The concept of the mobile armor originated with the design of the MIP XM-1 Space Fighter, the military planners of the time envisioned fleets of heavily armed space attack corvettes that were cheaper to produce than cruisers and could be equipped with powerful high-output Minovsky-Losenco reactors and thermonuclear engines, to give themselves a tactical edge planners opted to incorporate powerful mega particle beam weaponry capable of crippling or destroying an enemy warship, and incorporated conventional rapid-fire weapons and missiles to improve fire power deficiencies caused by the slow rate of fire inherent to all mega particle beam weapons, this gave versatility to their designs. However, the power-output of the Minovsky-Losenco reactors of the time imposed design limitations that made the concept impractical, this fact was further compounded by numerous technical defiencies in the design of the XM-1 which yielded dissapointing test results that led to the cacellation of the project in favor of another concept which would eventually adopted for production.

Although unsucessful, a few senior military planners still felt that the concept of the mobile armour was viable and argued that the startegic benefits merited further research and development, this is where the data from XM-1 project would prove useful as designers would later apply the lessons learned to newer mobile armour designs. Eventually breakthrough's in reactor efficiency made it possible to produce a practical mobile armor for trial manufacture, but by this stage the impending war between the Principality of Zeon and the United Earth Government created a greater urgency for the production of mobile suits. The wide-spread application of mobile armour technology was further limited by the technical complexity and high cost of manufacture, this meant that mobile armour production was secondary to the manufacture of mass-production mobile suits, and that they would only be produced in limited numbers as prototypes for trial manufacture.

The Mobile Armour concept places an emphasis on firepower and mobility rather than relying on manueverability to conduct fast attack. To ensure survivability planners emphasized a combination of stealth and heavy armor protection. These concepts also exploited the effect of minovsky particles on RADIO based detection and ranging technology which was integral to the concept of an effective Ship Self Defense System (SSDS), which was accomplished by the installation of RADAR Frequency Absorbent Material (RAM) barriers in both the construction of the air-frame and armor package. the designers then intergrated a Minovsky Particle based Electronic Warfare System which provided Electronic Support for both RF and MWDR coverage for early warning, identification,direction-finding, and Electronic Attack [EA] jamming capability against multiple targeting aircraft or incoming anti-ship missile (ASM) terminal guidance systems. For offensive capability the mobile armour would rely on powerful mega particle beam weapons which could penetrate up to 30³ meters of steel or 300³ meters of stone in a single discharge.

Large Mega Particle Beam Weapons employ an unique method to generate, focus, and discharge mega particles. Rather than firing one beam from one emmitter the mobile armour's Mega Particle Beam Weapon fires multiple beams which are focused on a single impact point, within the center of the emmitted beam is a high temperature plasma field which is constricted to induce the hi-energy radiation by which large amounts of mega particles can be transmitted against the target to a maximum lethal effect while reducing scintillation, an effect that would dimminish the power of the beam over long distances. Big Zam's primary armament is an application of this concept, its primary armament is an extremely powerful mega particle cannon, capable of wiping out several targets - and even entire battleships - in a single shot. However there were practical limitations, the limited arc of fire and energy consumption requirements as well as the high latency which was required to energize the main armament between discharges limited the effectiveness of the weapon.

Weapon Statistics

Name	WA	Damage(K)	Shots	Range	Space	Special
Mega Particle Beam Cannon	+1	900	inf.	45000m	7	takes 3 turns of preparation before weapon can be fired

To overcome the limitations of the primary armament designers would intergrate several supplemental weapon systems that mobile armours could use to engage a variety of targets. For example, the Big Zam mounted 28 anti-aircraft beam guns around the circumference of its main body providing 360 degree arc of fire against targets which could not be engaged with it's primary armament. In addition to these weapons Long Range missiles launchers and large-caliber vulcan guns were also provided for defence.

Late in the war scientist discovered that the application of suspended spin particle propagation physics made possible mid-temperature superconduction which could increase the magnetic compression of particles to a state at which anti-particles could be stabilized and applied in concetrated numbers to create projected magnetic fields strong enough to repel even high density mega-particles, mobile armour designers now found themselves with a new technology achivement that would allow mobile armours to be equipped with I-field barrier generators. These generators, a byproduct of Minovsky particle physics, created a screen of protection around the mobile armour that made them impervious to all beam weapons fire. The I-field barrier generator was both the most expensive and technically complex system to be applied to any mobile armour during the war, the system also required a tremendous amount of power-output to operate for even a short period of time (28 min. of continous use). The Apsalus III was the first mobile armour to use this technology after which it was refined and applied to the Big Zam.

The term "Newtype" is applied to humans that undergo a genetic anomoly transfiguration which occurs as a random natural phenomenon, this spontaneous genetic change gives its recipient Extra Sensory Perception (ESP) powers and allow a broad range of secondary Spychic powers to manifest, during this "awakening" the body undergoes dramatic changes as it attempts to adapt to the anomoly. This change can be quantifiably measured in a recipient by measuring the recipients psycho-waves. The Spycommu system is a man-machine interface developed by the Flanagan Institute to exploit these spycho-waves and translates them into computer commands, allowing a newtype pilot to control a mobile weapon by thought alone. However, due to the system's bulk, it can only be installed in mobile armors or giant scaled-up mobile suits. The development of the psycommu system makes possible a deadly new combat tactic. Through the use of Binary remote control and Independent Targeting (B.I.T.) weapon's that carry integrated guidance and tracking combined to a sophistcated robotic weapons control system which can track and engage targets independently. Several remote weapons can be coordinated simultaneously by the newtype pilot to attack an enemy from multiple directions simultaneously - a technique known as an all-range attack.

Since the Minovsky effect renders radio ineffective, the first newtype mobile armor, the MAN-03 Braw Bro, uses cables to transmit power and targeting commands between the psycommu-controlled weapon turrets and the mobile armour. A further refinement of the psycommu system yields a more elegant solution. The MAN-08 Elmeth is armed with wireless drones, each of which includes a small fusion reactor to power its manuevering thrusters and mega particle cannon. Commands are transmitted to these remote weapons by the Spy-commu's amplification of the newtype pilot's psycho waves, which are unaffected by Minovsky jamming. This technique, however, is usable by only the most powerful of newtypes.

However, not all remote attack weapons required spycommu devices to operate effectively. Some mobile armours such as the MAX-03 Adzam carried experimental "leader" weapons, through which powerful electrical plasma charges could be transmitted against targets. The leader weapon consisted of two components: an explosive container which saturated the target with a "dust" of highly conductive particles; and the leader weapon itself, which could anchored itself into the ground or fly over its target, thus trapping its target inside a "cage", and delivering its highly shocking attack.