Why would I join the army if I can’t drive a Gundam!

Chapter 65 Attention, Mobile Suit!
Many times, Macharius still wanted to complain about the unscientific production speed in this universe, especially when he saw that his prototype Gundam was transformed from a blueprint into a real machine in just a few weeks.

But thinking about the One Year War, when the Federation Army was even replenishing its lost fleet at the rate of one Magellan a day, Macharius felt that the Gundam was still being built too slowly!
UC0077.10.21, this is a memorable day. On this day, the pilots of the Federation Army Side7 R&D Base finally completed their simulator training and were able to board the long-awaited mobile suits for actual operation.

For many Federal Army pilots, this was a major event comparable to a wife's wedding or the birth of a child. Therefore, the first batch of pilots who passed the simulator test combed their hair into an adult style on this day, changed into a handsome pilot uniform, and then got up early to prepare for the opening of the hangar.

Captain Conte was also among the first batch of pilots. After all, he was an ace pilot of the Navy. He had flown for more than 1,200 hours on the Himalaya-class aircraft carrier and was familiar with the operation of various Federation military aircraft. Naturally, he would be much faster in passing the simulator test.

Just as the captain was eagerly waiting for his mobile suit to appear, he saw Macharius wearing a tattered anti-gravity suit, a helmet with some signs of wear tucked under his arm, and eating two buns in his hands as he walked past their line.

"Krini!"

Although the captain was impressed by the other party's skills, he was still a little proud of being the first to pass the exam. So he called out to Macharius and said.

“I passed the simulator test!”

"Is that so? Congratulations, but the Guncannon's controls are still a bit heavy compared to the simulator, so you must be careful!"

Macharius was not surprised at all, he just nodded calmly and said.

"But at least the Guncannon is now ready to be opened. It's much better than the batch I just opened!"

After hearing this, Captain Conte wanted to slap himself in the face and said, "Why are you showing off at this moment? The models you are driving now are all improved by combining other people's experience."

So he could only try to change the subject.

"Is that so? Thank you for the reminder, but won't you continue to drive the Guncannon?"

"No, I'm tired of it!"

Macharius waved his hand, then walked past the team and went to the hangar next to the team.

"Where is he going?"

One of the engineers was puzzled. He remembered that a heavy truck and a large group of technicians came here yesterday. Could it be that a new aircraft had arrived?
"I guess he's going to test the new Guncannon!"

Captain Conte said this, then turned his head and stared at the closed hangar door.

Unfortunately, the captain's neck was sore, and the door was not opened. Instead, the door of their hangar was already open. Under the guidance of the technicians, the pilots immediately began their first experience.

Captain Conte was the seventh person in the queue. Looking at the tall mobile suit, the captain's attention turned to how to operate it, and he completely forgot about Macharius.

After entering the cabin, the captain tried the feel of the joystick before the mobile suit was started. As Macharius said, there were still many differences between the real machine and the simulator.

But the captain was still very confident in his skills. He believed that although he could not be as smooth as Macharius, he would still be able to perform normal actions!

After the trainer plane started up, the captain became more certain that his hard training was really effective. Although this huge aircraft was not very obedient in his hands, the two were in a relatively balanced state. Every time the captain controlled it, the aircraft could perform actions at a stable idle speed.

"What? It seems I'm also a genius at operating mobile suits!"

The captain thought so, and then, another echo came from the screen in front of him, and then, an IFF logo belonging to the federal army lit up.

"what is this?"

The captain asked in confusion.

"It's the mark of another friendly mobile suit!"

The coach who was sitting behind him, but their positions were not in a straight line but were arranged at an angle, answered.

"On your left!"

"left?"

The captain operated the monitor to turn, and then the Guncannon's head turned with it.

Then, the captain saw a brand new black, white and red mobile suit with a V-shaped antenna on top of a samurai helmet, coming out of the hangar next to him.

“How majestic!”

The captain couldn't help but sigh.

That mobile suit was completely different from the teaching-type Guncannon they were driving. The former was more like a cold-blooded killing machine.

"Hello, hey, hey, who's the driver of the Guncannon? Please move aside, thank you!"

When the captain was about to be stunned, suddenly, Macharius' voice was heard in the communication channel.

"Ah, Krini, are you driving this new mobile suit?"

"Yeah, it was just delivered. Let me test it out. How's it going? Your teaching Guncannon is pretty good, isn't it?"

"Not bad!"

Captain Conte's response was a dry, almost dry one. All emotion vanished in that moment, leaving only numbness. The captain silently maneuvered the training Guncannon to clear the way for Macharius. He watched as the latter, after a few run-ups, suddenly leaped into the air. Then, the backpack-like object on his back erupted with two jets of fire, propelling the machine on an extremely long-range glide that couldn't even be called a jump.

"How does it feel, Krini!"

"Very good, Doctor, I finally feel the surge of power!"

The prototype Gundam is powered by a specially designed new power reactor, which is naturally many times better than the one in the Guncannon that was just used to make up the numbers.

This allows the machine to respond more quickly to Macharius's operations, greatly increasing the pilot's survival rate whether attacking or defending.

Moreover, this machine also applies many new technologies, including new fire control, new cockpit, etc., and the most noteworthy thing is that it is also equipped with a learning computer designed by Dr. Timley. Simply put, this system is an assisted driving system that can evolve by continuously collecting pilot experience. After sufficient data collection, it can even achieve a state of oneness with the driver. With this system, even beginners can fight against ordinary Zeon mobile suits.

In addition, unlike the Guncannon, which can be called an iron coffin, the prototype Gundam also used the core regulator system as a cockpit and escape device for the first time.

