GM Production Info from MSV-R Book

[toysdream]

With the MSV-R series apparently winding up, Kadokawa has begun repackaging the Gundam Ace features into a series of handbooks. I recently picked up the first one, which collects all the Federation Forces machines. Although most of the material is familiar from the Gundam Ace features, there's some new info in here as well, including an all-new feature on the development history of the RGM-79 GM.

Here's some of the key info from this feature, which discusses the four phases of wartime GM production. This is derived purely from the classic MSV info and the MSV-R series, and so it takes absolutely no account of the other variants featured in Gundam 0080, The 08th MS Team, video games, comics, or your favorite fanfic.

The first production run of the RGM-79 took up about 70 percent of the production lines centered at Jaburo, which were put into full operation. Some were also produced at Luna II, but the number was small compared to Jaburo, and full-scale production of the RGM-79 at Luna II only began with the second production run, which included variations.

In addition to the normal RGM-79, a few trainer types were also produced during the first production run. These were used for training pilots and transitioning them from other machines.

As the RGM-79 was gradually deployed on the front lines, pilots began to demand performance improvements, due to its lack of firepower and poor mobility against the latest MS-07 and MS-09 types. But the Federation Forces were focused on mass production of the RGM-79 type, and tended to ignore these demands. The RGC-80, and an RGM-79L type with improved mobility, were included in the second production run as supplemental orders. However, they accounted for fewer than one-tenth of the total number.

[...]

During the third production run, the RGM-79 and RGC-80 were produced at Jaburo. At Luna II, production of the RGM-79SC high-end model began in addition to the RGM-79, yielding 24 early production units.

After the war, it was revealed that the third production run also included the RGM-79V, which was developed for use by special forces teams. As these teams were organized in secret, and their activities were not disclosed, the production of these specialized machines was also a confidential matter.

The fourth production run began while the third was still in progress, but at this point the production system itself was somewhat altered. Thanks to their counteroffensive operations, the Federation Forces had recaptured many military bases and manufacturing facilities and begun refitting them, thus expanding their production sites.

Licensed production of some key RGM-79 parts began at various places. On Earth, where the RGM-79 had taken up 70 percent of Jaburo's production lines, this was reduced to 40 percent as production of ships and aircraft resumed. The eliminated RGM-79 production lines were relocated to the recaptured California Base, and during the fourth production run, roughly 60 percent of all units were manufactured at the California Base.

The RGM-79SC, which appeared in the final stage of the war, was developed for skilled pilots. Its basic design began just after the first production run of the RGM-79 was completed, and it was meant to be included in the second production run. The large number of design changes, however, required changes in operating system maintenance as well, and so it was postponed. Higher performance had resulted in lower production efficiency, although not to the same degree as with the RX-78.

MSV mavens may recall that the old MSV books referred to two production runs of the RGM-79; 42 units of an "early production type", and 288 units of a "later production type". The most recent repackaging of that info in the Master Grade GM Ver.2.0 kit manual actually uses the terms "first production type" and "second production type" instead, which helps us to reconcile the old MSV and new MSV-R accounts. If we put all this info together, we'd probably have something like this:


First Production Run: 42 units of RGM-79 and TGM-79. Produced mainly at Jaburo, plus some at Luna II.


Second Production Run: 288 units of RGM-79, RGM-79L, and RGC-80. Produced at Jaburo and Luna II. RGM-79L and RGC-80 account for less than 10 percent of the total.


Third Production Run: Total unknown. Includes RGC-80 produced at Jaburo, 24 units of RGM-79SC produced at Luna II, and the secretly developed RGM-79V.

(According to the RGM-79V profile text, the first 12 units were created by modifying existing machines, so those would presumably have been part of the second production run. This is followed by two more rounds of RGM-79V production, which presumably take place during the third and fourth RGM-79 production runs, resulting in a grand total of 88 units.)


Fourth Production Run: Total unknown. Includes the RGM-79HC and RGM-79KC, developed from on the previous SC type. Jaburo production is scaled back, and the majority of this production run takes place at the California Base.

-- Mark

[Brave Fencer Kirby]

Interesting! I wonder how much of the missing info we can fill in ourselves?

Given that the second production run is said to be "full-scale production", it seems reasonable to believe that it accounts for the maximum possible production rate, so crediting the third and fourth production runs with approximately 288 machines each doesn't sound like too much of a leap. The fourth production run is said to take place largely at the California base, which wasn't recaptured until mid-December IIRC. Completely retooling the factory lines and producing ~175 GMs (60% of 288) in two weeks seems a bit ridiculous even by Gundam standards, so I wonder if the machines from that run never actually saw combat during the war.

