Technology & Combat Characteristics
The GAT-01A1 Dagger is the other mass production mobile suit, besides the GAT-01 Strike Dagger, to be developed by the Earth Alliance during the First Alliance-PLANT War using data from the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam. In fact, it is the "true" mass production MS that the Alliance had in mind, the Strike Dagger is a stripped-down version of it for quick production. The mobile suit is commonly known as "105 Dagger" as it can utilize the Striker Packs used by the Strike, and to differentiate it from the Strike Dagger. It also has the ability to be fitted with the same high-performance sensor used in the Strike's head and unlike the Strike Dagger, it is equipped with adequate EMP shielding from the start, and fitted with two head-mounted antennae as well as CIWS, although the latter has been altered to use 40mm ammunition. Other armaments include a pair of foot-mounted 12.5mm anti-infantry guns, a pair of beam sabers mounted on the side armor, a shield for defense, and either a handheld machine gun or beam rifle for ranged combat.
To reduce the production cost, the 105 Dagger does not have PS armor and instead is equipped with a modified version of laminated armor used by warships, like the Archangel-class, on its vital areas. This also leads to the mobile suit having better protection against beam weaponry. Furthermore, the lack of the power-intensive PS armor also increases the 105 Dagger's effective combat endurance. During the war, only 23 units were manufactured, including 1 system verification unit and 2 prototypes. Production of the 105 Dagger continues after the war ends and upgrades are continuously applied to the mobile suit to keep it up to date. It is later replaced by the GAT-02L2 Dagger L sometime before the Second Alliance-PLANT War, but some units are still kept in service and they can use the new Striker Packs in use at that point.
History
In C.E. 71, the Earth Alliance rolled out its first five mobile suits as part of the secret G Project with the intention to create its own series of mobile suits that could better fight against ZAFT's mobile suits than the outclassed TS-MA2 Moebius mobile armors. One of these mobile suits was the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam, which was able to mount Striker Packs to adapt to different situations. The Strike was also the only unit of the five prototypes which was not stolen by ZAFT. The Alliance eventually created the GAT-01A1 Dagger, the "true" mass-production version of the Strike. However, due to the need to produce as many mobile suits as quickly as possible to fight against ZAFT, the Alliance instead mass-produced the GAT-01 Strike Dagger, an emergency model which was a stripped-down and less expensive version of the Dagger.
Nevertheless, the Alliance put the Dagger into limited mass production during the war. Due to its ability to use Striker Packs like the Strike and the fact that the name "Strike Dagger" was already taken, it was nicknamed the "105 Dagger". The limited number of Daggers were given to ace pilots like Morgan Chevalier, who used his mobile suit with the AQM/E-X04 Gunbarrel Striker, thus forming the GAT-01A1+AQM/E-X04 Gunbarrel Dagger. The Dagger was mass produced following the end of the war, and a variant known as the GAT-01A1+AQM/E-X02 Sword Dagger was commonly deployed by the Alliance during the South American War for Independence.
Eventually, both the Strike Dagger and 105 Dagger were succeeded by the GAT-02L2 Dagger L, which was a combination of the two models and was introduced sometime before the Second Alliance-PLANT War. The Dagger lineage was eventually succeeded in the second war by the GAT-04 Windam. However, the Alliance's Phantom Pain unit still made use of an upgraded version of the 105 Dagger, the GAT-01A2R 105 Slaughter Dagger, while some of the standard 105 Daggers remained in service and participated in the defense of Heaven's Base against a massive ZAFT attack during Operation Ragnarök; these units were equipped with Launcher and Jet Striker Packs.
In C.E. 75, numerous Daggers, including several Jet Daggers, were deployed alongside the GAT-04+AQM/E-A4E1 Jet Windams by Blue Cosmos remnants in an attack on Aldrin City in Africa. They easily overwhelmed the local ZAFT garrison, but were pushed back by a Compass strike team led by Kira Yamato in his STTS-909 Rising Freedom Gundam. Later, the Daggers defended Blue Cosmos remnants' headquarter, located in Eldore Fortress in Eurasia, alongside other mobile suits against the combined forces of Compass and the Kingdom of Foundation. They were eventually annihilated when a mysterious nuclear missile hit the area.