RX-77-2 Guncannon is the Earth Federation's mid-range support mobile suit from Mobile Suit Gundam (1979, U.C. 0079), developed under Operation V alongside the RX-78 Gundam and the RX-75 Guntank. It is a limited-production machine, and the one that survives the attack on Side 7 is assigned to the White Base, where Kai Shiden and later Hayato Kobayashi fly it.
What it does in the story
On its first sortie, at the Great Canyon, Kai fires the shoulder cannons until the magazines run dry and the suit survives only because its armour holds out until Amuro Ray arrives in the Gundam. Amuro later takes the same machine into Central Asia to cover Sayla Mass, and a Gouf cuts off its left arm with a heat rod in the fighting that follows. In space the White Base takes on a second Guncannon, and the two are marked C-108 and C-109.
What makes it different
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Its main guns fire shells, not beams.
The pair of 240mm cannons on the shoulders were chosen over beam weapons for reliability. Water-cooled jackets around the barrels let them keep up a rate of fire close to a Zaku machine gun's, and the drums hold around forty rounds.
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There is no melee weapon at all.
The design trades hand-to-hand gear for armour, which is thick enough that the suit survives a direct hit from a Rick Dom's giant bazooka. Close work is left to the head vulcans and, when the suit is carrying one, the beam rifle.
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The shoulder cannons can aim themselves.
Fire control runs through the sensor array and coprocessor in the head, and the cannons also read the circular sensor at the crotch. That gives them a degree of autonomous tracking and lock-on independent of what the pilot is doing.
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The head is more complicated than the Gundam's.
Artillery work needs better optics than a close-combat suit, so the twin-eye sensor block under its visor is a more elaborate arrangement than the Gundam's simpler head. The layout was carried over to the RGM-79 GM.
How big is it?
- Overall height: 17.5 m, with a gross weight of 70.0 t and a base weight of 51.0 t, according to Bandai's official spec
- 1/144: roughly 12.2 cm
- 1/100: roughly 17.5 cm
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Frequently asked questions
1. Why does the Guncannon rely on cannons rather than beam weapons?
Shell-firing cannons were judged more dependable for the support role. The suit can carry a beam rifle, the BOWA-built XBR-M-79a that is tuned for sniping, but its generator output had to be modified at Luna II before that weapon could be used at all.
2. How many RX-77-2 Guncannons were built?
Six early-type machines. Three went to Side 7 for final testing in August U.C. 0079, and all but one were destroyed when Zeon attacked the colony on 18 September. The survivor was loaded onto the White Base.
3. Can the Guncannon defend itself at close range?
Only with the head-mounted 60mm vulcans, the hand grenades stowed in the legs, or a beam rifle if one is issued. It has no dedicated melee weapon, and its armour is meant to buy time rather than win a brawl.
4. What do the markings C-108 and C-109 mean?
They are call signs given to the two Guncannons aboard the White Base in space so the crews could tell them apart, painted on the left chest, left shin and right foot. C-108 was Kai's machine and C-109 was Hayato's.
Background sources: RX-77-2 Guncannon — Gundam Wiki · ガンキャノン（日本語版 Wikipedia）
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