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

Chapter 89: The rx plan has shown initial success
"Amuro, don't hesitate, just come!"

"I understand. Don't blame me if I broke it!"

Hearing what Macharius said, Amuro, who was controlling the Original Gundam, confidently grabbed the small meteorite floating beside him, and then threw it towards Macharius in the distance.

These celestial bodies, which range in size from several meters, are considered relatively solid. If they collide with smaller aircraft, the result may be the destruction of the aircraft and the death of people on board.

But Macharius was not worried about this. The reason why he asked Amuro to throw stones was mainly to test another equipment!
When the stone flew in front of him, the prototype Gundam stretched out its hands to the back of the body, and then took out two metal sticks mounted on the backpack.

After the short stick was removed from the backpack, Macharius pressed the switch, and the short stick then shot out high-energy Minovsky particles and formed a sword-shaped I-field, which was then filled with high-temperature plasma to produce a lightsaber with cutting ability.

This is the standard melee weapon assigned to all mobile suits of the Federation Army, the beam saber. The two metal sticks are the hilts. Just press a button and you can get a sci-fi lightsaber. With this thing, who would still use a heat axe!
Macharius held two swords in his hands, and with just a horizontal slash, the stone thrown by Amuro was cut into pieces.

"Doctor, can this thing adjust the power?"

"Yes, but we need to dismantle the armor before we can proceed. So, do you think adding a power adjustment would be better?"

"No, I just want to use this thing to boil water in the snowy mountains!"

Macharius suddenly said something out of the blue, which made everyone stunned. "Use the beam saber to boil water, why don't you use this thing to grill meat?"

"However, it is possible to adjust the power!"

Macharius looked at the beam saber in his hand, then turned off the power and plugged it back into his backpack.

"After all, this thing can easily pierce the armor of a mobile suit. If the blade accidentally penetrates and hits the nuclear fusion reactor of the mobile suit during combat, it will cause a secondary explosion!"

Although the nuclear-powered fusion reactor that provides energy to mobile suits is generally stable, the attack effect of the beam saber is much stronger than that of armor-piercing bullets, and the probability of causing a secondary explosion is also very high.

In general, the furnace and cockpit are placed next to each other, because the cockpit and power are both important and indispensable. Therefore, when attacking the cockpit with a beam saber, an unskilled novice can easily get himself in.

The veterans would shut off the power supply the moment they pierced the cockpit. The top pilots could even kill the pilot without damaging the main structure of the cockpit. In this way, the opponent's aircraft could be simply repaired and put back into use.

However, this naturally requires practice, and practice makes perfect. After Macharius gets the beam saber in his hand, he may use too much force.

In this case, you can only find a target to practice!
"Amuro!"

"Krini!"

After testing the effects of the new beam weapons, the battleship returned home. The rifles that had used up their energy were sent back to the factory for recharging, while the beam sabers were left behind for the pilots to continue familiarizing themselves with their use.

Because of the data provided by the two Gundams, the simulators in the entire base naturally have corresponding weapon configurations, and other pilots can also use beam rifles and beam sabers in the simulators.

However, everyone did not rush to fight, but gathered in front of the big screen, wanting to watch the contest between Macharius and Amuro.

At this moment, both of them had completed loading the map. Because it was a close-range battle, the only weapons left for each other were two beam sabers. The map also changed from the vast earth space to the very narrow interior of the colonial satellite.

"Mr. Macharius, although I am grateful to you, I will not let you!"

After the rather childish roll call of each other's names, Amuro's original Gundam launched a straightforward charge.

"You're a very ambitious young man, but I won't let you down!"

Macharius said this, but his hands moved even faster. He didn't dare underestimate Amuro. Although the other party had been flying mobile suits for a much shorter time than himself, he had the keen intuition and reaction speed of a beast. When fighting against this guy, he had to be extremely alert, otherwise he would die miserably.

The original Gundam strode forward, unsheathed the beam saber in its hand, and stabbed straight into the cockpit of the prototype Gundam.

Macharius also swung his sword to block, and at the same time, he pulled out a second saber with his left hand in a reverse holding position and stabbed the original master with his backhand. Amuro reacted quickly as well, and instead of drawing his sword, he used the original master's other hand to block Macharius's left hand.

The two mobile suits were in a stalemate, and then Amuro took the lead and kicked out.

"I knew there was such a trick!"

The pilots who were watching outside burst into laughter. Kicking people with their legs was something they were extremely skilled at. Even though they knew that doing so would offend the maintenance team, they would still use it when necessary.

"I used this trick two hundred years ago!"

How could Macharius not be on guard against this move? He quickly released his hands, then turned his body, and used the jet to knock Amuro off balance. Then he grabbed the original's right leg with his left hand, and then jumped back. Amuro's body lost balance and fell to the ground.

"Oh, what a pity!"

