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GNX-705T/AC GN-X Sword
Model number: GNX-705T/AC
The re-unification of the terrestrial warring factions in the early 220's was accomplished as much by the GN drive as by political reconciliation in the name of fighting terrorism. The newly-formed Earth Union set out to standardize its armed forces with GN-powered hardware, with the GN-X mobile suit serving as the flagship of that initiative. In the period after the founding of the Earth Union, the GN-X was expanded upon into an entire fleet of mobile suits, allowing the Earth Union to totally replace its pre-founding mobile suit squadrons with dedicated variants, dramatically cutting down on overhead and logistics. The GN-X Sword, one such variant, is optimized for hand-to-hand combat against enemy mobile suits. It is built off the body of the GNX-705T/BW GN-X Cannon, including that suit's heavier set of vernier engines. Physically it bears little difference from the original GN-X model, with the prime specialization derived from its armament. The GN-X Sword's primary weapon, and the origin of its name, is the giant GN buster sword. Normally attached to the mobile suit's shoulder, the solid-state blade is made of GN particle-impregnated composites with a single particle-width edge, giving it incredible cutting power. The buster sword's prodigious size doesn't preclude it from being used against objects larger than mobile suits, and examples of GN-X Swords using their blades to "excavate" a heavily entrenched enemy exist. Likewise, the blade's great width and highly resilient construction allows it to be used as a shield with reasonable efficiency, and the buster sword can even deflect hits from low-power beam weapons. Most of the standard GN-X handheld weapons are also provided, allowing the Sword to function as a normal combat unit if necessary. Compared to the base GN-X model, the Sword features an improved degree of mobility to better equip it for close combat. The deployment of the GN-X Sword came just in time to address the variety of mobile suits - many of which were entirely new production models, rather than holdovers from the war - that were recently being fielded by anti-Union groups and organizations. While the massed firepower of groups of original specification GN-X mobile suits was more than sufficient in the early years of the unification campaign, being able to deploy a dedicated close-combat unit became immediately expedient as newer and more unconventional mobile suits began seeing use by the late 220s.
Anti-beam gas grenade |
