abliarsec

joined 4 months ago
 

Despite losing the Battle of Endymion Crater due to the Atlantic Federation's Cyclops System, ZAFT was undeterred and continued to engage the Earth Alliance's space forces, to further reduce the Alliance's military presence in space. The Republic of East Asia's resource asteroid Nova in Lagrange Point 4 soon became the newest target for ZAFT.

On June 14th C.E. 70, ZAFT forces advanced to L4 and laid siege to Nova. While the initial fighting between ZAFT and the Republic broke out around the asteroid base, the fighting continued over several weeks, and many civilian space colonies in Lagrange Point 4 became devastated or destroyed as a result of collateral damage. Eventually the entire civilian population of the colonies had to be evacuated.

 

After successfully taking the Strait of Gibraltar, ZAFT continued their push into the Mediterranean Sea and Africa. In order to take control of the Mediterranean Sea, and deny the Earth Alliance of vital strategic sea routes, ZAFT began pressing toward the Suez Canal. To counter this ZAFT offensive, the Eurasian Federation sent its massive Armored corps to stop the enemy's advance. Among the men of the armored corps was the tank commander Morgan Chevalier.

On the evening of May 30th, ZAFT forces approaching from the Mediterranean Sea made landing and clashed with the Eurasian Armored Corps at El Alamein, near the Suez Canal. Despite ZAFT forces displaying incredible tactical maneuvers, the battle was not in their favor. The Eurasian forces had came prepared; with vast minefields, endless missiles and artillery barragess, and an overwhelming number of tanks. ZAFT's landing forces, particularly the Zuoots, suffered many losses despite their superior firepower.

As the battle progressed, ZAFT reinforcements entered the battle from the Qattara Depression, a place that was considered impassable by most military vehicles due to the difficult terrain. But ZAFT's land battleships, equipped with the unique "scale motor" propulsion, managed to traverse the Qattara Depression. These ZAFT reinforcements led by Andrew Waltfeld caught the Eurasian Federation completely off guard, as Eurasians never considered the enemy to attack from that direction due to the terrain. Once on the battlefield, the ZAFT land battleships deployed the new BuCUEs, which tore into the Eurasian rank and decimated the Eurasian forces. Thanks to the surprise attack from an unexpected direction and the impressive performance of BuCUE, ZAFT managed to defeat the Eurasian armored corps, and even Morgan Chevalier had to admit the future of warfare is in mobile suits. With the massive loss of its massive Armored corps, Eurasian Federation could not hope to stem the tide of ZAFT heavy assault, and ZAFT took over the Suez Canal with ease.

After the defeat of the Eurasian Federation at El Alamein, ZAFT successfully took control of Suez. With both the Suez Canal and the Strait of Gibraltar under ZAFT control, Earth Alliance lost all sea routes to the Mediterranean Sea from outside. The control of Suez also meant that ZAFT could now travel straight to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal to reach North Africa and the Mediterranean. By securing the Mediterranean, ZAFT forces in North Africa could begin to push south toward the Habilis mass driver complex.

 

With the Southern Pacific and Indian Ocean secured, ZAFT can proceed with their strategy to capture or destroy all mass drivers controlled by Earth Alliance. As part of this Earth-side offensive, a ZAFT task force left Carpentaria base heading for Mediterranean sea.

In May 25th C.E. 70, the ZAFT Task Force was intercepted by the Eurasian Federation’s Mediterranean fleet near Casablanca. However, the Eurasia Federation’s Mediterranean fleet was devastated by ZAFT’s aquatic mobile suits, including the newly developed Goohn.

With the defeat of the Eurasian Federation fleet, ZAFT task force entered into the Mediterranean sea. Soon they took control of the strategically vital Strait of Gibraltar, and began construction of Gibraltar Base.

[–] abliarsec@ani.social 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

On the topic, imagine how fast the RAVEN must be, especially when it doesnt need to use the mirage colloid cloaking device. The Freedom and Justice can pull 7.4G and 8G, respectively, despite them weighing over 70 tons.

A RAVEN without the powerhungry PS armour is going to be scary fast.

 

Today, the DINN was officially introduced into service by ZAFT. Developed by the Heinlein Design Bureau based on its earlier ZGMF-515 CGUE, the DINN was the first aerial combat mobile suit, designed to achieve air superiority. To that end, it was more than 40 tons lighter than the CGUE and equipped with six large wings on its high-thrust backpack, granting it atmospheric flight capabilities.