The UC timeline has the GM entering mass production in October and entering full-scale deployment in late November -- I'd call that the second production run, from the beginning of the manufacturing process to arrival on the front lines. (The fact that the RGC-80, also from the second production run, is first rolled out in October supports that idea as well.) Call that 6-8 weeks all told (with an unknown amount of that time for delivery of the completed units) and you get a pretty good idea of when reach run was. Using the second run in October as a base, we get the first run beginning in August or September (Mark's timeline says "The Federation Forces roll out their first prototype mass production mobile suit" in August -- the precursors to the first production run of true mass production types, perhaps?), the second in October through November, the third in November through December, and the fourth mid-December through January 0080, after the end of the war.

That'd give us about 600 mobile suits by the end of the war (618 exactly, if we do 42 + 288 + 288, discounting the fourth production run) which, IIRC, matches previous estimates because this version of events counts the 42/288 numbers as the number of mobile suits produced, rather than the number of GMs produced, with variant units being added on top of that.

[toysdream]

I think the date of December 15 for the recapture of the California Base is somewhat apocryphal - it may have originated with the Blue Destiny novel. There are also a lot of claims placing this event in early December, and for reasons I've explained in my timeline footnotes I think the December 5 date is actually more plausible. Certainly, the classic MSV material was written with an earlier date in mind.

I'm inclined to agree with you on the timing otherwise. Crudely put, the first run would be in August-September, the second in October (when all sources agree that full-scale production begins), the third in November, the fourth in December. The MSV materials are pretty adamant that the products of the fourth production run made it to the front lines before the end of the war, so the total wartime production is probably on the order of 1000 units.

If we start allowing for some other sources in this rolling retcon, the first production run of 42 units would probably include the 30 early units that EB 39 says were deployed behind the lines during Operation Odessa. As I've mentioned before, I think these would be distinct from the earlier RGM-79(G) units that we've seen fighting on the front lines of Odessa in 08th MS Team and MS Igloo 2, and the RX-79(G) and RGM-79(G) series aren't included in the MSV-derived tallies.

As for the second run, the MSV-R feature does imply that the RGM-79L and RGC-80 are counted among the overall tally, which means they'd account for less than 10 percent of that 288-unit figure. Figure a dozen of each, perhaps, with the rest of the RGC-80 production taking place during the third production run.

-- Mark

[Brave Fencer Kirby]

Ah, I missed the bit on the California Base. Downside of looking at multiple conflicting sources, I suppose. That does make the idea of the fourth production run reaching the front lines before the end of hostilities a lot more believable, though.

[toysdream]

You have to remember that these timelines were in flux for a long time; it's really only in the late '80s that there was any kind of consensus about the dates of most of the One Year War events.

Somewhere between the timeline in Newtype's August 1987 issue, the publication of MS Era, and the release of Entertainment Bible 1, a rough agreement was reached about the dates of the Side 7 attack (ranging between September 5 and September 18), the start of Operation Odessa (November 5 to November 7), the Jaburo attack (November 29 or 30), and the end of the war (December 31). The dates for Garma's death, Gihren's speech, the Battle of Solomon, etc, continued to change after this and weren't fixed until the '90s.

Before this, a lot of alternate dates were on offer. The MSV books established the date of September 18 for the Side 7 attack, but had the White Base reaching Jaburo by November 3 and then spending a month and a half undergoing an overhaul at the Jaburo shipyards. The Federation fleet launches from Jaburo in late December, the Battle of Solomon takes place in early January, and the war ends on January 26, U.C. 0080 (matching the broadcast date of the final TV episode). Obviously, this allowed a much longer interval between the recapture of the California Base and the end of the war!

The MSV-R series appears to be following the current official timeline for the most part, but that doesn't mean it's embracing the common consensus about the recapture of the California Base. Obviously the California Base still has to be around as of November 30, the current date for the Jaburo attack, but after that all bets are off. In fact, the shorter the interval between the California Base squandering its fighting strength on a Jaburo invasion and the fall of the base itself, the more plausible the latter seems.

-- Mark

[toysdream]

Following up on the GM Night Seeker, here's a bit more correlating info from the MSV-R profiles.

From the RGM-79V GM Night Seeker profile:

The first production type consisted of 12 machines which were constructed by modifying previously rolled-out RGM-79 GM units, and assigned to special forces teams that were carrying out suprise attack operations. Including the second and third production runs, a total of 88 V type GMs were produced, and a few units of an LV type based on the RGM-79L GM Light Armor were also produced on the third production line.

