Technology & Combat Characteristics
The greatest difference between the MVF-X08R2 Eclipse Unit 2 and Unit 1 is its nuclear-powered specifications. The Eclipse, which is equipped with beam rifles, beam sabers, and beam shields, as well as a Mirage Colloid stealth system, requires a large amount of energy due to its equipment and functions. Therefore, despite its high functionality, its short operating time was a major weakness. However, this is also proof that the unit was originally designed to be supplied with power by a nuclear reactor. In this sense, Reactor 2 is the true Eclipse. In addition to this, the high mobility of the machine created a problem in which the pilot's body could not withstand the enormous G-force. Only when a pilot with the strength to cope with this problem is on board is the Eclipse able to carry out the purpose for which it was developed—a preemptive attack on an enemy base.
It was designed to function as a bomber unit with its high scouting capability and its night camouflage design, and was created to validate the ability to deter military aggression from other countries by establishing technology capable of preemptive strikes, but its development was shut down before it had achieved this goal. Its production was discontinued for political reasons and the unit was sealed away, kept without an operating system, ostensibly only to provide a source of spare parts for Eclipse Unit 1. No information regarding the unit was ever released to the public. It can be said that this unit symbolizes the gap between the two world wars, where confusion has yet to be resolved.
History
Originally, following Orb's embarrassing occupation by the Earth Alliance during the First Alliance-PLANT War, the Eclipse Gundam was planned as a strategic bomber in hopes it would deter future attacks on the island nation if they had the ability to strike military bases preemptively. But after the end of the war, it was decided that it would undermine the basic principles of Orb, so Eclipse Unit 2 was mothballed in an incomplete state, without an OS, and its very existence was considered top secret.
The Eclipse Unit 1's master OS was copied and installed onto Unit 2 by Ken Norland Suse, who betrayed Orb and defected to Anti-factice with it. Anti-factice would then recreate the weapons for Reactor 2 based on data that remained in its systems from when it was designed.
During a conversation between him and Miyabi Oto Kiou, Joel Jeanmaire-Giraud, the leader of Anti-factice, revealed his plan: Ken will pilot the Unit 2, until the self-destruct sequence have detonated its nuclear reactor in a suicide attack.
