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RGM-85 Nemo Mass Production Mobile Suit (RGM-85B, -85J)

I. Dimensions:

II. Type

• Design: Anaheim Electronics
• Builders: Anaheim Electronics
• One man, all weather, standard production mobile suit.

III. Service Use

• RGM-85A: Served with the RDF Space Marines and Marines from 2055 until replaced by the RGM-85J.
• RGM-85J: Served with the RDF Space Marines and Marines from 2058 until replaced by the RGM-89 Jegan.

IV. Propulsion

Engines:

(RGM-85B)

• 2 x Icarus Aerospace AST-33 thrusters on the back, total thrust 199 kN each.
• 2 x Icarus Aerospace AST-34 thrusters on the legs, total thrust 135 kN each.
• Assorted small reaction thrusters and gyroscopes for all-environment maneuvers, attitude adjustment, and stability.

(RGM-84J)

• 4 x Icarus Aerospace AST-35 thrusters on the back (2), and legs (2), total thrust 178 kN each.
• Assorted small reaction thrusters and gyroscopes for all-environment maneuvers, attitude adjustment, and stability.

Powerplant:

• 1 x RRD-4 Miniaturized Fusion-cell energizer providing electrical power to the mecha.  Maximum output, 3200 kW each.

Fuel Capacity:

• 12 standard canisters of reaction mass
• 1 dedicated canister for each tachyon rifle
• 228.9 liters of D2O reactant for fusion engines.

V. Performance

VI. Electronics

Radar tracking:

• Phillips AN/APG-162 X-Band, pulse Doppler, providing long range detection and tracking of targets at all altitudes.
• Westinghouse GN/ TPG-240 medium range UWB phased array pulse-Doppler, for detection and tracking of targets, and with battlefield surveillance modes.
• Westinghouse AN/APX-18 IFF friend or foe interrogator.

Optical tracking:

• Kodak AN/DOS-4300 multi-band digital camera system, for medium range, traversable, UV, infrared imaging and optical band detection and tracking.
• Thomson AN/LT-9 multi-frequency laser ranger and designator.

Tactical Electronic Warfare System (TEWS):

• Loral AN/ALR-31 Radar Warning Receiver (RWR)
• Loral AN/AIR-20 Infra-red Warning Receiver (IRWR)
• General Electric AN/ALQ-280(V) active sensor jammer
• Tracor AN/ALE-16 Chaff and flare dispenser
• Westinghouse AN/AMJ-8 Active Missile Jammers
• Multiple VHF and UHF antennas
• Bose Loudspeakers producing sound up to 90 decibels.

VII. Armament

Cannon

• 2 x Smith & Wesson 60mm autocannons: Mounted on either side of the head of the mobile suit, the 60mm cannons provide anti-personnel firepower as well as a close range alternative to its other more powerful weapons.  Each cannon can fire at 600 rounds per minute with a 1000 round belt feed.  Ammunition is the standard mix of of Tungsten-coated depleted Uranium Armor Piercing Spin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot (APSSDS), High Explosive Armor Piercing (HEAP) and tracer rounds.

Hand Held Weapon

• 1 x Rheinmetall BR-11 single-barreled tachyon rifle: After several more years of refinement the tachyon rifle became both easier to manufacture and maintain as well as cheaper.  This lead to the first mass deployment for the RDF of tachyon weaponry in 2055 with the RGM-85 Nemo. The rifle represents the main weapon of the Nemo and while less powerful than platoon leader models, still packs a good punch.  The rifle can fire 60 rounds per minute in full automatic mode at approximately one shot per second. This weapon fires 200 MJ pulses, with its own dedicated cell and capacitor banks in the 'magazine' with one spare magazine mounted behind the projectile shield with a payload of 20 shots.
• or (after 2058) 1 x Rheinmetall BR-14 single-barreled tachyon rifle: After several more years of refinement the tachyon rifle became both easier to manufacture and maintain as well as cheaper.  This lead to the first mass deployment for the RDF of tachyon weaponry in 2055 with the RGM-85 Nemo. The rifle represents the main weapon of the Nemo and while less powerful than platoon leader models, still packs a good punch.  The rifle can fire 60 rounds per minute in full automatic mode at approximately one shot per second. This weapon fires 250 MJ pulses, with its own dedicated cell and capacitor banks in the 'magazine' with one spare magazine mounted behind the projectile shield with a payload of 18 shots.
• or 1 x Raytheon 6-tube missile launcher: The ability to carry surgical strikes is important to the RGM-85 and to complete this task it has a six tube medium range missile launcher.  This launcher built by Raytheon can hold up to twelve medium range missiles of any kind, though usually the MPM-25 Saber is used.  The missile launcher has six missiles ready to fire with one set of reloads.
• or 1 x Three Star RU-38 360mm missile launcher: When conducting heavy assault hit and run raids the GM III uses this large missile launcher, a successor to the RU-35.  The launcher is designed to use a new variant of the MPM-23 similar to the old MPM-10D.  The MPM-23C is the same size as the MPM-10D, but has a longer range and higher top speed.  When not in use this weapon can be placed on a special mount on the back of the unit freeing the hands for other uses such as wielding the tachyon saber or a projectile shield.  The RU-38 uses an external magazine with seven rounds plus one in the chamber.  The mobile suit can reload the RU-38 in the field using and extra magazine stored on the projectile shield of the mobile suit holding seven rounds. 

