Introduction to the Universal Century IV Part 2
Development of the RX-78



At the end of U.C. 0077, Tem Ray paid a visit to Brasilia, the location of the Earth Federation Forces headquarters.
He had been summoned by Admiral Gopp, the head of the Earth Federation Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff, to verify and evaluate a video that had been obtained via a secret channel. This video depicted flight tests and firing trials of a mobile weapon known as the "mobile suit."
The technical advisor on this weapon's development was Dr. Torenov Y. Minovsky, Tem Ray's former teacher and the discoverer of the "Minovsky particle" that could be said to have dramatically changed the future course of history.
It appeared that Dr. Minovsky had secretly sent the video to the Federation Forces because he now wished to defect to the Federation from the Autonomous Republic of Zeon. This video was also a warning to the Federation government.

The fundamental theories proposed by Dr. Minovsky, the discoverer of the Minovsky particle, would lead to revolutionary technologies such as the development of compact fusion reactors, the dispersal of Minovsky particles to jam communications, sensors, and guided weapons, and the Minovsky Craft system. He had cooperated with Zeon's weapons development in order to prove his own theories. However, this had resulted in the creation of a monster.

At this point in the Universal Century, the power of the Federation Forces was overwhelmingly superior to that of Zeon. However, the Doctor had accurately foreseen that this mobile weapon could shift the military situation significantly in Zeon's favor.
Just as the Doctor had promised Gihren Zabi at the beginning of the development project, he had unleashed a terrible "Cyclops" upon the world, which would steal warfare's starring role from battleships and precision guided weapons.
But excess military power gives rise to strife and oppression. Backed by this power, there was a possibility that Zeon would aim not only to win its own independence, but to conquer the entire Earth Sphere.
It was possible that Degwin Sodo Zabi, who had the wisdom to control his own ego, would have demanded nothing more than establishing Spacenoid sovereignty via independence from the Earth Federation. But Gihren was greedy, sly, and cruel.
Having successfully verified his theories and technologies, the Doctor concluded that he should offer his technology to the Federation as well, in order to restrain Zeon's ambitions.

However, the Doctor lost his life before he could fulfill these hopes. Tem Ray arrived just in time to witness the scene.

The instant he saw the video footage of the mobile weapon known as MS-04 in Brasilia, Tem knew that Dr. Minovsky had finally completed the mobile suit that he had dreamed of for so many years.
Tem himself, as Dr. Minovsky's student, had been working at Anaheim Electronics to develop mobile weapons commissioned by the Federation Forces. The RCX-76 Guncannon First Type was in production, and the first unit had been rolled out. However, as per the Federation's request, this machine had been developed within the parameters of a Main Battle Tank.
The development of the RCX-76-01A Mobility Test Type and the RCX-76-01B Firepower Test Type, for deployment in actual combat, continued at the Von Braun factory on the moon. But Tem was no longer involved. This may have been because he was dissatisfied with the RCX-76 that he himself had developed.
Moreover, the Federation Forces had paid little regard to noteworthy points such as the space mobility of the MS-04 developed by Zeon, or the firepower which enabled it to sink a warship. This was to lead to fatal consequences.
In U.C. 0078, the RCX-76-02 units of the Federation Forces' Iron Cavalry Squadron were utterly defeated in an engagement at Mare Smythii against the MS-05, the successor to the MS-04, and the squadron was completely wiped out.

Back in U.C. 0077, Tem, who was well aware of the shortcomings of the RCX-76, had already obtained Admiral Gopp's approval to begin the development of a new mobile weapon at a secret factory in Side 7.
Officially, his role was that of an engineer working on Side 7's space colony development, rather than a military employee. Even his son Amuro did not know that he was developing weapons.
However, Tem was convinced that this new mobile weapon would have performance rivaling or even surpassing the mobile suits developed by Zeon. He took advantage of the Mare Smythii tragedy to urge the management of Anaheim Electronics to advance the development of the RX-78. Perhaps this was a form of atonement to Dr. Minovsky, who had died with his objective only partially achieved.

U.C. 0079...
Eight months after the outbreak of the so-called "One Year War," the RX-78 Gundam developed by Tem Ray finally appears on the stage of history.
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