For high-speed flight, the DINN switches to flight mode, where the six wings are unfolded and its head is covered by an aeroshell, a feature inherited from the experimental ZGMF/TAR-X1 GINN Tactical Air Reconnaissance Type, and served to reduce air resistance, thereby increasing flight speed and suppressing fuel consumption. This also had the effect of extending the DINN's flight range. While the DINN's head was largely the same as the CGUE's, the latter's head-mounted sensor array was omitted to facilitate the deployment of the aeroshell.

Weapons-wise, the DINN was equipped with the same M7S heavy assault machine gun as the CGUE, a new M100 190mm anti-air shotgun, and four 6-tube missile launchers on its chest. The guns are mounted on holsters during flight to reduce drag.

The success of the DINN also prompted Heinlein Design Bureau to create variant of the unit; the AME-WAC01 DINN Special Electronic Installation Type, and the AMF-103A DINN RAVEN:

The DINN Special Electronic Installation Type is a non-combat variation created for early warning and to command battle from the air. Compared to the standard DINN, the DINN Special Electronic Installation Type focused more on flight capabilities than aerial combat performance. One such modification to achieve this is the installation of huge high lift devices on the redesigned main wings, and these devices are completely retractable so as to reduced drag during high-speed flight. Additionally, a jet engine is mounted on the rotatable pivot on each wing's underside to maintain a constant thrust vector regardless of the wing's angle, and the aeroshell on the mobile suit's back also has an added retractable vertical stabilizer to improve stability.

The DINN Special Electronic Installation Type's primary equipment is a large radome, which is carried in its hands. The multipurpose launchers of the standard DINN are replaced with compound sensors for surveying ground activities at high altitude, and are covered by transparent super-hard resin. The gun racks on the hips of the standard DINN have also been converted into multi-functional storage pods, which usually contain electronic equipment such as additional sensors and ECM pods. Depending on situations, they can also carry flares and N-Jammers dispenser. Unlike normal mobile suit, the DINN Special Electronic Installation Type is operated by a crew of 3, 1 pilot and 2 operators. As such, its cockpit is enlarged resulting in a protruding chest. To reduce the possibility of being detected, the machine is coated with a low visibility, EM-wave absorbing paint containing ferrite powder.

The AMF-103A DINN RAVEN (Reconnaissance Attack AdVanced Electronic iNstallation) is equipped with Mirage Colloid Stealth System, which is referenced to in the "electronic installation" part of its the name. It is also equipped with redesigned thrusters, enhanced sensors and has improved mobility. Additionally, the design of its wings, front skirts, calf thrusters, backpack, etc., are revised.

The "A" at the end of its model number suggests that like the ZGMF-X10A Freedom and ZGMF-X09A Justice, the DINN RAVEN is equipped with nuclear reactor and Neutron Jammer Canceller, giving it practically unlimited operation time and an incredible 8826KW output, 4 times higher than even the powerful GAT-X105 Strike.

 

Situated on northern Australia, ZAFT’s Carpentaria base is its biggest and most important installation on Earth. ZAFT finished construction the base in May 20th, less than 2 months after the start of the construction. This is partly achieved by dropping prefabricated modules from orbit to expedite the construction process. Carpentaria base is instrumental to ZAFT’s military campaigns to take Alliance mass drivers on Earth.

With the base completed, ZAFT can project its presence further on Earth, sending out expeditionary fleets to other regions of the planet hostile to them. A few days after the completion of the base, a ZAFT fleet set off toward the Atlantic ocean...

 

Following their victories during Operation Uroboros and at the Battle of Jachin Due, ZAFT sought to remove the Earth Alliance from space entirely and destroying Alliance military targets such as Ptolemaios lunar base and Endomiyon resource base.

On May 3rd, ZAFT forces defeated Alliance defenders and made landfall on Luna, soon they constructed a base in Lorentz crater to serve as their beachhead. From there, they would continue their offensive on the Moon, eventually dividing the Moon in Alliance-held and ZAFT-held sides, divided by the Grimaldi crater, soon to be known as Grimaldi front.

