Technology & Combat Characteristics
The MS-06F Zaku II was the Principality of Zeon's mainstay Mobile Suit (MS) during the One Year War. Compared to the MS-06C Zaku II Early Production Type, the MS-06F removed the heavy anti-nuclear protections, reducing its armor weight and improving its mobility. It was also refitted with a more powerful generator: the MYFG-M-ES series fusion reactor, jointly developed by Zeonic and M&Y Company. Otherwise, it was not significantly different from its predecessors, the MS-06A and the MS-06C.
The MS-06F could run at a speed of 85 km/h, leap 100m into the air with the use of its thrusters, and lift around 80-90t of weight with one hand. Its thrusters had a thrust of 45 tons. Though its punch had a force of 560t, doing so risked severely damaging its manipulators. Instead it more frequently used the spike armor on its left shoulder for shoulder tackle, which had a force of 4,500t. The cost of a MS-06F was equivalent to that of five Type 61 Tanks, or 1,500 civilian automobiles from the year U.C. 0078 (each costing 30% of a salaryman's average annual salary).
History
The MS-06F entered service at some point before the Battle of Loum and was used alongside the MS-06A Zaku II First Mass Production Type and the MS-06C Zaku II Early Production Type. Its production number was limited at this point, and Zeon's primary mobile suit was the MS-06C. Following the Antarctic Treaty, however, the MS-06F, which was lighter than the MS-06C due to the lack of radiation shielding, became the primary mobile suit. It would go on to become the most produced mobile suit of the war and the basis of countless variations, as well as the mobile suit most associated with the name "Zaku". It was produced from the Zeon homeland, the lunar base Granada, as well as the industrial blocks of colonies taken over by Zeon during the One Week Battle.
During the First Landing Operation on March 1, U.C. 0079, more than half of the mobile suits that landed as part of the 1st Terrestrial Mobile Division were MS-06F, most of which were later modified into MS-06J Zaku II Ground Type during overhaul. By the Second Landing Operation on the 11th and the Third Landing Operation on the 18th, most of the mobile suits that landed were MS-06J.
On March 12, U.C. 0079, the Earth Federation Forces 503rd Battalion captured a MS-06F in the Nevada Desert (37.13°N, 117.01°W), the third and most intact Zaku to be captured at the time. This unit originally belonged to the 324th "Bardysh" team of the Mobile Assault Force 3rd Terrestrial Mobile Division, and arrived on Earth as part of the Second Landing Operation. Since it was in A-2 condition, it was secretly sent to Jaburo. Starting from March 24, it was used for a series of tests and analysis. Though details of these tests were lost, fragmentary data indicated that its analysis accelerated the Federation's mobile suit development.
Though the MS-06F was later replaced by the MS-09R Rick Dom and finally the MS-14A Gelgoog as the Principality military's primary space-use mobile suit, it remained in action throughout the rest of the One Year War. Following the end of the war, it would continue to be used by the Zeon Remnants and even the Neo Zeon during the First Neo Zeon War. An example of the latter was the Neo Zeon deploying two Zaku IIs alongside an AMX-101 Galluss-J in Dakar during their invasion of Earth. Some units would also find their ways into personal collections.