The AGX-04 Gerbera Tetra (ガーベラ・テトラ) is a prototype Mobile Suit

assault weapon designed by Mika Akitaka and featured in the OVA Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory. It was piloted by Cima Garahau.

Features

As part of its military reconstruction after the One Year War, the Federation Forces began their Gundam development project in collaboration with Anaheim Electronics, the goal was to produce new experimental Gundam-like machines. The fourth unit planned in this GP series was the RX-78GP04G Gundam "Gerbera". His design sought to replicate the high-speed Mobile Suit assault tactics successfully established by the Principality of Zeon at the end of the war, in which a single Mobile Suit was able to penetrate enemy forces and inflict heavy damage as demonstrated by the MS-18E Kämpfer .

However, the role of the "Gerbera" is to operate in concert with its sister unit, the RX-78GP01 Gundam "Zephyranthes" which was upgraded for space combat, so its development was canceled. As a result, Anaheim Electronics left a half-finished "Gerbera". The division within Anaheim Electronics that produced the "Gebera" was spun out of the Zeonic Company (which still had strong loyalty to Zeon) and was approached by the Delaz fleet. The division then revised the design of the "Gerbera" to hide its origin, and produced the AGX-04 Gerbera Tetra.

The Gerbera Tetra has simple armament, consisting of four 110mm machine guns, two mounted in each forearm, two beam sabers for melee combat, and a beam machine gun, a beam weapon with a rate of much higher shooting than standard beam rifles. The Gerbera Tetra can be equipped with an optional stürm booster on the backpack, which, despite the increase in overall mass, significantly increases the speed and flight range of the machine.

• Stürm Booster

An optional equipment, it is a combination of propellant tank and vernier thrusters. The Stürm Booster allows the Gerbera Tetra to quickly reach the front line without using the MS's thrusters. It is ejected once the MS reaches its destination.

• Ejectable propellant tank.

The Stürm Booster can be equipped with two additional propellant tanks to increase flight range. They can be ejected once empty.

Armaments

• 110mm Machine Gun: The Gerbera Tetra is equipped with four 110mm cannons, two mounted on each forearm, with the magazines attached to the elbows. They are much more powerful than the head-mounted 60mm Vulcan cannons on Gundam and GM-type MSs, and combined with their excellent rate of fire, they are extremely effective in mid-range MS-to-MS combat.
• Beam Saber: The beam saber is a small device held in the machine's hands when in use, and is powered by a rechargeable energy capacitor. It emits high-energy Minovsky particles to form a blade-shaped I-field (via manipulation of electromagnetic fields), then fills this I-field shell with superheated Minovsky particle plasma to produce an efficient cutting blade . The Gerbera Tetra has two sabers stored in armor attached to its upper thighs.
• X-04 Beam Machine Gun: A prototype beam-type weapon that continuously fires beams in a pulse form, and excels in the use of wave and assault fire, causing widespread destruction through multiple shots. As the intermittent firing technology of megaparticles is under development, a cooling jacket and a coolant tank are connected to the barrel and the lower part of the barrel, respectively. A forced cooling nozzle is also located at the rear of the generator section, in the weapon's stock. When the barrel has reached its operating limit, the upper part of the barrel slides back for forced cooling and a limiter is also activated, which disables rapid fire mode. Reactivating the mode requires a new coolant reservoir.
• Shield: An optional defensive armament used by the Gerbera Tetra in the Gundam Mobile Suit 0083 Rebellion manga, this is the same shield used by the MS-14Fs Gelgoog Marine Commander Type.

History

In UC 0083, Delaz's fleet launched Operation Stardust, an uprising against the Federation. Anaheim Electronics, while supporting the Federation, also offered to support Aiguille Delaz. Vice President O'Sullivan then presented the Gerbera Tetra to Lieutenant Colonel Cima Garahau as a political gesture. During the final stages of Operation Stardust, Cima was killed and the Gerbera Tetra destroyed when Federation pilot Kou Uraki impaled him on the end of the beam cannon of his RX-78GP03 Gundam "Dendrobium", and exploded the machine in two.

Did you know?

• "Gerbera" refers to a genus of sunflower, named after the German botanist Traugott Gerber.
• “Tetra” is the ancient Greek word for the number “four”.
• The beam machine gun's forced cooling mechanism was depicted on screen for the first time in the latest episode of Gundam Build Fighters.