[–] abliarsec@ani.social 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Any ship that has it MS oriented the vertically would also recover them the same direction. The Musai late type for example, is like this.

but frankly, I am not sure it has any actual benefit. The universe depends on the idea that long range target acquisition being terrible, to the point where even a giant nuclear powered robot cant be hit reliably. If reducing cross section facing the enemy is such an important factor in battle, the enemy would have good enough sensors to instakill your giant robots.

 

After the repeated losses at the hands of ZAFT, the Earth Alliance space force tried desperately to reverse ZAFT’s offensive momentum, they decided to launch a deep strike on the PLANT homeland. In April C.E.70, Alliance 5th and 6th fleets launched from Ptolemaeus base on the Moon and headed toward Lagrange Point 5.

On April 17, C.E.70, the incoming Alliance fleets were intercepted by ZAFT forces stationed at Jachin Due resource satellite. The battle that ensued resulted in the defeat of the Earth Alliance's 5th and 6th fleets.

After ZAFT's victory at Jachin Due, the PLANT Supreme Council decided to convert the resource asteroid into a military space fortress.

 

Mere days after ZAFT forces successfully landed on Carpentaria, they established the foundation of Carpentaria base and began to reinforce its position. To stop the enemy from gaining a permanent foothold on Earth, Earth Alliance dispatched the Atlantic Federation’s 21st Anti-Submarine Warfare fleet toward Australia. With the aim to stop a ZAFT naval convoy, consisting of supply submarines escorted by Vosgulov class carrier submarines, from reaching Carpentaria.

On the 10th April,the Alliance fleet’s engaged ZAFT’s submarine convoy in the Coral Sea. In the battle, the ASW Fleet deployed many Kingfisher 33SP Anti-Submarine Warfare helicopters, one of which was piloted by Ensign Jane Houston. On ZAFT's side, Marco Morassim sortied in his new GINN FEMWS, alongside GINN Wasp types

During the fighting, the Canageon and Bradford of the ASW Fleet tried to circumvent the Vosgulov-class submarines and the mobile suits to destroy the supply submarine convoy, but they were unsuccessful and were quickly destroyed.

In the end, The battle proved to be a total disaster for the Atlantic Federation; its entire 21st ASW Fleet, including the flagship Cumberland and the carrier Kingsbill, was wiped out along with all the other ships and Kingfisher helicopters, with only one survivor of the battle; the Kingfisher pilot Jane Houston.

 

Today in history: February 22nd, C.E.70

With the destruction of Junius Seven, the First Alliance-PLANT War officially started as the skirmishes in Lagrange Point 5 turned into full-scale war across Earth Sphere. ZAFT demonstrated remarkable force projection capability as they began to undertake offensive actions against the Earth Alliance far away from the PLANT homeland. The first target of ZAFT’s new strategy was the space station Yggdrasil, located in Lagrange Point 1 near Luna, and served as the bridgehead for Luna’s Alliance forces.

On the 22nd, the advancing ZAFT expeditionary force finally engaged Alliance’s 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Fleets that were defending the station, and ZAFT deploy the N-Jammers for the first time in combat. The resulting battle between the two sides was fierce, and after intense fighting, the station was destroyed in the crossfire. Eventually, its ruins become part of the debris belt.

With the destruction of the space station, The Earth Alliance lost a vital bridgehead in space and suffered heavy casualties as the 1st and 2nd fleet were annihilated, with only the 3rd showed up later in Luna engagements. However, it was a pyrrhic victory for ZAFT, as they also suffered heavy losses.

During the battle, Rau Le Creuset managed to destroy 37 Moebius mobile armors and 6 warships.

 

February 14th, CE70. Three days after Earth Alliance declared war on PLANT, an Alliance fleet entered Lagrange point 5 space to confront PLANT in February 14th with the aim to subdue the upstart coordinators.

However, the battle did not went in the favour of the Alliance as the attacking fleet suffered heavy losses. Facing with defeat and failing their strategic goal, Admiral William Sutherland onboard Alliance carrier Roosevelt ordered the Peacemaker Nuclear Task Force to launch, targeting the illegal agricultural colonies of PLANT. Intending to complete their mission of sabotaging PLANTs food production capability no matter what. A nuclear missile struck the illegal agricultural colony Junius Seven, shattering the colony to million pieces ina blinding flash, and took the lives of 243 721 people. This act turned the on-and-off skirmishes between ZAFT and Alliance into an all-out war.