Musai-Class

- 10 x Small Missile Launcher

The Musai-class is a class of light cruiser in the Solar Century Timeline. It was the first warship designed to carry mobile suits for the Zeon, and had a "Komusai" landing capsule that could carry additional mobile suits. There were several models of the Musai-class produced during the war. It was first featured in the web serial Mobile Suit Golden Gundam.

## Technology & Combat Characteristics

The main cruiser of the Zeon Army, the Musai was developed on the premise of deploying mobile suits (MS). It has one thermonuclear rocket engine installed at the end of each plate-shaped columns extending to the lower left and right of the bridge, and contrary to the Salamis-class, which retains its angular shape and similarities to naval vessels, the Musai features an original design that makes heavy use of curves. Directly below the bridge is a MS deck that can carry four mobile suits, and it is possible to deliver goods directly by conveyor pipe from the Papua-class supply ship using three supply hatches on each side. The lower part of the bow is equipped with an atmospheric entry capsule "Komusai", and two mobile suits can be stored in it. However, the two mobile suits can be deployed only after the Komusai has separated, as the capsule's storage hatch is blocked when attached to the Musai.

In combat, after fielding its mobile suits, the Musai would engage enemy ships with powerful double-barreled mega particle cannons, weapons that had more than enough punch to penetrate the armor of any of the Earth Federation's warships. Other weapons of the ship include 2 large missile launchers, 10 small missile launchers which replaced the AA/AMS machine guns seen in the Early-Production types.

This change, while ignorable and relatively unimportant at first, this would return to haunt the Zeon in the latter half of the One Year War, when the Federation Forces deployed their own mobile suits.

## Armaments

* Twin Mega Particle Gun

The Musai-class is equipped with three 2-barrel mega particle guns as its primary weapons. Although powerful, their high energy demands meant that it took the generator several minutes to collect the energy for a single shot. Due to their position, these guns are able to aim forward, up and to sides of the ship, but not down.

* Large Missile Launcher

A large missile launcher is equipped on each side of the Musai-class, below and behind the lowest twin mega particle gun. The large missiles were used for anti-ship/anti-facility attacks.

* Small Missile Launcher

Five small missile launchers are equipped on each side of the ship, above the large missile launchers. These small missiles were used for anti-air defense.

## Special Equipment & Features

* **Komusai**

Each Musai-class had a specialized dock that allowed them to carry a single Komusai shuttle that could be used to carry men, mobile suits, and equipment down to Earth. These Komusai shuttles were often pressed into service as secondary hangars, increasing the number of mobile suits a Musai could carry by two.

* **External Fuel Tank**

To extend operating time, the *Musai*-class can be fitted with up to two external fuel tanks, each located below the mobile suit hangar.

## History

This variant of the Musai Class would be introduced in UC 0078 as a successor to the Musai-Class Early Production Type introduced in UC 0075. This variant would focus more on Anti-Ship combat, trading it's AA and AMS systems for missile launchers. These light cruiser would soon become Zeon's primary warship in space and during the One Year War the Musai would see action in virtually every battle and combat action.