The pilots couldn't help but feel regretful. After all, Amuro was the one who had the best chance of defeating Macharius.

"I'm not convinced, give it another try!"

Looking at the big word "destroy", the stubborn Amuro pleaded again.

"Okay!"

So, it was still the same configuration, but this time, it was Amuro who passively counterattacked. He kept blocking Macharius's slashes and trying to lure the opponent into kicking.

Then, Macharius actually kicked out!

Good opportunity! Amuro's eyes lit up, and he immediately imitated Macharius's previous behavior, dropping his saber and grabbing his leg. However, he didn't expect that Macharius would actually activate the thrusters at this moment. The prototype Gundam took advantage of the momentum and leaped up, piercing the cockpit with the beam saber in his hand from the right side of the original's torso.

"Come again!"

"fail!"

"Come again!"

The two fought for five full rounds before Amuro gave up the fight dejectedly. Sweating profusely, he pushed open the cabin door and saw a bottle of water being handed to him.

"Don't lose heart, you're smaller than that guy, it's normal to fail!"

The pilots surrounded Amuro and tried to comfort him one by one.

Then, Amuro's shattered self-confidence was restored, and a smile appeared on his face.

"Stop arguing. If you're not good at it, just practice more. You guys are just standing there watching the fun. Conte, you're next. I won't rest today. I'll teach you a lesson!"

"Okay, Captain, go ahead and teach him a lesson!" Then, Macharius really started a round-robin battle with many pilots. Of course, he was not treating this as a game, but he was really teaching these federal elites some tricks and honing his own skills at the same time.

However, the one who provided the most help was Amuro. Thanks to his terrifying combat intuition, Macharius's technical and tactical indicators continued to rise.

After fighting dozens of rounds, he came out of the cockpit sweating profusely. After all, his physical strength was limited. Especially in order to teach those stupid guys how to defend and attack, he did a lot of heavy movements, which were very physically demanding.

After leaving the cabin, Macharius stuffed Amuro back into the simulation cabin and asked him to continue teaching the pilots, while he joined the discussion group on the side, which included several pilots he defeated, who were sharing their experience of using the system.

"I feel like the dual-wielding style seems a bit redundant for us?"

"Indeed, I think it would be better to have a shield in one hand and a beam saber in the other!"

"By the way, can't we find a way to make the saber a little longer?"

Upon hearing this, Macharius slapped his head. He had forgotten about this. The beam saber only needed to have a restraining position and did not have to have a certain appearance. The beam spear was also a relatively easy weapon for these pilots to use. The longer the weapon, the stronger it was. This was not only true for humans, but also for close-range combat of mobile suits!

"Then stop standing there, everyone. Go back and write your report!"

After Macharius said this, several pilots suddenly realized it. After returning, they summarized a report and submitted it.

In addition to this, more combat data samples were also continuously collected. As a result, in less than four months, after many revisions, the new mobile suit, code-named Jim, RGM-79, finally completed its final program and made a gorgeous new debut.

Because there was enough time for design testing and improvement, this new GM did not have many problems like the shoddy early GM in another timeline that had to be sent back to the factory. However, this new RGM79 GM was not without problems either.

Because Macharius mentioned before that Luna Titanium Alloy was too expensive, so could it be used only to focus on protecting the cockpit? Dr. Timley adopted this idea and the new Jim was designed according to it. In this way, the key protection of the cockpit was naturally solved, but the price was much higher.

Moreover, due to the production problem of Luna Titanium Alloy, the production of this thing cannot be increased in the short term. At the current speed of the factory, it can only produce more than 20 units a month.

Fortunately, General Rebir has already applied for additional military expenditure for everyone, so this amount of money is nothing. Anyway, there is no war, so we can take it slow.

In terms of performance, the GM's impressive maneuverability is undoubtedly its performance. Its backpack features a pioneering quad-nozzle system, and both shoulder armor panels are equipped with posture-control nozzles. Combined with the aforementioned movable shoulder structure, these nozzles can be fired from multiple angles, allowing for precise posture transitions. Two additional 1870kg thrust nozzles are located in the center of the rear waist, further enhancing acceleration.

Various new designs such as these have made the GM's sports performance more perfect. In this way, the maneuverability is satisfied, and the total thrust of the body in one direction has reached 57480kg.

It can be said that the new GM even surpasses the two Gundams in terms of mobility. On the one hand, this is because of the nozzle design, and on the other hand, the weight of the body is naturally lighter than that of the Gundam.

As for Jim's armament, considering that most pilots are not very good at using dual swords, Jim's standard equipment only has a beam saber for close combat. In addition, a large shield is also indispensable. The material of the shield is naturally Luna Titanium Alloy. The Federation will not skimp on this. After all, a good shield can really save lives!
As for the other weapons, they are a bit crude. There are definitely two 60mm Gatling guns on the head, and the YF100 machine gun is also standard, but there is no beam rifle!

