Technology & Combat Characteristics

While the F Type was fully capable of combat under gravity based on simulations conducted on the moon and inside colonies, productivity was still an issue – its expensive space-use equipment would become dead weight on Earth. As such, the development of local warfare type mobile suits was considered necessary. Many local warfare variants of the Zaku II were created, including the ground-use MS-06J Zaku II Ground Type, the anti-air cannon-equipped MS-06K Zaku Cannon, the desert-use MS-06D Zaku Desert Type, the aqauatic MS-06M Zaku Marine Type. Meanwhile, development into space-combat variants of the Zaku II continued, leading to variants such as the high mobility MS-06R series and the MS-06E Zaku Reconnaissance Type. In fact, nearly all mobile suits developed by Zeon until the middle stage of the war were part of the MS-06 series.

Later in the war, two improved variants of the Zaku II were developed: the late production variant MS-06F-2 Zaku II F2 Type and the final production variant MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai. Both of these variants boasted significantly improved performance. However, due to various factors, such as the Zeon military's top-down structure, Zeon supply routes being severed, and late production time, they only saw limited action during the war. Even after the end of the war, the Zaku II would have a tremendous impact on the development of future mobile suits, leading to successors like the RMS-106 Hizack and the AMX-011 Zaku III.

History

Following the success of the MS-05 Zaku I, Zeon's first combat mobile suit, the Zeon military leadership ordered Zeonic to continue its development. In response, Zeonic developed a new mobile suit based on the design of the MS-05. The prototype for this mobile suit rolled out in August, U.C. 0077. Originally intended as an improved model of the MS-05, this prototype was instead given the new model number of MS-06A due to its signficantly different appearance and vastly improved performance, marking the birth of the MS-06 Zaku II. Even after the end of the war, the Zaku II would have a tremendous impact on the development of future mobile suits, leading to successors like the RMS-106 Hizack and the AMX-011 Zaku III.