Technology & Combat Characteristics
A new Earth Alliance mobile suit developed as a successor to the GAT-02L2 Dagger L, the GAT-04 Windam adopted data and know-how obtained from the Dagger Series MS and gained extremely high general capabilities. Its development was deeply connected to the Junius Treaty signed in C.E. 72 that imposed restrictions on deployable mobile suits, resulting in an increase in demand for next-generation units with higher capabilities rather than modification of existing units. Through inheriting the frame of the X100 Series units and with added thrusters on its legs and shoulders, the Windam's mobility and maneuverability within and outside the atmosphere have been enhanced.
It is said that the Windam realized the Earth Alliance's long-cherished wish to fully mass-produce the famous GAT-X105 Strike Gundam from the previous war. This is due to its overall performance being comparable to the Strike's and depending on its pilot, it can even compete against the ZAFT's New Millenium Series units. In the hands of a skilled pilot like Neo Roanoke, the machine proved to be a challenge even to the ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam. Due to its excellent performance, the Windam was described as being one of the culminations of the Earth Alliance's mobile suits. The Windam's standard armament is similar to the Dagger L's, consisting of CIWS guns, beam sabers, anti-armor penetrators, a new beam rifle, and shield. Like its predecessors, the Windam is also compatible with the Striker Pack system, enabling it to handle a variety of missions. However, its shoulder armor design prevents the mounting of the Sword or Launcher Striker Packs.
History
The GAT-04 Windam was introduced in November C.E. 73, when a squadron of GAT-04+Mk438/B Multi Striker Windams was sent to destroy the PLANT Colonies during the battle of Aprilius One, shortly after the declaration of the Second Alliance-PLANT War. However, they and their supporting fleet were all destroyed by ZAFT's Neutron Stampeder. Soon afterwards, multiple GAT-04+AQM/E-A4E1 Jet Windams were deployed to oppose ZAFT's "Operation Spear of Twilight", in which large numbers of mobile suits were dropped to Earth to reinforce their Carpentaria and Gibraltar bases. Windams were also employed in a failed attempt to destroy ZAFT's battleship, Minerva, as it left Orb territorial waters, and in most major Earth Alliance operations on the planet thereafter such as the battles of Heaven's Base and Orb.
Neo Roanoke, commander of the 81st Independent Mobile Group "Phantom Pain", piloted a custom Windam with a unique purple and dark gray color scheme. During Operation Ragnarök, Windams were also used by the regenade Earth Alliance forces that sided with ZAFT after the existence of Logos was exposed. The Earth Alliance also used Windam in large numbers in space in the last month of the Second Alliance-PLANT War, during which they were deployed with the Doppelhorn Striker or without any Striker Pack at all. Windams were used to protect the emitter of the Requiem superweapon at the Daedalus Lunar Base as well as its relay stations. At the end of the war, a number of Windams were part of the Earth Alliance forces that allied with the Three Ships Alliance, and fought against ZAFT during the Battle of Messiah.
In C.E. 75, remnants of the Blue Cosmos were still in possession of numerous Windams and the older GAT-01A1 Daggers. During their attack on Aldrin City, a ZAFT-controlled Special Economic Zone in Africa, Blue Cosmos remnants deployed a number of Jet Windams, Daggers, and Jet Daggers to overwhelm the local ZAFT garrison. However, their mobile suits were pushed back by a Compass strike team led by Kira Yamato in the STTS-909 Rising Freedom Gundam.
Later, when the combined forces of the Compass and the Kingdom of Foundation launched an attack on the Blue Cosmos remnants' headquarter, located in the Eldore Fortress in Eurasia, at least one Windam was seen defending the base alongside other mobile suits. The base and its defending mobile suits were eventually annihilated when a mysterious nuclear missile hit the area.