It's not like the Federation's top brass hadn't considered equipping all its personnel with the weapon, but deploying the beam rifle presented two major challenges: energy supply and the ability to focus the mega particles. The beam rifle's long barrel could be used to focus and accelerate the particle beam, but maintenance was also quite cumbersome. Therefore, while the Federation Army wanted to equip mass-produced units with beam weapons, they had to make adjustments: shortening the barrel and removing the Mie magnetic band inside, turning the "rifle" into a "pistol." While the range was significantly reduced, the close-range power of the spray gun was comparable to that of the beam rifle, as the energy specifications were identical.

Then, there are the necessary rocket launchers and the like. In addition, during the design process, considering the different distribution environments of the vast majority of federal troops, the factory also deliberately retained some interfaces so that some additional equipment adapted to local conditions can be developed in the future, such as large-caliber recoilless guns installed on the shoulders, or missile nests and the like.

But it depends on the choice of each unit!
In addition to the Jim, the new RX-77-2 steel cannon for medium and long-range fire support was also successfully launched. At the suggestion of Macharius, the two shoulder guns were replaced with mega particle cannons. The output is naturally very amazing, and the power is even comparable to Salamis' particle cannon.

It is said that on the day of the Guncannon test firing, many Federal Army officers were so excited when they saw the power of its shoulder cannon that they even wanted to equip all their troops with this thing.

But the cost is also huge. It is made of the same Luna titanium alloy as the Gundam, and even has strong protection on some joints. Coupled with two scary cannons, the cost is even more exaggerated than the Gundam.

This made Lieutenant General Gop break out in a cold sweat. Considering that the Federation Army had too many places to spend money, and that only a single-digit number of the new Nelson-class tanks had been produced so far, Lieutenant General Gop decisively stopped the subsequent production. Currently, only one of this Guncannon was built and placed in Blue Noah as the treasure of the store.

In addition, the Army's long-distance support artillery-type mobile suit, the RX75 Guntank, was also launched almost at the same time as the Guncannon. In order to be used in combat in the earth's environment, the lower body of the Guntank is not a bipedal walking structure, but a track like a tank chassis.

Its main weapon is not a rifle held in the hand, but two 120mm low-recoil cannons located on the shoulders, with a range of up to 260km.

Since the guntank's hands did not need to hold weapons, they were replaced with quadruple 40mm grenade launchers.

As for the material, it is also Luna Titanium Alloy. I don’t know if the designers drank too much, but they also added multiple propulsion nozzles and attitude adjustment nozzles to the steel tank, so this big guy can also fight in the space environment.

As for the cost of this thing, it is not as high as that of Gundam and Guncannon, so Gop ordered the production of seven units at once, preparing to distribute them to various military regions on the earth.

At this point, the Federation's RX plan can naturally be considered a successful conclusion. Although the designed mobile suit may still have various problems, the data on paper is enough to satisfy all parties.

But at the same time, a lot of information about the RX plan naturally leaked out and was continuously sent to Zeon's homeland by Zeon spies hidden in the Federation.

"Did you see that?"

At the military meeting, Kilian took out the information about the design goals, planned production, etc. of the RX plan and threw it in front of a group of generals.

"The Earth Federation is also following our lead in exploring military technology. They've even copied us completely!"

"But, Your Excellency, these figures are no different from ours. We are still far ahead!"

"That's what I want to say. We are currently in the lead, but the Federation has already figured out the direction. We don't have much time left to prepare!"

"So, are we going to start the general mobilization?"

Dozle suddenly raised his head and looked at Gillian in disbelief.

"Yes, I'm going to start the general mobilization in advance!"

"But the situation back home isn't looking good. If we start a general mobilization now, I'm afraid there will be major chaos!"

Also attending the meeting was Prime Minister Dalcia, who was sweating profusely but dared not say a word of opposition and could only express it vaguely.

He was not exaggerating. In fact, various riots had never stopped in Zeon since the beginning of the new year. Ordinary residents who had been mobilized and drained of their blood had no more money left. This was all due to reasons such as food, fuel, and conscription. The scale of the riots was large and small, and the total number even exceeded double digits.

The number of rioters arrested by the President's Guard alone exceeded 100,000, and the number of casualties exceeded 10,000. Moreover, due to the continuous suppression, the Zeon Defense Forces have even experienced some turmoil. The only one that was not affected was Gihren's President's Guard!

"That means we haven't cleaned enough!"

Kilian stood on the stage and gave his orders.

"We must wage a thorough and final battle against the enemies of the universe. Everyone should contribute their all to this goal. Otherwise, they are unworthy of carrying out our cause!"

"And people like this should disappear!"

"I've decided. All-out mobilization will begin in August!"

(End of this chapter)