Model number: ZGMF-600
Code name: GuAIZ
Unit type: mass production high-efficiency mobile suit
Manufacturer(s): PLANT Clark Design Bureau
Operator(s): PLANT National Guard, others
First deployment: UC 217
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso
Dimensions: overall height 21.8 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: 2 x vulcan gun, fire-linked, mounted in head; 2 x extensional arrestor, rocket-propelled, mounted on hips
Optional fixed armaments: shield, mounts 2 x beam cutter
Optional hand armaments: beam rifle, 25 round charge, mounts beam saber as bayonet; 76mm machine carbine, magazine-fed, 40 rounds per magazine; 500mm recoilless rifle, magazine-fed, 5 rounds per magazine

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. Several years into the operation, tensions between PLANT and Clound Nine had broken out into shooting battles on several instances, and ZAFT issued a directive to begin developing a wholly new family of mobile suits that would replace the aging GINN and its offshoots. The summation of these efforts developed into the GuAIZ.

Compared to the GINN, the GuAIZ ("goo-eyes") is wholly improved in almost every capacity, and is still in use by the postwar PLANT National Guard to the present date. An entirely new frame allowed for the installation of much more capable systems and hardware, and the GuAIZ's body bristles with thrusters and control motors. While externally resembling contemporary ZAFT mobile suits, most obviously the traditional mono-eye camera, the GuAIZ's overall design has more in common with the limited-production Gundams produced by PLANT's various design bureaus for testing new weapons and systems in combat situations. Aside from superior mobility, the GuAIZ also features improved armor protection and greater physical strength than earlier ZAFT machines. Initially only issued to unit commanders and ace pilots, fully half of ZAFT's combat mobile suits were GuAIZ-types by the end of the Space War in UC 224, and have formed the bulk of the peacetime PLANT National Guard's forces as well.

While capable of using some of the GINN's handheld weaponry, the GuAIZ's design places a high degree of emphasis on close combat. Its primary weapon is a quick-firing and accurate beam rifle, which includes a mounted beam saber intended to be used as a bayonet. The GuAIZ's shield, which is treated with an anti-beam laminate to provide a degree of protection from enemy mobile suits armed with beam rifles of their own, also mounts two beam spikes on its forward edge, a nasty surprise to encounter in close combat. Two unusual weapons known as extensional arrestors are attached to the GuAIZ's hips - these anchor-like implements are intended to be fired at enemy mobile suits who aren't quite in melee range yet, hindering their ability to maneuver or even allowing a skilled pilot to literally yank an opponent closer, often right into his shield. Two vulcan guns are installed in the mobile suit's head for local defense or to finish off a skewered enemy.

Unlike most other mobile suits developed for ZAFT during the war, the GuAIZ's very favorable reception by pilots and high level of effectiveness in combat effectively cemented its position in PLANT's militaries. After the war, most GuAIZ units that were retained were retrofitted with a fusion reactor, often courtesy of the now-normalized diplomatic situation with Cloud Nine. Because of its continued usage by PLANT, GuAIZ are much less commonly encountered in the hands of illegitimate operators than ZAFT's earlier models, although some can be found in particularly well-financed or connected outfits, and are often referred to as one of the "holy grails" of military surplus hardware.

Lineart

500mm recoilless rifle
76mm machine carbine
Beam rifle
Cockpit hatch
Head detail
Extensional arrestor
Rear view
Shield
Torso detail