And from the RGM-79LV GM Night Seeker II profile:

The RGM-79LV was an assault version of the GM Light Armor. 12 units were produced at the end of U.C. 0079 as a first production run, and including the second production run after the war, a total of 38 units were produced for use by special forces teams.

As noted above, the development history in the MSV-R book says that the Night Seeker was included in the third RGM-79 production run. So it appears we can put all this together as follows:

Before third RGM-79 production run: 12 existing RGM-79 units are modified into RGM-79L type.

Third RGM-79 production run: Includes second production run of RGM-79V. This is the first time machines are actually rolled out in this configuration.

Fourth RGM-79 production run: Includes third production run of RGM-79V and first production run of RGM-79LV. Total production of the Night Seeker type now stands at 88 units, including 12 units of the new RGM-79LV Night Seeker II. (Although the Japanese text seems a little ambiguous here - that could be 88 V types plus 12 LV types, for a wartime total of 100 units.)

Post-war: A second production run of the RGM-79LV takes place. This would consist of 26 machines, bringing the total to 38 Night Seeker II units. (In theory, at least 114 Night Seeker types have been produced at this point, including 76 of the original type and 38 of the Night Seeker II.)

-- Mark

[Gelgoog Jager]

If the GM Nightseeker got a 100 units produced during the war, that basically discards the diea that the Federation didn't produce more than 50 machines of any GM variant, though MS Igloo 2 already pointed towards a rather large production of the GM Kais during the war.

I do have a question regarding what is mentioned about the 4th production run: if I understood correctly, until the third production run 70% of Jaburo's facilities were producing GMs, and therefore the remaining 30% was probably building ships as part of the Vinson plan, and this capacity later increased to 70% during the fourth production run during December.

IIRC the Vinson plan didn't managed to achieve it's initial goal, only producing 228 of the intended 340 vessels, and out of these 228 we are told that most were modified Columbus carriers and Public assault boats.

Now, while I don't know for certain, I would assume that it takes longer to build a Salamis or Magellan than the time it takes to build a Public or Columbus.

My point is: could it be that before the fourth production run the Federation realized they were behind schedule with the Vinson plan (after giving priority to MS development and production) and in order to compensate for this they began producing a large number of simpler Columbus and Public ships during the fourth production run on December, even using the capacity originally given for GM production?

Another related question I have is: while we know that GMs were produced at several different locations, what about Federation ships? Were all their vessels built at Jaburo? The next likely location I can think of is Luna II.

And probably straying a bit out of topic, does the book provides any figures for other units (besides GMs that is)?

[mcred23]

If the GM Nightseeker got a 100 units produced during the war, that basically discards the diea that the Federation didn't produce more than 50 machines of any GM variant, though MS Igloo 2 already pointed towards a rather large production of the GM Kais during the war.

That idea has been discarded for a whille. There are said to be 58 GM Cannons built during the war, and over 50 RGM-79[G]'s are built too (Which, depending on which side stories you account for, gives you 58 of those too ). The GM Kai situation is odd, since I don't think we've gotten any good facts on it, but it's been suggested before that Luna II was producing them instead of the basic RGM-79, and given what we see in IGLOO, it's possible that the GM Kai could be the second most common unit after the basic GM (Since I don't think we're given any decent clues on how many Luna II cranks out).

[toysdream]

I do have a question regarding what is mentioned about the 4th production run: if I understood correctly, until the third production run 70% of Jaburo's facilities were producing GMs, and therefore the remaining 30% was probably building ships as part of the Vinson plan, and this capacity later increased to 70% during the fourth production run during December.

The article text specifically refers to "production lines"; I think warships would typically be built in docks, not rolled off production lines. It says that Jaburo rolled over its extra capacity to aircraft and 艦船 (literally "ships" in the broadest sense), but I suspect they're thinking more of space fighters in this case. Elsewhere in the book, it specifically cites the FF-S5 Raven Sword as one of the conventional weapons whose development and production was delayed because the Federation Forces were prioritizing mobile suits instead.

As far as ship production sites, Jaburo and Luna II are probably the only significant ones.

And yes, the book does give us head counts for some of the other Federation machines. It mentions 8 units of the G-Fighter Bomber Type, two of the Core Booster Plan 004, and more than 300 units in the initial postwar production run of the Raven Sword (plus a second run at the end of U.C. 0080).

We're also told that, in addition to the ten-plus units of the GM Intercept Custom, the Federation Forces fitted six regular GMs with shoulder joints for the Fellow Booster so they could use it while the Intercept Customs were out of order. After the war, another 45 Fellow Boosters were ordered.

-- Mark