GNX-707T
With the increase of renegade and other anti-government activities in the mid-230s, the Earth Union began seriously considering a new round of armaments programs intended to supplement and bolster its force of GN-X mobile suits. Many of these designs never saw the light of day or were otherwise limited to just a sparse few units, but a select few of particularly promising weapons ended up being selected for production. One of these weapons, the GN Cannon, is the first Earth Union mobile suit designed with only minimal parts compatibility with the GN-X family. The necessity of the wholly new body and frame system was demanded by the high degree of firepower the GN Cannon is intended to provide. Designed to offer equivalent artillery to an entire mobile suit platoon, the GN Cannon is also extremely heavily armored. While this lends to a bulky and sluggish response time, with some pilots describing it as a "mobile turret", the GN Cannon can absorb a great deal of punishment and continue fighting. Because of the high energy demands of its weaponry, the mobile suit's GN drive is supplemented by multiple enormous reserve condensers that essentially act as particle capacitors, allowing it to maintain a good operational time in spite of high-energy weapon discharges. Two large particle tanks are mounted in the rear of the GN Cannon's skirt, while the mobile suit's each arms contain a massive condenser of their own, further leading to the mobile suit's stocky profile. To offer maximum offensive capability, the GN Cannon's entire upper body is given over to four powerful GN beam cannons. Capable of sequential firing, the GN Cannon can lay down a heavy suppression of beam weapons fire over a considerable distance. If brought together, the barrels of the beam cannons can be charged and fired as a single extremely potent blast - this configuration, referred to as the GN mega cannon, can obliterate widely spaced targets over long range. The extreme energy requirements can totally drain one GN condenser at once, which forms the ceiling on the weapon's rate of fire far more than any other factor. In addition to the above, the GN Cannon is also equipped with a plethora of small, rapid-tracking GN missiles mounted in various launching positions all over its body. These are intended primarily as defensive weapons to destroy attacking enemy mobile suits, but a barrage can be effective in taking out larger targets at close range. The GN Cannon's hands are furnished with GN claws of a larger dimension than the GN-X family for sudden close-in attacks. Initially, the GN Cannon was not provided with any additional weaponry. Battlefield experiences later showed this to be a deficiency to the effectiveness of the mobile suit, leading a GN beam rifle and GN shield to be added in UC 242. The beam rifle mounts its own particle condenser so as to help offset the mobile suit's already staggering particle consumption, while the tall and wide shield offers great defense against incoming weapons fire; a single GN beam saber is stored inside the shield for melee combat. The beam saber generates a relatively long blade - this is necessary so that the GN Cannon can deliver thrusts that are not hindered by the presence of the beam cannon barrels sprouting from its torso. Although it is now capable of combat at shorter distances and against faster-moving targets, the GN Cannon is still primarily employed as a support unit in spite of its model classification due to the perceived "slow and steady" handling. Although perhaps lacking in grace compared to the GN-X family, there are still few pilots who don't appreciate being covered by a GN Cannon, and there likewise seem to be few shortages of personnel eager to qualify for operating one.
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