It can be said that after the experience gained from the Guncannon, the Federation's redesigned mobile suit has made a qualitative leap. Dr. Timre even feels that with Macharius driving this machine, he can easily kill thirty ordinary Guncannons.

After conducting a number of basic data tests outside the base, several flatbed trailers delivered the prototype Gundam's weapons to Macharius, the YF100mm machine gun produced by Yashio Heavy Industries. This product has a relatively mature design and can basically be used after some modifications. It can be regarded as a fine product of Yashio Heavy Industries.

This weapon is improved from naval guns and is equipped with a variety of ammunition, such as armor-piercing shells, armor-fragmenting shells, high-explosive shells, etc. The weapon is fed by a magazine, and a magazine contains 48 rounds of ammunition. Originally, the Zeon people also purchased this weapon to equip their own mobile suits.

But later, they felt that the caliber and ammunition endurance of this thing were not satisfactory, so they developed new mobile suit weapons.

But for Macharius, it actually makes no difference. This thing is enough to penetrate the Zeon mobile suits. On the contrary, their conventional firepower cannot do anything to the Luna Titanium Alloy of the prototype Gundam.

Looking at the huge target erected several kilometers away, Macharius pulled the operating lever, and then the prototype Gundam stretched out its arm and lifted the machine gun from the cart. There was a fire control interface on the grip of the machine gun. After connecting it to the interface on the arm of the mobile suit, Macharius could carry out precise strikes through the sight of the mobile suit.

Then he loaded the weapon with a full magazine and pointed the gun at the target in the distance.

"Boom!"

Macharius did not rush to pour water, but fired one shot at a time in semi-automatic mode. After each shot, he would stop for a few seconds to check the impact point of the weapon. This was done to familiarize himself with the trajectory of the weapon.

After firing a magazine, Macharius had a preliminary grasp of the weapon's ballistic properties. Then, he replaced the magazine with a new one, opened the horizontal grip of the YF100 machine gun, and turned on the fully automatic shooting mode.

Macharius, who was sitting in the cockpit, only felt a slight vibration, and then a series of light spots with tails whizzed towards the target in the distance.

The cement target was immediately smashed to pieces under the repeated attacks of armor-piercing bullets.

Then, Macharius swung out the meteor hammer that came with the prototype Gundam, and danced it in his hand with great vigor. His target was a reinforced concrete building. He controlled the mobile suit, and as he swung at the target, the huge armor-piercing meteor hammer directly smashed the building into pieces and made it crumbling.

As for the two 60mm Vulcan cannons mounted on the head of the machine, Macharius did not conduct further experiments. This weapon was the main weapon of the Guncannon, and he had already used it enough.

If this thing is used properly, it can also cause devastating damage to Zeon's mobile suits. However, due to ammunition issues, it is better to use main weapons if possible. This kind of rapid-fire weapon is more suitable for dealing with infantry or aircraft.

Satisfied with the test, Macharius immediately returned to the hangar of the base accompanied by dozens of military vehicles.

"Well, do you have any other ideas?"

Dr. Timley was already waiting outside the cockpit door. He had benefited greatly from Macharius's previous advice, so he couldn't wait to come over and learn from him without waiting for the mobile suit to come to a complete stop.

"It's still a matter of weapons. The YF-100 is good, but its ammunition life is a problem. Also, will the heat dissipation of the head-mounted Vulcan cannon affect the monitor? Is it possible to replace it with a beam weapon?"

"Forget it!"

Timley shook his head. Macharius's proposal was very forward-looking and could even be said to point out the future development direction to a certain extent. But the problem was that the basis for achieving all this was to complete the miniaturization of beam weapons.

The Mega Particle Cannon equipped on the battleship is good, but its size is a big problem. However, Macharius reminded him that not only the Gundam, but also the Guncannon can be replaced from a live ammunition weapon to a Mega Particle Cannon. In this way, the loading and damage of the weapon can be solved.

"However, we are already contacting the manufacturer to develop new live-fire weapons!"

"By the way, Doctor, I think the Gundam's weapons are still a little insufficient. Can you consider modifying some additional parts and adding some temporary attack methods?"

"For example?"

Timley frowned. He was just an ordinary designer and was not familiar with these so-called temporary changes.

"I think we could add some disposable rockets or grenade launchers to the wrists and shields. That way, when operating the mobile suit to attack, we can achieve some unexpected effects. For example, when using the shield to block the opponent's attack, if we install a disposable rocket launcher on the bottom edge of the shield, we can counterattack while blocking!"

"It's not impossible to do this, but why are you so proficient in fighting between mobile suits?"

"I've been thinking about this privately. Since we've already developed and deployed this type of weapon, our enemies must have it too. They might even have it earlier than us. Therefore, developing tactics suitable for mobile suits is inevitable!"

Before Macharius finished speaking, he had actually opened two series of manuscripts on his computer. The first one was about how to use asymmetric tactics against mobile suits, which talked about how to use wire-controlled missiles and tanks to attack Zeon mobile suits.

The second book, however, was about mobile suits fighting mobile suits. It wasn't as comprehensive as the first, as he'd been driving tanks for three years, but mobile suits for less than three months. However, Macharius had already decided on a title for the second book: "Attention, Mobile Suit!"

"If it's for practical considerations, I'll ask them to make changes!"

Timre thought about it and finally agreed to Macharius. After all, the development of weapons naturally requires feedback from users. What's more, this transformation will not destroy the structure of the mobile suit. If it is effective, it will open another door for him, so it is worth a try!
(End of this chapter)