Duel XMS-01

W.I.P.

The Duel XMS-03 (eXperimental Mobile Suit) is a prototype suit developed by the space-state ORB during the War For Earth. It is the first mobile suit to be developed by the Colonial Federation. Originally test piloted by John Strasbourg, it was then piloted after the Tragedy of Heliopolis by Yvon Joule.

It is known because of the many firsts it has accomplished for the Colonial Federation, as it was a highly advanced mobile suit for the time. The suit first saw major attention and earned the nickname "Black-belt Robot" after ORB publicly released photos and videos of the suits high mobility, using judo moves with a mobile suit dummy.

Design
Built in the Heliopolis Research Facility with elements based off of mobile suits developed by the Alliance For God, the Duel uses a new, versatile metallic frame design, instead of the more tank-like metallic frame designs used by other mobile suits. The metallic frame is designed to have more mobile compartments to allow for more complicated use in combat. For example, the torso and shoulder-pads are movable, and compartments like the manipulation-limbs, monitor-coils and manipulators have more parts to them, allowing them to move in a more complex-like fashion. The frame design used by the Duel saw usage on many other prototype mobile suits due to its highly mobile nature.

The structure of the Duel is also much different from mobile suits of the time. The duel uses a much less heavily-armored design and a more humanoid design. Due to the complex metallic frame, the structure of the armor has been redesigned to make sure the suit is not too heavy for the frame design to be properly used. The Duel is much more exposed then Alliance For God mobile suits, with only some armor pieces on certain compartments. The armor pieces are designed in a way that they can snap and fit into one another to cut the costs of having more specially made pieces to cover the suit. The armor pieces can also fold out and reveal jet ports for better control in space, due to the low friction. The suit was originally colored in just grey and test decals because the suit was not yet finish, however had the decals removed and painted grey and dark blue, Yvon's custom colors.

The cockpit uses a centre-stick design, based off of a fighter jet cockpit. The compartments of the suit are controlled with certain buttons on the joysticks that when pressed make the joysticks control different parts of the suit. The cockpit uses a thermal-area radar, a radar which can detected enemy suits by the area in which the heat comes from, for detection of enemy mobile suits. Although the cockpit is designed with control and mobility in mind, the suit has functions which are done automatically to reduce the complicated controls. Most of these automated functions can be turned off if desired. When these functions are turned off, a "chassis-pad" system rolls out of the centre-stick armrests to allow the user to control certain parts of movement, like how stiff the coils are.