RMS-154 Barzam

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The RMS-154 Barzam.

The RMS-154 Barzam was a mass-produced general purpose mobile suit that appeared in the Gundam anime TV series Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.

In Universal Century 0087 the Earth Federation Forces planned to develop a new mass-production mobile suit to replace their outdated RGM-79R (RGM-179) GM II units. One of the designs submitted for consideration was that of the RMS-154 Barzam. The inner frame design of the Barzam was based on that of the RX-178 Gundam Mk-II, but based on the outwards appearance of the Barzam alone the similarities were hardly apparent.

The Barzam was designed to be a high-performance, but low cost, mobile suit. The Barzam was highly versatile, and could be equipped with any of the hand-held weaponry available to the GM II, Hi-Zack, or Marasai mobile suits, as well as its own unique beam rifle. It also featured two beam sabers stored in the recharge racks in its forearms, and could be equipped with the head-mounted double-vulcan pods created for the Gundam Mk-II.

However, the Barzam's attempts to be basic were far too successful, and the unit was deemed too generic. Without any special weaponry or unique abilities the Barzam was just an ordinary unit, and the Earth Federation Focres decided for only a limited mass-production run.

But the Earth Federation Space Forces stationed at the Pezun asteroid base had a next-generation Barzam model in their ranks. The RMS-154 Refined Barzam (seen in the photo-novel Gundam Sentinel) was a far step up from the original Barzam design, and outwardly the unit had much more in common with the Gundam Mk-II than its predecessor. The position of the beam sabers were changed to mountings on the backpack on the Refined Barzam as opposed to mounting them in the forearms. The Refined Barzam also had its own beam rifle with an attached grenade launcher, and could still be equipped with the head vulcan pods originally designed for the Gundam Mk-II as well as any other weapons the Gundam Mk-II could wield.

The RMS-154 Refined Barzam (front and rear shot) equipped with head-mounted 60 mm vulcan pods.

The Refined Barzam proved to be an excellent mobile suit for its time, but they were still produced only in small quantities. In the final weeks of the Gryps War, in UC 0088, a pro-Titans military offshoot called the New Desides staged a revolt at the Pezun asteroid to depose the AEUG-sympathetic leadership of the base. The Refined Barzams were the Federation Forces's first line of defense at Pezun, but they were all over-whelmed and destroyed by the New Desides's superior RMS-141 Xeku Eins mobile suits and Pezun quickly fell to the New Desides.

[edit] Specifications

[edit] RMS-154 Barzam

Manufacturer: Earth Federation Forces
Operator: Earth Federation Forces; Titans
Unit type: mass production general purpose mobile suit
Dimensions: overall height 24.2 meters; head height 19.4 meters
Weight: empty 40.1 metric tons; max gross 62.3 metric tons
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, output rated at 1670 kW
Armament: 2 x beam saber, stored in recharge racks in forearms, hand-carried in use; 60 mm double vulcan pod, 1400 rounds of ammunition, mounts on head; beam rifle, powered by rechargeable energy cap
Pilot: Hamil

[edit] RMS-154 Refined Barzam

Manufacturer: Earth Federation Space Forces
Operator: Earth Federation Space Forces
Unit type: mobile suit
Dimensions: Overall height 24.2 meters; Head height 19.38 meters
Weight: Base weight 40.1 tons; Full weight 62.34 tons
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, output rated at 1670 kW
Armament: beam saber x 2 (0.9 MW), beam rifle w/grenade launcher x 1; 60 mm double vulcan pod x 1 (1400 rounds)