Profile Name:
Series:
Notable Pilots:
RGM-96X Jesta
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn
Nigel Garrett, Daryl McGuinness, Watts Stepney
Additional Information
The Jesta is the next generation of Earth Federation mobile suits, officially intended to be the successor of the RGM-89 Jegan which, by UC 0096, has already seen a number of upgrades and variants. Unofficially, this mobile suit was developed as part of the UC Project, intending to serve as an escort unit to the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam. As the Unicorn Gundam's NT-D system has a limited operating time to destroy Newtype targets, the Jesta is meant to serve the role of clearing the area of all targets that aren't Newtypes. Through this, the Unicorn Gundam is able use its NT-D system to deal exclusively with Newtype enemies. Due to the high performance of the Unicorn Gundam, the Jesta has been designed for high performance to keep up with the Unicorn Gundam, in order to fulfil its role as the Unicorn's escort.
Being the successor of the Jegan, its load-out is very similar, though usually having higher specs. Like most Federation mobile suits, a vulcan pod is mounted on the side of its head. While it lacks the firepower to take down mobile suits, it makes an ideal weapon for taking down enemy rockets and missles. In extreme cases, it can also be used at close range to take out an enemy mobile suit's main camera or joints. The Jesta also comes equipped with one beam saber, mounted on the left forearm, allowing the Jesta to quickly draw its saber whenever it needs to engage in close combat. The beam rifle is also an upgrade of the Jegan's beam rifle, in which it has been given a more advanced scope, and its mode of fire can be switched between normal fire mode, or machine gun mode. It's secondary handle also allows for the Jesta to fire with greater accuracy. In addition, three extra magazines are mounted on the Jesta's right forearm, allowing it to engage in prolonged fire fights. Mounted on its waist are two grenade racks. The grenades can be fired directly from the racks, or they can be removed and thrown like standard grenades. Finally, in terms of defense, it is equipped with a shield that also contains two 2-tubed missiles, which gives the shield some offensive capabilities. Unlike previous mobile suits, the shield is attached to a backpack mounted arm, giving the shield great flexibility while also keeping the Jesta's arms free.
Because the Jesta's true purpose is to serve as an escort unit to the Unicorn Gundam, its performance far surpasses that of the Jegan, the Federation's current frontline mobile suit. However, its official status as a successor to the Jegan has seen a limited number of these units assigned to special Federation task forces. One such task force being Londo Bell, with at least 12 of these units assigned to help in hunting down Zeon remnants.