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GN Lifter
Armament
Hangar
Unit
type: all-environment armed subflight system The GN Lifter is a unique and highly specialized vessel, intended as something of a "personal chariot" for the Earth Union's mobile suits. Originally devised under the auspices of the Human Reform League, the Earth Union first fielded the GN Lifter during the final stages of the pacification campaign against the Guild with much efficiency. Classifying the GN Lifter is difficult. It is too large to be considered a true subflight system, such as ZAFT's atmospheric Guul, but at the same time too small to be even considered a picket ship. Much of the rather "flat" vessel's hull is given over to a hangar capable of housing and servicing a single mobile suit, including an apparatus for recharging a GN drive. The Lifter's own energy is derived from six individual fusion reactors, recycled from decommissioned Earth Sphere Alliance mobile dolls, which are used to drip-feed a pair of GN drives in a miniaturized version of how the rest of the Union's GN vessels operate. The Lifter has a small cockpit and living space for a crew of two, although it can be controlled by the embarked mobile suit as well. Remote operation is possible within visual range via laser communication, although is not advised for combat situations because of the amount of attention required by the mobile suit's pilot. As with most GN-powered craft, the Lifter is fully capable of operation in atmospheric conditions, and can also launch into space from Earth on its own, although this maneuver totally depletes its GN drives, which must recharge before the Lifter is combat-ready again. Re-entry is made possible via an inflatable ballute pack and controlling the ship's descent rate via particle emissions. In addition to use as dedicated mobile suit support vessel, a GN Lifter can also attach like a lamprey to the outrigger engine pods of a GN Battleship. In a style similar to ZAFT's prototype battleship Eternal, GN Lifters so attached can feed directly from the larger vessel's power supply and effectively act as an extra set of weapons. The GN Lifter is heavily armed as far as a ship of its size is concerned. Two large-bore GN beam cannons are positioned in the vessel's bow, while four smaller guns in traversable positions are mounted along the Lifter's belt, allowing it to direct fire in almost any direction. Eight GN missile launchers, also installed in traversable mounts, are positioned around the belt and upper hull, providing for antiaircraft defense and longer-ranged attacks. Between its high speed and relatively small dimensions, the Lifter's beam weapons must have their rate of fire artifically restricted to prevent the GN drives from being rapidly exhausted, although this can be overriden for emergency situations. GN Lifters are not deployed as part of proper Union fleet efforts, instead being "issued" to pilots on a regular basis to increase the combat capability of their mobile suits, as well as to quickly shunt forces to or from Earth and the Sentinel space station in orbit. Although fast and well armed, the Lifters have relatively thin armor protection, and are only intended to provide transportation and fire support for their embarked mobile suit. |