• or 1 x Three Star 180mm electromagnetic rail cannon: When the Nemo needs long range firepower against a variety of targets, the choice is the 180mm rail cannon.  This cannon, while not as powerful as the cannon on the RGM-85C, it still packs quite a punch and is very versatile earning it the moniker '180mm anti-everything cannon'.  The cannon fires a 110 kg shell distances of up to 10 km with excellent accuracy thanks to self guided shells. The available ammunition consists of KCP Kinetic Core Penetrating (hull penetration rounds), KPI Kinetic Penetrating Incendiary (plasma incendiary rounds) and MKEP Multiple Kinetic Energy Penetrator (flechette cluster rounds), the latter as anti-mecha formation weapons.  The cannon carries seven shells internally in a large magazine.  One spare magazine is usually mounted under the projectile shield, however reloading this large and cumbersome weapon takes several times as long as reloading any other type of weapon, usually around thirty seconds.

Melee Weapon

• 2 x Shinara 0.4 MW Tachyon Beam Saber: These revolutionary mecha-sized melee weapon were first used on the Gundam mobile suit. The beam saber only contains enough energy and particles for about 60 seconds of continuous use. When not in use, the beam sabers are stored in the waist of the mecha, where they are recharged by the Nemo's reactor. The Nemo can switch the beam saber on and off while holding it, in order to conserve power. Once totally depleted it takes 30 minutes for a beam saber to recharge to full capacity. The Nemo carries two sabers on the rear of its waist.

Missiles

• 1 x MM-4 Multi-Missile System: 4 inboard variable warhead, MPM-20 Pike short range infra-red imager passive radar homing missiles. Launch port is one 2-tube launcher located on the projectile shield. 2 missiles ready, with one reload. Various warhead options.

VIII. Armor

The armor on the RGM-85 is a low-mass lunarium tungsten composite plating that is the standard for most Terran mecha. Aside from the good protection provided against projectiles, missiles, and other kinetic weapons, this armor is also resistant to plasma globes (annihilation discs), lasers, and fair against, particle guns too, owing to the fact that the armor can flake off and evaporate in layers under fire from such high-energy weapons, taking much of the weapon's energy and converting it into the latent heat of sublimation in the armor. The armor stops all small arms fire, and has good resistance to all weapons commonly mounted on combat mecha.

The Nemo provides full protection from nuclear, biological, and chemical hazards, using an overpressure cockpit environment activated by radiation and hazardous chemical sensors, or manually when biological warfare conditions are anticipated. The internal consumables supplies can provide atmosphere for three days maximum.

IX. Development

The RGM-85 began development in 2053 the RDF approached Anaheim with a request for a new mobile suit to replace the RGM-79 in several years.  Anaheim, which had only then just begun work on the movable frame, decided to originally go with a more traditional semi monocoque.  Early in the design process, as the success of the Gundam Mark II project began to become apparent, designers quickly changed the design to accommodate the new design.  The result was a mobile suit, which while having the new frame type, did not take full advantage of the frame.  However, the Nemo was still an excellent suit and a definite cut above the RGM-79.  The Nemo also incorporated into its design the new linear seat and panoramic cockpit of the Gundam Alex.  Thanks to the movable frame, the Nemo was able to achieve greatly increased agility in space and on the ground, despite a slightly slower ground speed. The Nemo also had vastly improved jump ability and limited atmospheric flight capacity for a short period of time.  In addition to the improved construction of the Nemo, it also used a new powerplant to power its new thrusters.  While being less powerful than the GM's, like the Zeta, they are more numerous allowing the Nemo to function even with the loss of an thruster. 

The Nemo was also the first mass produced RDF mobile suit to utilize the tachyon rifle.  New advances had eliminated cost concerns so this greatly improved the Nemo's firepower.  While still to expensive for true mass production on the level of veritechs and destroids, it was well suited to the numbers of mobile suits in production.  The Nemo retains the same head mounted autocannons as well as a slightly more powerful tachyon saber which were basically a modified GM saber.   The shield missile system also was upgraded using MPM-20 Pike short range missiles as opposed to MPM-10 Dirk mini-missiles which gave the Nemo a short range weapon which the GM lacked.

The RGM-85 entered service along with its partners in 2055 and saw its first real major combat action in the Transient War of 2057.  In that war it faced off against all forms of enemy power armor and mecha in all environments and performed incredibly achieving a 5 to 1 kill ratio easily taking out the male power armor and tactical battlepods of the enemy.   However it still faced some problems with the female power armor which was to agile and carried too many missiles to be an easy kill for the typical RGM-85 pilot, however this lack of expertise hampered the mecha little as the RGM-84 Zeta Gundam could usually handle several of these powerful machines at once and still come out on top. In 2058 Anaheim rolled out the RGM-85J in an attempt to address some of the weakness in terms of agility in the RGM-85B type. The RGM-85J had 4 of the more powerful thrusters used in the -85B.  It also used a newer tachyon rifle with slightly more power.  It also featured crude wing binders carrying maneuvering thrusters and helping to balance the mobile suit.  The RGM-85J was soon replaced however  in 2061 by the RGM-89 Jegan though several platoons hadn't yet received the new mecha and were forced to use the Nemo in battle against the Marduk.  In held its own against the Marduk Zentran Male Power Armor, but was far outclassed by most other mecha in the Marduk arsenal.

Layout adapted from Robotech Reference Guide

Content by Jeffrey R. Spillner and Ron Ferrara
Copyright © 1998-2001 Jeffrey R. Spillner, Ron Ferrara

Page Last Updated on December 7, 2001 @ 00:00 GMT