Gallop

Unit type: land cruiser
Manufacturer: Kentron Dynamics
Dimensions: length 34.4 meters (69.2 meters with trailer)
Armament: 2-barrel 200mm cannon or 45-tube artillery rocket launcher; 2 x 2-barrel 105mm machine gun
Powerplant: auxillary high-density battery unit, output rated at 4300 kW; gas turbine, output rated at 740 kW
Performance: maximum speed 320 km/h
Propulsion: 6 x high-bipass jet engine with air cushion
Hangar capacity: 2 mobile suits, 3 in trailer

After the final collapse of the Guild circa UC 222, a number of fragmentary organizations appeared in the void the group formerly controlled. One such offshoot based out of Johannesburg, attempting to establish a legitimate government known as the South African Coalition, met with a degree of success during the 230s, going insofar as to develop a professional armed forces for its national defense. In addition to large quantities of war surplus, the Coalition also sought development of a handful of purpose-built weapons.

Contracted out to Cape Town-based Kentron Dynamics, the Gallop-class is a very lightweight land cruiser built to the Coalition's specific requirements for a fast and economical warship to support its patrol forces. The vessel's overall design is at least partially based on recovered data from pre-Interregnum times, and exactly how much of this new vessel is actually new is unknown. Regardless of its history, however, the Gallop is among the most nimble ground-based warships currently in existence. While lightly armed and only capable of fielding two mobile suits in a cramped hangar, the Gallop's jet engines and air cushion system make it a blisteringly fast ship over flat ground. The Gallop mounts a pair of machine guns in forward-facing turrets, while a turreted twin-barreled cannon occupies the rear deck. The cannon can be replaced with a large multi-tube rocket battery for long range bombardment, allowing a blanketing field of fire to be laid down against advancing enemies. To increase its mobile suit capacity, the Gallop may attach a dome-shaped trailer likewise fitted with an air cushion system, bringing its total capacity up to five, although some sacrifices in mobility must be made to accomodate the greater overall weight.

Being fairly inexpensive to operate, Gallops are popular with a variety of groups and organizations that cannot afford or are otherwise incapable of acquiring former Atlantic Federation or ZAFT land battleships. Aside from their use by the Coalition's National Defense Force, they are frequently employed by renegades throughout Africa, and have proven to be a particular bane to the far-flung resource extraction operations of Bar-Kemal Limited, especially when paired with mobile suits capable of equally good speed and mobility.