MS-06R-1A Zaku II High Mobility Type is a Principality of Zeon space-use mobile suit designed by Kunio Okawara for Mobile Suit Variation, the 1983 design series that filled out the One Year War (U.C. 0079) roster beyond the television anime. Zeonic built it as a limited-production machine for ace pilots, and the Black Tri-Stars — Gaia, Ortega and Mash — are the team most often drawn with it.
What it does in the story
Mobile Suit Variation is a design and background series rather than an animated one, so the R-1A's story is carried by the pilots attached to it. The MSV material has the Tri-Stars stepping up from the MS-06S to the R-1A and scoring further results with it, which is why the trio's black, purple and gray machines are the version usually shown. The suit goes on to appear across side stories and games, among them Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space, where the Tri-Stars' R-1A is a playable unit.
What makes it different
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The propellant tanks became cartridges.
The largest change from the earlier R-1 test type is that the tanks on the back and legs were converted into cartridges, the leg ones cylindrical. That allows refuelling in open space as well as aboard the mother ship and stretches the suit's operating time; a platoon equipped with R-1As was meant to be accompanied by a Zaku carrying spare cartridges.
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The cockpit has an ejection system.
The seat and its base can be fired forward in an emergency, and the base carries a small propulsion unit, solar cells and life-support equipment of its own, so the pilot is not simply thrown clear of a wreck.
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It stayed a limited-production machine.
Fifty-six units were built and ten more were converted from existing R-1s, sixty-six in total. Aces such as Shin Matsunaga, Eric Manthfield and Anavel Gato wanted the machine, but it was judged too expensive to mass-produce and too demanding for new pilots.
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The shoulder shield is shaped around the firing stance.
The composite shield sits on the right shoulder. In the attack posture, where the frontal silhouette is smallest, its corners are forward and its sloped faces turn ricochets away instead of taking them square.
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Frequently asked questions
1. Is this the same Zaku the Black Tri-Stars fly in the TV series?
Not in this form. In the anime the trio's machines run from the Zaku I and Zaku II to the MS-06S, and they later receive Doms. The MS-06R-1A is the high-mobility Zaku that Mobile Suit Variation assigns them, drawn in the team's black, purple and gray colours.
2. How many MS-06R-1A units were built?
Sixty-six: fifty-six new airframes plus ten converted from the MS-06R-1 test type.
3. What makes it a high-mobility machine?
It is a space-only design built around cartridge propellant and a heavier thruster fit than the standard Zaku II, and it was reserved for experienced pilots because newcomers found it hard to handle.
4. Which other pilots are associated with it?
Shin Matsunaga, Eric Manthfield, Masaya Nakagawa, Anavel Gato, Uma Lightning, Vincent Gleissner and Char Aznable are all recorded as flying R-1A machines.
Background sources: MS-06R-1A Zaku II High Mobility Type — Gundam Wiki · 高機動型ザクII（日本語版 Wikipedia）
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