Model number: ZGMF-1017-2
Code name: GINN II
Unit type: improved general purpose mobile suit
Manufacturer(s): PLANT Asimov Design Bureau
Operator(s): PLANT National Guard, others
First deployment: UC 220
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso
Dimensions: head height 20.2 meters
Armor materials: low-density ceramic composite
Powerplant: high-efficiency battery unit; some later models outfitted with ultracompact nuclear or fusion reactor, output range 1440 - 1720 kW
Equipment and design features: sensors, range unknown
Fixed armaments: lightweight sword, stored on waist, hand-carried in use
Optional fixed armaments: shield, mounts on either arm
Optional hand armaments: 76mm machine carbine, magazine-fed, 40 rounds per magazine; 500mm recoilless rifle, magazine-fed, 5 rounds per magazine; beam rifle, 20 round charge

Technical and Historical Notes

Throughout the operations of the Earth Liberation Army, the GINN and its numerous offspring formed the bulk of ZAFT's mainline mobile suit forces, with many specialized variants and follow-ons designed to increase the mobile suit's performance in specific environments. However, rising tensions between PLANT and Cloud Nine eventually redirected ZAFT's efforts back into space, and the GINN was later replaced as their primary combat mobile suit by the newer and much more capable GuAIZ. While many GINNs were sold as surplus or even used as target practice, significant numbers were also retained for other uses.

The GINN II is a heavily modified version of the original mobile suit, effectively "retrofitted" with a variety of systems and equipment developed as part of the GuAIZ's construction process. With the Space War becoming hotter by the month, PLANT was constantly hard-pressed to deliver more GuAIZs to the front, and the GINN II was devised as an upgrade package for existing GINNs to help make them more competitive against the Space Revolutionary Army's latest mobile suits. The GINN II is almost as nimble as the GuAIZ, and while its combat endurance is somewhat shorter because of the higher drain on fuel and energy reserves, most pilots believed it was still a much better option than taking a standard GINN against a Newtype-operated Crouda.

Although capable of using most of the GINN's standard handheld weapons, the GINN II was primarily intended to utilize a compact beam rifle paired with a laminated shield, providing it a degree of protection against other mobile suits similarly armed with beam weaponry. The GINN's heavy sword has also been replaced with a lighter, single-edged model, as the lack of gravity assistance in space marginalizes the swinging power of the thicker melee weapons used by earlier GINN models.

The GINN II's existence is unquestionably the result of exigencies of war, and likely would never have been developed under a peacetime defense program. That said, in spite of its very "stop-gap" origin, the GINN II is ironically one of the few mobile suit designs outside of the high-performance GuAIZ and its offshoots that was maintained by the postwar PLANT National Guard. Although essentially retained as a reserve unit, the GINN II is also used as a trainer and aggressor model for Guard pilots before graduating on to operating the more capable GuAIZ or GuAIZ R. That said, perhaps un-surprisingly, quantifiable numbers of GINN IIs have appeared in the hands of renegade forces and private militias - some were actually constructed by ZAFT, while others appear to be field modifications of standard GINNs using stolen upgrade packages. Either way, most GINN IIs - PLANT-operated or otherwise - have been upgraded with a reactor powerplant of some type in place of the original battery units.

Lineart

500mm recoilless rifle
76mm machine carbine
Beam rifle
Head detail
Lightweight sword
Rear view
Shield