MS-14G's Atmospheric Flight Capabilities?

[Gelgoog Jager]

Given some information about the Gelgoog's jet thrusters and new information of the background of the G-type, I'm suspecting that the G-Type was capable of atmospheric flight, or was at least intended to be capable of.

As discussed in the MSV-R thread, the profile of the MS-14GD finally gave some confirmation of the existence of a MS-14G, which according to it, began development in California Base on October and was completed in November. This notion would discard the idea of the LWC manga which indicated that the MS-14G was produced on Side 3 and shipped to Earth.

However I recently checked some FAQs for the LWC PS2 game, which indicate that the MS-14G is a reward for a mission involving the defense of California Base from several Federation MS, including Yuu Kajima's piloting the Blue Destiny Unit 1. Prior missions include the assault on Jaburo, while a later mission involves the Cyclops Team attack on the Antartic Base, which do confirm that this mission must have taken place around December 4th and that the MS-14G is something the Zeon forces took when they abandoned California Base.

With that context, we do confirm that the MS-14G was developed at California Base and that in particular, the unit used by Ken Bederstadt could have still been in development as late as right before California Base was recaptured, it could also be one of a kind unit, and for all we know could the only compelte G-Type to be produced. The production fo the MS-14GD could have been sped up by the removal of thrusters and use of components of existing machines, such as the backpack whic is a slight variation from the one of a standard MS-06D, allowing the 8 known units to be completed more quickly than the original design.

Now let's take a look at this translation of Gundam Century from Mark's site:

The Gelgoog's cooling system was also enhanced to match its larger reactor, and air intakes and exhaust vents like those of the Federation's Gundam series were installed around the circumference of its chest. Due to the large reactor and cooling systems, there wasn't enough space in the torso section for chemical rocket engines, so these were moved to the legs. These rocket engines could also be used as jet engines in the atmosphere in order to conserve propellant, with air drawn in through the intakes around its waist. Supplemental jet engines for atmospheric flight were also attached to the mobile suit's forearms.

First, I should note that the forearm equipment of the Gelgoog seems to be of modualr nature, so it is probably rather easy to swap different types of equipment. It's also interesting to note that while in ZZ the Gelgoog has been seen capable of hovering like a Dom, it lacks the hovercraft system of the later. Instead it uses its jet thrusters to acheive a similar effect. The MS-07H in Zeta nd the MS-07H8 in 08th MS Team short film also hover without a hovercraft system.

So, what about this: could the Gelgoog's design, which considered atmospheric flight capability, have been used to restart the stalled Gouf Flight Type project, resulting in the MS-07H8? In such case the MS-07H8 might not even have been intended as a design for mass production, but rather as a proof of concept machine, whose feedback would be used to complete the new MS-14G.

It would be useful to have the dates during which the Gouf Flight Project was cancelled to see how this matches up or not with the development of the G-Type Gelgoog.

[domino]

As you have outlined, there's little reason why it COULDN'T have been a field upgrade though I question the reason for why Zeon put so much effort into making its MS flight-capable since there was no way they would be as agile as they needed to be in order to properly play the role of aerial support.